What exactly is a fiduciary? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!

It's my favourite kind of financial step forward - the kind of thing you set up when you're feeling motivated, and then it's simply in place when you lose that oomph.

What exactly is the Big Mac Index? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!

Good personal finance is like a web that you build to support you. Lots of different layers and connections, where one single strand should not be the be all and end all.

What exactly is a Personal Savings Allowance (PSA)? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!

The cognitive shift it takes to decide to pay yourself first is absolutely key. It might feel silly at first, it might feel too little, or too selfish, or too serious - but it is none of those things. You take care of the things that you love.

Once you are happening to money, instead of it happening to you, your options open up. It allows you to poke around a bit, make some decisions, begin to use money as a tool for the life you want - instead of simply limiting the life you're in now.

What exactly are asset classes? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!

That forward motion leads me to do the dishes whilst I'm waiting for my kettle to boil and maybe take out the recycling so the kitchen is clear. Then I've got a spot to sit down and think about what I need to work on this week - and it reminds me that I wanted to repot my money plants. I feel brighter and I've got some momentum.

I always feel so excited and inspired when I think of this and when I watch people pull it off. To go from a tangled web of stress and anxiety which just compounds worse and worse to picking everything apart, formalising it, spending energy working out how we function as people to work out our method and then just simply, enacting it. Woof it does something to me!

What exactly are banks? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!

Being in debt is not the worst thing a person can be. The dichotomy between 'good debt' and 'bad debt' is overblown in my opinion, there's rarely enough nuance. Rich people might be mortgaged up to the eyeballs but if they've got a nice home nobody's going to be lecturing them. Debt is a tool for some people, if you're aware, clever and cautious about it - and it would be great if it could be a tool for us.

Moving house, downsizing, in the snow and with no help has been a lot. But there have been little sparks of joy - like finding this perfect, if a little battered, piece of furniture at just the right minute to sort out a problem.

What exactly is diversification? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!

Why you know what to do with money… but still don’t do it. And it’s not because you’re lazy, stupid or gormless.

Gilts and bonds are essentially loans made to governments and companies which will be paid back to you at some point and earn some interest in the meantime.

They’re not as flashy as stocks and shares but they’re a solid part of an investment portfolio and they have interesting political implications.

Here I talk you through what they are, the common terminology, how they’re taxed and how you as a retail investor can access them. All in down to earth, understandable language.

What exactly are premium alpha, net alpha and beta? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!

Becoming aware of our cognitive biases to make money feel safer. How seeking the emotion of awe will help us counter the Recency Illusion bias and help ground our nervous systems in the present so we can build wealth and community in a safe and stable way.

Find a partner who is solid, sensible, aware, silly, fun and centred. Look for these five financial green flags.

This isn’t just about money is it? It’s about who we are and how we move through the world - money just makes that possible. 

What exactly are premium bonds? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!