Ella Weinberg: Why Insuring Yourself Matters for Your Money

This transcript is auto-generated and lightly edited for readability, it may contain errors.

[0:00] Sammie Ellard-King: My name is Sammie Ellard-King, and welcome to the Money Gains Podcast. We’re a show all about making, saving, and investing your money, interviewing the top minds in the industry to unpack their tips and tricks to success. And this week, my guest is Ella Weinberg, who is an award-winning financial expert and entrepreneur. But she is so knowledgeable on a subject which gets overlooked by so many people, and it is probably the most important thing you could possibly be doing with your finances right now. And I’m not going to give too much away because this conversation is an absolute banger. You guys are going to love it. And just remember that next week we are going full in-person episodes. There’s going to be 4K versions going live

[0:45] Sammie Ellard-King: on YouTube for you guys to unpack too. So if you prefer watching your podcasts on YouTube, we’re going to be on there with loads of new guests, loads of new things happening as well. And there’s going to be some of your favourite guests coming back on so we can do video versions with them as well. It’s going to be an absolutely incredible journey. Level up for this podcast. I’m so excited. But for now, let’s get started on the Money Gains Podcast.

[1:11] Sammie Ellard-King: The Money Gains Podcast. The 24th 7th birthday. We teach you how to eventually.

[1:29] Sammie Ellard-King: So hello, welcome to the Money Gains Podcast. How are you? You well?

[1:32] Ella Weinberg: Good, thanks. Thank you for having me. How are you?

[1:35] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, I’m good. We’re just talking about the weather. It’s actually like warm again, which is just mad. We’ve like not had a real summer, have we?

[1:42] Ella Weinberg: Proper summer, yeah. So, so in and out. One minute’s warm. British weather, I say, is here for a good time, never a long time.

[1:49] Sammie Ellard-King: Right.

[1:50] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah. Hello. Have you managed to get away this summer at all?

[1:53] Ella Weinberg: I went away in June to Egypt with my son, so that was nice. Nice little break.

[1:57] Sammie Ellard-King: Oh, cool.

[1:58] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, and I’ve got a wedding coming up at the end of September to Portugal. So yeah, I’ve had a nice, I’ll have a nice little summer getaways.

[2:06] Sammie Ellard-King: Pastel Donata all the way. Exactly. Absolutely love them. We actually went to a wedding in Portugal last year, and like it is just beautiful.

[2:18] Ella Weinberg: It’s funny because when I was like growing up and stuff and people spoke about weddings, I was like, weddings abroad. Whereas now I’m like, no, that is the vibe. When the course invite me, I want to come.

[2:27] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, yeah. Say that though. We just come back from a free we went to Mallorca last week for a uh three-day wedding. It was a lot. I’m not gonna lie. Yeah, yeah, it was a lot.

[2:41] Ella Weinberg: That’s almost like a festival, but abroad.

[2:44] Sammie Ellard-King: Do you know what? I felt like a comeback from a stag dude.

[2:47] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I bet.

[2:48] Sammie Ellard-King: I was like broken after. I was like, I need to go on another like three holidays just to recover from this. To recover. Yeah, yeah. But um, I’d love to know, like, just of the audience, bring them up to speed. Like, what do we need to know about Ella?

[3:04] Ella Weinberg: Oh gosh, where do I start? So I’ve been working in finance now for about five years. Um, kind of just randomly. I used to work in marketing, graduated uni in fashion promotion. Um, yeah, and then loved marketing. And then suddenly, just randomly, I was already self-employed, needed someone to do my insurance policy because I’d recently had a son and was like, oh wait, this is a whole thing. Like people actually like do this, they go through, you know, you kind of just take it for granted. Anyway, so fell into the role, fell into being um, they call it a protection specialist, but that always sounds like so ambiguous. The insurance advisor, do you know what I mean? An insurance broker. Okay. Um, so yeah, so fell into that, but honestly, the minute

[3:49] Ella Weinberg: I fell into it, I just hit the road running, um, did really, really well, and then since then just been scaling my services, kind of built it into a business and a brand. So, not just insurance, credit score support, CCJs, um, coaching as well. Um, so just sort of a 360 perspective when it comes to protecting what you need to when it comes to your money.

[4:12] Sammie Ellard-King: We’ve never had this on the podcast, and I’m really excited to dive into this because it’s often a area of personal finance which kind of gets overlooked. And also it’s mad confusing as well. Like it’s really difficult to work out like what the hell to do because there’s so many different types of insurances. I think let’s start with like what do you feel like is the most important insurance type that someone should 100% have in this employee, business owner?

[4:38] Ella Weinberg: Income protection, hands down, income protection. That’s the policy that basically A, it pays you whilst you’re still here, but that’s the policy that essentially gives you, if you’re self-employed or you’re a business owner, you’re not entitled to any sick pay. Do you know what I mean? Statutory sick pay for those who are employed is minimal anyway. Um, but when you’re self-employed, that literally is down to zero. Um, and if you’re a business owner and you’re running a business and you’re then trying to fund, continue to fund your salary, you’ve got to think of the impact that if the work’s not being done but the money’s still being spent, there’s still a loss somewhere. Um, so yeah, income protection basically pays you if you are signed off sick, if your doctor says you’re not fit for work, you’re able to receive a monthly income. Of course, the policy varies on the person, um, but essentially

[5:24] Ella Weinberg: there’s no occupation that cannot get income protection. Um, even when it comes to sickness, a lot of people steer away from it because they think, oh, I’ve had this in the past or I’ve had that, it’s gonna be massively expensive. There’s an income protection policy for everyone. But bottom line is, I think when we think of even just like a cost of living crisis, our income is more important now than it ever was before. You know, funding goals, funding lifestyle, whatever it is, we want to make sure that even just in day-to-day scenarios, if we’re gonna be signed off work, we’re not dipping into things like savings, we’re not, you know, relying on parents or taking out a loan or falling into bad credit. We’re using a policy that is exactly what it’s designed for, being able to pay you when you need to take some time off.

