Financial vs. personal decisions
The best financial decision isn't always the correct one to take. Your personal decisions need to reflect an understanding of your finances, but a commerical reality isn't the only reality to consider. Your personal decisions need to be unique, based on your life's...
Don’t Outlive Your Money
How much is enough for your retirement? Many people often think about this but few take action to address it. Research indicates that us Brits are one of the world's worst at saving for retirement. The average British worker saves less than £1.80 a day for...
Mind The Yield Gap
In this article I will discuss the yield gap. Taking higher investment risk requires the reward of higher return, otherwise who would ever invest in the riskier activities? Just because the theory makes sense, it doesn’t necessarily translate to you actually being...
What mid life crisis?
We've all heard the joke about people having a mid life crisis. That guy in their forties and fifties who goes out and buys a convertible sports coupe or Harley Davidson are labeled as going through some form of mid life crisis – but for the vast majority of people...
Hate Money? Love Life!
There are many who appear to hate money, well at least that’s my interpretation via the media, but I’m sure everyone loves life. The two are irrevocably intertwined and I also feel that this perception of money being evil, or that you somehow hate money and wealth is...
Guaranteed Investment Return
The promise of a guaranteed investment return. Sounds attractive doesn't it? If you do not read this article (repeatedly until the lesson sinks in) then I'm afraid that your path to prosperity is at great risk and could very well end up losing your shirt. You are no...
Tax avoidance morality
The phrase tax avoidance will no doubt raise a few blood temperatures. Tax avoidance is clearly a sensitive subject. The outrage in the UK over the recent Panama papers revelations and in particular David Cameron’s father’s offshore financial affairs, highlights this...
We are all wealthier than Emperors and ice cream proves it!
For those who are critical of capitalism, they should probably take a closer look at history to obtain some perspective of the real world. Peasants of today (like me) live a more comfortable existence with a greater variety of produce and services, than an emperor...
Margins of safety when financial planning
When creating your financial plan we are going to get some factors wrong. When investing mistakes will be made. But don’t worry. Investing and financial planning are about allocating your resources sensibly for the future. The very nature of the future (i.e. it hasn’t...
Retirement Reality
Retirement is often marketed with images of happy and healthy people playing golf, going on cruises or walking in a park or the great outdoors. But your approaching retirement reality is likely to be filled with a combination of excitement, relief, worry or outright...
Ownership is important. Make sure you know what you actually own
In this modern financial world, care needs to be taken to ensure you actually have ownership your investments. Ownership can be misleading For example, a modern financial invention has been the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). A key difference is whether they are physical...
Get some fuck you money
(This article, as the title 'get some fuck you money' indicates, is a little impolite and in your face. If that sort of thing offends you then it's probably best to read my other money musings that are far more polite.) Many financial planners rightfully trumpet...