MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

[Handyman]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

Does anyone know of ML's background before MSE? Was he from a tough background? Has he experienced debt? Were his parents well to do? What got him into consumer revenge?

I don't know any of this, but it would influence how I view him now to some extent.

LINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_...ial_journalist)

Sounds Lower Middle class to me? Looks like he learned his trade picking the brains of researchers for the BBC and interviewing so called experts.

One brilliant chap I once knew told me if you can interview the top two people in a particular field and get them to tell you what they know, then you will become the top person in that field because you then have the combined knowledge of the two best.

Maybe that's how he did it?

Now on the other hand the real way to become the top in your field is to put in more hours than everyone else, learning and making mistakes then learning from them. You also gather others around you who you might not necessarily agree with but are also experts in their own way, and to motivate them to great deeds.
And there my friends you have the history of Niddy and AAD

Regards, Handy

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_...al_journalist)

[Handyman]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_...ial_journalist)

Snap

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

Snap

Indeed and, as one can see, his formative years were partly spent in the grim slums of Didsbury. (link)

[jon1965]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

Poor man living in Didsbury...must have been hell on earth.
After all it's two steps down from Moss Side

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

Poor man living in Didsbury...must have been hell on earth.
After all it's two steps down from Moss Side

Fortunately, his parents moved before he had to choose between the two rival gangs, the Reformies and the Hassids.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

Does anyone know of ML's background before MSE? Was he from a tough background? Has he experienced debt? Were his parents well to do? What got him into consumer revenge?

I don't know any of this, but it would influence how I view him now to some extent.

Remember in the article link for the charity his dad is a partner with an accountancy firm or something and he (ML) paid their fees himself which was about £20k or so last year so yea, I'd assume he was middle class.

That said, class doesn't come into it. He's a reporter, plain and simple.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_...al_journalist)

Lewis attended the £12,000 a year King's School, a top independent school in Chester.

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

Nice to see someone doing well from such a deprived background.

[925pws]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

So why not post your SOA here so that we can tell you where to save money as they do at MSE?

Well I was going to ask Niddy if I could go buy some decent shampoo as that 68p crap they told me to buy on MSE (so I could cut my toilettries bill down) is playing havoc with my hair

[925pws]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

As long as it doesn't cost over £1 per litre you are allowed to change brands. However, if you are in any debt you're not allowed to have Sky.

Martin has very little to do with all that though, the place is in the hands of a few members who feel empowered when they look at SOAs and tell people where to shave off a few pence.

Don't get me wrong those who do comment try and help but they are the ones who were given that kind of advice at the start also, so it's like a merry go round with no-one actually discussing the debts and what to do about them, just how to cut your outgoings. To be fair it is good when you eventually realise you're being ripped off by some companies so you can either get a better deal or move.

[BBoo]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

The reason I asked about his background was if he was genuinely a rags to riches story it would, to my mind, be a bit different. Obviously he isn't!

As for the money saving tips, false economies spring to mind!

If he is really genuine, then he will set up some sort of trust, or charity to help people in poverty or debt with some of the money. I can think of a number of things he could do straight away - I might even be prepared to advise him for a small fee!

[SXGuy]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

changing from Ltd to Personall liability is not rare nor new.

We advise all our clients to be a sole trader rather than a ltd company (depending on turnover) for the simple fact that ALL income is accessable whenever the person needs it.

This takes away the need for dividends, and Employer Ni costs due to being a ltd company.

Yes accounts do not need to be filed with companies house, but Tax Returns would still be required to be filed with HMRC.

The only difference is the accounts would not be in the public domain.

Also bare in mind that some ltd companies with small turnovers would only require abbreviated accounts submitted to companies house which would not show the Profit and Loss of the business anyway.

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

changing from Ltd to Personal liability is not rare nor new.

We advise all our clients to be a sole trader rather than a ltd company (depending on turnover) for the simple fact that ALL income is accessable whenever the person needs it.

An odd coincidence - which I am quite sure could not apply to ML - is that such a move might also facilitate money laundering.

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

As long as it doesn't cost over £1 per litre you are allowed to change brands. However, if you are in any debt you're not allowed to have Sky.

Martin has very little to do with all that though, the place is in the hands of a few members who feel empowered when they look at SOAs and tell people where to shave off a few pence.

Did I dream it or was one debtor once told to use both sides of every piece of loo paper?