Oasis reunion tickets, winning the lottery and childcare chaos

hello everybody Welcome to the ma money podcast we are back after a little bit of our Hiatus uh I have actually just been away uh doing some uh parental uh daycare leave uh as we bridge the gap for child care for my 10-month-old son uh but I'm very happy to be back with Chris T head of Consumer Finance at mrm Chris hello hi pleased you're back too love to see you we're going to be talking about uh childcare a little bit later but we've got some EXC topical stuff to get through as well today so we're starting off um with a big announcement made uh when was it made was it the yesterday morning uh yeah I think it was yeah yesterday morning time recording yeah AIS are getting back together now what does this have to do with personal finance you say Well Mr CH you happen to have attended Oasis at the peak of their powers tell us yeah the peak it felt not quite at the peak although it probably was so as you can probably tell from my hairstyle I'm you know over 40 but as you probably can't tell from my hairstyle I was a big Oasis fan uh still am still great although I have to say Liam and all the older they get the more they make make my teeth itch a little bit but there we go um but you know love the music and fully bought into the whole scene back in the day and in 2000s they played their familiar to Millions tour which some of you may have seen as the live album album uh they produced and I was up Saturday night for that um and got up six months before that because it was in June 2000 and got the tube to Wembley Park because I lived not too far away from there and queued up outside wimley stadium with a lot of other excitable teenagers um to try and make sure I was front at the ticket window when it opened at 8:30 in the morning or 9: or whatever it was I got there about 4:00 a.m. or something stupid like that there were people there in tent and all that kind of good stuff anyway what has this got to do with personal finance rather than me going down memory lane well each ticket cost 2750 Ed and I know that because I've seen the stubs online I don't remember that I've lost my stubs sadly or they somewhere in the Loft I think anyway um I bought six from hard earn money saved up by sort of doing you know shifts around a levels and stuff like that and brought all my power cash and paid at the window and came away with these prize possessions which were then saved in a very special hidden place in my house for six months until we went along but 2750 feels like a steal based on current prices you know you've had all the Taylor Swift chat and I think she was charging somewhere face value between like 60 and 200 for her worldwide sellout tour in the UK um which I don't have to confess I don't know that much about um but Oasis are looking at what 150 or something so I don't know how that relates with inflation you probably so I mean there's a there's a number of threads here the first one when you paid that 2750 for your ticket or whatever you close to that amount do you do you remember the sensation of feeling that was expensive or that was did that feel like good value for money for you at the time I was a teenager so I had no sense of what good value for money was at toil you just wanted to see the band I just wanted to see the band but I didn't have to save up for months in order to get it together should we say I think it was one shift in the local pub or whatever it was I was doing at the time yeah the thing with with the reason why we we kind compared the Taylor Swift numbers though we don't actually know how much the Oasis reunion tour stuff's going to cost yet for a kind of typical ticket we know that you can get a t i mean obviously this is a very difficult thing to do because the demand is crazy for it you know and they have they try and they have I don't know what they do they have like uh they kind of do do they do it like glastenbury where you kind of you have to enter a drawer almost to get a ticket I don't know I'm not I mean I bought tickets for fontaine's DC recently so they have another band I I like quite a lot and you had to you could get pre-sale access by signing up for their album that would then dropped into your Spotify or something I I didn't bother doing that just because I thought that you know rep your tickets just went on the morning and got it but yeah for a was I'm sure they'll have some kind of sign up for this and you will get this type thing yeah a ballot or something like that but what was interesting is I mean comparing it to Taylor Swift who's kind of like you know the PowerHouse of of music of the 21st century and you know of 2024 and a cheaper ticket being around 60 quid when you so I mean this is not this is not a scientific comparison but if you were to take the 27 or 28 pounds I think I put in the in the Bank of England calculator goods and services from the year 2000 in order to buy the same goods and services today you would need uh drum roll please because I need to look at my notes you would need 5155 which to me suggests that so obviously inflation is you know a thing you know we all know that now but Taylor Swift's theoretically notionally the tickets are inflation bu busting in terms of price I think there's there's other threads here as well because there's a lot of discussion about why they're doing this and it's you know one of them I can't remember which cuz I I'm I have a very hard time telling the difference between the two cuz I'm not I don't know should I take over this point Ed you talking about the divorce yeah no is getting divorced from his from his second wife s Sarah McDonald I think yeah um so yeah I've called