We may not want to admit it, but many of us are embarrassed to ask certain questions about money. Funmi Olufunwa sees this day in and day out. She goes into workplaces to talk about finance with real people and has a real talent for turning what can be complicated into clear and easy-to-understand knowledge.
Funmi is a lawyer, certified financial coach and qualified mortgage adviser, and the founder of Hoops Finance. Her mission is to demystify money and make personal finance accessible, empowering and enjoyable.
In this practical and insightful episode of Salad Talks Money, Funmi unpacks some of the biggest myths surrounding money and explains why there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to personal finance. Instead, she explores how our financial decisions should reflect our own goals, circumstances and priorities.
Drawing on her experience delivering financial education workshops, Funmi shares the questions people ask time and time again, as well as the topics many are initially too embarrassed to raise. She explains how building confidence with money starts with understanding the basics and making informed decisions, rather than trying to be financially perfect.
Funmi also reflects on her own financial journey, revealing a costly mistake that taught her valuable lessons about managing money. She offers practical advice on protecting yourself from increasingly sophisticated financial scams, highlights the warning signs to watch out for, and explains how a little awareness can prevent expensive mistakes.
For anyone thinking about buying a home, Funmi shares her top tips for becoming mortgage-ready, including the financial habits that can improve your chances of being accepted. She also explains why these same principles can benefit renters and discusses the importance of regularly checking your credit report and credit score.
The conversation also explores how parents can help children develop healthy financial habits from an early age and what meaningful financial education should look like in today's schools. Finally, Funmi leaves listeners with one simple action everyone can take today to improve their financial wellbeing, regardless of where they are on their financial journey.
Watch the interview here:
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Jamie Veitch:
Hello, and welcome to Salad Talks Money. And we're delighted to bring a clear, trusted voice to discuss finances with us today. Funmi Olufunwa is a personal finance expert, an educator, the founder of Hoops Finance. She runs workshops in schools and in workplaces, a lawyer. Funmi has worked at a bank as a certified financial coach and a qualified mortgage advisor. Funmi, hello. Thank you for joining us.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Hi, thank you for having me on.
Jamie Veitch:
So first of all, how long were you a lawyer for and how and why did you then move to becoming a financial educator?
Funmi Olufunwa:
So I'm actually still a lawyer, so I still do some legal work, but I started what was then my training contract where you do two years working for different departments across a law firm. I started that in 2003 and then I qualified in 2005. So technically, I've been doing this for... well, doing the law for 23 years, so quite a while.
Jamie Veitch:
Yes, indeed. So that must be a really useful skillset to bring to the financial work that you do, but what was the reason to move to financial education?
Funmi Olufunwa:
So the type of law that I did, I did financial services law. So as you mentioned, I worked for a bank, I've worked for several banks, fintech companies, I've worked for companies that do lending only. So I've worked with the organisations that provide financial services products and services. But through that work, I've seen that people, the consumers that are making use of these products or buying them don't necessarily know as much about them as I think they could or they should. So I wanted to take all the knowledge that I've been lucky enough to gain throughout my many years working and share that with people because I really think that when you understand your money, you can do more and potentially better things with it.
Jamie Veitch:
That makes sense. So why did you name the business Hoops Finance?
Funmi Olufunwa:
I wish I could say that there was some really clever reason. I really like wearing hoop earrings as I'm wearing today. And one thing I found was that when I... I felt that when I worked in the banks, I felt it was quite a corporate environment and I couldn't necessarily bring my whole self to work as it was. I couldn't wear the things that I now wear when I teach and when I do the work that I do. And so I just wanted to make it a bit fun. And also I like the idea of a circle. It feels welcoming. It feels like come on, everyone's invited to learn and to talk. And in some cultures, circles mean wealth. So those many reasons. And I though, why not call it Hoops Finance?
Jamie Veitch:
That was really, really interesting. And that wasn't what I was perhaps second guessing the reason might be. I wondered whether it was helping people to jump through the hoops that are presented to us when it comes to finance. So a much more interesting reason than I'd expected. Fantastic.
So when it comes to money then, there are lots of myths around money. People come with a lot of perceptions. What are the biggest myths that you see people bringing to you over and over again?
Funmi Olufunwa:
Okay. So there's quite a few, but I'd say the biggest one is that it's really complicated. And I think it can be made to seem or be complicated, but I don't think it necessarily needs to be. So going back to when I worked as a lawyer, I remember the very first day in my job, we're all gathered together, all eager to be lawyers. And one thing we were told was if you write a piece of advice for your client and they don't understand it it's your fault. It's not their fault. Because they're paying you lots of money to be the expert and know the law. But part of being a lawyer is not just knowing the law, but being able to explain it to someone who isn't a lawyer. And that's kind of stuck with me.
