I Was £24,000 In Debt: This Is How I Cleared It In 18 Months

What would you do if you found out you were £24,000 in debt — and on track to spend the next 7 years digging yourself out?

That’s the reality Sammy Elard King faced at 25, sitting on a beach in Vietnam. One conversation with a friend forced him to do the maths and the numbers were devastating. He had minus £24,000 to his name and no real plan to change it. 18 months later, the debt was gone.

In this episode of Focus on Fun Stuff, Emma Mills sits down with Sammy founder of Up the Gains and the Gains FinTech app to unpack exactly how he did it, why the financial education system has failed most of us, and what you can do right now to start rewriting your financial story.

What you’ll take away:

• Why your spending habits might be working against you without you realising
• The side hustle approach that clears debt faster than your salary ever will
• How to invest simply without becoming obsessed with trading charts
• The mindset shift that turns financial overwhelm into a clear, actionable plan
• Why building a true community (not just followers) is your biggest business asset
• How Sammy raised £285,000 and put 15,000 people on a waitlist before his app even launched

This is the financial education your school never gave you honest, practical, and completely jargon-free.

If you’ve ever felt like money is a system you weren’t taught to play this one’s for you.