Grace Groner1 was a hundred years old when she died leaving an estate of seven million dollars. A humble secretary, she never married and lived modestly, investing some of her income into the stock market for eighty years. She never sold a stock, re-invested all dividends, never worried about booms and crashes, she just kept investing, consistently. She had no particular interest in stocks and shares, she just knew they went up in the long term. And that was her secret: by investing consistently and leaving her money alone, no matter what, she became a millionaire. She understood the power of compound interest and resisted any temptation to interfere with its beneficence2. Unlike Richard Fuscone3, a bond trader with Merrill Lynch, who... read more

Can't watch the video today? Read the blog below! Let's discuss the common problem of talking about money and the communication difficulties this creates between men and women. Lots of clients say to me "we have a great relationship but when we start talking about money things just seem to go wrong. We start arguing and end up not talking about it". I really understand this because I have a great relationship with my wife Wendy, but the same sort of thing still has tended to happen between us as well.   There are two big issues here - communication and information.   Did you know that only two in five couples actually treat their finances jointly, the other three couples go their own way? Or that... read more

Sassy, hard working, thirty and living in Manchester Thea, my brilliant daughter, is doing very well in IT Recruitment. So well in fact that she pays a lot of income tax and has ‘spare’ income in inverse proportion to the extravagance of her social life. And she is feeling annoyed, even a little guilty, about the sheer amount of cash that is slipping through her fingers. Dad is called in for a consultation. “You need a budget.” “Oh, Daaaaaad….” eyes rolling. Thirty has become thirteen..I persist. “The only way you will get control of your money is by allocating each pound and consciously making a decision about how you want to spend it.” For quick readers may I... read more

When was the last time you sat down and methodically went through your finances? Do you know what you are worth? What you owe? How much tax you pay? Do you know how much your pension is worth? Do you have a pension? When did you last check how much life assurance you own? If you were ill how would you pay your bills? Have you made a will? If the answer to any of those questions was a slightly sheepish 'No.' Don't worry, don't beat yourself up, you're in good company... but DO something! Take action! Gather your information together and go and speak to a financial planner – somebody who is qualified to help you get a grip on your financial situation and provide you with objective and independent guidance. T... read more

Yes. They are completely different.  Financial advice is about recommending a course of action, usually investing in a financial product such as an ISA, a pension plan or a life assurance policy. There are around 30,000 'Financial Advisors' in the UK authorised to give advice by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Their authorisation ranges from mortgage and protection advice to more complex pensions, investments and specialist fields such as equity release and pension transfers. The FCA keeps a register of each individual and requires them to apply each year for a Statement of Professional Standing (SPS) confirming they have kept their knowledge up to date. Always check that any adviser you are dealing with has... read more

I love being a grandparent. The joy of children without the 24/7 responsibility of being a parent. Or as one of my clients so eloquently put it, “You can hand them back at the end of the day...” Children copy their parents and the 'elders' in their family. That's how they learn. This is never more the case than with money and attitudes towards money. Much of what we learn from our parents about money is unconscious – it just seeps into us and gradually becomes our way of doing things too. My children are in their thirties I recognise some of their behaviour around money. I know where they learnt it. Some, not all alas, is good. I realise of course that my relationship with money has been directly affec... read more

Most people don't, alas. There are three big life changes when people usually think about speaking to a financial professional: 1. When they need a mortgage to buy a house 2. When they retire or take benefits from a pension 3. When they inherit some money. The rest of the time we steer clear of financial advisers. It's tempting to believe that this is primarily because people don't trust financial advisers. To be fair our image is down there with estate agents and journalists... That said I believe that many people avoid talking to a financial adviser because they don't want to talk about the mistakes they have made. This is very understandable and, after all, denial is a good strategy... for a while. But it g... read more