Honor McAlpine is the winner from the City of Glasgow college. Honor is a second-year student studying the HND in Legal Services. Honor's entry is also in a video format and she chose to answer the question 'Why investing matters'. The video focuses on the long-term objectives and benefits of investment versus savings and emphasises the importance of investing over time whilst acknowledging the risks. Honor has won £1,000 investment into the F&C Investment Trust plus £5,000 for her faculty at the college.
I chose to create a video answering question 1: Why does investing matter?
In this video, I discuss why one may want to invest, when you should start investing, and how we can better prepare people to start thinking about their financial security from a young age.
Holly Ip is the winner from the 'all university category'. Holly attends the University of Cambridge, studying Social Anthropology and Religion (HSPS Tripos and Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion), and chose to answer the question 'How do young people today provide for their future? Holly's entry is in a video format and outlines the pressures and uncertainties facing Gen Z. It focuses first on establishing good financial habits, investing and the benefits of compounding. Holly has won £1,000 investment into the F&C Investment Trust.
We've all heard it said before. Money doesn't grow on trees. And money can't buy happiness.
2020 changed the whole job market landscape for Gen-Z. It was one of the most challenging years, for businesses and employees alike. And it's left a lot of Gen-Z unsure of what their future looks like. The Bright Network Talent Tracker found that 85% of students surveyed feel more under pressure over their career search due to uncertainty caused by the pandemic and 65% of graduates are not confident about securing a graduate role at all. At the same time, how do we resist the urge to buy those new shoes. Ads popping up left, right and centre telling us to spend, spend, spend! With society, family and social media telling us we should have a job and a house by the age of 23 and hustle tiktok telling us we have no excuses to not make £1million before the age of 20, how do we navigate these financial challenges ahead of us.
First of all, don't get those shoes. We all know you have another 7 pairs of perfectly fine shoes. Secondly, create an emergency fund. And this is only for dire circumstances. When your car breaks down, when you need to replace your water heater. No, no the shoes don't count. Step 3, track your expenses. When you're not tracking your monthly expenses, it can be easy to over-spend. One things add on top of another and before you know it, your card has declined. Step 4, invest. Invest your money in stocks, bonds, investment funds. Compound interest is your best friend. Let's say take if you invested today £1,000 in stocks which makes an average annual return of 10% per year and you save and deposit £100 at the start of every month for the next 10 years. At the end of those 10 years, you will have £23,191.54 to your name. Pretty nifty right? Step 4. Invest in yourself. In your health, knowledge and skills. Whether this is through online courses, books, YouTube videos. The greatest asset you have is yourself. And then, we too might realise, that having money isn't everything.