125. Luxury Life Upgrades WITHOUT Breaking the Bank

In this episode of Pennies to Pounds, Kia unpacks what it really means to enjoy life without sabotaging your financial future. Forget the old-school advice about constant sacrifice — this one’s about balance, strategy and enjoyment.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• Smart ways to enjoy luxury on a budget (yes, including travel)
• The spending hack that keeps guilt out of your purchases
• Why a little planning goes a long way with flights, hotels and upgrades
• How to make your lifestyle work for your money, not against it

Learn how to build wealth and live well.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome Back to Pennies to Pounds
• 1:32 Personal Updates and Behind the Scenes
• 4:55 New Vision for Money Education
• 8:22 Budgeting Reimagined: Balancing Goals and Joy
• 13:29 Travel Hacks for Luxury Experiences
• 18:20 Money Tips for Everyday Enjoyment
• 21:43 Closing Thoughts on Money Balance

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey guys and welcome back to the Pennies to Pounds podcast, the finance show that actually makes sense. If you ever asked yourself why didn't they teach us this at school? Or how do I get my money up without giving up the things I love, you're in the right place. We simplify money, expose the myths and give you the playbook to build wealth on your own terms, because money moves fast and it's time that yours kept up. Happy Monday everyone.

Speaker 1: 0:22

I'm happy to be back in front of the camera, behind the mic, back on the podcast Now. It has been a little while and I must first apologise because if you listened to the most recent episode before this one, I definitely said that we're going to be consistent again and I kind of failed on that. But I am back, we are consistent and I promise you we are sticking to this. You might see that we're in a different studio. We have come back to the origin Now. If you are a loyal Penny to Pounds listener, first and foremost, thank you so much, but you will know that we started off our journey in the WAP studios and we are back. It feels like a full circle moment. We are back in the WAP studios recording the podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:03

I thought it would be fitting for the one that really really comes back for me to give you another solo episode and to explain a bit more about what's been going on behind the scenes, as well as give you an actual episode where I'm going to be talking about how you can afford the things that you want, whether it's luxury, you want to go away, all those kind of things without having to give up the things that you love. But first and foremost, kia, where have you gone? Where has the podcast gone and what changes have been going on behind the scenes? So for me personally, I've had a lot going on. I just to show you one here I lost a family member about two months ago now and it was a really close family member of mine. It was very hard and I'm still definitely grieving. So with that, I've had to take a step back from everything that we're doing and it took me a while to feel comfortable being in front of the camera, just being honest, to feel comfortable recording again and really just put myself back out there to give you guys the content that you deserve. In addition to that, I've had a lot of things going on, obviously family wise, but also just life and work. You know as much as I run pennies to pounds. I've been doing it. This is our sixth year now. I'm also in my late twenties now trying to figure out the right balance between work and play, and how do we do things and where do we move pennies to pounds.

Speaker 1: 2:15

But, with that being said, we've had a lot of exciting changes. The first thing, if you follow us on Instagram as well, you will have seen that probably about two to three months ago we made a statement that announced that we are kind of revamping how we do things, and the biggest change is that we understand that money isn't just linear. Money isn't just what's in the textbooks. It is all of the things that come in between, and those are things like culture, identity and the way in which you interact with money emotionally. So we are pledging to change and incorporate that into the content that we create. You may have already seen it on our Instagram pages and our TikTok, but we are pledging towards that. We've got so many fun things planned for this year to help you to learn more about money, but also feel that it relates and understands what you go through when it comes to money. In addition to that. Obviously, we brought back the podcast. We've got a new format. You will have heard a new intro in the beginning and we're going to have a new, different layout when we have guests as well as when I do solo episodes.

