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Teamwork: Clare Nasir with DJ husband Chris Hawkins
The best financial decision meteorologist and TV presenter Clare Nasir ever made was to marry BBC radio DJ Chris Hawkins.
The 52-year-old tells Donna Ferguson that her husband, who is 46, is so good at managing household finances, he’s like the BBC Radio 6 Music equivalent of money-saving expert Martin Lewis.
The couple live in Cheshire with their daughter Sienna, and Clare is a patron of the environmental organization Word Forest Organisation.
What did your parents teach you about money?
Being generous to a fault. They taught me that there is more to life than money. When I was very young, my father was a car mechanic and my mother a nurse. My father went on to run a business and my mother became an HR director for an NHS hospital.
They had humble beginnings, but both did incredibly well. Growing up, money was tight. I don’t really want to go into the details, but we were significantly impacted by the recession of the early 1990s, when interest rates skyrocketed and companies failed and went bankrupt. I remember asking for free school meals at times. These days a lot of people hover around the poverty line and that’s something I can really relate to. It’s been a long time though and I’ve never gone hungry. I don’t think it was something that had a big impact on me. My family is very close. We don’t really need much to be happy.
Have you ever had trouble making ends meet?
I do not think so. But when I joined the Met Office after completing my master’s degree, I regularly went into the red. I earned a reasonable basic wage and rented in London. I wanted to drive a decent car, buy nice clothes, and live a fun, wonderful life. So I always wanted to have an extra tenner in my pocket.
Have you ever been paid stupid money?
If you work in TV, you can get paid a lot for public appearances and you can also get great free gifts, such as being flown first class to Los Angeles or New York for photo shoots.
The dumbest money I’ve ever made was for a piece on camera about environmental issues for a major energy company. It took me an hour and they paid the equivalent of a month’s wages.
What was the best year of your financial life?
It was last year. I’ve developed a portfolio career, so I’m not committed to one organization. My main job is my work for the Met Office and Channel 5, but I always take on business work. I have a green screen at home and we built a TV studio.
The most expensive thing you bought for fun?
When my daughter was nine months old, I spent £25,000 cash on a second-hand three-bed caravan. It was next to the coast, near Whitstable in Kent. Kate Garraway [the TV presenter] would bring down her kids too, and it was great.
We sold it two and a half years later when my husband’s job at the BBC moved north and we moved to Cheshire. By then its value had deteriorated so we got half of what we paid.
When I asked my husband afterwards if we should take another caravan, he said absolutely no. In fact over two years we spent £12,000 on those caravan holidays – we might as well have rented each time. It was heaven, but very expensive.
What’s your biggest money mistake?
Not opting for the pension scheme when I joined GMTV. I thought it wasn’t worth it because I didn’t think I was good enough to last a year. So many talented people came through the ranks and television is a fickle industry. It was a stupid mistake. In the end I was there for 11 years. All this time I saved for a private pension and received no employer contributions.
The best money decision you’ve made?
Marrying my husband, the DJ Chris Hawkins, because he’s brilliant with money. He is the BBC 6 Music equivalent of Martin Lewis and manages our household bills incredibly well.
We got married in 2005 and the first thing he did was pay off my credit cards. He hated the fact that I only paid the minimum amount each month.
I had so many different types of insurance and Chris streamlined them all and saved me a lot of money.
Are you saving for a pension or investing in shares?
I invest a lot of money in pensions. I want security and a good lifestyle when I’m older.
I do not invest in the stock market outside of my pension. I never looked at it. I realize that many people find it interesting and make money from it, but it has passed me by. Maybe I’ve been looking at the clouds too long.
Bright outlook: Clare, who joined the Met Office after completing her master’s degree, gives a weather forecast on ITV1
Do you have one property?
Yes. We have two houses in Cheshire. We rent one and live in the other.
The house we live in is a large four bedroom property in the center of Wilmslow which we purchased a year ago. We renovated it, so we increased the floor plan by a third and it certainly increased in value.
That one little luxury you treat yourself to?
A nice bottle of red wine. I’m happy to spend over £30 every few months on a decent bottle of Barolo, but I do it secretly so my husband doesn’t know how much I paid. I just don’t tell him.
But at the same time I’d be very upset if he drank more than half the bottle thinking I’d only spent a tenner so I normally only drink it when he leaves!
If you were chancellor, what would you do?
I would nationalize and invest in the entire rail network so no one has to spend more than a tenner on a trip, and I would make sure it’s all powered by renewable energy. I would also raise wages for railway workers.
The biggest frustration for me when trying to do business in London is the train service. Trains keep getting canceled and prices are ridiculous.
We need a decent service so that people don’t have to jump in their cars and spend huge amounts of gas to get around the country as we try to achieve net zero carbon emissions.
The solution is a nationalized system in which no profit is made and every citizen has the right to a seat.
Do you donate money to a good cause?
Yes, I am a patron of the Word Forest Organization, an environmental and education charity dedicated to combating climate change and global warming.
They are based in the UK, but are doing a great job in Kenya, planting forests and building schools. I donate to this charity and try to do my part as well.
What is your first financial priority?
To make sure my family is safe – and that when I’m not there, my daughter has the financial freedom to make choices that mean her life is great.
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