[6:06] Sammie Ellard-King: And roughly in your experience, then, like how much does that cover?

[6:11] Ella Weinberg: I would say, um, and of course, it varies from person to person. The three sort of major things that are taken into consideration, amongst others, but it’s always gonna be someone’s date of birth, um, someone’s BMI, um, smoker status, and then of course, their income. So someone who earns a lot of income is going to pay more than someone who earns minimal income because it just means that the payout is gonna be greater, but it’s adjustable. What I usually say to most people is are you willing to sacrifice anywhere between one and three percent of your annual salary to cover what your income protection would be on an annual basis? That’s usually what I kind of say as a rule of thumb, because it’s very, very rare that someone is paying more than that. And like I said, it’s adjustable.

[6:56] Ella Weinberg: So if someone’s taking home £2,000, they may not necessarily need the full £2,000 in the event of them being signed off sick, because of course, you’re not really going anywhere, you’re recovering. So, you know, the takeaway budget and the, you know, the nights out and etc. aren’t really being used up. Do you know what I mean? So maybe 1,500, 1,400 kind of suits your needs a bit better. Um, and most income protection policies will cover that. They’ll cover anywhere between 60 and 70%. And there’s a lot of providers that cover the full 70%. Bearing in mind as well, that’s covering your salary post-tax, not pre-tax. So you take into consideration a 30k salary, which is your gross, even though what lands in your bank account is only 2,000, your income protection is based on the gross, not the net. Um, and yeah, one one to three

[7:41] Ella Weinberg: percent, if that’s like when you think of that over an annual basis, it’s not a lot at all.

[7:47] Sammie Ellard-King: That’s crazy. So you are literally secure if something happens to you, bills, mortgage, covers pretty much. Exactly.

[7:56] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, yeah. Literally just of your salary. Yeah, it’s just your spending money. Just think of the same, whatever those expenses are, um, providing someone’s not living like you know, right on the breadline, because then it’s not to say that you’re not entitled to any income, but of course, just managing that whilst you’re off sick may still be of some difficulty. But like you said, mortgage or rent, gas and electric, um, all of those core expenditures, you’ll be in a position to continue with those at ease because your income protection is going to be bringing you in money every single month, and every single month until you’re in a position to go back to work. I feel like a lot of us, you know, might need to take time off, but we just push through because, of course, the money situation is such a big headache, or people who are using up things like annual leave and and stuff like that.

[8:42] Ella Weinberg: So, yeah, at least it just kind of gives you that peace of mind.

[8:45] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, because like there’s so many people that are like work until they’re overly stressed, yeah, and they don’t go and get signed off for like two, three months, which is the time that they need to like reset themselves. Exactly, fully recover.

[8:56] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, and that’s the thing, income protection covers you for accidents, sickness, injury, and that’s in a mental health capacity as well. So, yeah, if someone’s suffering from burnout or is then thinking, I’m at the end of my tether, and it shows up in different ways. You know, your diet goes, um, your immune system goes, migraines, you get tired. Those are the signs, those are the symptoms that people need to be paying attention to and thinking, okay, right, I need some time out now. And if your GP can recognise that, your GP’s gonna sign you off at the end of the day. And take, if you know that the money’s coming in, like you said, you can take that necessary amount of time to fully recover, not just get over a cold and then rush back to work, and then three weeks later you’ve now got a cough, and then six weeks after that it’s a chest infection. No, fully recover because the money’s coming in, and then you just

[9:41] Ella Weinberg: have that peace of mind and don’t have to worry.

[9:43] Sammie Ellard-King: Why do you think that like we don’t do income protection as much as we should?

[9:49] Ella Weinberg: I think it’s a combination of things. I think, don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely a mind build because there are a number of different policies to sort of consider. The most common one being life insurance. They see that on the TV, brands like Vitality, who are brokers, insurance companies, but they’re brands as well because they sponsor the athletes and things like that. They’re always hitting home when it comes to life insurance. Um, because income protection is a bit more complex, I think it’s harder to translate in a 30-second advert or things like that, which is obviously where I’ve been able to kind of fill a gap and you know fill a niche when it comes to trying to communicate that. But it is definitely the most undervalued out of all of the policies. About 4% of those who are self-employed have income protection. So when we think of how

[10:34] Ella Weinberg: many are running business or self-employed, 4% of those people actually even bother to have a policy. But I think even when it comes down to financial literature, I think that is a mindfield on its own. And when it comes down to people always kind of assume that if you’re going to get financial advice or support, you have to go to a financial advisor. And when we think of financial advisors and the advice that they give, which is brilliant and the work that they do, insurance is then really undersold even by them. Even my mortgage brokers, a lot of mortgage brokers are actually qualified to put in place insurance policies. But everyone gets so focused on their niche or their speciality, and it just always gets missed because it’s just something that you set up, you pay your direct debit, if you need it,

[11:19] Ella Weinberg: it’s there. If you don’t need it, you keep it ticking in the background. So it just gets massively overlooked. It’s not like savings and budgeting where people see the immediate effects from. I think insurance companies are doing a lot better now to sort of um incorporate a lot more benefits that clients can take advantage of. But I think that’s always been the premise: either that they don’t pay out, so there’s a massive stigma, or there’s just not enough benefits, or why do I bother?