So I think that we don't necessarily do, as a financial services industry, I don't think that we necessarily do as well as we could do in terms of presenting things in plain English without jargon so that people really understand. And I think that actually if you do that, which I try and do in the work that I do, you often find that people are like, "Oh, okay. Well, yeah, I get that." And you've just changed the way that you've explained it. So I would always say that I don't think it's necessarily as complicated as people might think. Maybe they've just not found the right person or the right explanation yet.
Jamie Veitch:
That is really, really interesting. And I suppose it has been in the past in the financial industry's interests to over-complicate things, to make things scary, to make things seem more difficult than they may be. But we are here on this show to try to demystify things. But it's really interesting that that pervades that people think that things are complicated. So the industry clearly has a long, long way to go. I wonder whether things like the consumer duty that has been brought in has started to affect change.
Funmi Olufunwa:
I think it definitely will have done because one of the aspects of that is consumer understanding. So I think that financial services providers now, I'm hoping that they're now looking at things with that lens. Do consumers actually understand this?
I think, yes, definitely being a bit not as clear as you could be has maybe helped in some instances for certain businesses. What I actually think is probably more the issue is that often you're in an echo chamber, you are often with other people. If you think about you're designing a product within an organisation and everybody in that meeting, for example, understands how it's meant to work, everybody understands the jargon that's being used and then they just use it. I don't think they're necessarily thinking, okay, well, if this wasn't my job, if I wasn't in this industry, would I actually understand this? So I think it's really good to test marketing terms, conditions, all those types of things on people who actually aren't working on something, who don't necessarily understand it or haven't been involved in developing it because that's when you really understand actually, would the average person on the street understand what that is or how it works?
Jamie Veitch:
That makes so much sense. And I mean that brings me on to asking you about what people ask you about when you go into workplaces. So we mentioned workshops at the start of this. Workshops with schools, we'll come onto in a moment, but you do workshops in employers. Employers get you in to talk with their employees about finances. So I wonder what ordinary people, as opposed to non-financial experts, what are the biggest questions that come up over and over again that people ask you about?
Funmi Olufunwa:
I'd say there's probably two or three. The first one is how to save. The second one is probably investing, like how do I invest? And the third one, probably because they know that I used to work as a mortgage advisor, will be how do I buy a property? So I'd say it's mainly those three. And I think when it comes to financial education, a lot of people think I should know this stuff. And I always make a joke and say, "Well, I can't fly a plane. Would you expect me to know how to fly a plane?" And people are like, "What are you talking about?" I'm like, "Well, you need to learn something. You need to be taught to do something before you can do it. You're not just going to wake up and suddenly understand how different financial services and products work. Before I worked in this industry, I didn't understand, but why would I have?" So I think, yeah, people just need to give themselves a little bit of grace. You might not know the answers, but asking questions is what I think is really, really key.
Jamie Veitch:
Yes. And being able to answer... Being able to ask those questions, sorry, in a way where you're not made to feel silly for asking a question. And I mean, you talked a moment or two ago about jargon that's quite common in different industries. And if you don't know the jargon, it's like you don't know the code and it can be made to make people feel outside, can't it?
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah, absolutely. I always start every session by saying that there are no silly questions. You're not expected to know this stuff, so please ask. And also I work in finance and I've done so for many, many years, but I've made mistakes along the way as well. So I will share those as well. They're nothing to be ashamed of. They're things that I didn't know at the time that caused me to do something that I shouldn't have done. I can give you an example in a second. But now I do know I know better and I can do better. There's no shame in not knowing. The shame would be in you never asking and never knowing. And actually if you'd asked, you'd know and then you could do something different.
So the example that I always give, which often generates a sharp intake of breath is I thought I was contributing to my workplace pension for five years and I wasn't. So I joined a new firm. They sent me a form to fill out, say, "Do you want to join the pension scheme?" I thought I'd filled it out. Now I should say this is pre-auto enrollment. So this wouldn't happen now.
Jamie Veitch:
No.
Funmi Olufunwa:
This is pre-auto enrollment, so pre-2012. And I though I'd sent the form back. It was a time when we used to actually get paper payslips. I didn't know that I should be looking on my payslip for some sort of pension deduction, slash, I didn't check my payslip. So I just didn't realise. Five years comes and goes and I'm about to leave the firm. And by that point I knew what... I mean, obviously I knew what pension was. So I then said, "Oh, I'm leaving now so can I have all the pension information so that obviously I can take it to my next employer?" And they said, "There is none because you never sent the form back."
Jamie Veitch:
Oh my word.
