Interest rates are up, gilt yields are up, and the Sunday Times is covered in adverts and editorials talking about annuities; we look at the numbers, not the commentaries. In this blog:

1. t’s all in the maths

2. “Colin” the Client’s Story

In this blog:

1. Don’t retire until you want to

2. The sweet spot in retirement

3. A big list of things to do over the next 12 months while you’re in the sweet spot.

It’s important to get what you’ve already paid for throughout your life, including your full state pension. If you haven’t done so already, then you can follow the outline below from Ian, our project director, who has had spells working in both the US and Switzerland. Here’s his take on how to find out and fix any gaps.

Inflation: CPI vs RPI. Saving with banks whose names you can’t pronounce, and living on a budget

I came across the story in the New York Times last week; I can’t add anything to the explanation, so I’ve just quoted. You’ll agree that such Trumpian errors are scary…

Gas and water bills, council tax and house insurance – some expenses are utterly predictable and though not guaranteed to be charged to us, the rational expectation is that they will be. Technically speaking every company in the FTSE 100 could pay no dividends this year, however the rational expectation is that they will: ‘rational’ because…

When King Charles was a prince there was a long-running tale that he never carried money; that was probably correct as he has always had people to do that for him. I suspect, however, that he has probably never…

Since its founding, Black Hills has paid a dividend to its shareholders every year, for 81 consecutive years. This endows Black Hills with a place in the US’s Dividend Kings, though the longest run of increases belongs to American States Water at 67 years. Looking across the pond at dividends we see that

Financial advice from my Cypriot barber (credit card machine out of order again…), and how to walk like a duck called Warren Buffett.

If you looked at the UK charts only in February ’74, you’d be excused for believing the quality of music in that year was – hmmm – odd. If you viewed 1974’s music by the best-selling albums for the whole year you’d have a completely different view. How does that relate to your investments?

Everything is relative, including wealth, yours and theirs. This week I talk about… You - a perspective. And a type of calendar that I can’t imagine being a worse item to have in your house.

Death and Taxes: financial planning can help with both of them.

And the difference between cost and value: only concern yourself with the areas that make a difference.

The Investors’ Chronicle is a virtual bible for DIY investors and we were recently asked to comment on and critique one reader’s portfolio and planning – he was seeking ideas and reassurance as he steps confidently to his impending retirement.

Dying more quickly - the bad news and the good news. Be careful what you wish for, it might bite. And what happened when I was asked by a journalist from the Times to “mark” financial advice provided by ChatGPT (artificial intelligence).

Legal & General is at 8.18%, Aviva is at 7.38%, Phoenix is at 9.51%: if you held all four of these insurers equally in your ISA those income yields average at 8.99% per year. Two obvious questions arise – why, and should you?

Of all the recent blogs, this one you need to read. All the trusts share prices have fallen in recent weeks due to the Swiss ripping up of the banking rule books, but the reserves of those trusts have not moved a jot – that simply means that each £1 of income they pay is now cheaper to buy than before the crisis. Cheaper to buy means a higher income yield, the maths is quite simple. Remember that…

Blimey, it’s enough to keep you awake at night, so much going on it’s quite wise to stand at the side and watch the world go past – after all, you saw all this in the 70’s, 80’s and then the 00’s (the noughties, I believe). In the blog today I have just outlined a list of ten key items that caught our financial eye this week.

The largest survey of recent retirees in the US found the biggest source of anxiety that retirees suffered from was a lack of routine. We can tell when retirees are bored, they spend too much time fiddling with the detail of their money, accounts, investments, and sometimes ex-City workers keep…

In January this year, Kseniia, our Ukrainian analyst, ran comparisons over the last ten calendar years of the Vanguard FTSE tracker (cost 0.09% pa) versus a unit trust JO Hambro UK Equity (cost 0.67% pa) versus the Merchants Trust (cost 0.61%). Kseniia ran two scenarios, both covering 2013 to 2022…

Being independent, we are agnostic in our choice of assets, products, managers, platforms, strategies – we have the luxury of being able whatever we want in creating client portfolios. We live and die by the sword though – if the income a client needs isn’t delivered then the relationship is very short lived, so our job is finding the optimal solution to meet your specific needs.