[12:28] Sammie Ellard-King: Okay, okay. And then obviously, if you secured yourself, say like with an emergency fund as well, then you’ve got like a double buffer happening there. And if Yeah.

[12:37] Ella Weinberg: And I think that you know, you being sick isn’t an emergency, it’s a part of life. You shouldn’t have to use that. And again, with your savings, if you if you’re working towards maybe buying a house or buying a car or a holiday, whatever that savings is for, imagine working hard every single month and putting aside a proportion of your income to then fall sick and then take that same money to support you whilst you’re off work. No, when you know, for imagine your income protection policy paying you, and let’s just say that you’ve got a really good balance between your income and your expenditure, like maybe your total expenses only equate to 50% of your income. What that means is actually when your income protection policy is paying you, because it pays you 70% of your income, you’re still in a position to pay all

[13:22] Ella Weinberg: your bills and still save and still invest and do all of those other things that are contributing to your financial future. That’s a win-win as far as far as I’m concerned.

[13:32] Sammie Ellard-King: Oh, yeah, 100%. Like I think you hit the nail on the head there. Like you shouldn’t have to use your hardware and savings to supplement your lifestyle because you know you broke your leg and you can’t make it to work or whatever that might be. Like it’s just it doesn’t seem fair, does it? But I suppose it’s why it’s there in the first place, anyway. But it’s yeah, and you know, we have to try and educate people to try and get themselves up to those levels in the first place. But this is uh just a thing you can do today, sign up today and then exactly so easy, so easy.

[14:02] Ella Weinberg: I always say to people, you know, if you can find an advisor, obviously, someone like myself or someone else, then do have a conversation because we don’t charge for consultation because we always get paid by the providers for doing all of their admin and their hard work. Income protection, you actually, it’s not a policy that you can go and get by yourself. You do have to speak to someone um specialized or qualified to put it in place, yeah, just because of the complexity. So I always say go and have a conversation. If you feel comfortable, get a variation of quotes, you know, if I take the maximum amount, if I take a bit less, or if it’s immediately within budget, you get a cooling off period anyway. So even if you run through the application, you get covered there and then. Brilliant, because you’ve got 30 days like any other insurance policy to read it through. If you’re speaking or dealing

[14:48] Ella Weinberg: with a good advisor, they’ll always be on hand. You know, insurance brokers are kind of well, certainly I am in the way that I advise. We’re there for life, we don’t really go anywhere. So if you’ve got a claim, you know, if you’ve got a claim or you need further support, go back to them. Do you know what I mean? That’s that’s that’s what they’re there for. So reading through all of the literature in the first 30 days, yeah, chances are it’s not gonna make any sense. You’re gonna be like, what is section 5b point? What like what does that mean? Take advantage because it is a bit of a mindfold, but that’s exactly what they’re there for. But that’s always what I say. If you know there’s somewhere that you can seek advice from, go and seek it. Because compare the market, money, supermarket, all of those platforms, they’ll give you a quote, but they’ll give you a quote, it’s not going to be accurate.

[15:33] Ella Weinberg: You don’t even know whether you’re gonna be fully insured for it either. So you’re kind of just stabbing in the dark.

[15:38] Sammie Ellard-King: 100%. Like we had to take out life insurance for our policy, our mortgage policy. Yeah, but we didn’t even know what we were signing up for. And I don’t even think I still do to this point now. Like, I I think I’m covered for like God knows like 50 illnesses or something.

[15:54] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, yeah.

[15:55] Sammie Ellard-King: Like, that’s as far as I went with it. Because it’s like, oh, okay, I need it, and it’s good, and I know that it’s gonna if I you know I get hit by a bus tomorrow, my partner gets half the mortgage, and that’s how it should be, like, in my eyes. I’m like, great, she’s secure, vice versa. Um, and we both pay into it, and I feel like that’s that’s a good thing. But so what what’s the difference then? So there’s like critical illness cover, yeah. How does that differ?

[16:20] Ella Weinberg: So, how it differs is to be honest, income protection, which is why I say it’s the best one, is it covers you for everything. So, income protection covers you for your everyday sickness, accident, injury. But if you think that let’s say that’s a critical illness as well, God forbid someone’s diagnosed with cancer and is obviously going to need to take a few months off work or maybe have some surgery or treatment, you can actually still claim that on your income protection because theoretically you’re covered for everything. Where critical illness cover now becomes more specific is there is a set of definitions that are included in your policy. So, like you said, those 50, etc., you’ll have a standard and then different providers will have different, they call it definitions. Um, so it’s how they interpret that particular illness. For example, cancer can be from stage one, stage two, grade one, grade three,

[17:06] Ella Weinberg: etc. But essentially you’re covered for a critical illness. Think of it as like compensation. If you’re diagnosed and it meets the definition, so your consultant has confirmed that you’ve got this diagnosis, whatever the value of your critical illness policy is, that’s what you receive as a lump sum. Tax-free. So use it for private health care, use it for, you know, you know, supplementing your income. If you’ve got income protection as well, use the two of them together, brilliant. If you want to go and take some time out and travel the world because you’re going through a bit of a crap ordeal, do it. You’re not, you don’t have to pay the money back if you make a full recovery, which is obviously what we hope. But yeah, essentially lump sum payout if you’re diagnosed with a critical illness. But income protection is a monthly recurring income and you can claim

[17:51] Ella Weinberg: multiple times on the policy.