Funmi Olufunwa:
So I'd wasted five years of my contributions, their very generous, which pains me to say, their very generous contributions, and also the tax relief that I would've got.
And sometimes when I like to torture myself, I do a calculation on what that would be worth now. So yeah, it would've be worth quite many tens of thousands of pounds.
Jamie Veitch:
Oh my word.
Funmi Olufunwa:
But it's the mistake that I made and now I know better. So I often find that sharing things like that, which it's a pretty big mistake, right?
Jamie Veitch:
Yeah.
Funmi Olufunwa:
I often feel, okay, well actually, if she's done that, then let me ask my question.
Jamie Veitch:
Well, thank you for sharing that. I mean, absolutely we all can and do make mistakes and we need to be able to learn from those mistakes. Thank you for telling us about that.
You mentioned mortgages, you mentioned saving and how to invest come up really frequently-
Funmi Olufunwa:
Really frequently.
Jamie Veitch:
... as three big topics.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah.
Jamie Veitch:
And I also did wonder, and it sort of goes with what we were just talking about, what then comes out during the workshop itself in terms of questions that perhaps people are embarrassed to ask, but you've made them feel comfortable, you've created that safe environment? What questions are people super embarrassed to ask about money?
Funmi Olufunwa:
So I mean, let's say we take the how to save topic. You'll typically have maybe one person that will ask that. What generally happens is you might have a bit of quiet at the start. Then one person will ask a question and then that will often open the floodgates for other people to ask the question. Because as I'm answering it, I might say something and someone will be like, oh, okay, well, I've got a question about this.
So if we take the how to save as an example, what I would normally do is say, okay, well, there's different types of savings accounts, for example, and I'd go through what those are. And whenever I mention ISA, I'll explain what it is. It's an individual savings account. These are the tax benefits. And then I've mentioned the word tax and then someone will be like, "Oh, okay. Well, I've got a question about tax."
And so often, so I might not have been answering a question on tax at that point, but because tax will come up in the answer, then somebody's got a question about tax. He's always wanted to ask, "Actually, I don't really understand how tax works." That kind of gives them an opportunity to ask that. And so that's what kind of happens. And the conversation then, it flows quite nicely and then people generally do tend to open up. And what I find really nice about these sessions is that talking about money generally for a lot of people, they find it quite uncomfortable. They don't necessarily find it very easy, especially talking about it in a group. But what I do find is that once one person goes first or someone shares a story and someone sees a bit of themself in that or a similar situation, that can cause people to open up a little bit more.
Jamie Veitch:
Yes, that makes absolute sense. It creates that ability for people to be able to talk more freely.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah, absolutely.
Jamie Veitch:
Fantastic. But this goes back a long way, doesn't it? I mean, it goes back to when we're kids and the kind of financial education that we have both in schools and at home and whether or not we are talked to about money, whether or not we're, I suppose, encouraged to save, whether or not there may of course not be any opportunity for saving depending on the circumstances in which we grow up. But I suppose when it comes to parents fostering the healthy financial habits, that then turn into healthy financial habits for life or at least give us a better foundation, are there ways in which you think that parents can do that, well?
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that a lot of parents... I think there's a couple of things with this. A lot of parents might not feel financially confident or financially literate themselves. And they may feel very uncomfortable talking about money, even amongst themselves, let's say a couple. There are lots of couples that don't really discuss money, let alone discuss it with their children. So I think that can sometimes be a bit of a hurdle to overcome if you're not having that conversation. And then there's the feeling confident enough thinking that you know enough. I think we think that our children must think or need to believe that we know everything and nobody knows everything. I'm regularly saying to my daughter, I've got a seven-year-old, she'll ask me a question. I don't know the answer, so let's work it out together. And I think you can do that with all topics, including money. So if your child asks you something that you don't understand, it's okay to say, "I don't know, but let's ask the internet," which is generally my response.
But I think there's lots that we can do. I think that the first thing I'd say is make it age-appropriate. I'm not suggesting we sit five-year-olds down with a copy of the FT.
Jamie Veitch:
No.
Funmi Olufunwa:
But there are small things that you can do at different ages that just start to plant those seeds and start to have little conversations that then they just start to understand a bit more about how the world works and money's involvement in that.
So for example, even just things like playing shop, they might understand that you buy something and then you want to buy something, but then you pay for it. And it's really interesting because when my daughter was born, she got given a little wooden till thing and it had a pretend like card swipe which is hilarious because no one swipes cards anymore. Nowadays you might have one with a tap.
So I think one of the difficulties is because we are now moving more and more away from cash in many instances and more towards digital payments or card payments, children then don't necessarily see cash as much as... I think it's quite difficult for them to comprehend or understand that a payment is taking place because they might just see a phone, they might just see a card tap, and they might not really understand what that means. So I would say if you're not using cash, that's fine, but I think it would help to start using it or when you're using other methods to explain what you're doing that you're paying for stuff.
