Charlie Nunn, the boss of Britain's biggest bank, has a confession: he hates budgeting. The CEO of Lloyds Banking Group, which provides one in four current accounts, says he has always loathed the process. Instead, he looks at his current account as soon as he gets paid and decides how much to move into savings. 'Do it as soon as you can,' he adds.
Nunn's attitude to money was shaped by a childhood of financial worry. His parents divorced and his mother raised four children, meaning he grew up thinking carefully about spending. 'We were constantly worrying about what we were spending money on and managing money carefully which ranged from looking for cheap food in the supermarket to thinking carefully about holidays and what we did in our spare time,' he says.
“Lloyds CEO Charlie Nunn shares five money tips including automating savings and having an emergency fund.”
Now, as the head of a bank with deep insight into customers' habits, he has five key tips for managing money. First, automate savings: set up a direct debit, use cash envelopes or round-up tools. 'If you're able to carve out a little bit and put it somewhere else where you won't have access to it and be able to spend it, I think that's the easiest way to start having a saving mindset,' Nunn says. He recommends 'saving little, saving early and saving regularly'.
Second, build an emergency fund for surprise bills like a broken boiler or car repairs. He advises having one to three months' salary set aside if possible. Third, be transparent with your partner: Nunn and his wife use a joint account and have 'complete transparency' over money. His red flag in a relationship is 'someone who isn't careful with money' because he has always been 'relatively prudent'.
Fourth, teach children the value of money. Nunn says his children 'take no advice from me because I'm their dad' but he has tried to make them understand through pocket money. 'They have pocket money which helps them budget and they live within their means,' he says. Two of his children are more comfortable spending, while others are natural savers – mirroring what the bank sees among customers.
Finally, protect yourself from fraud by 'being curious and asking questions' if unsure. Nunn does not think younger people are generally financially irresponsible but is concerned about the bigger challenge of dealing with the amount of information, misinformation and pressure people now face online.
For a man who runs a bank serving one in four Britons, Nunn's advice is remarkably simple: save little, save early, save regularly – and don't be afraid to automate it.