Speaker 1: 3:13

On top of that, we also won a grant for the business. We won a £3,000 grant on my first ever time pitching. I'd never pitched before, ever stood in front of five judges, pitched the business, pitched what we do, and we won a three thousand pound grant. So we've said that we're going to use it to create a course, but what we are actually going to do is put out a survey. If you're part of our newsletter, then you'll receive that survey. If you're not, I would highly recommend you join, because we give you news stories of the week as well as tips, tricks and apps that you need every single week into your inbox. But we're gonna send that out to find out what you guys actually want and what we can use that money for. To make sure that we are creating a platform that empowers you to feel like you can manage your money. Alongside that, like I haven't got enough on my plate, I'm also building a FinTech app. So FinTech stands for financial technology and I'm also building a fintech app. So fintech stands for financial technology and I'm building a fintech app that I'm in in the process of releasing, the MVP, which is the first version of it. Again, it'll be said in the newsletter, so anyone who wants to be early adopters or early testers and be part of the crew to help me and give me feedback of what you like, what you'd love to see, what should be changed, that'll be in there. So there's a lot going on, but it's all real good fun. Now, with that being said, I've caught you up, but now we're moving forward, full steam ahead on what's to come. So, going forward, I've got a lot of episodes planned, some of myself alone and some of some incredible guests.

Speaker 1: 4:42

Today, we are covering how you can afford that luxury lifestyle or that lifestyle that you really want to live, without having to give up the things that you love. When we talk about budgeting a lot of the time, traditional budgeting always talks about having to sacrifice certain areas of your life to be able to add and be fruitful in others. Now, when we look at these, it's usually talking about cutting back on subscriptions or cutting back on going out in order to be able to afford the bills that you have and in order to be able to put money into savings and investments. Now, while all of that is very true, I think that there is a way that we need to have a different outlook on budgeting. So I've been budgeting since I was probably about 17,. I reckon I got my first job at 16 and shortly after that I'd realised I need to budget my money because it's not going to last forever if I don't know where it's going. So I budgeted from then, and it was only from then did I realise that I can actually create the life that I want once I understand the money that I have coming in.

Speaker 1: 5:46

So when we look at budgeting, we need to look at it from a different lens and understand that, as much as we want to save and invest and build for our future, if you're someone in your 20s and 30s, there is an element of wanting to enjoy yourself and I'm 100% in that category, especially where it's summer. Today is the hottest day of the year so far that we've had that I'm recording on and you want to enjoy yourself. You want to be able to meet up with your friends. You want to be able to book a holiday and not have to worry about whether or not you should be putting that extra money into savings and investments. I think the outlook that we need to have on budgeting making sure you cover your bills, making sure that you do have a plan for your future that's realistic, but also setting aside some money to have fun. Now, when I say this, if you're earning, let's just say, £1,600 a month and your bills are, for argument's sake, £800, that means you've got another £800 left over. That is not me saying £800 is completely for fun not at all. We do still need to invest for our future, save for our future, but there is no harm in putting away a couple of hundred towards, maybe, the holiday you want to go with your friends, or towards going out seeing your friends for brunch, if it's spontaneous, whatever. That is because all of these things not only allow you to enjoy your life, but mental health, when it comes to money, is also something that's very important and it allows you to maintain and look after your mental health.

Speaker 1: 7:12

I've been in periods where I have almost isolated myself for the sake of saving money, reaching my goals. I can't go out, can't see my friends. Obviously, you don't have to spend money to see friends, but nonetheless being able to do fun things with your friends. Obviously you don't have to spend money to see friends, but nonetheless, being able to do fun things with your friends helps you, and I'm sure anyone listening and watching you've had experiences where you've gone out with friends and you're like, oh my gosh, I feel alive again, I feel revitalized, and that is what we want to make sure that we incorporate when it comes to budgeting.