I think you could have conversations around wants and needs. This is something that I do with the younger years in schools. You might have a certain number of items and you might still... Is this something that you want to buy or is this something that you need to buy? And just have those discussions. And I think one thing I think that's really important is to really help kids understand that there is not necessarily a right and a wrong. Different people might consider different things as a want and a need. And that's okay because I think sometimes we think finance has to be done a particular way, but it's called personal finance for a reason.
Jamie Veitch:
Yes.
Funmi Olufunwa:
It's personal to you. So I might think, for example, that... giving an example. I might really love animals. So for me, I want a pet and all the costs that come with a pet for me are, I might think it's a need.
Jamie Veitch:
Yes.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Somebody else might think it's a want.
Jamie Veitch:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Funmi Olufunwa:
And vice versa. So there are little conversations that you can have, I think. I do think that giving children a little bit of autonomy over money can be quite helpful. So if you can, maybe some regular pocket money. But if you can't, then maybe on a day out, for example, give them a little bit of money that they can then decide what to do with. Or say for example, well, okay, we've got a certain amount of money so you can have two of these or one of these, but it's your choice. Getting them to understand and start to think about the fact that they can choose how to spend money. And then as children get older, then you can introduce different things as well.
But one thing I would say that I hear people talk about a lot is, "Oh, take your child shopping with you. Do a food shop." And I think that sounds like the worst idea in the world. I cannot imagine a food shop, a weekly food shop with my seven-year-old.
Jamie Veitch:
You've got a lot of decisions then being made.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Quite.
Jamie Veitch:
Yeah. Ever such a lot of decisions in a weekly food shop. And yes, I love this idea of whether or not you can do regular pocket money, you go on an outing, you involve and your child has agency. They're involved in a decision about they've got a little bit of money to spend on that day. They have to make that choice. They have to make a choice then. And that's bringing that whole want and need to life as well, isn't it?
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah. And you don't have to... I had a conversation with one of the school dads actually, and he was asking about what I did and I explained and he said, "Oh, I wonder if they're a bit young to start talking about this. I don't want them to worry." And I thought it was really interesting that his immediate thought, or he equated a money discussion with worry, because it doesn't necessarily have to be that. It can be exciting. It can be about choice. It can be about autonomy. It can be about if you're giving pocket money, for example, it can be about getting into a really good habit of saving and then buying something that's your own.
I'm going to use quite a few examples of my daughter, but we do give her pocket money. And I don't know if anyone goes to IKEA and they go through that section where there's all those cuddly toys.
Jamie Veitch:
Oh, yes.
Funmi Olufunwa:
And I said to her before we went once, I said, "You've got loads of cuddly toys. We don't need any more cuddly toys. I'm not going to buy any cuddly toys, just so you know," to try and starve off the meltdown.
Jamie Veitch:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Funmi Olufunwa:
But then I was like, "Actually, she's got her own pocket money." So in the end, she really wanted a cuddly toy. I said, "Well, look, okay, this is how much it is. You've got the money to pay for it, but you're going to pay for it, then you're going to have less money. What do you want to do?" And she wanted the cuddly toy.
Jamie Veitch:
So she's made that decision as an informed decision and that choice, that's great. Yeah.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah.
Jamie Veitch:
Absolutely. And I suppose in terms of the example that you gave before that of talking about what you do and someone talking about the potential fear or worry that it could engender in people is perhaps because some of us are brought up with this sort of scarcity, fear, circumstances, because of the circumstances in which whether it's a hand-to-mouth existence as a child. And you might have a great job these days, but might have been brought up in that. Those experiences can be lifelong really in terms of lifelong, how they affect our perceptions and our views, I suppose.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah, completely. So there is research that's done that says you start to form your money habits, beliefs, behaviours around age seven. So if you think about who you've probably spent most of your time with, your primary caregivers between when you were born up to the age seven, it's likely to be the people that you live with, your parents probably, or other carers. And so we pick up a lot on what other people say, what they do, the emotions that we might see being expressed while certain conversations are being had. And so that then can inform how we think, feel, do money. And you're right, that can have a really long lasting impact.
So I think it's just being aware of that. And you mentioned that I'm a certified financial coach, I've done training around this. And actually sometimes it's not necessarily that you don't necessarily have money, you might just struggle with how to manage it. So you could be somebody who, for example, money was particularly scarce when they were younger and that might cause you to hoard money, so to never spend. But then it could also be somebody that has a different impact on them. They could be somebody who spends quite freely because they didn't have it when they were younger and they're like, "Well, I've got it now and I want to spend it."
