“Financially I am towards the end of my career years but have still got lots I want to achieve! I have really enjoyed getting into crypto and hope to have it as a full-time interest.”
I was born in the London suburb of Croydon but spent much of my childhood in Dunblane; I used to joke I was the second most famous ex-resident after the tennis player Andy Murray!
My Mum installed you had to work hard to earn well
I had a fairly middle-class background, and whilst we all had a strong work ethic, I am probably the most rebellious out of the 3 of us! Finance was certainly a part of my upbringing, as my Dad was a chartered accountant working for a large Whiskey Company, and thereafter some large organisations with a turnover of up to £100bn. My Mum installed that you had to work hard to earn well, and would often incentivise me with pocket money, which has probably stood me well in life.
I’ve had a fairly varied career. My first job was in school holidays after we’d moved down to Somerset, at the age of 12, earning £25 per week working for a farmer. I loved the work, driving tractors and getting 3 square meals a day, but alas it wasn’t going to be a lucrative lifelong job. I left school at 16 with just two qualifications, finding myself bored of school and keen to enter the world of work, I joined my mum in her textile business, which led me to other clothing businesses. Frustratingly, after several occasions of being made redundant, I felt a change of industry was in order, and I went to work in retail, for a company which is now part of Sainsbury's. I have had a number of jobs in this sector over the years, including managing one of the busiest Tesco stores in the UK, which opened my eyes to the importance of streamlined payments – hence crypto, all these years later, makes perfect sense to me!
Look past the jargon and focus on what crypto will do for you
Having found that retail demanded long hours, often at the weekend, I found I had lots of transferrable skills to work in construction. I got work with an independent plant hire business which started a 30 plus year career in supplying the construction sector. What I found I was really good at was explaining complicated concepts without jargon – the posh term Is “technical sales”. I was taking requirements on large projects including the Canary Wharf Tower roof (which unfortunately due to an error with the architect didn’t actually fit!), carrying out reconstruction on parts of the M25 as well as controlled demolition within several major power stations around the UK. I also worked for a developer creating large resorts in the Caribbean. More recently I worked in insurance supplying large property developments, predominantly within structural warranty as well as other liability cover, for one of the world’s largest brokers, which has taken me into an FCA regulated world. I know first-hand that the financial infrastructure needs updating, and crypto is perfectly placed to do that! I have found both in work and crypto, to look past the jargon and focus on what the product will actually do for you in plain English.
I'm impressed with how far crypto has come
My first interaction with crypto came in 2009, when in the first year of Bitcoin someone offered me 20 bitcoins for about £50. Annoyingly I was very busy both for work and personal reasons and said no – a shame given it would now be worth in the region of £280,000! I did look at crypto on and off in the coming year but until recently didn’t feel it was mature enough for me to purchase until an old work colleague got in touch to tell me about Dacxi. I was impressed with how far crypto had come in recent years, particularly as Dacxi could provide me with a high-quality explanation of what it was and how it worked! Coming from an insurance background I understood that most financial instruments are words on a piece of paper, and crypto is the natural evolution of that. I already know a property developer that has sold a few houses for bitcoin locally to me, the first transaction of this type in the UK, local car dealers accept Bitcoin, BMW too endorse the acceptance of Bitcoin – I think we will see it being used more often for big-ticket items fairly soon. I’m also very interested in the marriage of crypto and crowdfunding which Dacxi will be involved in the medium term.
Look at crypto you won't regret it
Financially I am towards the end of my career years but have still got lots I want to achieve! I have really enjoyed getting into crypto and hope to have it as a full-time interest. I intend to buy a house, mortgage-free, with my partner. I’ve got 3 grown-up kids, who I want to support and spend time with. I’m passionate about travel, particularly to the far east, so freedom of my time is important – sometimes you want to make a snap decision to go somewhere hot, and ideally, I’d spend at least 6 months a year overseas, preferably on a boat. I’m passionate about rock/metal music and am lucky enough to have seen what I consider some of the world’s best bands live – highlights include The Damned, Motorhead, Foo Fighters, Green Day, and The B52S. Tickets aren’t cheap so following some of my favorites has been an expensive hobby. Talking of which, I’ll need a man shed in the new house to listen to music and play drums and my guitars.
To anyone thinking about crypto who is around my age, like me you are probably more than a bit annoyed with what’s happened to our economy and to pensions – look at crypto, you won’t regret it!
Dacxi is proud to support people on a path to prosperity with crypto. If you would like to find out more then please join us at dacxi.com. We’re here to help.
