The Blog Posts
Find knowledge, stories, inspiration and guidance to help you build financial confidence.
What Does a Financial Adviser Do? (And How to Know If You Need One)
It could be worth reflecting on whether what you need is support and confidence rather than somebody to tell you the financially best thing to do with your money.
The Stock Market
What exactly is a stock market? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!
Becoming a Financial Coach - And Why I’m So Passionate About It
I felt disheartened, I knew that in the grand scheme of things it wasn't a lot of money, but I also knew how hard I'd worked and what it represented.
What a Swedish Word Taught Me About Your Savings Account
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.
The Big Mac Index
What exactly is the Big Mac Index? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!
Emergency Fund Thoughts
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.
Personal Savings Allowance - PSA
What exactly is a Personal Savings Allowance (PSA)? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!
I'm Reading Profit First, Again.
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.
You Happen To Money, It Doesn’t Happen To You
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.
Asset Classes
What exactly are asset classes? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!
Do What You Have To Do (And the Rest Sorts Itself Out)
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.
Debt Payoff Methods
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!
Debt Is Not A Dirty Word
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.
We Moved House!
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.
Diversification
What exactly is diversification? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!
Why aren’t you better with money?
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
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.
Alpha, Net Alpha and Beta
What exactly are premium alpha, net alpha and beta? Let me explain basic financial concepts for you, simply and in fewer than 200 words!