it the pay me now tour uh which might be a bit unfair I don't know their personal situation but obviously uh be here now being their third studio album this is a different uh motivation for them to going on toour um apparently they're going to net 50 million quid between them the independent suggests um so you know worth doing I would say um and apparently Sarah got the mansion in Petersfield in Hampshire and then they'll be ongoing maintenance payments for the kids and things like that anyway I'm not a divorce lawyer please don't take any of this as red but if you're thinking about why someone might do it there is another person Finance topic there about um you know amicable breakups hopefully is um and the kind of cost of that but yeah you can see why maybe ticket prices there's also a demand it's quite interesting you know that quite a lot of younger people who you know and I think a lot of seen a lot of social media Paddy Power did a good video on this actually taking the Mickey out of people my age saying that you should be able to pass a quiz before on Oasis bsides before you go for allowed to buy a ticket so maybe that's how they should sort the pre-sale out head by the way I would I would pass that test with flying colors but um I I'm I am not sure if I'm going to go um I don't know we'll see I've seen them four times and really enjoyed it probably will change my mind once the tickets go on sale I've had a few excited texts from friends but 150 quid is what has been muted and again that is to be confirmed but that just feels a bit spinny that does just feel and as you said it's three times the rate of inflation I do understand other people also be taking their chunks out of that Ticket Master with booking fees and all these kind of hidden charges which just add up to more resentment for laying the money out um it is also I mean the way the way the music industry has changed as well is extraordinary mean if you think about the invention of things like Spotify and apple music and all you know streaming platforms that artists don't make money out of you know selling albums anymore do they they make money from the tours and if you are a true fan you know listening to the album isn't enough you have to go to the tour and the Taylor Swift phenomenon that's kind of for me like you know it's it's the ultimate expression of fandom isn't it go there see them in the real life that is you are a true fan by doing that kind of thing so for me like by extension I think you you know that's why people are willing to pay so much money in codes to such lengths I mean I remember seeing stuff with the Taylor Swift Americans were finding the cost of the concerts so expensive that they would they would pay to fly to Europe to watch the concerts um and then that consequently would cause Europeans to complain that you know what I'm at this Taylor Swift grid gig and everybody around me is an American what's going on kind of thing and it creates these very strange kind of you know effects you know that that I'm sure an a behavioral Economist would love to to to do a to do a doctoral study on but yeah I don't know I just find it all very interesting I don't I mean I don't get the hype I've never been a person who went to concerts I listen to music on Spotify but I'm I'm a bad music fan generally so oh know I'm I am a live sport live music sort of person I have to say like that wasted G 2000 is up there in like you know seven or moments with my my pals link arms in arms screaming champagne super over into the Skies over Northwest lond it's a very happy memory um but um yeah the Swift thing is interesting because the pricing is different in America isn't it the face value thing doesn't really exist kind of goes up with demand which makes that a whole lot more volatile and um would also make me less likely to do it and the other thing over here which is a thing which is around kind of the football which I've touched on with you previously is this this resale thing and I did hear a lot of people the pressure on people with kids of a certain age um who are massive swifties to to find the money in order to to do it was huge um and then people were selling them on above face value and you end heard stories of people paying several hundred pounds for like two tickets to go to wemy on the flip side of that was the feedback was that the kids absolutely loved it it was like lifetime ambition achieved and the atmosphere was so positive and all the rest of it so you know there's a different type of value I suppose maybe me going in 2000 maybe that's been Amplified by like you said the kind of distance between them or whatever Wembley was Wembley in 2000 was great be interesed to see whether Wembley in 2025 matches up or how different that would be uh compared to that but that you're paying for different things and it all depends on your notion of what value is and whether it's worth it whether you've done it before and you know maybe me standing there at 41 won't be the same as me standing there at 17 I don't know I'll keep you posted listeners whether or not I brings me to the other kind of thread in in the Oasis this this kind of story around Oasis getting back to together uh you know labors back in government all this kind of stuff and it's it's this whole like are we about to see you know the Revival of called britania type stuff and it's you know the year 2000 you know blism at its kind of peak and you know Spice Girls and and all that kind of and I I I get that sense of nostalgia I remember watching actually funny gave me a sense of nostalgia because I kind of had absolutely no cultural reference points to it at all was watch um the last dance on