Speaker 1: 7:40

But we all have an ideal lifestyle that we want to live and I've been speaking to people and asking them what kind of lifestyle they're looking at. And many people want to be able to travel fairly freely, so that's looking at around two to three holidays a year, be able to go out with friends every so often, be able to afford a takeaway fairly regularly and just be able to enjoy their life and all the certain things that they want. Now, all of these things is on the more comfortable to luxurious end of a lifestyle, because, if I flashback to my childhood holidays, if you went on holiday once a year, wow your family, you've got money. It was only the really wealthy family, the really well-off families, that went on more than one holiday a year, and even a lot of families wouldn't go on any holidays. They might go one holiday every three to four years. So now the fact that we're in a generation who wants to go on holidays multiple times a year, it's how do we afford this almost more luxury status without spending the luxury price tag? I am going to be that role model here. I don't know if it's a role model, but the person to sit here and say I love traveling I counted last year and I think I went on 14 trips last year. This year, although more so for work, I've been on five trips. So I've kind of calmed it down from last year. But I am the person. I love traveling, but I don't love spending the luxury money to get abroad. So here are some of my tips to travel the world enjoy yourself, but not break the bank.

Speaker 1: 9:11

Number one when you're booking flights or booking hotels, the way you want to see it is the more time you have, so later on or the earlier, but basically you book flights early, hotels last minute. That is the method for the best deals and even myself I practice that. So if I know I want to go somewhere and I've kind of cemented those dates. It is always flights early, as soon as possible. As soon as I can secure that, those flights, I'll do that, and then hotels as late as possible. The reason being, the longer you leave flights and the closer it gets to the date they're actually traveling, people are going to book up those flights. So the prices, naturally, are going to adjust with demand and airlines will push up the flight prices if they see there's a lot of demand for that flight. So you want to get it as early as possible. As soon as you've decided right, I'm going to go to this destination on these dates to cure those flights now, conversely with hotels, you want to get it as early as possible as soon as you've decided right, I'm going to go to this destination on these dates to cure those flights Now, conversely with hotels, you want to book them as close as you can to the date that you're traveling or going to be arriving on.

Speaker 1: 10:10

I think the closest that I've done it is. I went to Thailand two years ago and I was in the airport about to board my flight, with no accommodation when I land, and I booked my hotel in the airport as I was boarding the airport, about to board my flight, with no accommodation when I land, and I booked my hotel in the airport as I was boarding the flight. Now that was a bit too tight, but you want to get it as close as you can. I've just come back from San Francisco and I booked the hotel for San Francisco seven days before I traveled. I managed to get a really good deal and I managed to, even when I was there, get a good upgrade in the hotel for free. So you want to make sure that you time it out in that way when you're booking flights and holidays. Another hack that I've kind of realized a semi-hack, it doesn't work all the time but one that I use especially when booking flights is to fly on different tiers. So I made a video last year.

Speaker 1: 10:58

I went to Jamaica in December and I flew out in economy delights. I went to Virgin so that's, I guess, their premium economy and then I flew back in their premium, which is probably a step below business, and that was incredible. But that also did not break the bank. The reason being is because I'm booking out two different fares, so at two different prices, and it managed to level out at price. I was like that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 11:25

Usually, when you book a flight, you want to. If you're going to do premium economy, you want to do premium economy in both. We want to do business or premium on both. We want to do first class or upper class on both. That is where you will see those elevated prices. Instead, I book one way so I might do premium economy and then do the other again. For Virgin, I did premium. I did the same thing when I went to San Francisco. I literally did premium on the way there and an economy delight on the way back. I believe that's how I did it. So have a look and see. Like I said, it doesn't always work. We want to play around and see, especially and this works when you're booking direct with the airlines. If you're booking for a comparison, like Skyscanner or uh, I'm trying to think what else is there Expedia, I think you can book flights, anything like that you're not going to see those differences when you're booking direct with the airline. That is where you can see that. Alternatively, you can wait and if you book with the airline I actually did this weird version when I traveled to San Francisco is I waited for an upgrade.

