The And
The AND — Edition 20 - The FU Fund
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Welcome back to The AND.
This week: The most important thing you can do with your money - the money that gives you the right to say no.
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There is a kind of financial security that doesn't get talked about enough.
We talk about building wealth. We talk about paying off debt, growing savings, investing for the future. All of it matters. But there's a specific type of financial security. One that sits underneath all of those goals. It's not the one most people are focused on. And I think it’s one of the most powerful things money can do.
It's the money that gives you the right to walk away.
Recently, a situation arose in my life where I needed to make a decision. Something wasn't working. The dynamic wasn't right. I had tried, genuinely tried and I reached a point where I could see, clearly, that continuing wasn't going to serve me. So I made the call. I walked away.
And the reason I could make that call, cleanly, without panic, without second-guessing whether I could afford to was because I had money behind me. It made the choice all about me and it made it mine to make.
It wasn’t a huge amount, it wasn’t a fortune, but it was just enough to give me a runway. Enough to look at a situation and ask: does this work for me, yes or no? And when the answer was no, to act on it.
That feeling, the deep-down knowledge that you can choose, that you can decide, that nothing external is forcing your hand is one of the most powerful ways money can serve you. It's bigger than any savings milestone, any number on a spreadsheet. It's the feeling of money working for you and you being in the driving seat of your own life.
And I want that for you.
This week's AND: money is freedom AND most of us don't realise that's what we can build when we save.
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What's your AND this week?
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This week's tip — 10 minutes, real impact
The emergency fund AND the FU fund. Why you need both.
You've probably heard of the emergency fund. Three to six months of essential expenses, sitting in a separate account, untouched unless something unexpected happens. The boiler breaks. You lose a client. The car needs a new engine. That's what it's there for.
The emergency fund is brilliant, and if you're still building yours, that's the right place to focus right now. Keep going. It matters.
But here's what I want you to know: there's a next level. And it's what I call the FU fund.
The FU fund is not for emergencies. It's not for unexpected costs. It's for intentional exits. It's the money that lets you walk away from a job that's destroying you, a client who doesn't respect you, a situation that stopped working without being forced back to the table by financial pressure.
The difference is important. Your emergency fund is reactive. It protects you when life happens to you. Your FU fund is proactive. It gives you the power to make deliberate choices about your own life on your terms.
When you're starting, having an emergency fund is a real achievement. But where you should be aiming, as your financial foundation grows, is to have both. Two separate pots. Two separate jobs. One for the unexpected. One for the intentional.
This week, ten minutes:
Do you have an emergency fund? If not, that's your starting point. Work out your monthly essential outgoings and set a target of three months' worth as your first milestone.
If you do have an emergency fund have you ever thought about starting an FU fund? It doesn't need to be much, just enough to let you walk away without touching your emergency fund. It just needs to exist, separately, earmarked for one purpose: your freedom to choose.
Name the account something that reminds you what it's for. Open it. Put the first £50 in. That's how it starts.
The goal isn't the number. The goal is the feeling that deep-down knowledge that you can walk, whenever you need to. That power cannot be taken away from you.
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See you next week.