Finance: I'll make the Most-ue out of my money; HOW TV VET TRUDE

PLANNING for the future can be hard work, as TV vet Trude Mostue found out when she decided to buy her own flat.

Trude, 33, who made a huge hit in the BBC's Vets In Practice series, wanted to invest in a home as security for the years ahead.

She says: "I had a very patient financial adviser, but I did spend a lot of time feeling stupid, asking a lot of stupid questions. I did not understand the words used, or the differences between the various mortgages.

"I learnt through financial magazines and books and took a long time - and I had the help of my adviser."

Sunday Mirror Finance is here to help you avoid all the pitfalls and we'll show you in our eight-page special what you need to know to have a secure future. Everything from pensions to mortgages and savings - without the financial jargon.

Luckily for Trude her own persistence paid off. After looking at only three places for sale, she found the right one for pounds 140,000.

She says: "It would certainly be hard to pay the same price for a similar property today. I was surprised how smoothly the purchase went. Within six weeks it was mine. My mortgage is with the Abbey National, capped at 5.9 per cent for five years. I pay pounds 650 a month, which is quite a lot, but the last flat I rented was pounds 600 a month anyway."

Trude moved into her two-bedroom garden flat in Clifton, Bristol, l8 months ago. She has lived in the same area since studying at the Bristol School of Veterinary Science over l0 years ago. She had no trouble raising a loan, and puts the bank's willingness down to her safe profession.

Trude has now moved into fiance Howard Thomas's pounds 425,000 cottage in posh Clifton, Bristol, and will be renting out her own flat.

She plans to marry the 43-year-old sports psychologist (below) in an open-air ceremony in the Norwegian fjords in June 2002.

For Trude personal finance is hard work because she is not particularly interested in money and admits she's not very good at saving. Since setting up a veterinary practice, Viking Vets in Bristol, with her fellow Norwegian and best friend Maria Lowe, her priorities are strictly practical.

"Instead of buying a dress for pounds 100, I think of that money as buying a microscope," she says. "I like to go clothes shopping like everyone else, but I would never buy a Prada bag because I cannot see the point of paying so much money for one item."

As the practice overheads are steep this first year, the two friends cannot take very much money from the business.

Trude is able to live off the earnings from her media work, which besides TV series includes videos, guest appearances and writing books, and has brought in over pounds 50,000 a year for the last two years on top of what she earns as a vet.

She says: "A few years ago I did a highly-paid commercial for an electricity company. I get many offers of work from pet food companies, but as a vet I can't be seen to favour one brand over another.

"Anything pays well compared to a vet. When I was working as a locum for pounds 100 a day, at 11 o'clock one Sunday night I had to call someone out to help me unlock my front door. He earned pounds 100 for 10 minutes' work!"

Trude has also had a pension with Barclays since the age of 29, and thinks she should have started earlier. "I pay in pounds 200 a month, but I can either stop the contributions or pay in more, depending on my income, which is irregular. I have never put in more than pounds 3,000 a year."

While not extravagant, Trude knows her worst investment was spending pounds 26,000 on a new Lotus Elise two years ago.

"Today I don't think I'll get more than pounds 15,000 for it, but I wanted to have the experience of owning a sports car.

"I will probably buy a car that is two years old, and choose a more practical model," she says.

One expense Trude does not begrudge is insurance for her three cats - Kevin, Dudley and Linda.

She says: "Think about your pets like a car. You must insure them. You have to regard a vet's surgery like a private hospital for humans.

"If you are insured there is less restriction on money, and a vet can use the best medicines."

Copyright 2001 MGN LTD
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