There's a photograph Stewart McCulloch still remembers clearly. A red cheeked man in an expensive suit, a false smile, eyes that gave everything away. The world called him a success. He knew he wasn't.

In this episode of the Money and Us podcast, Anna talks to Stewart, CEO of Christians Against Poverty, about the years that took him from a childhood of real poverty in Coventry to a million pound bonus as a City CEO, and the grief that eventually pulled the whole thing apart. Stewart talks with real honesty about losing his first wife suddenly, and the lonely, disorientating months that followed when the map he'd built his entire life around no longer made any sense. He describes what he calls a death and a rebirth, the strange comfort of a presence he couldn't explain, and the moment he arranged his own baptism as an adult because something in him needed to mark the end of who he used to be.

That grief eventually led Stewart somewhere he never expected, from an insurance boardroom to microfinance work with mothers in Ghana, and now to leading one of the UK's most trusted debt charities. He speaks candidly about the scale of financial hardship in this country today, how little it has to do with how much someone earns, and why so many people suffer through it completely alone.

This episode is for anyone who has ever questioned what they're really working towards, and for anyone who has learned, the hard way, that wealth and meaning are not always the same thing.

Key Moments:

• The childhood shame of growing up without enough
• Climbing to CEO and the million pound bonus that changed nothing
• The moment outside the Gherkin he couldn't ignore
• Losing his first wife and the years of grief that followed
• His own adult baptism and what it symbolised
• The move into charity work and helping mothers in Ghana
• The reality of debt and financial stress across the UK today

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction
01:35 What Christians Against Poverty Actually Does
03:36 Fact or Fiction: Half of Britons Will Face Debt
06:12 Growing Up Poor in Coventry
10:23 From Poverty to a £1 Million Bonus
14:48 Why Success Didn't Make Me Happy
16:31 Losing My Wife Changed Everything
20:37 Finding Purpose After Grief
27:12 Leaving Corporate Life for World Vision
31:54 What Extreme Poverty Taught Me
36:09 Helping the UK's Wealthiest Give Back
46:52 The Hidden Generosity Most People Never See
50:17 The CAP Story That Changed My Perspective
52:58 Why Shame Keeps People Trapped in Debt
56:23 From Helping the Rich to Fighting Poverty
01:02:01 Where Real Happiness Comes From
01:05:20 What To Do If You're Struggling With Debt
01:10:40 Why There's Always Hope

Follow Stewart McCulloch:

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/stewart-mcculloch-507432

Website: https://capuk.org

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annajoybrading/

Website: https://www.mentoramoney.com

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