We have entered that time of year where the financial media goes into overdrive, providing more misinformation than usual.  The trigger is end-of-year predictions about next year.

They are meaningless.  And what’s worse, relying on them can hurt your financial well being.

I’ve been contacted by a couple of media outlets looking for predictions, as well as folk from the general public asking me to look into my crystal ball.
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Here were my answers (no doubt those media outlets chose to go with someone else!)

Once a decision has been made to buy an investment, it is important to consider the best investment structure to use.   An investment structure refers to the way investments are legally owned.  Many people simply purchase assets in their own name or joint names, when other ownership structures may be more suitable.

If there was ever an article I wished I’d written on the folly of listening to the daily investment noise, I wish it were this one.

Market volatility can create anxious moments for even the most disciplined of long-term investors. But people who make it through to their goals are usually the ones who can separate the feeling itself from the urge to act upon it.
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Understanding how markets work can make it easier to deal with volatile periods. Here is a layman’s explanation.

“Sellers were out in force on the market today after negative news on the economy.” It’s a common line in TV finance reports.

​But have you ever wondered that if there are so many sellers out there, who is buying? 

In Leo Tolstoy’s great novel ‘War and Peace’, a Russian general charged with defeating Napoleon and expelling the French from Russian soil argued against rushing into battle, saying the strongest of all warriors were “time and patience”. 

There used to be a ‘traditional’ approach to retirement. It went like this.  

It turns out that Isaac Newton was a better physicist than he was an investor. ​Newton lost a fortune-around £20,000-in one of history’s most notorious market collapses, the South Sea bubble, when the South Sea company collapsed in 1720 (that’s the equivalent of about £7,500,000 in today’s money. Ouch!)