[17:53] Sammie Ellard-King: Does it work uh for maternity or paternity at all in those cases?

[17:58] Ella Weinberg: There are elements of maternity that do work. So being pregnant as a whole isn’t classified as being sick, so to speak. But if someone falls sick whilst they are on maternity leave, and that is preventing them from either being able to do their daily activities, or let’s just say someone was, you know, considering going back to work and now they’ve fallen ill in whatever capacity. And it can be pre-baby or post-baby, but in whatever capacity, if it’s preventing you from doing something, you 100% are entitled to a claim. And there are a lot of critical illness policies now that are also including pregnancy-related complications as well, that then allow you to make a claim on your critical illness policy.

[18:38] Sammie Ellard-King: Okay, that’s really interesting because obviously, like postnatal depression is like quite a big thing and it’s on the rise. And you’ve got like then that’s an issue that’s stopping you going back to work, and that’s when it could kick in.

[18:50] Ella Weinberg: 100%. So let’s just say you’ve got your income protection policy, you’ve had a smooth pregnancy, baby’s born, you’ve had your nine months’ maternity leave, you’re thinking, right, I’m ready now, mum’s on board, she’s gonna take care of the baby whilst I head back, and then suddenly you’re just hit with that overwhelming postnatal depression, not quite sure what it is, head to your doctor, doctor confirms. And like you said, postnatal depression can actually be something quite complex to deal with because it can have highs and lows. So something like that is a brilliant example where yes, 100% claim, take the necessary time off. You might be able to go back to work for three months, and guess what? It might just hit you again and you’re all over the place. Make another claim. And your premiums don’t go up every time you claim. It’s not like car insurance, home insurance.

[19:35] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, yeah, it stays the same. So if you’re paying £27.83 a month for your income protection, it’s gonna be £27.83 for the lifetime of the policy.

[19:45] Sammie Ellard-King: Okay, that’s so interesting. I wonder how they make money off that because like it just seems like everyone will have some time off sometime, right?

[19:52] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, yeah. To be honest, with insurance providers, there is something called like an insurance tax, an insurance premium built into the policy. Um, but think of it as like a massive, massive investment fund. So imagine you’ve got 10 people all paying 20 pounds a month every single month. That then gives them the funds. And a lot of insurance companies are actually, you know, they’re they’re they’re financial firms in other capacities as well. Um but everyone’s paying in 20 pounds, that kind of then gives them the capital available that when you know Sandra needs to take some time off, they’ve already got the money there to then be able to pay Sandra at that time. So, and that’s the thing, it’s the one that is actually claimed on, it’s the one that should be claimed on the most

[20:37] Ella Weinberg: income protection. Number one claims being mental health and um long-term back pain. But like you said, because it’s the policy that is sold the least and advised on the least, it’s actually then the one that theoretically is claimed on the least. So it’s always the one that when you look at claim status, you know, on certain providers, you’ll see 99% life insurance policies paid out, 99.8 critical illness, but you might see 95 or 96, for example, when it comes to income protection. Um, and it’s just because of the complexity of the policy, and it’s the actual policy that people take out the least.

[21:11] Sammie Ellard-King: Ah, it’s so interesting. It’s so, so interesting. So, someone listening to this today, just to kind of summarize income protection, would need to chat to someone like yourself or an advisor who is trained in delivering an income protection policy.

[21:27] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, 100%. Yeah.

[21:29] Sammie Ellard-King: Okay, okay, that’s really interesting. I think certainly something that everyone should be looking into, employed or not. And like it’s got me thinking, I learned I only learnt about this actually like a couple of months ago. So for me, it was like, wow, this exists, like this is insane. And now I’m like, okay, I’m I’m putting the steps in place to bring it in for myself. Speaking about my partner doing it now as well. Um, just simply because you know, my business is very much like content and you are your business. Yeah, if I stop turning up to work or I stop putting out videos, you don’t give a stop, right? Exactly. So it’s it’s just gotta be one of those things that you know, if something happens to me, God forbid, that we’re we’re secure as a family as well. It’s

[22:14] Sammie Ellard-King: just makes so much sense on so many levels, and I can’t get my head around why people don’t promote it more. So thank you for promoting your work. It’s important, it’s important. Um, something I’d love to talk about as well is is the kind

[23:36] Sammie Ellard-King: of healthcare element, a private healthcare element.

[23:39] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, sure. So I I kind of say that that policy is like the luxury of all of all I certainly used to phrase it like this. So I would have a client, they’ve got their income protection, their life cover, their critical illness, and then they would turn and say, Okay. And what else should I have? And I would say really consider private medical insurance, private health care. It’s the luxury one of the policies, just because it’s always the one that’s the most expensive, because essentially of what they have to cover. You know, if you need surgery or treatment, there’s a cost there. But I’ll be totally honest: luxury in terms of a cost, but in terms of a necessity now, with waiting times between GPs and the NHS, it’s actually becoming more and more necessary, I would say.

[24:21] Sammie Ellard-King: You feel like it’s uh it should be considered a lot more than it used to?

