Photo credit: Simon Brown

Sarah is a well known personal finance journalist and broadcaster. She has appeared regularly on BBC Saturday Breakfast and writes for several magazines. Sarah is editor of SavvyWoman.co.uk; a website that helps women everywhere get more from their money.

You can follow Sarah on Twitter @SavvySarahP.

BWM: Best ever financial move?

SP: It would have to be buying my first flat. I’d lived in London for about a year before I decided to buy and it felt like the right time. I loved living in the flat and it also turned out to be a great investment.

BWM: If you received a tax-free prize of £10,000, how would you spend it?

SP: I’d be able to spend it several times over! I think it would be a choice between paying off part of my mortgage and investing the money in my business. The website has only been going for about two months and there’s a lot more I could do if money was no object.

BWM: Where is the best place to go for financial information, guidance or advice?

SP: Well, I’d say if you’re a woman, to SavvyWoman.co.uk! Seriously, I think the web is a great source of information as long as you don’t mind doing a bit of digging to find out who’s behind the website (and therefore what their agenda may be) and whether the information is up to date. I read a lot of the personal finance pages of the press (on and offline) and there are also some very accessible personal finance programmes on TV and radio.

BWM: Your best financial tip?

SP: Start thinking about your retirement well before you need to. Many people, particularly women, think that pensions are a waste of time. I’d say you should take the word ‘pension’ out of it and make sure that – however you save – you don’t have to rely on the state once you stop working.

BWM: What is your retirement going to look like?

SP: I’m certainly not going to be able to take a cruise every month but I should be OK financially. I started my pension when I joined the BBC and I paid as much as I could into it in the last few years. At the time it seemed ridiculously sensible but it was a very good financial move.

Mike is one of the world’s top business speakers and co-author of several best selling business books, including The Beermat Entrepreneur and Sales on a Beermat. He writes a column every Saturday for the FT, called “My Business”. You can find out more about Mike at www.beermat.biz.

We asked Mike to answer five questions about money.

BWM: What was your best ever financial move?

MS: Buying a house in Hampstead for cash at the bottom of the market, just after selling my first company

BWM: Worst financial decision ever made?

Taking a full-scale theatre tour on the road without adequate financial planning

BWM: Your best financial tip?

MS: From my Mentor Sir Campbell Fraser: ‘Watch the cash, laddie!”

BWM: What does ‘wealth’ mean to you?

MS: I like Roger Hamilton’s definition: what you would have left if all your cash vanished – your knowledge, reputation and personal network

BWM: What is your retirement going to look like?

MS: I will never retire – will be speaking professionally or otherwise performing until I drop!

If you would like to take part in the Five Minute Money Interview on BrilliantWithMoney, please do contact us.

Simon is Personal Finance Editor at The Independent and Letters Editor at The People. He has been writing about money and consumer issues for twenty years. You can follow Simon on Twitter @simonnread.

We asked Simon to answer five questions about money.

BWM: What has been your best ever financial move?

SR: Overpaying the mortgage whenever I can afford to. It’s cut years off the term and saved me thousands.

BWM: And your worst financial decision?

SR: Putting money into a stocks and shares ISA in 2000. It started sliding almost straight away, was worth half its value by 2003, and is still worth thousands less than I started with.

BWM: If you received a tax-free prize of £10,000, how would you spend it?

SR: Use most of it to reduce the mortgage. But buy my wife and two children a gift each and treat myself to a ticket to see Chelsea play.

BWM: What is your retirement going to look like?

SR: Not very relaxing! I will have to work as long as I’m able. I have bits of pension scattered around, but not enough to keep me in beer and chips.

BWM: Do you live to work or work to live?

SR: Work to live. Family, friends and fun is more important to me. I am much the poorer financially because of that but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If you would like to take part in the Five Minute Money Interview on BrilliantWithMoney, please do contact us.