How I Manage My Money: SEO exec, 25, with £70,000 student loan who wants £40,000 pay

In our How I Manage My Money series, we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.

This week, we speak to Matthew Walker-Mills, 25, who lives in Nantwich and works as a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) executive. Matthew adheres to a strict budget and is careful about how he spends money. He faces paying off nearly £70,000 in student debt. Matthew believes he would need at least £300,000 in pensions for a comfortable retirement.

Monthly Budget

My monthly income: I take home £1,850 per month from my full-time job as an SEO executive. I work for an e-commerce sports equipment retailer. My annual gross pay is about £27,500 a year.

My monthly outgoings: Rent, £700; council tax, £135; groceries, £140; gas and electric, £70 to £120; broadband via mobile hub hotspot, £20; car fuel, £150; Now TV, £2.99 a month deal for one year; sim-only mobile contract, £24; money into stocks and shares ISA, £250; money into regular cash savings account, £250; money into workplace pension, £91; padel, £13 a session. I pay for water on a quarterly basis, at about £150 per quarter. My car insurance is £438 for the year. I’m not a member of a gym and prefer walking outside. I do a lot of my own cooking and try to avoid takeaways.

I grew up in Stoke-on-Trent with my family. My dad worked as a sales adviser at an engineering firm, while my mum worked as a teaching assistant at my school after taking time off to bring us up. I studied football business and marketing at the University Campus of Football Business from 2020.

It was challenging as this is when Covid-19 struck, and most of my first year was completed remotely. It was a bit of a nightmare as I’d booked student accommodation, but spent most of the first year at home.

My total student loan debt package is now £69,415.92, with interest accruing to the tune of more than £2,000. When I took out my student loans, I didn’t realise interest accrued.

I understand that rules about interest on some student loans will now be changing. I will have to start paying my student loans back once I earn a bit more money. Once the repayment kicks in, I will need to readjust my monthly budget accordingly. At this point, I just can’t see how I will ever pay it all back.

I work full-time as an SEO executive at an online sports equipment retailer. My gross annual salary is £27,500.

It is quite daunting paying for everything myself, but I started out doing it while earning less than I’m earning now. When I first started renting, I didn’t have an organised budget. Now I am a lot better at budgeting, so as soon as my wage comes in, I know exactly how much is going into my savings and on rent or bills.

I only spend £140 a month on groceries as I bulk-make meals and freeze them. I use Aldi and Lidl for groceries. I’ve had my mobile phone for the last five years and would never buy a new one every five minutes. My car is a 2012 Hyundai i10, which was kindly given to me, and I have no plans to get a new car. I don’t pay to go to the gym as it’s expensive and doesn’t interest me.

Each month, I add £250 to a stocks and shares ISA with Trading212. I also add £250 to a regular cash savings account with Lloyds Bank, which has an interest rate of 5 per cent and has £500 in it. I have £3,500 in my stocks and shares ISA, though this has been volatile in recent months as a result of the war in Iran. My instant access cash ISA has about £5,000 in it, in case needed for an emergency like my car breaking down.

I’ve recently moved from a one-bedroom flat in Wrexham, which cost £585 a month to rent. I’m now living in a one-bedroom flat in Nantwich, which costs £700 a month to rent. It doesn’t have any outdoor space.

I would like to own my own home by the time I am 30, but there is no guarantee this will happen. Ideally, I’d like a nice three-bedroom house somewhere near where I am now. I’d only want to buy when I know I’m settled in an area and where I’m working. I also think I would need to earn at least £35,000 to £40,000 to be able to get a decent deposit together and buy a home.

I add £91 a month to a workplace pension, with 3 per cent added by my employer, and it’s a big priority for me. Not having a pension would be a risk, as not many people can live on the state pension alone any more.

In the future, I may set up another stocks and shares ISA as a form of pension to rely on in later life. When prices for everything are constantly rising, it’s important to have a backup. I’d like to retire in my 60s. My current pension projection is £160,000 and I don’t think that would be anywhere near enough, so I need to save a lot more. I’d need at least £300,000 to £400,000 in pensions for a comfortable retirement.

I am very motivated by money. My large student debt gives me the motivation to earn more, as I want to get it paid off. I started my career on £22,000 a year and am keen to earn £40,000 a year.

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