Netflix um this isand yeah the the thing about Michael Jordan and they them doing the like what was it the triple triple or something like that they won they won six six championships the Chicago Bulls in the 90s and obviously it's all about that and it's about Michael Jordan being this incredible athlete but there's like a undercurrent there about how really like America and like almost Western culture itself was peing at this point in time and Michael Jordan was the absolute Zenith of that Peak and the extraordinary kind of Feats that they achieved doing that and I found that absolutely fascinating and there's been a few kind of uh comment pieces have popped up quite quickly after this Oasis announcement there was one in unheard which is quite a good website and then there was one in uh by Louis Elton in unheard and then there was one in the critic by Ben 6 Smith basically they saying you know well we got labor government Oasis are back is cool britania back and the really sad depressing thing is kiss armor at the same time was giving a speech about how terrible everything is yeah it's going to get worse better yeah nothing but tough times ahead and it's quite I don't know I don't want to get too Phil philosophical because we're supposed to be about personal finance here but it is a bit of a kind of you know we're in a bit of a sad Place aren't we where things can't only get better at the moment and and that's where we are the nostalg The Nostalgia element I think is double- edged that's the other thing that's with me it's like things have moved on and you know why are we recycling why is a band recycling from 25 years ago the biggest new story of of the you know it suggests to me I heard someone say somewhere else I can't remember who it is for life I do apologize what 21st century culture is is 20th century culture replay to us through 21st century technology um and it does feel a little bit like yeah these two things are not necessarily compatible in my mind and yet they're being forced to confront each other that was of its time it was F fantastic um and I'm not sure being you know surrounded by fellow men in their 40s uh doing it would would have the same power but then again like I said from what I gather they've got loads of younger fans as well so maybe this is their moment and move aside Bal these like me and uh and let the kids have a go at it as well but you know I would like to see some newer bands come through and they are there font's DC like I said going to see them next summer they're pretty good um I'm not going to n this anymore at the risk of trying to sound cool and failing failing Miser but uh is it's an interesting phenomenon on a number of levels like you say is called britania back according to K starma not yet although you did see that thing about equities did you that was the last thing I was going to mention yeah which uh this was from uh Lawrence hul on on uh on Twitter hex I suppose you call it now um a funl looking graph basically um in the early 90s Oasis formed and UK equities were trading at a significant discount to the market the broader you know Global stock market um Oasis broke broke broke up 15 years later um when the UK stock market was trading at a big premium to the rest of the mar of the global market and obviously we're in a big material discount again so is the UK stock market turning on an oasis Penny I I was just trying to Rack my brains there to throw in some sort of reference to their songs but you can't think of anyway will we Slide Away into Market Oblivion or will it be exactly champ Champagne Supernova in the UK Equity Market I'm trying to think about something wonderful let's move on before we get end button now on end it there finish fair enough was really we'll put that in the show notes I was quite just a bit of fun tongue and cheat but yeah so the next thing I think we were going to talk about today and this is something we wanted to talk about a little while for a little while now actually you and I have had conversations about this one and I feel like we could probably dedicate like a whole episode to it and for any uh any financial advisor out there who might be listening to us who looks after high net worth I want you to get in touch with us because i' I'd love to to hear from you about your take on this so it's euromillions and this is I mean completely frivolous conversation here we're going to have a little bit of a Ser more serious chat to finish the podcast off but uh EUR Millions is I mean it kind of ranges up quite a lot quite quickly and it it ranged it the the jackpot was something huge the last time we talked about this and it's back at 100 million now for this Friday and I think you said Chris we're both GNA have to play it now and then if one of us does show up next week then well you know if one of us wins it we have to show up I mean talk about what we've done the paring shop before we TR world what's the first thing we spent money on yeah so okay there's two bits to this I mean there's the the kind of frivolous conversation and then there's the serious bit which is where we're going to uh we we're probably not going to dwell on too long but okay 100 million 100 million pounds you win win the euromillions Chris what is the first thing you're doing what's the what's the frivolous thing you're doing oh God frivolous I don't know I'm really boring Ed I think we've established this like I think I'm moving house I think I'm moving to a different part of London I love love my home and I love where I live uh the street that I live on but uh I would probably get a bigger place mhm uh so immediately on the phone to you know on right move on right or whatever