[24:24] Ella Weinberg: 100%. I think there is a number of factors that play a big part. Um, and I work quite closely with the providers, and I was reading a study not too long ago, and it was actually explaining the whole process. People don’t appreciate, they just think, oh, the NHS is overstretched and is overwhelmed. And yes, that’s a big part, um, but they don’t fully understand the process of why there is such a long waiting time between the GP and the NHS. Um, and I think actually GPs are getting a really bad stigma at the moment for you know not caring or you know, not picking up things quick enough. But if you think about it, GPs have a process where until you’ve presented your symptoms and then essentially you now need to go for further investigations, so a scan or whatever it is, you’re actually still under the GP’s

[25:10] Ella Weinberg: line of care until that scan has been administrated or administered, and until a diagnosis or a further conclusion has been made, and there’s been the process of where you’ve been transferred from GP care over to now the hospital. So if you think of the GPs that are trying to manage something like 2,000 patients, the hospital has to come back and say, yep, we’ve got a space free. Um the GP then has to kind of manage you in the process. But it’s admin, isn’t it? It’s the back and forth between, you know, communicating and liaising with the hospital, like, hey, you’ve got a slot free. Hey, have you got a slot free? And it takes a big time. And if you think that if you’re doing that for 2,000 different patients or 2,000 clients, then of course waiting times are then going to be, you know, a big deal.

[25:55] Ella Weinberg: But from a from a client or from a patient’s perspective, that time frame between eight weeks, 12 weeks, that is the easiest time when something gets missed. And I think if we use COVID as a massive example, there were thousands and thousands of patients that were delayed in being diagnosed with cancer or being misdiagnosed when it came to cancer just because of that waiting time. And it hasn’t really adjusted that much. So that’s why I say when it takes into consideration private healthcare, being able to see a consultant like in a couple of days, get the necessary scans either the same day or tomorrow, and then getting a diagnosis or confirmation of treatment within a couple of days from them. Like you’re thinking if you need surgery, turnaround time is in under two weeks.

[26:40] Ella Weinberg: So I think again, if you’re self-employed or running a business, that’s going to be a massive, massive thing because you want your recovery to be, you know, sped up as you want you want to be able to return to work as quickly as possible. So that’s why I say definitely necessary.

[26:57] Sammie Ellard-King: I you like you just walk me through my like something happened to me a couple of years ago, and I waited 18 months for a scan, and it got to 12 months, and like the the pain was just increasing. I kept going back, and I was just like, I I need help now, like just like what can we do? Nothing came through again for like six weeks, and in the end, I just paid to go private, which was actually so expensive. Which, if I had the healthcare in place, it would have helped. But obviously, you know, I was like, no, I trust the NHS, I’m an NHS supporter, and I am like, and I like I appreciate so much what they do, exactly it’s incredible. But when you’re in that situation and you’re like, I’m like, I’ve this is now 12 months of pain. Like I didn’t run, I didn’t run for 12 months, and uh yeah, I was putting on weight that was affecting like

[27:42] Sammie Ellard-King: everything else, and I was like, right, I just need to go and sort it out, yeah, yeah, exactly. And so now for me, I’ve just put in place private healthcare for my family, uh, for me and my my partner, and it like it it it I now have that peace of mind if I need to go back. I don’t want I feel bad for the GPs, but we have an aging population, it’s getting worse, and so aging populations means that there’s gonna be more heavier burden placed on those services in the NHS. So younger people who are more fit and healthy usually get pushed down the chain a little bit.

[28:16] Ella Weinberg: It’s just there you go. There you go. And like you said, it’s everything is a knock-on effect. It was like when with the pension age and they were saying, you know, okay, maybe not necessarily today, but the pension age is gonna be rising and rising and rising. The problem is because people are staying in work longer. But the problem is, whilst those people are staying in work, they’re actually being hit with long-term illnesses, which is then obviously having a knock-on effect on the working population, which is why everyone’s needing to work longer. But then it’s what’s the knock-on effect, like you said, with the NHS and those people looking after those people that now aren’t they, you know, they’re fully incapacitated. Those who are, you know, have got a broken leg, for example, are just getting pushed further and further down the list. Because if you’re consider making the consideration between someone with a broken leg and then someone

[29:02] Ella Weinberg: who is developing something more sinister, you know, what where do the where do the hospitals, where do the GPs and the NHS, you know, where do they strike the balance? And that’s the thing, private healthcare, it’s not replacing the NHS. If anything, it’s working alongside because you don’t always have to make a claim on your private healthcare. You don’t always have to think, okay, right, I’m going private instead of going to the NHS. And a lot of the time the two are combined. Yeah, they are actually saying, you know, this is something that I need to get done quickly. And if you think about it, you’re really even the NHS a little bit because no one wants you to be on the waiting list for 18 months. You don’t want to be on there, the GP don’t want you to be on there. Like I said, it’s still kind of under the GP’s line of care, whether they’re doing a lot or not. The NHS don’t want

[29:46] Ella Weinberg: you to be on that waiting list because they still got to get round to you at some point. So if you are in a position to take advantage of it, why not?

[29:54] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, you’re totally right. Like when I saw the uh doctor at the private healthcare, eventually, after going back like four times, he was like, Oh, uh, by the way, like I also do it for the NHS. So, do you want me to put you over to my NHS receptionist and we’ll bump you up the queue because I’ve already seen you? And I was like, Oh, right. Like, I could have just this is what I would have I would have got to you eventually, but I would probably save it.

[30:21] Ella Weinberg: But you’re just numbered 2172.

[30:24] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, I know, I know. And it is important now, and if I totally get it, it’s another expense, which is just really hard for people to even fathom right now. But yeah, like if you can afford it, that it is something I think should be on your radar because I don’t see this problem with the NHS getting any better. In fact, I probably see it getting a little bit worse over the next few years, and so it is certainly something I think people should have on their radar. And there are different types of care, right? There’s different levels to that as well.

