HOW I MANAGE MY MONEY: FIRM OWNER, ON £2.7K, WHO ADDS £1.2K A MONTH TO PENSION

In our How I Manage My Money series, we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.

This week we speak to Laura Skilton, 45, who lives in Winchester with her husband, Martin, 43, and their three children aged 14, 11 and 8, and the family dog. Laura, who runs a swim school franchise business called Baby Squids, quit university to start working. Laura and her husband have stashed away £650,000 in pensions to date. Laura would like to have an income of £250,000 a year.

Monthly budget

My monthly income: I take a monthly salary of around £2,500 per month from Baby Squids. I also receive dividends when the business is performing well. The dividends can vary throughout the year. My husband is a senior technology manager at a FTSE 100-listed business and works full-time, so we are a dual income household.

Our monthly outgoings: Mortgage, £3,118; council tax, £250; groceries and household items, £900; gas, electric and water, £420; broadband and TV, £76; mobile phones, £80; car fuel, £150; car insurance and tax, £60; life and home insurance, £80; critical illness cover, £85; subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify, £40; kids’ activities and clubs including a theatre arts club, football and cricket, £600 – the theatre, singing and dance club alone is £550 a month for my two daughters; eating out and takeaways, £200; money into holiday savings pot, £800 – we usually go away twice a year; money into savings and investments, around £1,000; money into pensions, £2,700 between the two of us.

I grew up in lots of different places and went to seven primary schools before settling in Hampshire for secondary school. My parents, who had to relocate several times for work, worked hard but were never wealthy.

After leaving school I studied business and marketing at university, but dropped out in the second year as it just wasn’t for me. After quitting university, I spent six months in France and started working. This gave me a head start in gaining real life business experience.

I’m now the owner and co-founder of Baby Squids, a swim school franchise providing baby and toddler swimming lessons across the UK. I take home a salary of about £2,500 a month from it. I receive dividends from the company when it is performing well.

I’ve also recently launched Cricket hoppers, focused on cricket-themed classes for younger children. I work 30-plus hours a week, but flexibly and based on my family’s needs.

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The tax burden on small business owners can feel quite heavy, especially when you’re trying to reinvest profits to grow. I’d love to see more targeted support and incentives for women in business and franchising. This would be particularly welcome when it comes to VAT.

Our franchisees do really well, but pool hire and good teachers are costly. Revenue builds quickly and franchisees become subject to VAT costs.

This seems crazy as you cannot just add another 20 per cent to customers paying for swimming lessons. This really is an area that should be reviewed.

My husband and I purchased our detached four-bedroom house in Winchester for £1,425,000 in 2023. When we bought the house, our mortgage went up with interest rate changes, as well as the size of the mortgage. This has definitely affected our monthly budget!

It’s a great house in a lovely, safe area with fantastic schools for the children. We have no plans to move and have worked hard to create a space we can enjoy.

Each month, my husband is a big fan of using spreadsheets and budgeting apps to track our spending and ensure we’re hitting our savings targets.

We save money into a mix of Isas and SIPPs and my husband’s workplace pension. Combined, we have £650,000 in pension pots and £60,000 in a stocks and shares Isa invested in global tracker funds.

Saving into pensions is hugely important to both of us. Pensions and Isas are great investment options, particularly for higher earners, as they help ease the tax burden. I add £1,200 per month via Baby Squids into a pension and my husband adds £1,500 per month into his workplace pension. Combined, we have £2,700 going into pensions every month.

I’d love to start winding down at the age of 60, but I can’t see myself giving up working as there is so much I like to do. There is absolutely no way we could survive on just the state pension, at least not without some serious lifestyle changes. Building up personal pensions and business assets is key to providing me with flexibility and security in later life.

I’m not motivated by money for its own sake. I’m motivated by the freedom and stability it brings. It gives me choices, allows me to spend more time with my family and creates opportunities for others through my franchise network. Ideally, I’d like to earn £250,000 a year personally, as this would allow us to live comfortably, invest more and plan ahead without worry.

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2025-06-09T05:18:40Z