right have like an Ultra Premium High maybe they don't do they maybe they don't so I'm doing that and I may even you know keep the place I've got just you know uh so yeah look into look starting a property portfolio immediately so you're going to become a land baron that's it basically I don't know about that I don't know about that I'll just you know see what go landord uh I I I did some maths today earlier Ed and weirdly calculated my family's uh Financial net worth and it's way lower than I thought it would be if you asked 18yar old me LinkedIn arms with my other friends shouting Champion super over to the sky of Wembley um if you're calculating net worth like that do you what are you doing are you putting your mortgage on that balance sheet or I me I'm just going to be end up in negative if I do that dramatic it's not that bad when I look I did a bit of Googling around this and actually it's sort of in and around the average but you know when you think about the aspirations that you have and the apparently the average is skewed a lot by high net worth individuals so but what that did then prompt me to think about well how is my money balanced out so what I'm doing it is yeah taking my mortgage off the equity that's within it and you add that whatever money is left to your net worth plus your savings plus what your possessions are worth what you've got in like pensions that kind of thing and what it revealed to me rather than sort of going oh okay and then looking at the averages going well actually you shouldn't be complaining too much was just that I don't have enough money in my pension so I'm thinking about retirement a bit more if I win that's not the first thing I think about but that's definitely on there I'm uh also giving some money away to friends and family I think um particularly family uh just kind of giving them a l up as well I would want to keep it pretty quiet though I do remember hearing Jay-Z giving an interview on Twitter saying that when got rich he just couldn't go to family dues anymore because everyone would just be like I just need half a million quid and I can turn this business into whatever and it's just like mate I just want to sit I'm good whatever is if in America so yeah that's that that's that famous internet meme isn't it is like if I won the lottery I wouldn't tell anyone but there would be signs and it's like a picture of somebody with like a house filled with cats or something like that mad something really mad that they've done yeah I'd go somewhere down that route I mean travel is the other big thing I'm not a big sort of clothes car but what I think that would do is just like open the door to travel and um you know maybe just going around the world um and concentrating on some other pet projects things like that so yeah I think all the boring things really get some property sort out my retirement pensions things so that's all boxed off maybe speak to one of these financial advisors that we might speak to in the future about it uh and then yeah travel I'm off around the world I really like that show Race Across the world I you seen that BBC yeah where they give people a budget so I do that but not on a budget really enj luxury and comfort yeah exactly five star everywhere Seven Star if you go to Dubai because they have seven stars in Dubai there we go everything's a bit extra isn't it what would you do Ed hit me yeah I know it's kind of boring isn't it but it's like the same I'd go I'd go just I'd go off traveling for for a long time take the family be very comfortable doing that and then buy some nice property I guess buy a big house out here in Devon Maybe not to ask for is it privately educating my kids you know kind of thing oh would 100 million cover that not with the vat now vat these days Chris scrimping and saving for the 100 [Laughter] millionaires no I mean you know it's you do I think you look the thing is is it's is easy just kind of sit and be like oh yeah know I'm going to do all these things and I probably would go and buy myself a silly C that I don't need and that kind of thing cuz at the moment we have you know a functional family car and that's fine but I would also quite like a ludicrous 4x4 you know what's too much to ask should call the brand out Ford released the ludicrous trying to get my like trying to get my Hummer down the down the Devon Lanes where that' be fun yeah yeah it wouldn't be funny we actually went camping at the weekend and uh borrowed a camper van and that I mean it's it's it gets very scary very quickly when you're on single Lane roads and you get stuck and you have to start reversing and you're in a van and it's just not it's not actually enjoyable so maybe a helicopter and I don't have to take the rose at all you get you get the license I don't have a driving license so maybe I'd invest in a nice push bike something you're such a Londoner Chris driving license I went I went to Oasis gigs for £ 2750 and traveled to Prague that's what I did with my driving lesson money all right look Liv out in the country side and I learned how to commute Chris all right we are not the same uh yeah no I think the helicopter would be fun but again it's like I was quite struck by I saw a story yesterday about the pelan CEO on the cycling theme I don't know if you saw that but uh he he said that he's he had to sell some of his possessions because peleton crashed so hard so the headline was or yahu was Rich his to rags basically uh its valuation skyrocketed to about 8 billion ion pounds or nearly 50 billion by the end of 2020 and then he left in 2022 and uh apparently he had lost 87% of his wealth it evaporated so he went from a PE Peak personal Fortune of 