The rising cost of living: how to maintain your quality of life
As the rising cost of living outstrips real incomes, how can we maintain our quality of life? There are plenty…
What credit cards should I get? Everything you need to know about the different types of credit card
Credit cards can punish those who spend recklessly by sinking their finances into the red. But deployed in the right…
Weekend reading: Bonfire of the vanities
What caught my eye this week. The Litquidity video below is in horribly bad taste. I believe the Normandy landing…
Low-cost index funds and ETFs that will save you money
This is our updated list of low-cost index funds and ETFs that can help UK investors crush their portfolio costs.…
Weekend reading: Bengen bails on the 4% rule
What caught my eye this week. I am a couple of weeks late to this. But I can’t be the…
Free social care options available to everyone
This is part seven of a series on planning and paying for long-term social care in later life. We’ve previously…
Weekend reading: a little rate rise goes a long way to ruin the day for wealthier landlords
What caught my eye this week. According to a report in the Financial Times [search result], just a handful of…
Inflation hedges: what does and doesn’t work
High and rising inflation threatens our standard of living for the first time in more than 30 years. How can…
Just Keep Buying: review
Spoiler alert: Just Keep Buying (available now on Amazon) is an excellent personal finance and investing book. If it had…
Weekend reading: three different views on the folly of active investing
What caught my eye this week. I have ruffled feathers before by remarking that in my – purely anecdotal, totally…
Paying for social care using your investments
This is part six of a series on planning and paying for later life social care costs. We’ve previously: Explored…
Confession: I used to juggle multiple bank accounts to score the highest savings rates
A few years ago I was the proud manager of multiple bank accounts. Pretty surprising, considering I’m hardly the most…
Weekend reading: inflation moves fast and breaks things
What caught my eye this week. I get the impression people are already tiring of the endless inflation talk. But…
The ISA allowance: how it works and how to use it
The ISA allowance1 is the maximum amount of new money you can put into the range of tax-free savings and…
UK tax brackets and personal allowances
Hey, do you know your tax bracket? I’m talking about those all-important bands that determine whether you’re a basic, higher,…
Capital gains tax in the UK
Until the government starts taxing sex, capital gains tax (CGT) is probably the most annoying tax to find yourself paying.1…
UK dividend tax explained
Another change this year for UK dividend tax. This time there’s been an increase in the tax rate you pay…
Inflation and stock market performance – when high inflation hurts
Until recently as culturally relevant as Beanie Babies and as potent as a celery lightsaber, inflation fears are back in…
How Property Income Distributions (PIDs) are taxed
UK REITs and Property Authorised Investment Funds (PAIFs) pay a special kind of dividend known as Property Income Distribution (PIDs).…
Weekend reading: Will higher rates finally breach the fortress UK housing market?
What caught my eye this week. Last week we talked about the infamously inverted yield curve in the US. Meanwhile…
The Slow and Steady passive portfolio update: Q1 2022
Once more the contrast between my daily diet of media-amplified fear and the damage done to our Slow & Steady…
Defusing capital gains: a worked example
The UK tax year ends on 5 April. For many people, the weeks before are a rush to put money…
Weekend reading: Curve balls
What caught my eye this week. This week saw the all-important US yield curve ‘invert’. This happens when short-term rates…
Social care costs: how they impact retirement finances – case study
This is part five of a series on how you can plan and pay for social care costs in later…
Past Champion
How to spend money
During the final few years of my extended graduate student lifestyle, I wondered if I’d ever spend money like a…
Weekend reading: It’s time to stop paying and pacifying polluters
What caught my eye this week. They say you should never let a crisis go to waste. But in his…
How to estimate care home costs
This is part four in a series on how to plan and pay for the cost of social care in…
Past Champion
Is your early retirement under threat from an unlucky sequence of returns?
Everyone assumes it won’t happen to them. But from history we know that not everybody is so lucky. No, not…
Weekend reading: Tears for fears
What caught my eye this week. A reader, John, emailed me about an old article this week. He pointed to…
InvestEngine review
The online broker InvestEngine offers ETF investing in DIY or robo-advice flavours. It’s beginner-friendly and suitable for veterans with large…