Last week, as I was leaving Good Morning Britain at 8:15am, one of the autograph hunters outside (waiting for a band, not for me) said to me, "that’s the day’s work done already, nice life for some!".
Well, I am lucky to have a nice life, but that’s far from the day’s work done. So I thought some may be interested if I lay out a flavour of a typical week, by speedily noting down my agenda for this one.
Work as editor-in-chief of MoneySavingExpert is the huge bulk of it – I suspect I do 35 hours a week of that. This is a mix of probably seven to eight meetings a week – from new tools we’re building, to improving accessibility from mobiles – writing and editing a range of guides, planning the next week’s email, discussing story angles and the big one – writing and editing the weekly email (a minimum 12 hours every Tuesday).
Yet the rest of the tasks are constantly varied, so I’ve speedily compiled a list of my NON-MSE work in the last week, which I think is roughly typical:
Friday 10 July:
- Lord Jonathan Hill came to MSE Towers, he’s the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, and wanted to seek counsel on ways the Commission could better engage with consumers.
- Quick call with Wes Streeting MP (Labour) about changes to student finance.
- Interview by James Salmon from the Daily Mail, about concerns over the EU mortgage directive.
- Interview by Retail Week about post budget thoughts for retailers – you can read it here, although it is behind a paywall.
Monday 13 July:
- My usual weekly ITV This Morning slot – this time it was on student finance.
- My usual lunchtime BBC Radio 5 Live hour-long consumer show (discussing student finance, open questions, overcharging and more), listen here.
- A meeting with the executive, series producer and director of the Martin Lewis Money Show to brainstorm ideas and structure for the next series.
Tuesday 14 July:
Tuesday’s are weekly email day – the one day I normally reserve to focus only on that, as it’s a 12-hour job. However, this week I had a couple of unavoidable’s:
- Speaking at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (a group of MPs and Lords) on Debt and Personal Finance’s summer reception. My main focuses were that they must deliver promises on payday loan advertising, giving breathing space to those with debt problems, and also my plans for a policy institute about mental health and debt.
- It was also the day we announced my future at MSE and The Telegraph profile about my future came out – responding to calls about this took a chunk of my time too.
Wednesday 15 July:
- ITV This Morning from MSE Towers in reaction to the Apple Pay news.
- BBC News live interview, with live reaction on the British Gas price cut story.
- Press release and general comments about the British Gas price cut (see British Gas news).
- One-on-one campaigning meet with Jo Johnson MP, Minister of State for Universities and Science to discuss the consultation on retrospective changes to student loans and other student finance issues.
- Channel 5 News pre-record on the British Gas story.
- Writing my syndicated column, which goes in a host of regional newspapers and magazines around the UK.
- Recording a few requested videos for a number of charities and schools to be played at conferences or AGMs or lessons.
Thursday 16 July:
- Early start doing my Good Morning Britain Deals of the Week slot.
- Then pre-recording my 90 Second Savers deals slot to run on Friday on This Morning.
- Meeting at the Money Advice Service where I’m a member of the Independent Panel reviewing proposed changes after the Farnish report.
- Writing my Sunday Mirror column.
- Interview with The Sun about upselling on UK high streets.
Related blogs:
- Doing something rather brave – I won’t be working next Tuesday
- I’m writing today and I feel like I’m skiving
- What I’m going to tell the PM at today’s energy summit
- My PPI day diary – paps, snaps, clips and facts
- My minute-by-minute (political) day in the life…
- It’s a typical day… arrrgh
- A day in the life of…well me… Martin Lewis
- Sometimes I love my job!
- Some days I hate my job
- Three shows in one day and I’m tired