So it's just thinking or encouraging people to think about their relationship with money and sort of maybe probe a little bit why they think or feel the way they do about money. Because sometimes your first thought, the way in which you initially behave, maybe you've never really thought about, you've never really probed into it, and you could just be doing things based on habit. And then actually when you think about it and unravel it, oh, actually, maybe that belief I had, that belief that formed when I was younger, maybe that's not necessarily true. And how is that serving me? And if it's not serving me, can I potentially do something a bit different?
Jamie Veitch:
That's really interesting. And that sort of ability to question why you feel how you do is going to then affect your behaviour and your ability to save and to spend and to prioritise wants or needs or whatever. That's fascinating.
On the topic of emotive language and emotional responses to money, I know that you have talked about scams and scams are so prevalent these days. And it's super easy to think, oh, scams happen to other people. I'd never fall for a scam. But scammers are so, so sophisticated and many businesses fall victim to scams and many individuals fall victim to scams. I wanted to ask about how we can perhaps best protect ourselves from personal financial scams.
Funmi Olufunwa:
So the first thing I would say is never think that you're never going to fall for a scam because these fraudsters, they're criminals, they don't discriminate. They don't discriminate on gender, age, or perceived intelligence. It is potentially possible for all of us to fall for a scam. I would say that the majority of scams, based on some research I was reading, the majority of scams seem to originate online. So just be aware of any online websites that you're using. Marketplaces can be quite a common place for them to originate from. Or maybe people receiving telephone calls from people pretending to be from an organisation that they're also pretending to be from your bank. Maybe telling you something like your account has been compromised and to secure your account, you need to move your money to a safe account. Your bank will never ask you to move your own money to a safe account. They will be able to do that for you or be able to secure your account if something happens. So any of those sorts of things, just kind of be a bit suspicious, a bit of a red flag.
And I would always say often pressure can be one of the tactics that's used. Someone will be being very nice to you, but they'll be saying, "You got to act quickly. You got to do this now. We can't do anything. You've got to do this." Those pressure tactics can often be used by fraudsters. So they put you under pressure and you start to panic a bit and then you're more likely to do what they've asked you to do.
Jamie Veitch:
Yes.
Funmi Olufunwa:
That's one technique that fraudsters use. Unfortunately, because a lot of fraudsters know that we're talking about scams and how not to fall victim to them, is that actually sometimes depending on the fraud, and I think particularly for investment type frauds, they can almost build up a relationship where this can take a little bit longer.
So I would just say if you get contacted out of the blue by someone pretending to be your bank, be very aware. Banks generally don't just call people. And if you think there potentially has been some fraud on your account, you can hang up the phone, ideally find a different phone or a different line that you can use and use a number from a bank statement or from their bank website and call them up and ask, "Have you just called me? Is this fraud taking place? Is money going out of my account?" Because the worst thing to do, I guess, would be to act quickly. And a lot of people have done this, they've acted and then as soon as they put down the phone, they think, "Oh, hang on a minute. That doesn't..." And then you start to get that feeling of threat.
Jamie Veitch:
That they were under pressure. They were under pressure. They were given this false urgency. You have to act now, otherwise all of your savings might be lost or whatever. It's also really interesting you're talking about people building a relationship, kind of coercive control, really, over time to build a trust with a potential victim as well.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah. And I think also text messages. A lot of clicking on links in emails or text messages can sometimes expose, I suppose, information, data that fraudsters can use. Often, there might be a couple of things that happen. It's not necessarily just that initial fraud because they have to get some of your data to start off with. So for example, I've heard people where it's happened where they've received a form apparently from an organisation, they filled in lots of information about themselves, and that's kind of step one, the data gathering. And then they will use that information that they now know to call you pretending to be your bank. And because you're speaking to them and they've got all this information that they know about you, of course you think it's your bank because how else would this random person have your information? And actually it's because in stage one, that's when they gathered the information.
So it's really sad because I think lots of particularly vulnerable groups are being targeted by this. There was that winter fuel allowance scam, which is obviously for pensioners, which is just awful. And then my real worry actually, and I've not really seen this addressed, maybe I've just missed it, but we've obviously got targeted support that's going live and that's where financial companies are going to be able to approach you. They're not... can't necessarily give you financial advice, but they can tell you about what people who are sort of similar to you, the types of things that they are doing in relation to their money, that you might want to consider.
So that means that people are going to be... being contacted by financial services companies. I think that this is ripe for fraudsters to get involved because communications are going out. We're hearing about it in advertising. And so they might be thinking, "Well, actually, well, we can get in on this. We can pretend to be a company as well." You see it with... not PPI claims. What I was going to say? Motor finance. When fraudsters know that there are going to be these whole big compensation type schemes going on, that's a perfect opportunity for them to send communication as well because maybe it's difficult for you to see what's genuine and what's not.