Speaker 1: 12:21

So initially, when I booked the flights. I booked it about two months before I traveled, because that's when I decided I was going to go to San Francisco. I booked the flights they were both in premium economy and then I was seeing it said oh, upgrade to premium, initially for 700 pounds, and I said, no, I'm not doing for 700 pounds. Then I checked, I don't know, two weeks later. Just look at my flights. It said, oh great, for 500 pounds, I'm not doing 500 pounds. It basically kept going down until it got to just under, I think, 180 pounds top grade to premium for the same experience. Nothing has changed. I'm not getting anything less because I paid less. But these airlines are trying to sell their seats so they're selling upgrades because even if they get just 180 pounds, even to just get 200 pounds, that's 200 pounds more than if they didn't try at all, if they didn't change the price. So I got it at that price and I managed to get my upgrade, which was amazing. So always have a look out and see what you can do, what you know how you can. You get a better stay or better experience, but without the luxury price tag.

Speaker 1: 13:24

Another one I've mentioned this app before, but it is my love, my absolute ride or die and one of my videos went crazy on TikTok for this and that is using the app called a lucky trip. If you're someone who is planning to travel, that is what, specifically, if you're kind of like UK based, looking for Europe breaks. It is amazing Because what it does is it will show you, it'll say, right, you want to go on a trip, and it works. If you're someone who doesn't have a fixed destination, you're just like I want to go on holiday somewhere in Europe and somewhere nice. But this is my budget. That's the most specific thing. You need to have a budget in mind because there's a slider scale where you can slide and pick how much money do you want to spend in total? And that's for flights, accommodation and for one activity. You slide and pick right. My budget is 350, for example, for this trip and then you click hit lucky trip and it will give you a selection of flights and accommodation and one thing to do on your trip within your budget or slightly out, depending on what place it gives you. And what you can do is you can swipe around and see if you want to change the accommodation to see what the prices look like. We want to change activity or change the flights, or if you're not happy with the destination, you can hit lucky trip again and it'll keep generating you a new holiday.

Speaker 1: 14:40

This is a great way to explore the world and to explore different places and do things that you wouldn't usually. I've now become a person who goes out of their way to do unique things or unique activities when I go to different destinations. Like what is that thing that the place I'm going for is known for, the the thing that people wouldn't usually do? Is it cooking class? Is it I don't know a wine tour? Something that people usually wouldn't do when they come here? I want to do that, and Lucky Trip is a great way to have that almost luxury experience, depending on the budget that you give it, without having to break the bank and doing something very different. So if you haven't got an app on your phone, would highly highly recommend now, if you're just booking stays in general, so this could be. If you're uk-based, this could be in the uk, this could be abroad.

Speaker 1: 15:28

You want to make sure that you are signing up to any exclusive club, exclusive membership that these hotels have. Majority of them are free and they'll usually say, oh, sign up and be a member for free and you get a whole range of perks. Again, san Francisco, I signed up to my hotel, their membership, and I thought I'll just sign up. When I got in to the hotel bearing in mind I've never stayed there before, never stayed in any of their hotel chains, just got there but I was a member. Now they gave me a free upgrade, they gave me access to exclusive stuff for members only and they gave me different perks just because I signed up to their free membership program for their hotel. I didn't expect to get any of those, but that just goes to show that a lot of hotels want to reward their loyal customers and obviously them doing that has made me feel good and made me think oh, okay, if I go to a different place, a different country, different area, I'm gonna look and see if that hotel chain is there because I'm a member and I know how to treat me in that hotel. I also get perks when I go to another one of their hotels. So that's why they give you that experience.

Speaker 1: 16:34

But you never know what kind of upgrades, you never know what kind of add-ons you might get for signing up to those hotels if you are traveling to different countries. We know the websites. Voucher groupon is something that my dad told me and he went to America, he went to Atlanta. He did this. He said if you go on these websites so if you go on Groupon, for example, but set it to the country that you're gonna be in so, for example, he put it to Atlanta, georgia you can see what they have there, so they have exclusive deals for the people in Atlanta. For example, he managed to get such a good discount on accommodation, on activities, and it was way more expensive when he looked at it from the UK site for Atlanta, versus saying I'm really in Atlanta and looking at it in dollars for them. So highly recommend again if you're booking excursions, anything like that, see if you can set it to your destination. So if you're going to be in a certain country, change it for there and then compare the prices and compare the discounts that they give you and see if you could save money somewhere else. These are a few of the things that I have learnt over my time travelling and have allowed me to have a more luxurious day or just nicer experiences without that hefty price tag If you're looking to just be able to survive, because I know some of you might be watching and saying, kia, I just want to get by.

