Share Options are the Option to buy Shares in a company for a particular price, the strike price.

Share Options are often provided as an incentive when working at non-public companies. They are especially common in technology firms. They often form part of your package you negotiate when you join a private company, depending on the company and your seniority.

This article is about Share Options provided to you by your employer and not Derivative Trading such as Put / Call options.

I have had plenty of Share Options over my 20-year career in Software. I have envelope after envelope…

With cash saving rates so low, everyone is asking: Where do I put my savings? Should I overpay the mortgage instead?

Keeping in cash is less and less attractive as inflation erodes your cash’s buying power as the years go by.

One obvious answer is to overpay your mortgage. If your mortgage interest rate is greater than your savings rate, you’d be better overpaying your mortgage.

But wait a minute!

What if I can invest my money elsewhere and beat my mortgage interest, doesn’t that mean I can earn more than my mortgage interest?

Yes, yes it does!

But investing…

The other-MM and I love to batch cook. We batch cook on a Sunday once every month or so. It creates healthy meals we can enjoy all week.

Not only that, they are cheap to prepare. With portions less than a £1

I recently posted about how we batch cook, and a few of you asked for recipes — especially recipes that you can turn into multiple meals to mix things up. So here you go: an Ultimate Batch Cooked Chilli Con Carne.

This recipe comes with a bonus: 5 other recipes to turn this Batch Cooked Chilli into 5…

The other-MM and I love our food.

We’ve been together for 19 years this October and every single one of those years we’ve loved food. A little too much!

But food is also a social activity for us. Whether it be eating out, or cooking together. We talk. We help solve each other’s problems. We have fun.

So cooking for us is an important part of life.

Batch cooking means we can enjoy the benefit of cooking every day, even if we haven’t cooked!

So what is batch cooking?

Batch cooking is the preparation of a meal that you are not just going to eat…

The Money Mage household needed some critical maintenance on the outside this year. We bought the property 7 years ago and have mostly focussed inside, as outside wasn’t too bad.

But over the past 7 years, outside has been deteriorating.

We have two balconies that needed some resurfacing & repair. And making them water tight. The windows and fascias needed painting. Some of the rendering was flaking off due to water damage. The front door step was rotten. So quite a bit needed doing.

Spring arrived, and we started thinking about getting the work done.

Normally this is work I’d…

We live in a low cost of living city. An hour away from Edinburgh, in Dundee, Scotland.

Dundee has a really bad reputation. Unfairly, in my view.

I’ve lived here for 16 years now, initially living in one of its notorious council estates. Do you know what? It was fine. It was a lovely house, and we never had problems.

Dundee is beautiful. The air is clean. The view from the Law is stunning. Within 15 minutes we can be walking on an isolated beach 3 miles long, not a soul in sight. Or 10 minutes north and we can…

‘They’re a well off couple’. ‘They have no children though!’

Dual Income. No Kids. Yet another DINK.

It’s true.

I am one half of a DINK couple. And I’m proud of that. I’m perfectly content with my decision to never have kids.

I have zero regrets about my child-free life. It’s good for me. It’s good for my finances. And it’s good for the planet.

But it’s somewhat of a taboo subject. I am sure there are some of you reading going ‘here we go again’. Sure, but hear me out.

The other-MM and I have been together for 19…

Pensions in the UK are an amazing way to save for ‘early retirement’. Including super early retirement, like retiring in your 40s or 30s.

If you plan your pensions in your 20s you will be on the path to wealth generation. Neglect them until your 40s, and you are going to struggle to build enough of a retirement pot.

One obstacle is the understanding of pensions. Pensions can be confusing and difficult to get to grips with.

Contribute £250/mo every month from your 20th birthday, and you’ll have by £500,000 pot by the time you are 50. Or more if…