I paid off my £225,000 mortgage at 37 — I was earning just £25,000 a year

Gemma’s life looks very different today (Picture: James Rudland)

At 44, Gemma Bird lives a ‘privileged’ life, in a palatial Georgian-style mansion in Essex with her husband Adam, 51, and two children, Brontë, seven, and Brody, 13.

But life wasn’t always as comfortable as it is now for the social media influencer, who boasts 500,000 followers on Instagram as Money Mum.

Long before Instagram, Gemma had a laser-focused goal: to get on the property ladder young.

In her teens — living at home ...