FAQs

How do you pronounce that bloody surname?

BECK-bess-in-jur. Rhymes with "messenger", but with Beck in the front. I only learned to spell my own surname in grade three, so please don't stress if you get it wrong.

How old are you?

I was born in June 1987. You do the maths.

Where are you from?

I was born on a farm near Durban in South Africa, and my first pet was a donkey named Mr Magoo. I lived in Durbs until I was twelve, then moved to Pretoria (AKA Pre-historia) for my teenage years. I've had a fairly nomadic life since then: at various times, home has been Cape Town, San Francisco, Cambridge, Johannesburg, and a very dodgy nightclub called Zeplins. Right now, I live in London (the best city in the world).

What is your net worth?

Wow, like, at least take me out for dinner first.

How can I get in touch with you?

Find the right contact here. I get a lot of emails, so please be patient with me if I take a while to get back to you. I do get around to responding to most of them eventually, and I sincerely would love to hear from you.

I've written a book. Can you help me get it published?

Firstly, HUGE CONGRATULATIONS for writing a book, it's a huge achievement in itself. I've got some general advice about finding an agent/publisher here, and if you'd like some support in improving the manuscript, I do offer (very limited and selective) creative writing mentorships. What I can't do is personally put you in touch with an editor, publisher or agent, sorry!

Where can I find the money dashboard?

Over here.

Will you do a talk about money at my office/school/club?

Sure! I love doing that. You'll find more information about money talks here.

Help! I need financial advice.

I'm not a financial advisor, so I can't give you personalised advice, I'm afraid. I'd suggest you head on over to the Fat Wallet Facebook Community and ask them to recommend a good fee-based advisor in your area. Here's some general advice about how to choose one.

Why did you move to the U.K.?

Two big reasons:

1. I have a genetic predisposition to going blind. I decided that if I do go blind, life will be much easier if I live in a country with a good public transport system.
2. The world is big and I wanted to see more of it!

South Africa is a magical place and I miss it every day.

What's your opinion on crypto?

I wrote a long answer to this question here.

Why all the swearing?

Why the fuck not?

What platform is this website built on?

The whole site is built on a brilliant blogging and newsletter platform called Ghost. I love Ghost because they're a non-profit organisation, the platform is fully open-source, it strikes exactly the right balance between full-featured and intuitive, and the team members are some of the nicest people around.

Other writing tools I use frequently include Canva, Buffer, Zapier, Obsidian, Ulysses, Grammarly, and Google Docs. Here's more about my writing tools.

Can I ask you on a date?

Thanks but no. I'm a depraved pansexual but am also in a very happy long-term monogamous relationship, thank you very much.

What's your cat's name?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar III.

Is "Sam" short for "Samantha"?

Only if you ask my grandmother, which would require a ouija board.