[30:58] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, yeah, in terms of the comprehensiveness. I always kind of like to advise a client on getting as fully comprehensive, think of it like car insurance, getting as fully comprehensive as possible, um, just because then you’re covered for anything. Because if you don’t, then you do have to mitigate, you know, the difference or um bridge that gap. So if you think about like say the average consultation fees is anywhere between 300 and 500, when you’ve got a policy that has limited care, so it might say it has a budget of a thousand pounds worth of consultation appointments, sod’s law that you’re going to be the person that needs, say, six appointments, and then obviously you’ve gone over budget, you then have to fund the difference. So no one wants to then be partway through care and having to find, you know, a further 900 pounds because they’ve got three

[31:43] Ella Weinberg: consultation appointments that they still need to attend. So as fully comprehensive as possible. But that’s the thing, yeah, your consultation appointments are included, being treated as an outpatient, fully included. Um, of course, then all of your investigations, your treatment, any surgery. And then there’s a lot of therapies that are included as well. So osteopathy, physiotherapy, acupuncture, all of those necessary things that sometimes might not necessarily need investigations and treatment. It may just be a case of having those therapies that can help to alleviate pains and symptoms. And private health care is done on an annual basis. So it is the policy that runs in line with age and does get that little bit more expensive each year because you’re one year older. But like you quite rightly said, if the NHS is getting worse, then chances

[32:28] Ella Weinberg: are in a few years, then the whatever the premium is now, whilst it might be a little bit more expensive in a few years’ time, if there’s a sudden need and want and desire for private healthcare, it’s obviously then just going to shoot right up. Whereas you could have locked in the premium from a bit earlier. And I always say as well, you know, swap and change because it is on an annual basis, have shop around. You can be with Vitality one year, take over your no claims discount bonus to then maybe an Aviva the following year, maybe then head to AXA the year after. Shop around, make sure it suits. You know, if you’re finding that you’re quite fit and healthy, you might then be able to bring down your comprehensiveness and reduce your coverage a little bit, only to then shoot it back up the year after as well. So you can play around with it year on year.

[33:10] Sammie Ellard-King: So you get no claims bonus as well. That’s that’s it. You do. I do, you do, right? Yeah, mad. It is crazy, isn’t it? It’s just like another world, but yeah, something that again, it’s probably because it’s like it’s made to look so complicated that we don’t do it. It’s like with everything with personal finance, isn’t it? It’s like, yeah, I I find that’s a real problem. One of the other big things which you talk about, which uh I’m really excited to unpack with you, is is credit scores.

[33:38] Ella Weinberg: Okay, okay. I love this one as well.

[33:41] Sammie Ellard-King: So again, credit scores are like you don’t want to look at it, like, and if you look at it and it’s bad, you always do that. Yeah, exactly. Uh for those are listening on audio, it’ll just burying her head in the sand, which is like a lot is again, we do this with a lot of aspects of personal finance. And I suppose for someone who’s perhaps a beginner to this and just thinks of it as a number, what are the steps they need to take to start securing and boosting their credit score? And why is that important?

[34:12] Ella Weinberg: First thing I always say is knowing where to look because different, there’s three major credit referencing agencies: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Experian kind of being the leading brand with all of their bonuses and benefits that they offer. The problem that people don’t realise is your credit score can look different between each of those agencies. So whilst Experian brands themselves as the 999 credit score, you can actually have a 999 credit score over with Experian and then have something considerably lower with Equifax or TransUnion because the information is not the same across the board. Um, and also they have different scoring systems as to how they rate the information. So I think I definitely think I should be an ambassador for Check My File at this point. So if anyone’s,

[34:58] Ella Weinberg: if Check My File are listening, but I rave about it all the time because Check My File is the one platform that allows you to look at your credit ref your credit score or your credit report, but taking into consideration all three agencies. So it will have all three agencies including in that report. And if you’re paying for a premium with Experian or with Equifax, Check My File are pretty much the same money, but like I said, you’re then getting all three rather than just one. If someone does want to go down the free route, then of course there are great options. Experian, I think money um the money saving credit club is then something that um allows people to access their credit report with Experian, but for free. With Equifax,

[35:43] Ella Weinberg: it’s Clear Score for free. And with TransUnion, it’s credit karma. But first things first, you’ve got to know where to look and you’ve got to understand that this platform is almost like a financial CV of yourself when it comes to your money. And the quicker you can understand that having a CV, the same way you would go to a job, you want someone to be able to read through your skills and etc. And of course, you know, it doesn’t take into consideration how great you might be in person and and you know how responsible you might actually be. But that’s what it is. It’s a financial CV saying, okay, this person is responsible, or this person pays things on time, or this person’s got a lot of financial information about them. So taking this person at face value, we’re happy

[36:28] Ella Weinberg: to loan them money. And I think that’s another thing, is that it’s not always about loaning money. People have a massive misconception that building your credit score is about borrowing money from somewhere. But if you want to rent a property, they take into consideration your credit score. There are certain jobs as well that you might need to have a copy of your credit score available. And with we’re thinking of the transition that we’re making with open banking and cash being coming becoming less and less less necessary, the need for that credit score. I’m sure loads of people have noticed that now when you log into your online banking, you know, NatWest is allowing you to access your credit score for free. And it’s becoming more and more necessary. Um, along with that transition into on to open banking. So the quicker people can get their head around it, is the more

[37:14] Ella Weinberg: I think people will be able to appreciate it.