So yeah, unfortunately we do have to be aware of fraudsters. But the one thing I would say is that if you do do something, send information, send money, and you do realise after the event, I think that was a fraudster, report it. I know a lot of people feel... they feel a bit embarrassed. I shouldn't have been so silly, but like I said, they're really clever. They're really good at what they do. And we need more and more people to report so that we've got more data to hopefully try and track these fraudsters down.
Jamie Veitch:
And so that's report it to Action Fraud, report it to your bank, report it to police, is it?
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah. I mean as soon as you realise something, I'd go straight to your bank. But then I would also contact Action Fraud and also the police. Yeah.
Jamie Veitch:
Yeah. Great. Okay. Let's go back to one of the things that I know comes up ever such a lot in the work that you do, which is about being mortgage-ready.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah.
Jamie Veitch:
You said that comes up a lot in workshops, and I wonder if you can just run through your biggest priority top tips if someone is thinking, right, I would love to be able to get a mortgage. What do we do?
Funmi Olufunwa:
Okay. So the first thing I would say, and maybe I am biased because I used to work as a mortgage advisor, but I would say speak to a mortgage advisor when you're even having the thought about it. A lot of people think I would only speak to a mortgage advisor right before the point when I actually want to buy, but this can take a long time. The process can take a long time. The saving up of a deposit and all the other costs can take a long time. But most mortgage advisors are more than happy to have a conversation with you to give you an idea of where you are and what options are available to you because if you don't know anything about mortgages, you don't know what options are available. And actually you might be able to get on the property ladder sooner than you think. You're not going to know every single product out there that exists because that's not your job to do that, but it is a mortgage advisor's job. So I would always suggest using a mortgage advisor for that reason.
The second thing I would do is check your credit report and I say credit report, not credit score because they're different things. So your credit score is a number that's given to you by one of the three main credit reference agencies. That'd be Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. But behind that report or actually maybe sitting alongside it... behind that score or sitting alongside it is a report and that's got a lot more detailed information. And so someone who's lending you money for a mortgage, they're not going to look only at your score, they want to see that information as well. And your report will have things on it like are you on the electoral role? It will have a list of the accounts that you've got, how up-to-date you are with payments. It might not just be what you might think as a financial services product. It could be other things on there as well. So it could be utility bills or utility accounts. It could be mobile phone communications, that type of thing.
And you're checking the report because you want to make sure that everything on it is accurate. You don't want, for example, it to say that you've missed a payment on a credit card when you haven't missed a payment on your credit card. Because when you go to apply for a mortgage, a lender's going to look at that report and lots of lenders have criteria. So they might say not more than two missed payments in the past 12 months. So if you've accidentally got two missed payments on your file, that could discount you, but that might actually not be correct. So what you want to make sure is that everything on your credit report is correct because that's what a lender's going to look at.
Jamie Veitch:
And sorry to interject. How do you correct it then if you find it's not correct?
Funmi Olufunwa:
So what you could do is you'd go... Well, you would go back to whoever it is that put it on there. So let's say Bank A has put something on there that's not correct. You go back to Bank A and ask them to correct it and they will need to correct it. Unfortunately, you can't just go to the credit reference agency, correct that because they're not going to listen to you because obviously you could be telling them porky pies. So they would just say, well, go to the finance provider and get them to correct it.
And the reason why you want to do this early is because this can take some time to do. So you don't want to be at the point you're seeing your dream property, you think you're good to go, and then actually this causes a delay. So I would say as soon as you're even starting to think about this, have a look at your credit report, but have a look at your report for all three of the agencies because they may be different. Not everything is reported.
So it's a bit of a task to do it the first time, but then you can just keep an eye on it and you can do this for free. There are ways that you can do it free. You don't have to pay for this. So mortgage advisor, look at your credit report.
And then the third thing I think I would say is factor in all of the costs for buying a property. I think a lot of people focus mainly on the deposit and that obviously is generally the biggest cost, but there are other things that you'll need to pay for as well. So for example, conveyancer, the legal advisor who's going to do the transaction for you. Depending on the type of property you're buying, you may want a surveyor. You might need to factor in moving costs, for example. You might need to factor in maybe if you're renting, you might need to have a bit of crossover between renting and mortgage, so you might need a bit of extra money for that. You might want to think about things that you want to buy to put in the property, like you might want a bed, you might want a sofa, those types of things. There might be fees for your mortgage.
