Growing up, Matt Brighton was brought up by parents who were always looking for the best savings rates – something that clearly stuck with him as he now has £300,000 stashed away. The 30-year-old from Sheffield, who works as a senior product manager for a tech company, told The i Paper: “When I was younger, my parents always looked for the best cash ISA to save in, or the best savings rate. Generally, in school, you’re not taught anything about finances – from having to mortgage to starting a pension, let alone anything about investing. But my parents told me to try and keep some money aside to save.”

'I had saved £15k by age 19'

During his teenage years, Matt started working doing freelance design work. “Like many others back then, I was really interested with the idea of making money from the internet, so I started doing design work for blogs – little things like making banners for £10 to £15. When I got older, I started doing more freelance graphic design work, and ended up saving £15,000 by the age of 19. While some of it was inheritance, the rest was what I had saved from my freelance work. I’ve always been taught to save up, there was a mindset of always keeping money on the side. I never knew what for, but just to shove some money away one way or another.” (Photo: Peter Dazeley/Getty)

Investing the money into index funds

Once Matt saved up £15,000 he opened a Stocks & Shares ISA and invested the money into index funds – and made a 15 per cent return in his first year. He said: “There’s always a fear you’ll lose money but less so when its spread across different companies. I tend to invest with exchange traded funds and index funds as it’s just easier.” An index fund tracks the performance of a specific market benchmark – or “index,” like the FTSE100 as closely as possible. During university, Matt worked four jobs to make ends meet but still managed to save £100 to £200 a month from his income, which he kept investing. While most of his work was freelance design work, he also worked as a student ambassador, making around £9 an hour while working on campus. (Photo: Roman Didkivskyi/Getty)

Working alongside a degree

He told The i Paper: “In 2012, I was part of the cohort where the fees jumped from £3,000 to £9,000 and had no maintenance grant. I only got £5,000 a year which definitely wasn’t enough to live on, so I did four jobs on the side while studying, plus my freelancing. It was good, but I had to find the energy to do everything.” After completing his degree in graphic design, Matt was offered a place on a bank’s graduate scheme in London, which paid him £31,000. He said: “The pay was for two years while your rotate in different departments. By the end of my career with the bank, I was paid between £80,000 to £85,000. Back then, I lived comfortably in London on £31,000 – something you wouldn’t say now. I paid £750 on rent in Stratford, around £140 on transport and bought lunch from the market or my local Pret everyday. However, I was still saving £200 a month in my Stocks & Shares ISA and invested it straight away in index funds.” (Photo: Getty)

Renting out a property in London

By 2017, he had built his savings to £40,000 and bought a flat in London. Matt then rented out a room and used the government’s rent-a-room scheme which gave him £7,500. “It covered costs such as service charges and mortgage, so it was a good deal.” By the time Matt was leaving his job at the bank, he was savings upwards of £2,500 a month, which was helped by Covid-19 and not going out as well as going into new ventures. He said: “I was working fully remote, so had such low outgoings but a massive income. On top of that, I started a YouTube channel in March 2020 which started to grow – just last year, I made £40,000 from that alone.” His YouTube channel covers personal finance and property. (Photo: Anthony Devlin/PA)

Renting out a property near Sheffield

“I also bought a buy-to-let just outside of Sheffield for £106,000 in 2021 – it was a three-bedroom semi and I spent £17,000 renovating it. I’ve held onto that and it’s rented to a lovely family for £850 a month. Me and my partner then bought a larger property in Sheffield as my job is fully remote, which came from selling my London flat for £620,000. My current mortgage is £1,800 a month,” he added. In total, Matt thinks he has around £300,000 in savings, which includes £140,000 in his workplace pension. He also has a business account with InvestEngine where he puts his content creator income into. He said: “I was fortunate that my bank had a generous pension scheme, where they contributed 21 per cent. I currently save £1,200 a month into my pension. I also have a Self Invested Personal Pension but no fixed amount goes in there.” (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty)

Retiring early?

While Matt “loves the idea” of retiring early, the word has a slightly different definition for him. He said: “What I really want is to be in the position of working because I want to, not because I need to. By the time I am in my forties, I want the freedom and security of not living paycheck to paycheck. If I’m honest, I don’t need a lot of live on. Including my mortgage and bills, my outgoings are only £30,000 to £32,000 [annually]. I would still want to keep working on projects that interest me, not because I need the salary.” His biggest tip for younger savers is to start now. He said: “My biggest piece of advice is just to get started. You don’t need to be rich or wealthy, you can start from just £50 a month in a Stocks & Shares ISA by investing in funds and ETFs [exchange-traded fund].” (Photo: Mark Richardson/Alamy)