1.9 billion uh to what was last reported around 225 million and then uh apparently uh yeah he had to sell sort of his stuff in order to kind of keep things going um so yeah uh it just shows how quickly that concern so the sensible financial planning that we're talking about as well as your helicopter Ed is probably it's probably wise and it is probably worth talking to someone when we win on Friday or if we don't just in case we do it in the future yeah know I think look I mean it's a fun I know it's a fun chat and I think it's the kind of thing you know you might be given to daydreaming about for five minutes you know if I win 100 million pound but actually when you think about it the implications of what you know 100 million pound look like in terms of the potential tax and where you put it and all this kind of stuff and what you do with it the it spirals quite quickly right so and Ian I'm pretty sure I'm not 100% sure but I'm fairly sure that they offer people you know immediate access to financial advice when people do win big win lotteries like that so so they do do they what in the UK Camelot whatever I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure they do I'm not it's not is it Camelot anymore who does it I think it might be somebody else sorry to who does it we're we're going to put that in the show notes as well and see contact them yeah the i' like to know that is I mean I'm pretty sure I've read up on it before they do like offered them advice and that kind and that I mean that's what i' I'd love to find out more about I mean genuinely don't know that much about like I'm sure there are high net worth advisor out there like you've had a big winfall because I'm sure people inherit you know inherit a massive estate or you know like the Duke of Westminster or whoever like that somebody's advising him on his Affairs when he becomes a Duke of Westminster and all that kind of stuff and I know we're not we're not here to kind of have billionaires you know been in a financial management chat but I do find it interesting like what do you do you know and I think we talked to another another colleague of ours uh Jenny who she was very keen on the idea of setting up like a charitable foundation and giving away most of the money and you know people have really great ideas like that um and how do you make that you know function in a way that's self- sustaining you know doesn't end up getting just hammered by tax and that kind of thing I there's lots of interesting stuff there so so yeah anybody out there listening who who has an idea and would like to uh to CH about it this is an open an open open call get in touch guys we want to hear about how you're going to help the the soon to be STI millionaire Edmund GRE yeah exactly yeah it's nailed on guaranteed uh so before I get there uh we were going to talk about the last week we're going to talk about quickly we'll keep it fairly uh quick quick on this occasion because we are running um before I become a sentim millionaire is that the right time uh it must be don't know I just thr it out there I'm you will have it um his his child care because and I've mentioned it before my my son is now 10 months old my wife's Ellen has just gone back to work finished her maternity leave um and yeah we are now in the process well we've actually got all the child care and stuff sorted out but I've had to do all the different Child Care stuff and Chris it is an absolute Nightmare and I cannot believe that they have this system in place and that hard work working parents who have less time than I do to fiddle about on the child care website I would be astonished if lots and lots of people basically aren't getting the help that they need because it's all just a bit it's a huge hassle basically so I mean I'm sure you've got a you've got a a young child I mean you've been we we we've got a three-year-old and another one where on the way imminently like could literally be any second I might have to leave this podcast early if my phone goes um yeah we found it first and foremost initially I think they changed the rules when Erin got a bit older than two so we just recently qualified for um for some free assistance um haven't F I know you found it harder than I said I think but um haven't found it that difficult although it does seem like the system could do with improving quite drastically so I think we get some fre hours alongside paying uh what what we're paying and uh Tanya my wife s of deals with that she sends off to um to I think it's the hmrc I think um and they come back with uh yeah Green Light you can carry on so we had to provide some credentials about what we earn to self declare some stuff and then they've been happy about I presume they checked out the other side with with the access they have to the information so it's helpful all helpful not look at gifts in the mouth here but also yeah from I think the whole thing root Branch could do with a lookout like many things here because um you start ending up back in that land of unintended consequences with this kind of thing and people end up sort of having to jump through all sorts of bizarre Hoops in order to make sure they qualify for it and it acts as disincentive for other sort of things in terms of pushing people into different earnings brackets and things like that so um yeah it's a major it's a major contentious issue in my life and I think it's proven to be for a lot of other people how have you found it yeah I mean look the system like is just it's a bit it's fiddly and and all this kind of stuff and it's it's counterintuitive so like doing the like the taxfree child care account is is fiddly and I spend a lot of time trying