So don't focus just on the deposit because there could be other costs as well. And what I don't want people to be is they go, "Oh, I've got the deposit, I'm good to go." And then they find out about these other costs and they're like, "Oh, I though I was ready, but I'm not quite ready yet." So I think, yeah, those probably like the main... I mean, there's lots of other things, but they're probably the main things.
Jamie Veitch:
Those are the biggest things. That's brilliant. Yeah, superb. Some of this would apply if you're looking for a new rental as well because increasingly people are demanding references, credit checks and so on. So is there anything else that you would advise someone to do to make sure that they're able to rent when they are looking to rent?
Funmi Olufunwa:
I mean, like you said, landlords can be a little bit... I find that landlords are being a bit stricter nowadays. And unfortunately, depending on where you live, you could be in a situation where there's more demand than there is supply. But with things like the Renters Rights Act that's been brought in or it's being brought in, you can't do I think things like landlords can't... They have to advertise a price for a property and they shouldn't exactly get people to try and bid. Those types of things, that shouldn't be happening anymore. But making sure-
Jamie Veitch:
That will be a relief.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah. Making sure that your credit report is accurate and is correct, it is really important because that's a lot of what's going to be used to determine from a financial perspective whether you actually can afford to keep paying the rent. And if you're in an area where there is high demand and not great supply, you don't want to lose out on a property because of something that was on your file that wasn't correct.
Jamie Veitch:
No, that makes absolute sense. Okay, great stuff. Funmi, we've covered a lot of ground today. I want to just return briefly to the financial education for young people and what's happening in schools. There have been government announcements and commitments to improve what is happening in schools when it comes to financial education, but what should good financial education within the education system within schools actually look like?
Funmi Olufunwa:
I mean, that is a great question. What should it look like? I think it should look inclusive. Sometimes I've spoken to a school and they'd say, "Oh, that sounds great for our business and maths GCSE students." And I say, "Well, why just business and maths? Because everybody needs to understand about money." And I'd actually go so far as to argue that if you're working or if you're studying something that's more creative, you probably have a higher likelihood of actually being self-employed than employed. And then you've got even more financial obligations in terms of doing things yourself. You're running your own business. So making sure that when this is being rolled out, and I don't necessarily think that's going to be a choice, but between now and 2028 when it's going to come in, that if you are offering any sort of financial education, it involves everybody. You're not just giving it to certain people who are doing certain subjects.
I would also say maybe take it out of maths. A lot of the time you see this just sitting firmly within maths, and it's more than maths. It cuts across pretty much every subject. I mean, if you ask me, I could probably try and find a financial education angle in every subject. So don't just try and limit it. And actually, I think if you don't limit it, you're probably more likely to get a lot of buy-in from the young people. And actually young people love learning about this type of stuff. I think sometimes we underestimate how much they want to learn and how actually smart they are and the different ways of thinking. They think very differently to maybe how we as adults did when we were younger and do now because they're growing up in a very different world to us. So I think giving young people the opportunity to have these discussions across subjects is really, really important.
I also think that having a teacher that's really invested and interested in it and that wants to make it interesting and exciting is really important. And I do understand and I do have a lot of sympathy for teachers and schools because they're trying to cover a lot. And I do feel like they... I wonder if they feel like, oh, another thing that we've got to pick up, another thing. School can't do everything. That's why I think parents are so needed to step in as well. But if you are in a school, I think leaning on the resources that might be available and asking for help in ways in which you can deliver, those sessions really bring it to life for the young people.
Jamie Veitch:
That makes great sense. And we were talking before we came into the studio today about some creative ways of bringing things to life for young people outside of schools, but very much aligned with what you were just talking about. I'm really excited about what you told me. So maybe you could just go into that briefly.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah, of course. Thank you. So I'm working with a theatre in London called The Unicorn Theatre, and it's a children's theatre. So all of the shows and productions that they put on are solely aimed at children, right the way from babies up until teenagers. And they are producing and putting on a show called Pocket Money. And it's an interactive show whereby the audience members, the children get involved and the topic is money. And the great thing about The Unicorn Theatre is that they have people called creative associates for every single production that they do. And it's basically young people that they get in to help them right at the start of a project and then they work with the young people. So the show is being created by the young people for the young people. So it's a really great project to be involved in.
Jamie Veitch:
Sounds brilliant.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah, the age range for this one is age seven to 11 and there's going to be resources that sit alongside it. They fully accept and welcome lots of school groups. I'm hoping loads of schools will come and will see it. And it's being backed financially by quite a lot of people in the financial services industry. So actually they've got quite a lot of discounted tickets, some as little as three pounds per person. So if you are in the London area, it goes live, I think it's the 26th of September, definitely check it out because it's a different way I think of bringing financial education to life. I'm really excited to see it.
