Smart move: Andrea McLean has invested in a ‘gym for the mind’
TV presenter Andrea McLean sold her home for £1 million so she could invest in her business This Girl Is On Fire – an online gym for the mind – and the 52-year-old has no regrets about the bold decision.
McLean, who recently returned to TV lunchtime chat show Loose Women as a guest after quitting in 2020, is author of You Just Need To Believe It: 10 Ways In 10 Days To Unlock Your Courage And Reclaim Your Power.
Married to businessman Nick Feeney, McLean spoke to Donna Ferguson.
What did your parents teach you about money?
Not to spend more than you earn. My parents were working class Glaswegians. My mum was a hairdresser and my dad an engineer. He left school with no qualifications, became an apprentice engineer and ended up going to Trinidad to install machinery in a factory. I spent most of my upbringing in Trinidad. It was a bit like being in the Army. We lived in a furnished house owned by the company that my dad worked for. We weren’t well off and money was tight, but I didn’t notice that until we moved back to the UK when I was a teenager. My parents wanted to buy a property and I think they felt the pinch. I even remember my mum giving up smoking because she could no longer afford it.
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
When I was 24 and studying for a postgraduate degree in journalism in London, I only had my student loan to live on. I slept on a friend’s floor until I could get a bedsit that was so small there wasn’t even enough room for a bed in it. I slept on a mattress on top of a wardrobe and I had to put 50p in a meter to get heat and light.
Have you ever been paid silly money?
Yes, for an awards ceremony very recently. All I had to do was turn up and read a script. I was done in 20 minutes and they paid me an insane amount of money: several thousand pounds. It felt so ridiculous earning that much for 20 minutes, I stayed for the whole evening just to justify the fee to myself.
What was the best year of your financial life?
It was 2012. I was hosting Loose Women, I brought out my first book, and I had a successful jewellery range for sale on shopping channel QVC. I’d rather not say exactly how much I earned, but it was a six-figure sum.
What is the most expensive thing you bought for fun?
A floor-length black sheepskin coat from fashion retailer Joseph for £1,000 in 2000. I bought it when my son was a newborn because I felt so horrendous. I decided I needed something pretty. It was beautiful and warm, but I wore it so often it started to look like a wild animal. I eventually had to give it away to charity before it crawled away of its own accord.
What is your biggest money mistake?
Investing in a pension with Equitable Life in the 1990s. I lost most of it in 2000 when the insurer teetered on the verge of bankruptcy – probably a six-figure sum. It made me feel sick.
But I’ve accepted it now as extraordinarily bad luck. It didn’t put me off saving into a pension. I took the advice of a financial adviser who said I should carry on saving into a different scheme. I think it makes sense to do so for tax reasons and I like the fact that my savings are squirrelled away, so there’s no temptation to dip into them. I liken my experience with Equitable Life to my experiences with men. I’ve been married three times. That doesn’t mean I don’t trust love or I think all men are horrible. I was just unfortunate. You live, you learn, you pick yourself up and start again.
The best money decision you have made?
Selling my home last year to invest half a million pounds in my business, This Girl Is On Fire. It’s an online gym for the mind, a private membership club for women where we teach them how to think differently. The idea is if you train your mental muscles, it keeps you mentally strong.
When I left Loose Women in December 2020, I took a leap of faith and put all my heart and soul into This Girl Is On Fire. My salary immediately went to zero. I was really scared – and my biggest fear was what if I have to sell my home? It was this big shadow hanging over me.
In good company: Andrea McLean has recently returned to TV lunchtime chat show Loose Women as a guest after quitting in 2020
About nine months in, I realised that I needed more money to invest in the business because we were building an app and it was taking longer than we’d thought. So I did have to sell my home – for £1million – and started renting a lovely six-bedroom house in Surrey.
Do you invest directly in the stock market?
Yes. I took some of the money I got from selling my home and put it in the stock market.
What is the one little luxury you treat yourself to?
I have acupuncture with Sarah Bradden every six to eight weeks. It costs £200. I arrive exhausted. She does acupuncture on my face, my feet, my hands…I look like a pincushion. When I walk out, I feel all floaty, like I was upside down and inside out and she has balanced me again.
If you were Chancellor, what is the first thing you’d do?
I would stop levying income tax on anyone earning under the living wage, so they could keep all their income. Then, I would lower the top rate of income tax to 20 per cent and remove tax avoidance schemes so everyone would pay that rate. The Treasury would end up with more money overall.
Do you donate money to charity?
I donate to various charities, but the main thing I do is foster dogs from Battersea Dogs Home. I take dogs in and I love them until they find a forever home. We have fostered ten so far and kept one – Teddy the cavapoo – because we just couldn’t give him back.
