"I achieved sporting greatness but being a Mum is a bigger achievement”, says Paula Radcliffe MBE

Once the quickest female marathon runner on the planet, Paula Radcliffe MBE knows about reaching the top in her field. On Give Us Your Goals, a brand-new podcast by online investment and coaching platform, Bestinvest, Radcliffe reveals how goal setting has played a key part in her extraordinary career, sharing advice that could inspire all.

Findings from Bestinvest research show that Radcliffe’s experiences of goal setting and putting family first resonate with many other Britons with 60% saying that ‘looking after loved ones’ is one of their top life goals.

This is even more important for those aged between 45-54 years old with ‘being happy’ (67%), ‘enjoying quality time with family’ (52%), and ‘looking after loved ones’ (44%) were at their highest percentage in this age bracket. They were also the top three most popular choices of any age group in their 25 most common life goals.

However, Bestinvest’s data also reveals that across all age groups less than a fifth of Britons are planning to save for their retirement with the nation keen on thinking big but less inclined to save and invest to realise their ambitions.

As many people grapple with financial challenges during the cost-of-living crisis, 63% of the 2,000 Britons surveyed for the Bestinvest study have set financial goals, such as clearing all their debts (29%) and investing for a rainy day (23%), but when it comes to safeguarding their financial futures, they are less inclined to match retirement ambitions with a sound savings strategy. Worryingly, just 19.8% intend to invest for their retirement and only 14% consider having a pension a key financial goal.

Thankfully, financial planning is highlighted by Radcliffe as a crucial part of life which she admits her father instilled into her from a young age.  He made sure that when she was a young, promising athlete, she had a management team and pension when she went to university.

Radcliffe insists it’s essential to “save for a rainy day” and advises not to “get carried away on the high months”, stating how money earned at a young age is better reinvested in yourself to ensure you can still get results further down the line. Radcliffe tries to instill this in her own children, noting how such guidance is vital particularly in her industry because so many athletes fall by the wayside.

In her interview with TV’s Kirsty Gallacher, the British long-distance icon details how her goals have evolved over the course of her life, from the young girl starting an athletic career who on the advice of her coach, set realistic goals such as beating her personal best, and dream goals such as competing at the Olympics… through to motherhood and post-career ventures in sports commentary.

Radcliffe speaks of the mantra that ran alongside her goalsetting: no time limits or deadlines, and she reminds us that missing out on a goal doesn’t make you a failure, rather it is part of life and can often make you a better person.

Bestinvest’s Give Us Your Goals podcast is a six-part series hosted by Kirsty and produced in collaboration with former BBC Radio 5 Live producer Guy Kilty. The series features six celebrity guests, including Paula Radcliffe, Billy Billingham, Mark Foster, Terry Waite, Michaela Strachan and Babatunde Aleshe, and discusses the importance of goals in everyday life - it will be pushed out across all major podcast channels during October 2022.

Bestinvest’s Give Us Your Goals Fund will consist of £20,000, giving four people the chance of winning £5,000 each and a consultation with a Bestinvest Financial Coach who can help the winner not only identify their goals but also how they might save and invest for them. To apply candidates simply need to tell Bestinvest about their goals and what it would mean to achieve them. (T&Cs apply).

Paula Radcliffe’s Give Us Your Goals episode will be released on Wednesday 19^th October, tune in on your favourite podcast channel to hear everything the former world champion has to say.

Bestinvest’s Give Us Your Goals study surveyed 2,000 people across the UK between the ages of 18 to 65+. The survey was carried out by global market research firm 3Gem between May 13 to May 18, 2022.

If you would like help achieving your financial goals, Bestinvest offers a wide range of investments, free financial coaching, low-cost bite-sized advice packages, smart digital risk assessment and planning tools and competitive pricing. Visit Bestinvest.co.uk to learn more.