[37:16] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, completely. We had um Luke Freeman on from Cheddar, who was talking about the in the changes to that system through open banking, it’s been coming a lot more fast for people to make decisions about you. Exactly. So if you’ve not built up a good-looking financial CV, it can really quite, you know, as you said, jobs, rent, like mobile phones in some cases. It’s like many different reasons for being able to actually go and get mortgages, like that’s probably the biggest one, right? You want to buy a house, you’ll have a good credit score. And if you’ve got a bad credit score, what are some of the things that people should look out for? Is there’s like uh CCJs? Yes. What else is there?

[37:59] Ella Weinberg: CCJs, missed payments, defaults. So I kind of say the six two six rule. So everything on your credit report within the last six months is always going to immediately impact you. So if you’ve missed a payment in the last six months, that’s always gonna have a massive impact on you in consideration to something from three years ago. Um, so that’s number six. Two. So that’s everything in the last two years. More of a mortgage perspective, but mortgage lenders take everything into consideration within the last two years, and most other financial companies, if they’re gonna lend to you as well. So, yes, you may have missed a payment, say eight months ago, but they’re still going to consider it when it comes to making you an offer. And that can be the difference between someone maybe getting, you know, a credit card limit of £500 and £2,500, just because

[38:44] Ella Weinberg: in that last two years, one’s got a misspayment and one doesn’t. And then lastly, six again. So 6266 is being that is the length of time that information remains on your credit report from either the date it is opened or the date it is closed. So if we then think of mispayments, defaults, and CCJs, mispayments, whilst again, um it’s it the the consideration or the impact gets less and less. Bottom line is that reporting history is going to be present for six years. Um CCJs remain on your credit file for six years period with the minute you receive one. And the same with defaults, they remain on your credit file for a minimum of six years as well. There’s um uh it’s basically

[39:29] Ella Weinberg: all down to kind of like English law and um statute of limitations. So it’s the period of time that allows a company to be able to uh come after an individual or put or basically progress someone for being able to reclaim money that is owed to them. The biggest problem that I think a lot of people don’t realise is they do bury their heads in the sand and they think that after six years, that’s it. They’re home and dry, it comes off their credit report, and that’s it. No. Because what companies are in a position to do is sell any debt that you might still owe them. If they’ve already sort of come after you, let’s say, um, to try and make a claim against you, they may not be in a position to do that again, but they can sell the debt to someone else and that person can come after you again. So if you’ve

[40:14] Ella Weinberg: got outstanding defaults that you haven’t paid off, still clear them within those six years because they can reappear. It’s the same with the CCJ. Whilst that person can’t actively pursue another application for a claim against you, they can just simply sell the debt to another debt collection agency, and then they can come after you again for another six years. And it’s just this revolving cycle, essentially.

[40:35] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, no, this resonates with me so much. In my 20s, I built up like 24,000 pounds in consumer debt, and that was like the reason I got into personal finance because I was like, no, but then you know, I I was pretty stupid with my debt. I did the whole burying my head in the sand thing, missed payments, had a default, like was as bad as you could possibly get, basically. And the I was still paying for that when we went to get our first ever mortgage, even though six years later I was a completely different person, and it actually came off the month before we moved into our house. We had to wait. So that’s how much of an impact it had on me. Yeah, 26 years and my 30th, it was very close to my 30th birthday, and that

[41:20] Sammie Ellard-King: what happened to me at 24 years of age was still paying impacting you massively. Like they wouldn’t they wouldn’t give the policy. They were like, right, well, you can move in and assemble when it comes off your thing.

[41:32] Ella Weinberg: See, and I think you hit the nail on the head there. The person you was at 24 and the person you was at, you know, 30, you’ve done gone through a whole career transition in that period of time. So people really take it for granted and think, I’m young, you know, I just I’m just gonna bury my head in my hand, bury my head in the sand, or you know what? I’m just not going to get this, or I’m just gonna hold off moving out, or I’m just gonna hold off on this. But like you said, when you think about it, six years is a long time. And if we put that into perspective when it comes to things like investing, everyone always wants to make more money, but if we put it into perspective like that, they always say the earlier you start is the better. It’s the same with the insurance, the earlier you get it, the better. When you save, the earlier you start, the better. The earlier

[42:17] Ella Weinberg: you start to take into consideration your credit score and how important it is, the better. Because then in six years’ time, when you are a different person, when you’ve maybe now sort of really sunk your feet into your career and what life’s gonna look like, maybe with a partner or whatever it may be, now you’ve already, you know, you’ve already established all of those disciplines and all of those habits, those healthy monetary habits, because the two work hand in hand, but you’ve already established them. So then that way it’s not impacting you later on. Because bottom line is if you’re good with your money coming in and out of your bank account, you’re gonna be good with your credit score. And if you’re not good with your money in your banking account, but you’re good with your credit score, it’s gonna naturally have a knock-on effect on your bank account. It’s just understanding that those two are so intertwined.

[42:58] Sammie Ellard-King: 100%, 100%. And it just comes down to that whole like managing your money, you know, look after your pounds and it will in a couple of your pennies and the pounds will follow. It’s that same mantra. Like if you look after everything, your bills are paid on time, you you’re and if you can’t pay your bills, you make a way to pay them or inform that company that you’re requiring a lower payment that month to keep things ticking over, then like it’s about communication. And actually, money for me became so much better when I started talking about it.

