Put the kettle on first - and take control of your financial future

Put the kettle on before you clean the boots. These words have been buzzing in my head for the last few weeks. And you might rightly ask what does this have to do with financial literacy? Allow me to explain.

My daughter recently started boarding school and this jolted a memory of something that marked me for life. I remember fondly the hours spent as a young child, devouring Enid Blyton’s famous book series “The Twins at St. Clare’s”. Six wonderful stories about the adventures of two twin girls at boarding school who got up to all sorts of mischief. Yet amongst the fun, laughter and tears, there were many valuable life lessons. I remember one lesson in particular, from the first book in this series, that still influences my thinking as a leader today. It’s about the ability to prioritize.

“It was the custom at St. Clare’s for the younger girls to wait on the two top forms.” Such as cleaning their lacrosse boots, making a fire, boiling water and making toast. Isabel O’Sullivan (one of the twins, heroines of the books) was asked by Belinda Towers, a top former, to clean her boots, make up the fire in her study and put the kettle on to boil. Isabel, reluctantly, did exactly that. In that order...

“Is the kettle boiling yet?” Belinda asked Isabel upon returning to her study. “My goodness the water’s cold! (…) I suppose it didn’t occur to you that it wold be a good idea to make up the fire and put the kettle on FIRST, before you did the boots? (…) I suppose you thought it would be a great pity if the kettle boiled whilst you were doing the boots? (…) Isabel fled. She felt upset and angry and very foolish. Why, why why hadn’t she put the kettle on first?” 

Looking back upon my life, the harsh truth has dawned on me. I had indeed put the kettle on first every day work, prioritising tasks rigorously and striving to excel in my job. But I did not heed that same advice when it came to managing my own money. For too many years, I just let it all sit in cash on my account and did nothing with it. The water was not boiling. I was scrubbing boots every day and making them shine, but I hadn’t put the kettle on. I felt upset and angry and very foolish.

So to all the working mums (and anyone else) out there who are putting all their energy into their day jobs and families and children, and not finding any time to dedicate to their own long term financial matters, my advice is simple. Put the kettle on first. Put the water on to boil while you are working. Make sure your savings are working for you, while you are working to earn and save more. So that when you finish working, you can retire with a nice hot cup of tea - and with the compound interest on all your hard earned savings.

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"The Twins at St. Clare’s" series was written by Enid Mary Blyton (1897-1968) in the 1940’s. Blyton's writing reflects times long gone, and has been criticised for being elitist and controversial, but the relevance of the many moral lessons that transpire from her stories is timeless. More than 600 million copies of her numerous books have been sold worldwide.