I COULD BE A LOT WEALTHIER AS A LAWYER

THE last week has been busier than usual. More money has gone through my hands as I have travelled so much but I can claim most of that back on expenses. On a personal level, the week's spending has probably been lighter as I haven't had time to go out to eat or hold dinner parties.

I do make good money in my job though considering my qualifications I could be a lot wealthier as a lawyer or a banker, but I love this industry, particularly the creative side.

HP:ICM organises live events and conferences and working for them I get to be involved in winning great projects like the body zone in the Millennium Dome and the British Pavilion at the last and next World Expos.

My wife Deborah and I spend most of our money on the mortgage at the moment. We recently bought a beautiful five-storey Victorian house in West Kensington. We decided to take the risk and mortgage ourselves up to our necks because property is such a tax-efficient investment. We have worked out that running the house and paying the mortgage costs us almost exactly 2,500 a month. It is really expensive, but it gives us so much pleasure and we get to enjoy our investment every day.

Deborah is expecting a baby at Christmas, which is going to be quite frightening financially. She will stop working and it will fall on my shoulders to do all the breadwinning. Currently we live well within our means with a little left over every month for saving, but when the baby comes along we will be on the edge.

We will probably have to dip into our savings.

Although having a baby will demand big lifestyle changes, we absolutely can't wait.

The things we spend most on, apart from the house, are the theatre and cinema. It is vital for my job that I keep up to date with the world of performing arts, particularly West-End theatre, but we enjoy going so it is hardly a drag.

My greatest passion is squash and I spend a lot of time pursuing that. I play in various teams and this year I played in the European Maccabiah (Jewish) Games where I won a gold team medal and an individual silver. I coached professionally when I was a student, but now I'm willing to pay for lessons with a top pro.

When I'm not going abroad, I cycle to work.

The bike cost more than 400 but I have recouped that several times over in saved Tube fares. I drive a convertible Jaguar XJS, which has always been my dream car. I bought it second-hand for 14,000 five years ago and it's kept its value pretty well. Deborah drives a second-hand Fiat Uno. We don't extravagantly upgrade our cars all the time - we'd love to be able to afford a whole fleet but that's just a dream for now.

If I stand back and look at where I am financially, I have two main thoughts. One is that I'm really thankful for being as fortunate as I am and the other is a burning competitive drive to become even more fortunate.

Sunday Cinema, drink 13.10 Walkman offer 9.99 Charity donation 25.00 M&S groceries 44.50 Books 18.98 Petrol 47.00 Monday Fortune magazine 2.95 Flight to Paris and taxis 404.50 Airport parking 30.00 Perfume 21.00 Tuesday Charity auction 30.00 Flowers 15.00 Chocolate muffin 1.00 Postage 0.78 Tube fare 3.40 Car park 0.40 Drink 1.20 Videos 28.98 Wednesday Airport parking 30.00 Laptop speakers 16.58 Taxis in Stuttgart 20.00 Coffee 3.50 Squash game 31.40 Flight to Stuttgart 482.80 Thursday INSEAD tie 35.00 Rowley's restaurant 45.00 Tube fare 3.40 Pain au chocolat 0.70 Sandwich 2.00 Antihistamines 15.99 Cab 7.00 Friday Wine 9.00 Taxis in Munich 57.00 Pizza Hut 10.00 Airport parking 30.00 Flowers 10.00 Flight to Munich 522.10 Total 2,143.05

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