[43:30] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, and that weight is lifted. And I think you’re you hit the nail on the head there when you said it’s about communication. I’ve had dealt with so many clients that when it came to uh mispayment or potentially a default, it was just down to lack of communication. And we’ve actually been able to get the mispayments and the defaults, you know, reversed essentially, which has then had obviously a positive impact on their credit report, just down to communication because companies, they’re massive, massive companies with thousands of employees. Yes, they have a process, but they make mistakes, and it’s annoying when then your financial circumstances are impacted at the cost of you know, at the result of their exactly their mistakes. But by the same token, us as individuals can make honest mistakes,

[44:15] Ella Weinberg: providing it’s not a pattern. If it’s a one-off, chances are if you have a conversation with your credit card company, with your utility bill, whoever it may be, and you say to them, look, this is really impacting me. Um, this is the scenario that I’m in. It was a one-off time, etc. etc. Chances are if it’s still within a month period, they will actually remove that mispayment or that default. Same with CCJs. A lot of the time, CCJs can actually be argued, and that’s some of the work that I do with clients as well, where it’s been sent to the wrong address or, you know, just something around the debt. Because with CCJs, CCJ is actually a county court judgment. So it’s not so much as to whether you owe the money, you might actually owe the money, you might have just not paid someone. It’s about whether the judgment that’s been filed against

[45:01] Ella Weinberg: you is fair. And a lot of the time is, you know, suppose it’s sent to the wrong address. How can you fight something that you’re none the wiser or you know nothing about? So actually, in that instance, might still owe the money, but the judgment itself is not fair. And if we can actually communicate that to the judge, then we can say, look, we’re more than willing to pay this debt, put in place a payment plan, whatever it may be. Can we have the CCJ off so I can still live my life and do all of the things that you know I want to do? And chances are you’ll get it removed. So communicate, communicate.

[45:31] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, 100%. That’s so funny you said that because uh I got a CCJ when I was twenty six, yeah, and it was for a water bill from a student household that was like twenty two, that uh my friend was supposed to pay, but I took out the policy and he hadn’t paid it, and we’d all left the house. So obviously all the communication was going to that house. To the old address, yeah. Yeah, and then all of a sudden it was like bang. And I was like, whoa, what the hell? Like, how is this fair? So we went and we fought it and we got it removed. But imagine we hadn’t have done that. And obviously, I was like, look, like, you know, I phoned up the old friend and was like, You you owe me 350 quid. Like, it’s just the way this needs to work, right? Because you were supposed to pay the water bills in my my name. Luckily, we were still good friends, so we could

[46:16] Sammie Ellard-King: have that kind of conversation. But yeah, um, like we managed to get it removed because it was going to the wrong address, so it’s really interesting you say that. So you should always check these things out because usually there’s a way, or yeah, as long as you you know you haven’t lived in the same address for 20 years, and there’s no paid in front of postman. I don’t know him. Yeah, just but you know, putting some table over the letterbox to get through. Uh uh to sort of bring this to a close, I would have loved to sort of talk to you about sort of the wealth strategy and coaching and stuff, but I think you’re so knowledgeable on the insurance and the credit score stuff. It was just we had to unpack that because it was something so important for people listening to this, and we’ve never spoken about it. Um so, but

[47:01] Sammie Ellard-King: you do obviously offer growing your wealth as a service as well.

[47:08] Ella Weinberg: Yeah, sure. So essentially it’s like a bit of a roadmap, a step-by-step plan, kind of creating your own blueprint and just sort of recognising exactly where you are. So I do like a financial audit with clients, where are you? And essentially, where are you trying to get to? So someone may be potentially wanting to buy a house, someone may be wanting to be able to accumulate enough money so they can move abroad, or even just scaling their business, so to speak. So it’s just understanding exactly where they are and how they’re managing their money, how many bank accounts have they got, do they have a pension, do they have insurance, etc.? All that jazz. Where are they trying to get to? And then the steps that we can implement literally from start to finish. So they’re still designing a life that they love, but they’re actively scaling and building their wealth and then also protecting it as well. There’s

[47:52] Ella Weinberg: no point just sort of, you know, earning loads of money, spending loads of money, because then essentially it’s just a quid pro quo. You’re robbing Peter to pay poor, you’re just still at ground zero. It’s making sure that, okay, I want to buy a house, but you know, how much equity can potentially be in that house? Or, you know, the area that I’m gonna buy that house in, is it a capital appreciating area? And is this gonna be a house that I’m gonna have a family in? Or is this gonna be a buy-to-let investment? Making sure that you understand if you go for a buy-to-let, you wrote you sort of rid yourself of that first-time buyer status and just understanding all of those things so people have fully mapped it out. I feel like with social media and content and things online, and you know, we’re in an age now where comparison really can be the thief of joy because we have access to people’s

[48:38] Ella Weinberg: lives so much more than what we ever did before, and then we use that as a yardstick or as a measure for what we should be doing ourselves, and then that causes us to not fully map out the plan. So, yeah, buying a house is great. Have you ever tried to maintain a house with a mortgage and you know, the roof and the garden and the guttering and all that jazz? So it’s just making sure that people fully understand what the journey from A to B looks like, all of the steps in between, and then also what the latter end of life looks like for them as well.

[49:07] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, so important. Okay, cool. So to kind of bring this to a close then. If someone wanted to work with you, how do they do that?

[49:16] Ella Weinberg: They can either find me on social media, so Ella Ensures on all social media platforms. Um, website www.ellaensures.co.uk. Drop me an email, my contact information is on there. Drop me a DM or just book a consultation. My link will be on there as well.

[49:35] Sammie Ellard-King: Ah, cool. I’ve literally loved this. Uh, we’re gonna have to get you back to talk all about growing your wealth and personalised wealth strategies because I think there’s uh so much more. But um, thank you so much for your time today. It’s been a real pleasure.

[49:45] Ella Weinberg: Thank you for having me.

[49:47] Sammie Ellard-King: The Money Gains Podcast, financial guide, all three now.