In our How I Manage My Money series, we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.
This week, we speak to Lucian Clover, 19, who lives in Brighton with their partner, Sam, 19. Lucian is a student studying songwriting and wants to earn at least £60,000 a year. Lucian does not have a passport and has never been abroad.
Monthly Budget
My monthly income: I earn about £350 a month by doing jobs via MyPocketSkill’s website. I also have around £3,000 every few months coming in via a maintenance loan while studying. Annually, my maintenance loan is about £10,000. I do think maintenance loans should be higher and that students should get more support, particularly as the cost of living is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with. I have a loan for tuition fees too. I make about £20 to £30 a time doing tarot readings online, but this is very ad hoc. I live with my partner, Sam. He is studying music performance in Brighton.
My monthly outgoings: Rent, broadband and other utility bills: £725; groceries: £100 – my partner also spends £100 and we are both vegan; therapy: £80; lunch on campus most days: £6; Google and iCloud storage: £4; birdseed, as I enjoy feeding the pigeons: £4. My partner and I spend between £40 and £80 a month on date nights.
I grew up in Hereford with my mum and sister. My mum was sometimes unwell and in hospital, so I occasionally had to live with my grandparents.
As a family, we were definitely not wealthy. I had to get free school meals and my mum was unable to work due to her illness until I was a teenager. Life became a little easier once my mum was able to work, but we still had to rely on benefits.
To this day, I have never been abroad and do not own a passport. Being able to spend money on holidays is something I can only dream of. I can’t drive yet either, as I can’t really afford the lessons.
I’m currently studying songwriting at WaterBear – The College of Music in Brighton, and I receive a maintenance loan of around £10,000 a year. I also have a loan covering tuition fees. My partner gets a maintenance loan of around £5,000 a year, and sometimes needs extra financial support from his family. This is something I can’t get from my family.
To bring in extra money, I take on social media manager and graphic designer jobs via MyPocketSkill’s website, giving me an additional £350 per month on average. I find standard in-person jobs difficult due to my autism, so being able to complete jobs online is ideal.
I often use the income coming in from work via MyPocketSkill for therapy, food and date nights with Sam. Anything left over usually gets saved, or I treat myself or buy something to decorate my flat. I recently bought some rollerblades and a very comfortable rocking chair. This income stream gives me the freedom to enjoy student life and life with my partner more than I would if I were solely reliant on my maintenance loan.
We live in central Brighton, which is notoriously expensive, in a rented studio flat. I pay £725 a month for the rent and main bills. I do think the rent is too expensive and it pushes our budget as far as it can go. We are worried the rent might go up. If it does, we’d struggle to find affordable housing in Brighton. We only found the studio flat we are in now a week before moving in and after searching every day for six months.
In the future, we’d like to buy a barn conversion in the countryside, though I suspect it could cost upwards of £400,000. Needless to say, achieving this goal is a long way off. I want to complete a master’s in Music Therapy after my current studies, so I imagine we’ll rent in a cheaper location somewhere before becoming financially stable enough to apply for a mortgage.
I only have a current account and don’t have any savings accounts or ISAs. I just keep my money in my current account. As I don’t have a passport or driving licence yet, verifying my identity can be challenging. I’ve applied for a provisional driving licence, but it’s taking months to come through. At some point, I’d like a Monzo savings account, as I’d be able to set aside pots for different things like rent, food and fun.
To be truly honest, I have never been educated about money and know next to nothing about pensions or how they work. I would like to learn, though. I think I would like to retire when I am in my 50s, though this may be too optimistic. I would like to be able to settle down and enjoy life relatively early.
Money is very important. When I was younger, this was not something I would have said, but I now recognise the extent to which the world is dominated by it. I want to earn enough to live comfortably, eat well, stay fit and healthy and own my dream home. It’s a lot harder to be happy and healthy when you don’t have much money. When I am older, I would like to earn at least £60,000 a year.
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