Read how James uses PocketSmith to keep his consultancy, cashflow and young family’s travels all moving in the right direction.
I’m James, originally from the UK, living in Sydney, Australia, and currently travelling in Europe for six months.
With a young family (three and five), we realised there was a limited window to be flexible before their first year of school, so in July, we took the leap to travel to the UK to be near extended family, and escape to warmer parts of Europe for the colder months.
It’s a good team — we share responsibilities evenly. (You don’t have my wife to counter this, so I’m sticking to this!)
Finances and bill payments fall to me as I’ve always enjoyed streamlining and visualising numbers (I’ve even built a business around it at Data Made Simple).
Tools are an essential part of this — I don’t want to spend time manually downloading bank statements, which is why PocketSmith is so compelling.
Major life changes! Being a new parent during COVID threw a spotlight on our spending and earnings, and I discovered PocketSmith as a great way to categorise what was going where. I ended up saving $1,000 a month alone in the first month of using it by realising we were overpaying on health insurance, old subscriptions, and too many flat whites.
Three to four years, but a ‘power user’ over the last year. PocketSmith has been a game-changer in helping us with our current travel plans.
Cashflow forecasting. Being a solopreneur, earnings and bills can fluctuate, especially during a travel year, so it’s hugely valuable to be able to map out expected monthly earnings, tax bills, mortgage payments, travel expenses, etc, without the bill shock. Knowing the timings of big tax bills is especially helpful — it’s easy to get caught out on this as a sole trader.
PocketSmith has put me so much more at ease to enjoy our family travels more. Without a clear understanding of our cash flow, I’d be constantly concerned that I need to be working more. Instead, I’m able to work part-time during this period and be fully present with the young family at such an important time in their lives.
Aside from the cashflow forecast, I’ve recently started experimenting with secondary scenarios to help me decide when to invest in different activities, for both work and fun. For example, as a recently qualified paragliding pilot, I’m eager to fly but have a significant expense in buying the equipment. This expense is currently split out in a separate budget in PocketSmith, motivating me to hit certain financial targets before investing in the equipment.
Start simple and don’t create too many categories; otherwise, it quickly becomes overwhelming. Get into a habit of logging into PocketSmith at least weekly to check channel categorisation and how you’re pacing through the month.
Taking the leap from full-time employment to set up my consultancy. There is more risk, but it’s very rewarding to be able to support multiple brands and have no limit on the upside of this financially. PocketSmith has been a critical tool to keep me on track — thank you, team and keep it up!
