The Sunday Times - UK (2022-02-06)

16 The Sunday Times February 6, 2022

MONEY

T

he singer Matt Cardle grew

up in Essex and spent his

early twenties playing gigs in

tiny venues with his band

Seven Summers, before

auditioning for ITV’s X Factor

in 2010. In a final watched

by a record 20 million

viewers he beat One

Direction to win a £1 million

recording contract with Simon Cowell’s

Syco label. His debut single, When We

Collide, sold one million copies but in

2012 he parted ways with Syco and has

since released three albums on a smaller

independent label, while appearing on

stage in Strictly Ballroom and Jesus Christ

Superstar. He lives in a flat in west

London with his longtime girlfriend,

Amber Hernaman, and their miniature

goldendoodle, Ted.

How much money is in your wallet?

None really. Cash has seemed even more

obsolete since the pandemic and if you

try to use it now you get funny looks.

What credit cards do you use?

For a long time I simply didn’t look at

what was going on with my credit cards

or the rest of my finances, but a couple of

years ago I thought I better get a handle

on my finances, so I’m more on top of

everything now. Ever since X Factor

there has always been money coming in,

but for a long time my management

looked after everything as my focus was

on the music and, to be honest, I still

don’t understand everything.

Are you a saver or a spender?

I’m a spender, without a doubt. I’ve

always believed that money is there for

spending. Obviously you can’t go crazy

and spend everything you have, and I

wouldn’t do that, but you could get hit

by a bus tomorrow and you can’t get

buried with all your money, can you?

How much did you earn last year?

The music industry has basically

collapsed and live performances have

stopped. I’ve still got some income

trickling in from record sales and

merchandising, but live shows were at

least 50 per cent of my income, so my

earnings have probably dropped 70 per

cent since Covid appeared.

You might assume that I earned most

money with my debut single, but that’s

not actually the case. I earned more

when I wasn’t on Simon Cowell’s record

label. I didn’t write When We Collide, so it

definitely didn’t make me an overnight

millionaire. People also remind me that I

won X Factor and One Direction only

came third but they’re collectively worth

several hundred million pounds, but

that doesn’t bother me. I’m really not

that fussed about that kind of thing. I’m

very, very comfy and that’s not changed

over the past ten years.

Have you ever been really hard up?

Before X Factor I used to do painting

and decorating odd jobs, so I was

probably only earning about £200 a

week. I was in my twenties and living at

home still. If I needed cash for going

out and getting smashed at the weekend

my brother would help me out.

Acquiring money has never been on my

radar, but having fluctuating money can

be unsettling.

Are you better off than your parents?

My dad was in the automotive industry

and mum worked for a recruitment

company. When I was growing up things

were comfortable but it was up and

down. There were times when we had

more than we needed and times when

we didn’t have enough. We never really

talked about money unless I needed to

borrow 20 quid or something.

Do you own a property?

I rented a flat on the Thames in Chelsea

for the first couple of years after X Factor

and then looked back and saw the

obscene amount of money it cost. So

I spent

a fortune

converting

the garage

and now

only use

it as a

corridor

amuse readers to have a total

innocent writing about his

money experiences. So from

April 1999 I have been writing

this monthly column. I

thought monthly would be

often enough not to tax or

annoy serious Money folk.

At first it was called Me and

My Money — because it was

me, twitting on about my

money. Then by chance,

when I was phoning it

through (shows you how long

this column has been going,

no emails in them thar days)

the sub-editor misheard the

title of the column and called

it Mean with Money. It turned

out rather apt as one of my

running themes was what a

tight bastard I am, always

going for two punnets of

raspberries for £1.50, even

when they turn out to be

mouldy.

The Mean with Money

title seems to have been

dropped. Nothing to do with

me, I just sit at home, trying

not to bother the great brains

of the Money section, most

of them aged about 13. But I

am still the same, counting

the pennies while being

awfully generous with big

sums, oh yes.

I still know nothing. This

morning the Halifax informed

HUNTER

DAVIES

I

know nowt about money.

I have no shares, no

investment portfolios, no

idea what a gilt is, or

whether a bull market is

good or bad or middling and

I would not know a financial

adviser if I met him in my

porridge.

So how come I have been

writing a column in these

Money pages for 23 years if I

am so ignorant about money?

Yeah, it’s a mystery.

It began when I happened

to write a piece advising my

children not to have a

pension. I had had one for

several years, in Equitable

Life, of unblessed memory,

and I had just discovered that

when I died the insurance

company would keep it all.

Pretty stupid, I know. I would

get a pension when I retired,

or an annuity, which

apparently is the term, until I

died, then that was it. All

those decades of giving them

my money, yet the company

would inherit it, not my

family. What a swiz.

In this letter to my children

I suggested that investing in

property was better. You

could live in the house or get

an income. It was likely to go

up in value, as it always had

done in my lifetime. It would

always be yours and you

could control when you

cashed it in. Best of all you

could ogle it. I could stand

there, looking up, saying I

own that roof, I own those

windows, every weed in the

front garden belongs to me.

You can’t do that with a

pension. It is invisible. And

also, in the case of Equitable

Life, non-existent.

