Author and commentator Julia Hobsbawm says the best money decision she ever made was buying her first home, a one-bedroom flat in Camden, North London, for just £40,000.
Hobsbawm, who is feeling the financial effects of the coronavirus on her income, also reveals she has a shoe habit and is used to treating herself every fortnight to a manicure at a nail salon frequented by supermodel Kate Moss.
The 55-year-old lives with husband Alaric. Her latest book, The Simplicity Principle: Six Steps To Clarity In A Complex World, is published by Kogan Page.
Sole trader: Entrepreneur and author Julia Hobsbawm
Has your business been hit by coronavirus?
I run two micro-businesses and both have been significantly affected. The first is my writing and speaking business – we’ll just have to wait and see what the speaker circuit has to offer me this year.
The other is a network business, Editorial Intelligence, which is 15 years old this year. It was not such a great 15th birthday present to have to cut back substantially on activity for the time being. But being an entrepreneur, I am used to ups and downs – although I have never experienced a shutdown like this, obviously.
What did your parents teach you about money?
My parents valued ideas and culture more than money. But then, they had the luxury of not being poor. My dad was the historian and academic Eric Hobsbawm while my mother Marlene was a music teacher. I grew up in a household full of ideas and classical music.
We were not in any way upwardly mobile but I didn’t ever feel money was tight – because it wasn’t. I’d say I was a typical middle-class child who never thought about money because I never had to. My parents did tell me to get Saturday jobs and a paper round early on, which made me value work as much as money. It was a lesson I’m still grateful for.
What was the first paid work you ever did?
I worked in a local bakery on Saturdays as a teenager. I can’t remember how much I got paid but I do remember thinking whatever I took home was a small fortune because I had never previously had any money of my own. Pocket money was pretty limited in our house.
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
Yes and no. I have never been in poverty, but I have been an entrepreneur for the past 30 years, responsible for the bulk of my family’s income. So yes, there have been times I have struggled when uncertainty and difficulty made the ‘market’ drop and I have worried about how to keep my business going. In that sense, the coronavirus crisis is not the first time I have had to plan for better times.
The Gucci footwear Hobsbawm loves
Have you ever been paid silly money?
Yes. When my previous book was published in 2016, I started to get noticed on the speaker circuit and my agent was able to ask for nice sums of money.
The best example was when I was flown business class to Milan and provided with a hotel suite entirely made of marble on top of my fee. I see that hotel room as ‘silly money in kind’.
What was the best year of your financial life?
Last year, mainly due to my work on the speaker circuit. But I can honestly say I don’t judge my life or measure myself by what I earn. I don’t think you can if you do two of the most unpredictable things in life for a living: writing and being an entrepreneur.
The most expensive thing you bought for fun?
The most beautiful pair of beige Gucci sandals with kitten heels and a red and blue strap. They cost £500 and were an impulse purchase at an airport.
Totally unnecessary and I adore them. I have to admit: I have a shoe habit.
What is your biggest money mistake?
Trusting someone else’s word. In business, there are always people who pull out of contracts when on the brink of becoming clients.
My biggest mistake has been to believe people when they say ‘the contract has just hit a snag but it’s coming’.
The best money decision you have made?
Buying my first property near Camden Lock in London the minute I had my first full-time job, in 1985. It was a one-bedroom flat and I think I paid about £40,000. Inevitably, buying property proved a good investment and enabled me to buy the house that I have now lived in for 20 years.
Do you save into a pension?
Yes I do. It is not something I paid much attention to until recently when the Government and my financial adviser recommended I did so. Like a lot of people, I am more of a spender than a saver.
Before coronavirus, Hobsbawm had her nails done every fortnight for £40
Do you invest directly in the stock market?
No. I think investing in the stock market should be left to the experts. It’s not something I have done or ever wanted to do. I do not have the patience or the instinct for it.
Do you own any property?
Yes, I own my home, a large terrace house in North London. We took out a mortgage with Northern Rock 20 years ago so we could add an extension. That had its scary moments but luckily we switched our mortgage just before the bank was bailed out.
What is the one little luxury you treat yourself to?
I am not someone who likes beauty treatments with one exception: nails. Before coronavirus, I had them done every fortnight for £40 at the same nail parlour in Highgate, North London, that Kate Moss uses.
We were once there at the same time and giggled because the young assistant had not heard of David Bowie.
If you were Chancellor what is first thing you would do?
Pretty much everything Rishi Sunak is already doing, although I would offer more support to the self-employed and those who are on zero-hours contracts. Generally, I think this Chancellor is stepping up to the plate, big time.
Do you donate money to charity?
Yes. I’m a founding trustee of a charity, Our Brain Bank, which uses technology to try to overcome glioblastoma, the most deadly cancer.
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