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KALPANA FITZPATRICK
IS A FINANCIAL JOURNALIST AND FOUNDER OF
PERSONAL FINANCE WEBSITE
MUMMYMONEYMATTERS.COM
– WHICH
PROVIDES FINANCIAL INFORMATION, NEWS AND TIPS TO PARENTS.
SHE IS ALSO A MONEY EXPERT AND REGULARLY APPEARS ON TV AND
RADIO AS AN EXPERT COMMENTATOR. SHE’S ALSO MUM TO TWO
BLUE-EYED MONSTERS - BOYS AGE ONE AND FIVE. YOU CAN FOLLOW
KALPANA ON TWITTER
@KALPANAFITZ
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN
A DIY INVESTOR?
If I’m honest, I haven’t been an
investor for very long. I’ve always,
ever since I was a child, been a
saver, and I have, until recent years,
benefited from reasonably good
interest rates.
But this changed when there was
an economic downturn and the UK
entered a period of low interest rates.
This was all good for my mortgage
payment, but when I saw my savings
were suffering, I realised something
had to be done. But it was only really
when I had my first child in 2009, I
decided that saving for his future
was going to take a lot more than
just putting money into an average
bank account, and I really had to start
looking deeper into investing.
WHAT TYPE OF INVESTOR ARE
YOU?
I think of myself as a sensible investor.
I like to play it safe, as I don’t like the
idea of losing all my money because
greed overcame sense. However, my
children are age five and one, and I am
a bit more ambitious with their money
as I know they have a good few years
ahead of them to make the money
work for them and there is room for
mistakes (not too many though, I
hope).
WHAT ARE YOUR KEY
CONSIDERATIONS WHEN
MAKING AN INVESTMENT?
For me, investing has to be easy and
ethical, these are the two things
that matter to me when making an
investment. I say easy because I don’t
think it should be difficult and like
many financial products, things are
often made to look more difficult than
they actually are. It should also be easy
if it is to be accessible to mums – not
because I think mums are incapable of
dealing with complex financial matters,
but because they have so little time
and trying to run a household along
with a complicated investment
portfolio doesn’t go hand in hand.
As for ethical, I say this because I like
to see that my money is being invested
in companies that are doing something
good for the future – as a mum, the
desire to be ethical is obvious.
ISA OR PENSION?
Both. I am a great believer in not
putting all your eggs in one basket.
The government allows you to invest
a whopping £15,000 into an ISA, tax
free, all of which can be put into an
investment ISA if you like – you’d be
mad not to take up that opportunity.
And don’t forget, there are also junior
ISAs, so you can put your children’s
money into that – currently, you can
invest £4,000 this tax year into a
junior ISA.
But saving for old age is important too
– this also comes with tax advantages
and if you’re working, you’re employer
pays into it too – so essentially, you
would be saying no to free money by
not taking up a pension scheme.
People naively believe the state will
provide – but ask yourself if around
£148.00 a week will be enough to live
on before you decide not to bother
with a private pension. SIPPs
(self-invested personal pensions) are a
great way to save for retirement – so if
you haven’t already, look into these.
DIY... Q&A WITH KALPANA FITZPATRICK
‘...I DECIDED THAT SAVING FOR HIS FUTURE WAS GOING TO TAKE A LOT
MORE THAN JUST PUTTING MONEY INTO AN AVERAGE BANK ACCOUNT,
AND I REALLY HAD TO START LOOKING DEEPER INTO INVESTING’
