Ken Okoroafor is a financial expert who managed to become financially free by just 34. During the pandemic, he was able to quit his CFO position and focus on living a life he enjoys and running his financial education platform, The Humble Penny.
“I’ve always seen financial independence as aspirational for me because I have an immigrant background in this country when I was 14 years old,” Ken told Express.co.uk.
“So for me, it was a desire to really change my life and not have to work as hard as my parents did, still paying their mortgage at the age of 67.”
He and his wife post videos on their YouTube account educating others. These include the likes of “How to invest £1000” and “How we paid off our mortgage in seven years”.
Being mortgage free is a dream for many Britons, who would love to use the extra income on boosting other investments or just living a life they love.
READ MORE: State pension increase confirmed as pensioners miss out on ‘highest rise in a decade’
He told Express.co.uk: “So a good example is, in one day, making one phone call to my bank, by increasing my monthly payments and changing my interest rates to be lower I shaved nine years of my mortgage.”
While this meant Ken’s payments increased month on month, he spent less in the long run of interest and is now living without a mortgage.
Not all people will be able to afford to do this. It is very important to think about what you can realistically afford before making any changes to your finances.
It’s advisable to consult an accredited financial advisor about your particular situation before making any decisions.
This can be mitigated, however, by arranging a salary sacrifice with your employer.
This is an agreement between you and your employer to reduce your earnings by an equal amount made to your pension contributions. Then your employer agrees to pay the total pension contributions.
This will reduce your take-home pay, but the money put away with the salary scheme will therefore not be subject to the higher tax rates introduced by Boris Johnson’s Conservative Government.
Ken said: “You might end up with less take-home pay but, in actual fact, it means the sacrifice will lessen the national insurance tax you pay.
“That may be something worth doing, particularly as the national insurance rates are going up by 1.25 percent.”
For all the latest Business News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.