to get that arranged and then you've it's just just it's just other mad stuff like you have to reconfirm your details every three months otherwise you lose the entitlement and that kind of thing and it's like you know I'm having to put calendar reminders in to make sure I don't screw that up yeah there was a really interesting story today actually by uh asthma day at I news from pregnant than screwed actually about and this is this is this is shocking for me so obviously because Cosmo my son's 10 months old he qualifies for the 9 months um uh from 9 months old he qualifies 50 a CH can now because they extended that um but the way that the rules work mean that mothers are having to cut their maternity leave short so that they don't go back to work too late to claim for this term and it's just for me that's like shocking so it's like if you um basically if you if you don't cut short you because you the rule is you have to be going back to work within a month to be able to claim the credit to be able to claim the hours so if you're not going to back to work before the start of the September term then you lose the entitlement until the next term you can't just sign up in the middle of term it doesn't make I mean it's completely nonsensical P then screwed really right to to to raise it as an issue because you know mothers are missing out on three months of maternity leave that they are in perfectly potentially perfectly entitled to from their employer just because of a a bizarre way in which the the the the the the the the hours are are structured and the rules around it it just doesn't for me it just doesn't make any sense and it's just like we're supposed to make this easy for parents so that that they can they can work they can contribute to the economy all this kind of stuff that we talk about all the time and yet the government seems and this this is not you know obviously this is something labor have inherited but the government you know the state is intent on providing these things and then just making it really hard to actually claim them you know in a straightforward way uh it just does my head in basically and I'm having them you know a bit of a rant about it and I don't expect any of it to change frankly but you know that's where we are yeah pregnant and screw do great stuff on this I've followed their you know campaigning and that kind of thing and I think they've had some progress on it so they you know shout out to them I think they do great stuff um as a as you know the lady who who who does that deserves huge amounts of credit I think uh you that unintended consequence thing like you say if it's if it's ending up with outcomes not deci for what maternity leave should be and you know uh Child Care should be I.E a support to parents who want freedom to be able to kind of do what they want to do then something is fundamentally not right about it and if you're ending your maternity to leave sooner than you would like because then yeah I think that's not what they want how you want it to work if you were designing it so it does need addressing in that regard and it's so crucial particularly as you know over time both parents working has become more of a thing and has to have become more of a thing Society has changed and that's a good thing in some ways in terms of you know um equal rights in the workplace and you know extending that kind of thing but there's also extra pressure Financial pressure on parents these days and so we should be looking to try and alleviate that so that we got more time to be good parents and help our kids to grow up to be you know well adjusted sociable happy little little little beings boys and girls so um so yeah I think they do need to address it and have a look at at what potentially uh they could do to to tweak some of those unintended consequences which as usual are just muddying the waters making life hard causing you and others immense headaches so yeah um maybe maybe you could write write your list of things that most annoy you at we could turn that into some kind of some kind of Call to Arms like Martin Luther go and nail my my demands to the front door of dowy street or something like that yeah look I mean I don't want to look at gift horse in the mouth cu the stuff is really you know is very valuable getting the taxfree childcare stuff you know it's it's saving us a lot of money every month in child care um and then the 15 hours which is not 15 hours in practice when you actually have to stretch it over a whole year plus ter time but you know outside of ter time Etc you know it's that's a you know a day a week that we're not having to pay for fine but you know like I just I'm just and we've talked about the attack simplification stuff in the past and I it's just let's keep try and keep these things as simple as possible so many people can can can access and gain the benefit of it uh and we'll all just be happy or we can just get on with our lives basically instead of spend so much time faffing with it basically anyway amen amen right I think that brings us to the end uh Chris thank you as ever for for joining me um hopefully we'll have you back next week um depending I tell what to do first then should I should I sign up to the Oasis pre-sale or buy a euromillions ticket no maybe do the euromillions first and then you can afford a waste's ticket okay good clan let's do that uh thank you everybody for listening in as ever uh we'll see you again soon obviously you can catch us on uh Spotify Apple podcasts YouTube and then check us out on places like Tik Tok Instagram and everywhere else and of course night the money website and newsletter every week so thank thank you and goodbye