Ken lives life on purpose

This week on the Real Money Stories podcast, I speak to Ken Okoroafor, founder of The Humble Penny. Ken grew up in Lagos, Nigeria until his family moved to the UK when he was aged 14. As well as the culture shock of adapting to life in the UK, Ken was acutely aware of financial differences between his secondary school classmates. ‘Ashamed’, ‘lonely’ and ‘unseen’ are all words he uses to describe how he felt due to his family’s lack of money and different ethnicity to others around him. Finishing university with a first-class degree, Ken decided accountancy would be a good path to pursue. Undeterred by the lack of black representation in the industry, he was successful in getting a position in one of the UK’s top 10 firms. Having temporarily succumbed to the effects of ‘lifestyle creep’ early on in his career, Ken got himself back on track, reminding himself what really matters in life. Having achieved financial independence aged 34, he and his wife, Mary, decided to share their money story in order to empower others via The Humble Penny. You can check Ken out at: https://thehumblepenny.com/ and https://youtube.com/thehumblepenny