Speaker 1: 17:57

I just want to go out, have fun with my friends every so often and not feel like I'm penny pinching at every moment. I think we need to start understanding how we actually manage our money to do that Like. I'm someone who goes out a fair bit and I have friends who are trying to drag me out this entire summer, so I know what that looks like and how we can try and save some money on that journey. So one thing that I always do is I try my best to number one, have a separate account that is just for my spending money. That account is set to the side and is wholly dedicated for when I go out. I don't have to worry about oh my gosh, what if I go over my budget. That money is set to the side. So if my budget for the night, for example, is I don't know 80 pounds, I'm not spending more than 80 pounds tonight and that's on everything that could be on booking an uber, could be on getting drinks, could be tapping my card on the underground. That's all I'm spending. It's on a separate account, the way that that is so good is because I don't go over my budget. There is no more money I cannot physically go over, but it helps me to stay on track.

Speaker 1: 19:03

Another thing that I've started doing as well is utilising accounts that give me cash back on my purchases. So there are apps, for example, like Cheddar, quidco, top Cashback, that allow you to get cash back on your purchases. So if are apps, for example, like Cheddar, quidco, top Cashback, that allow you to get cashback on your purchases, so if I'm purchasing from a certain retailer, if I'm going to a supermarket or I'm going somewhere else, then I'm able to get cashback there. Alternatively, there are actually current accounts that will give you cashback on your spending. Chase Bank were one that came over to the UK from America who blew up, because you can literally get cash back on your spending. Chase Bank were one that came over to the UK from America who blew up, because you can literally get cash back on your everyday spending and that is money that you get for spending money in the corner shop or wherever you're going.

Speaker 1: 19:43

You get that back into your account and you can put that I used to put mine into my savings accounts, but you can basically take the money back and spend it. So have a look and see. I know, chase, still do do it. You have to make sure you deposit a certain amount of money each month into the account, but again, if you're someone who wants to make sure that they're capitalising and making the most of their money, then it might be something that you want to have a look into. On top of that, I always have on roundups, so this allows me to save a bit of extra money whilst I'm spending. The way that works is, if I'm going out and I buy a coffee, for example, and a coffee is £2.54, what roundups will do is it will put away the additional 46p into my savings. So this is just extra money that I've built up by doing nothing other than spending and living my life. You can do that through. A lot of bank accounts now are doing it. The fintech started initially, so your Monzo's and your Starling's and your Revolut's had that, but now a lot of traditional banks like your NatWest, nationwide those are now bringing those in. If you don't have an account that offers that, you can use external apps like Plum that allow you to round up. All it will do is, instead of rounding up into your current account or into a savings account within your bank. It'll put it into the Plum app. That is also still very secure, so you can build up your money.

Speaker 1: 21:04

So we've been speaking about how we can actually enjoy our life without having to break the bank. I think this is very important and very key, because life is for enjoyment, life is to be enjoyed. Life is so short and we never know how long we have, and I really want to make sure that every time we're on a Penny Spans podcast, we talk about the things that you need. So these are the things that you need to do with your money to make sure that we're planning for the future, we're being smart of it, but also understanding that life is for fun, and there's nothing wrong with spending money to enjoy yourself, as long as we're doing it within reason, as long as we're being smart about it and as long as we understand what that looks like for us. So, yes, I hope you guys have enjoyed this episode.

Speaker 1: 21:46

It's a shorter one from me today, but it's been a good one. I'm so happy to be back in the studio. It feels incredible to be back in the studio. It feels incredible to be back in the studio. Next time you see me, I'll be with a guest and I cannot wait to be diving into what we're diving into. It's going to be a good one. We're going to be talking about money, obviously, but we've got some good things lined up, so I hope you enjoy Make sure you sign up to our newsletter All of the apps that I mentioned.