Before I became a financial planner, investing was all about making money and buying a ‘hot stock’, 25 years later, I reflect on my naivety and appreciate how others may also be thinking this and asking themselves what is the right way to invest?

Over the years there has been so much research in how stock markets work, this makes sense since there’s a lot of money at stake, it seems sensible to understand it.  You’re unlikely to trust your neighbour on medical decisions, preferring to rely on a qualified doctor, so why would you trust your neighbour over your qualified financial planner, or what some of the leading business schools have been telling us for decades, on investment decisions?

A defined benefit pension is the gold standard of pensions, the scheme promises you a guaranteed income at your agreed retirement age for the rest of your life, the amount of income you receive will rise in line with inflation and the amount you receive is based on the number of years you were a member of the scheme and your pensionable salary.

These schemes offer benefits, which for the majority of cases mean that they are best left alone until your scheme retirement date, however, if you wanted to retire early, should you take benefits early?

If you started getting financially organised this year, then you should have set yourself some outcomes in January. The Money Plan is a book and a system I created to getting people on track, which includes splitting the year into quarters where you can ‘check in’ to assess your progress towards your goals. By Q4, […]

This short video clearly explains why were believe in using the Index Funds rather than Active Fund Management.

In most cases, the answer to this question is more than you’re putting in now! The minimum that you should be putting aside for your retirement plans, if you’re free of unsecured debts like credit cards and loans, is 12.5% of your income.

The government has launched a new savings scheme called Help to Save.  The new scheme was initially trialled in January 2018, then rolled out in stages and is now available to all those who are eligible. The savings scheme offers a free bonus on your savings, so it makes it even more attractive than a […]

In the US, the third Thursday every October is Get Smart About Credit Day, and we should piggyback on that here. It could be called Get Smart About Debt Day, because that’s exactly what credit is, it’s not our credit, it’s our DEBT!

Whatever you want to call it, use the day to begin the process of climbing out of debt with my simple tips.

More people are selling second properties. This could give rise to substantial CGT liabilities. How are those CGT liabilities calculated? Advance planning can reduce those CGT liabilities. It would seem that some of the tax measures announced by George Osborne in his Budget in 2015 are beginning to take effect.  More and more people are […]

The third quarter of 2018 is over. Returns have been mixed, with the USA the standout performer. Find out more about how all of the markets have performed in the last 9 months.

A report on Q3, which features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past few months. Compare small cap vs large cap, and emerging vs developed markets at a glance.