Part 1: The Money Trap - why you work hard and still feel stuck

Your path to financial freedom is blocked by three insidious inhibitors

This is the first chapter of your escape from the money trap. Click through to the next article at the bottom of the post,

or see the full escape map here, with links to all published and upcoming posts

In one of the great gags from The Simpsons, Sideshow Bob tries to escape from under a car — only to step directly onto a rake. Then another. And another. Whichever way he turns, he’s whacked in the face. Again and again.

He’s not going anywhere. He’s frustrated, stuck, and exhausted. He’s trapped.

That’s how I felt about my money and my (lack of) wealth.

Doing Everything Right

I was in my late thirties. Fairly well established in my career. Earning a decent salary.

My wife and I were both earning, which gave us the security of two incomes — something I know not everyone has. On paper, things looked fine.

And yet, I felt trapped.

But Still Stuck

Any unexpected expense — a broken boiler, car trouble — could throw things off completely.

I was saving each month, but the savings never seemed to last. Every few months something would wipe them out. Meanwhile, others around me, admittedly often earning more, seemed to glide through life with less worry.

Prices, of course, were rising. Whatever I budgeted for, I was usually underestimating.

I began to flinch when a new bill arrived, watching my current account edge into overdraft with depressing regularity.

I caught myself wondering:

“The average salary in the UK is £30,000. How can I be well over that and still struggling to save and grow my wealth?

How is this not enough? I absolutely love teaching, but did I choose the wrong career? Should I have stayed in the investment bank IT job I hated and just done it for the money?”

My pension - Was it enough?

Then there was my pension.

I was in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme — a defined benefit pension, one of the few still available. Each year, I’d sit down with a pension advisor. He’d expertly take me through withdrawal rates, actuarial tables, age limits and reduction factors. I’d nod along politely, trying not to give away that as a maths teacher I should understand all this, but really I had no idea what he was talking about, and wait for the bottom line - the sentence that was supposed to offer reassurance.

“So when you retire, your estimated pension could be…”

The figure was (a lot) less than my current salary.

If I can’t make ends meet now, how will I manage then?

And then he’d add:

“You’ll need something else too. Do you have any other pensions? You don’t want to be teaching past 60. And don’t forget that if you retire before 68 then that amount will be reduced by up to 25%”.

I thought maybe my state pension would help, till I learnt that it would only give me an extra £11,000 a year, and I would have to wait till I was 68 to get it.

So much for stopping work at 60.

If any of this feels familiar to you - you’re not alone.

We’ve done what we were told. We worked hard, got the qualifications, found a decent job, bought the house etc. But somehow, the promised financial security doesn’t quite materialise. At best, we feel like we’re just about managing. At worst, we feel like we’re going backwards. Then we realise our pensions are not the gold plated ticket to financial freedom we thought they were.

The system that worked for our parents - work hard, save a bit, buy a house, retire comfortably - seems to no longer apply.

Wages have stagnated, costs have soared, and expectations have stayed the same. We try to keep up, but the numbers don’t quite work. And over time, we quietly begin to wonder: Is this just how it is now?

What I didn’t realise then is this:

The Money Traps

Our money is trapped.

Three powerful forces are working against us:

• Inflation - Quietly eroding the power of your money

• Tax - Draining your earnings before, during and after payday

• Work - Stealing your most valuable asset - time

They’re not obvious. They don’t show up on your payslip or bank statement. But they’re there - quietly sabotaging your efforts unless you learn to spot them.

In the next few posts, I’ll walk through these traps one by one: what they are, how they work, and how to escape them. Because there is a way out - even if it doesn’t always look like the conventional way for us, it is a well worn path that many have been using to keep and grow their money for decades.

There’s no single secret to growing wealth, and in fact it can be surprisingly straight forward. This shouldn’t be hard - and thankfully it isn’t . There are some clear steps and along the way we’ll explore new ideas, concepts and paradigms, which we will walk through in the weeks ahead.

But for now let’s start with the first trap.

Up Next: The Inflation Trap - Eroding your money one wave at a time

the silent force that’s quietly eroding your money — even while you sleep.

See the Map of where we are going: Click Here

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Disclaimer: This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute personal financial advice. Everyone’s situation is different — if in doubt, speak to a qualified, regulated financial adviser.