Throughout your life, it’s always tempting to compare your circumstances and achievements to others. For example, if your neighbour buys a new car, or a friend moves to a bigger house, it’s always hard not to look at your own situation and wonder why you haven’t done the same. This feeling is known, colloquially, as “keeping up with the Jones’s”. Effectively, it means that you’re benchmarking your own position against an external comparison. A dictionary definition confirms that a benchmark is a “standard, or reference, by which others can be judged”. However, comparing yourself to others when it comes to planning your financial future may not be a good thing to do. Read on to find out why it’s far... Read More

Apart from Warren Buffett, there are very few household names in the personal finance and investing space. One name I would throw into the ring, however, is Morgan Housel. His book, The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness, has been hailed as “seminal” and has sold more than 3 million copies, which is remarkable for a personal finance book. It’s certainly had a big influence on my thinking, both in the way I look at my own financial arrangements and how I consider the advice and guidance I give clients. In it, Housel lists no fewer than 18 money rules. That’s far too many to deal with in a single article, so I’ve picked out seven... Read More

You may well have seen a lot of publicity recently about the remarkable advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and how it’s becoming prevalent in so many aspects of your day-to-day life. One article that caught my eye was a report in the New York Times that listed no less than 35 ways people are now using AI, from planning meals and coding websites to writing book reviews. Given all this publicity, and the underlying implication that the rise of AI is somehow inexorable, it’s inevitable that you’ll start to think about how AI could become involved in your life and, in particular, your place of work. It certainly gave me pause for thought. So, discover some important reasons why, to... Read More

Investment volatility is often erroneously assumed to be the same as investment risk and, as a result, something to fear. You will have already read my detailed analysis of investment risk so, to complement this, I thought it was worth a deeper dive into investment volatility and why it’s actually something to welcome, rather than be scared of. But rather than you simply having to read my analysis, I thought I’d enlist the help of legendary investment guru, Warren Buffett. So, all the quotes about investment volatility you can read here were made by him – either in interviews, or in the now-famous annual reports he sends to his Berkshire Hathaway investors. “If the investor fears price volatility, erroneously viewing... Read More

As you approach retirement, you’ll inevitably start to think about what you plan to do once you’ve stopped working and have more time to yourself. A key part of your planning process should be to have an idea of how much money you’ll need to maintain your lifestyle after you retire. From discussions I’ve had with clients, and from speaking to other planners, the common perception is that your spending will fall in retirement. However, in my experience, this isn’t necessarily the case. There’s also a tendency to underestimate how long your retirement may last. Latest Office for National Statistics figures confirm that the average woman currently aged 50 can expect to live to age 87, while the equivalent age... Read More