I’m signed up and already I’m getting to work

I’m promised

• A welcome email within 24 hours
• The first module next Wednesday

In the meantime, I can  learn more about my  relationship with money below:

• Take the FT’s Financial Personality Quiz here
• Fill in my Personal Balance Sheet here
• View other FT money personal finance guides here

I’ve had a go at the Financial Personality Quiz and find I’m part a cash hoarder

You get more of a kick from saving money than spending it. Cash hoarders like to stash their gold, and have a tendency to be money obsessed – this is because they strongly associate money with security (maybe there wasn’t much of it around when they were growing up). They can struggle with taking an investment risk, and can be so focussed on making more money that they fail to enjoy what they have, potentially a source of tension within relationships.

and part a jitterbug

You really struggle to make decisions about money. In times like these, everyone has the jitters about money, but your emotional reactions could stem from a lack of confidence elsewhere, or simply being blindsided by financial jargon. Often, the fear of making the wrong decision means you end up making no decision – which could cost you in the long run.

I’m not sharing my personal financial balance sheet but I did find it very easy to complete and quite fun to review.

And here are all the questions that the FT have found “frequently asked”

• How do I access the “Sort Your Financial Life Out with Claer Barrett” series?
• How do I get more personal finance content from the FT?
• How long is the “Sort Your Financial Life Out with Claer Barrett” series?
• I’m having a problem with the “Sort Your Financial Life Out with Claer Barrett” series what should I do?
• What do I get from taking “Sort Your Financial Life Out with Claer Barrett”?
• What is “Sort Your Financial Life Out with Claer Barrett”?
• What is the price of the “Sort Your Financial Life Out with Claer Barrett” series?
• Where do I find Claer Barrett’s personal finance series?
• Who is “Sort Your Financial Life Out with Claer Barrett” written for?
• Who wrote the “Sort Your Financial Life Out with Claer Barrett” series?
• Why haven’t I received any emails even though I’ve signed up for Claer Barrett’s personal finance series?

So what do I want to learn?

I’m too old for education, I want financial self-help. I want to get organised and join up the dots, using 62 years on the planet to make half-decent financial decisions for myself without having to pay for advice and execution. I know I’ll have to pay for execution but I really think I am able to take decisions for myself.

I don’t know Claer very well, but what I’ve seen of her, she seems the kind of no-nonsense person I can listen to and learn from. I once bumped into her on a train. I was trialling the First Actuarial muppetometre and she picked up on it. There’s a little slideshow below.

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We all aspire to be in control of our finances but none of us can control with certainty the onset of later life decline and fall. So it is better to get to grips with these things when you still have the energy and cognitive capacity.

I think this will be £19 well spent.