The balance you carry into whatever's next.
I'm a chartered accountant by trade, a parent of three under three by circumstance, and endlessly curious about money, business, and the decisions that shape both. This is where I write it down.
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PF · 26 What I wish someone had told me about money at 22
I qualified as an accountant knowing more about corporation tax than my own finances. Here's what I've actually learned about money since — the useful stuff, not the textbook version.
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View archiveBecoming a senior manager with newborn twins at home
Notes on the year everything happened at once, and what actually helped when the promotion and the newborns arrived in the same few months.
The maths schools don't teach: real financial literacy
Why so few people understand compound interest, tax, or debt — and what I'd change if financial education were actually built for real life.
Retention money and your balance sheet
Why retentions distort your numbers more than most contractors realise — and how to stop them quietly draining a profitable business.
Should you overpay your mortgage or invest? A real worked example
Running the actual numbers instead of repeating the usual rules of thumb — and why the honest answer depends on more than the interest rate.
Trusts for construction families: when they help
A grounded look at where trusts genuinely reduce exposure for family-run construction businesses — and where they don't.
What running a growing office taught me about politics
Where I stand, and where I've deliberately changed my mind — lessons on policy that arrived through a payroll, not a manifesto.
About this site
I'm a senior manager at a UK accountancy firm, with a particular interest in construction and inheritance tax — and, more recently, a parent of three under three. Carried Forward is where I write about money, work, and everything that doesn't fit neatly into either: politics, growing a career, and the ordinary chaos of trying to do it all at once.