Jamie Veitch:
I'm really excited about that. That's fantastic. So it's called Pocket Money?
Funmi Olufunwa:
Pocket Money. Yeah.
Jamie Veitch:
And it's Unicorn Theatre.
Funmi Olufunwa:
The Unicorn Theatre. Yeah.
Jamie Veitch:
Brilliant. Superb. So earlier on, you told us about one of your biggest financial mistakes. Is there anything else that you know now about money, about finances which you wish perhaps your, I don't know, 21-year-old self, for example, had known?
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah, I guess it's kind of linked to, I guess, the pension thing in that, investing, and I mentioned that that's something that comes up quite a lot, I think now in 2026, investing is a lot more accessible to people than it has been in the past. And I think the value of time should not be underestimated. Small amounts regularly compounded over time can produce really quite amazing results. Now with investing, I'm going to have to caveat this, that there's no guarantee that money will always continue to go up. But if you look at history over a long period of time, and by long period of time, I'm talking sort of decades here, what you tend to see is that the value of that money rises, and then obviously you've got the compound growth as well.
Jamie Veitch:
Yes.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Saving is great. I think people should have access to savings as well, something you can easily access. But saving alone won't necessarily grow the value of your money because we have to think about inflation and that's when the value or the cost of goods and services is rising. So let's say for example, you've got your money sitting in a bank account and it's earning 1% interest.
Jamie Veitch:
Yes.
Funmi Olufunwa:
But if the rate of inflation or if inflation is 2%, for example, then actually the growth of your money in your savings account isn't keeping pace. So in a way, your money is kind of losing value.
Jamie Veitch:
Yeah. What you can buy with your money is getting less and less.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Exactly. But what we tend to se with investing is that the growth is bigger, is better. So over the long term, you are more likely to see growth investing rather than just saving. And I think because it's now more accessible in different ways, whether that's getting in and starting with small amounts, but actually the way in which you do it, you don't now need to go and find a stockbroker.
Jamie Veitch:
No.
Funmi Olufunwa:
You can open up an investment account in a very similar way to how you might open up a bank account. So people I think who maybe, and myself in the past who didn't do it in the past, didn't know enough about it, and maybe at the time there wasn't the mechanism to do it, but now there is.
Jamie Veitch:
Now there is.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah.
Jamie Veitch:
Okay. That's a really good point. Thank you. We always love to ask people a question about bank notes. Paper money, it might be disappearing, we might be using it far less, but we have a real emotional connection to bank notes. And people might know there is a move to ask the public to vote for different wildlife to put onto bank notes. But if it were to actually put a person, whether real or imaginary, whether historical or currently alive onto a banknote, I wonder who you would choose.
Funmi Olufunwa:
So I'm going to cop out on this one because I couldn't think of any one person. I think there are different people over time, not necessarily famous or well-known people, who have created movements within money, who are running educational groups, who are running investment courses to try and get people to be more open about their money and to grow their monies. They're not necessarily well-known figures. So I couldn't think of any one person, but I think that... yeah, I don't know how I would... Well, I don't have an answer to that I'm afraid.
Jamie Veitch:
Perhaps this is about a movement of educating all of us and agency for all of us.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah. I find that what's happening at the moment with the what are we going to put on the new bank notes, it's really interesting. I think it has... I was talking to somebody else who also teaches within schools and she was saying that actually having the conversation with the children that she's having, they're actually quite interested in the fact that they get to vote for an animal to be on a bank note, for them is quite exciting. And so I guess it's a way of getting maybe the younger generation more interested in money as well.
Jamie Veitch:
Absolutely. That makes sense. That's a really interesting perspective. Funmi, this has been fascinating. Where can people find out more about Hoops Finance if they want to follow up, get more expertise and so on from you?
Funmi Olufunwa:
Yeah, thank you. So I have an Instagram page, which is hoops_finance. I'm on LinkedIn. It's me, Funmi Olufunwa. And I also have a website, which is www.hoopsfinance.com. Almost forgot my own website then.
Jamie Veitch:
Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? We all do that. Brilliant. And is there a one best thing that people should go away and do as a result of hearing, listening to what you've had to say today?
Funmi Olufunwa:
What I would love people to do is be curious and ask the question. So a lot of people have questions about things they just... I just don't really understand. I don't understand how my payslip works. I don't understand tax. I don't understand lots of different things. So many people have a mortgage and don't understand how their mortgage works. So if you're listening to this, watching this, the one thing I would love for you to do is ask the question that you've always wanted to ask.
Jamie Veitch:
Brilliant. Well, ask those questions. Ask that question you always wanted to ask. Funmi Olufunwa, thank you so much for joining us on the interview series today.
Funmi Olufunwa:
Thanks for having me.
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