Warren Buffett is the fourth-wealthiest man on the planet. If you do an online search to find out the secrets of his success, you’ll encounter dozens of well-known quotes: “If you aren’t thinking about owning a stock for ten years, don’t even think about owning it for ten minutes” “We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful” “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get” It’s all very well reading pearls of wisdom from a man whose current wealth is estimated at almost $80 billion. But how can you incorporate the habits and mentality of the wealthy and successfully introduce them into your daily life? The truth... Read More

Last month, we looked at five reasons to be optimistic in 2021 and how optimism can drive positive change. With the new year on the horizon, it’s easy to be pessimistic about how the economy might fare next year. Indeed, the Chancellor himself has warned that unemployment will reach 7.5% in the middle of 2021, and that GDP is not expected to return to pre-crisis levels until the fourth quarter of 2022. Choosing to be pessimistic about your savings and investments, and keeping them in a ‘safe’ place, can be reassuring during difficult times. Many psychological biases come into play, most notably the theory of ‘loss aversion’ which states that humans feel the pain of losses twice as powerfully as... Read More

Free advice rarely works. Here’s why. About ten years ago, I started open water swimming as part of my triathlon training. As I went on, I noticed I was struggling to improve. To attempt to better myself, I remember buying books and watching YouTube videos to try to pick up tips on improving my technique. However, despite my research, I still wasn’t improving. It wasn’t until I joined a club that I got an answer. The swim coach told me that my legs were sinking about five inches or so, and that this was creating drag. A simple head adjustment almost immediately corrected it, and suddenly it all felt a lot easier. Clearly, I had a blind spot when it... Read More

Forty years ago, the great Ian Dury took his song Reasons To Be Cheerful to the top three in the UK charts. Back then, Dury cited an eclectic mix of things we should be thankful for, from cheddar cheese and pickle to the Bolshoi Ballet. In a world where political unrest, Covid-19, Brexit and more dominate the news, you might think you need better reasons than yellow socks or John Coltrane’s soprano to be hopeful about the future. But it’s worth remembering that even in tough times there are lots of, as Dury sang, reasons to be cheerful. 2020 has been a difficult year There’s no doubt that 2020 is a year none of us will forget. The coronavirus pandemic... Read More

In a crisis, people flock to safe assets. Volatility in the stock market in 2020 might have made you consider fleeing to the relative safety of cash (although I have already talked about why it’s important to keep calm during uncertain periods). Of course, putting your money in cash right now is also a risk. Although your capital may be secure, interest rates on savings products are at record lows, so there’s a strong chance your money won’t even keep up with inflation. According to Moneyfacts, the average interest rate on an easy access savings account in July 2020 was just 0.4%, whereas the rate of inflation was 1.5%. So, is there a safe asset from which you can generate... Read More