The editor of this

newspaper at the time, John

Witherow, now editor of The

Times, suggested I try out a

personal column in the

Money section. It might

Some things never

change: inflation was

sending Hunter round the

bend back in May 2008

The TV talent show winner may not make millions,

but the Essex boy and cancer survivor is happy with

his London flat and his guitar collection — as long

as he can afford dim sum, he tells Nick McGrath

love, but they’re very much used as

opposed to just being collectors’ items.

And the worst?

Probably some of the guitars I’ve bought

off the internet. They looked good

online but quite a few arrived and I’ve

immediately thought: “What the hell did

I buy this for?”

What’s better for retirement —

property or pension?

Definitely property. I have thought

about moving out of London and getting

a bigger place with more outside space

but that’s probably a bit kneejerk.

What’s the most extravagant thing

you’ve bought?

I bought a Vespa scooter for a mate after

winning X Factor.

What’s your money weakness?

I think we’re all spending too much on

takeaway food at the moment, but I’m a

sucker for dim sum. I know it’s packed

with monosodium glutamate, but I just

can’t resist ordering some two or three

times a week.

What is your financial priority?

Maintaining the flat, paying off the

mortgage as soon as possible and then

thinking about selling and buying

another property at some point.

What would you do

if you won the lottery?

I would give a vast amount to charity

because I don’t believe anyone needs

that amount of money. I would probably

give a fair few million to a cancer

research charity, and pay off a few family

and friends’ mortgages, then with

whatever I had left I’d like to buy an old

farmhouse in France with enough space

for family and friends to come and stay

and just relax and sit around smoking

and drinking and having barbecues.

Do you support any charities?

I had cancer as a child so it’s a no-brainer

for me to support cancer research.

Young Lives vs Cancer, previously CLIC

Sargent, is one I donate to regularly.

What is the most important lesson

you’ve learnt about money?

Don’t worry about it. It’s just money.

I know people with an obscene amount

and they’re not happy, and it’s not the

money that’s making them unhappy. It’s

the fact they’re not happy making them

unhappy. And I know people with

absolutely nothing who couldn’t be

happier. It’s nice to have, but I just think

the more you lean on it and the more

weight you put on it, the more stressed

you’ll be. Whether you’ve got a shedload

or nothing at all, worrying about it all the

time is just going to stress you out.

FAME AND FORTUNE MATT CARDLE

Money has

come in

ever since

X Factor.

I’ve been

very, very

comfy for

10 years

‘I was earning

£200 a week

until I beat

One Direction

on X Factor’

JAMES SHAW/SHUTTERSTOCK

after my second album sold pretty damn

well I bought a flat in west London and

have been there ever since.

Do you invest in shares?

It’s never really been in my mind to

invest or build money as I’ve always just

been so focused on my career and my

music. I might have had some Premium

Bonds at one point.

What’s been your best investment?

My flat has probably increased in value

by about 40 per cent in seven years. I’ve

also got a collection of about 20 guitars

probably worth about 20 grand, which I

when the two years were up

and they had put it into

another account earning

bugger all.

Am I going to do anything

about it? A brick through the

Halifax window? If only I

knew where the nearest

Halifax window is. Or an

email complaint? But email

addresses are state secrets

these days. Or ring them? Life

is too short, at least mine is.

So I will do nothing. How silly

is that?

We all of course do silly

things with money; spend it

on stupid things, waste it on

fripperies, invest in fantasies,

get taken in by scams.

I once made a bid for a

Scottish island, somewhere in

the Hebrides, just a rock

really, about 30 years ago.

The asking price was

£10,000. I am Scottish by

birth and parentage, so I

thought it would be romantic

to own a bit of the country.

You had to bid using a

Scottish solicitor. I happened

to know one in Stranraer who

made my offer for me. My

wife thought I was totally off

ma’ heed. Fortunately I didn’t

get it.

Two years ago I built

another summer house in my

garden, when I already have

two. Lovingly handmade by

craftsmen. Cost £16,000.

Now that was potty. My

children still go on about it

every time they come.

When I gave up having a

car — that was a sensible

thing, wisest move for years —

I converted the garage into a

studio/playroom/spare office.

Looks lovely, very tastefully

furnished, lots of lovely books

and prints. But do I use it? Do

I heckers. I just walk through

it on the way to my walk on

the Heath. All that money — I

dare not mention how much

as my children will be

convinced I am potty — and I

just use it as a corridor.

Have you done or nearly

done any silly things with

money? Do share. Send them

to James Coney, editor of

Money. Not to me. I’m too

mean to reply to emails.

Still mean with money ( just don’t

mention that £16k summer house)

me that the balance on my

two-year Isa was £6,382.96.

Didn’t know I had one, so that

was good. They also said that

in this past year I have earned

interest of £2.89. What? How

can it be so low? You can’t

buy a cup of coffee for that.

All my stupid fault, of

course. I opened the Isa

decades ago, just for two

years, and did not notice

Matt Cardle, who

has starred in

Strictly Ballroom

and Jesus Christ

Superstar, used to

be a painter and

decorator

*