Transcript
Daisy: Rachel, I'm so looking forward to hearing the story of how you set up your business. What was the concept and how did it come about?
Rachel: So, it's residential childcare, and really came about because of my sister. She sort of dragged me along and said, let's set something up together. And I suppose for me, it was a bit of a challenge in my late 40s to do something completely different.
Daisy: And there was clearly a demand for what you were offering – you grew hugely.
Rachel: Incredibly fast. We started with our first home in 2018, a small home just with three young people. And by the time we sold in May 2023, we had ten homes.
Daisy: How did you come across Flagstone? How did that relationship start?
Rachel: Well, that came as an idea planted by my financial adviser and he suggested that whilst we were taking that time to do some financial planning that we should really use Flagstone because you obviously end up with a large sum from a sale and what do you do with that money?
So, we took a look at Flagstone, and it looked like the brilliant opportunity that it has turned out to be.
We put the full proceeds in there and then you're able to pick and choose various banks that you want to invest with, and you can look at the different terms as well so that was really useful for us being able to look at short-term goals and then of course more long-term goals where you could go with a longer-term.
A big chunk was for the taxman that went into an 18-month term, and that was earning us interest the whole time. Instead of having to constantly be on top of it and looking, it's login, take a look at what opportunities there are, and then you're able to move your funds around very easily.
We actually had the funds across 27 providers, so I mean, if I was trying to manage that personally myself, I wouldn't remember beyond five logins, so you know, having just the one login was excellent. And it's just so easy. It's one application as opposed to 27 applications, so your money starts to earn interest so much quicker and so much faster for you.
Daisy: One of the things that we've all become more aware of since the financial crisis some years ago, when a lot of people lost some of their savings, is this ceiling that there is of £85,000 – above which, if you have your money in one place you’re not necessarily covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. That is something that in the back of your mind you'll be thinking, is it safe where it is?
Rachel: Exactly. It's sometimes easier to think, well, I'll take that risk. But with Flagstone you don't need to take that risk. The opportunity is there to be able to spread it safely, securely, and knowing that your investment is very safe with those limits. So, it's great.
Daisy: It seems much better to have a situation where we as a customer actually understand what's going on and can have those choices presented to us.
Rachel: And Flagstone make it incredibly simple. Just by looking around the site you were able to see straightaway that it was really simple and easy to use. I don't have a financial background. I'm no wizard when it comes to those sort of things. So, it's just easy and great outcomes.
