News comes that Britain cleans up in the first ever litter picking World Cup. A UK team were crowned champions in Japan after collecting 83 kilos of rubbish in just 45 minutes…

In this blog:

1. “Is the manager in?”

2. You don’t need to calculate the distance to the sun, remember Pythagoras, or measure the visibility to see the horizon.

3. Do you have £1 million?

It is only a few years ago now that the cash till in our local was nothing more than a wooden drawer slung under the rear counter. No one paid by card. John, the tenant landlord, would work out his cellar order with notebook and pencil and phone it in…

“I don’t have to pretend to like the theatre or foreign holidays and I can spend all afternoon in the pub with my pals.”

So says Marcus Berkman in his book - Still a Bit of Snap in The Old Celery - published Thursday this week…

In this blog:

1. How not to drive into an investment wall

2. Problem 1

3. Problem 2

There are many good reasons to invest rather than just ‘save’ money – and before your imagination runs away with you, we are not talking investment aka the Wolf of Wall Street. That said, at one end of the scale investing can, indeed, provide an opportunity to increase your net worth or perhaps make you independently wealthy. However, the reality is that most of us would be more than happy at the prospect of knowing we’ll have a decent financial umbrella or of being able to retire comfortably or sooner than we’d planned. Investing can

In this blog:

1. Asset rich, and cash poor

2. Tontine, not Tonto

3. Lifetime Allowance - a note from Martin

Everyone, it seems, has a point of view about the latest and last Beatles release.

The Guardian put it this way:
“A moody, reflective piano ballad, it’s clearly never going to supplant Strawberry Fields Forever or A Day in the Life in the affections of Beatles fans, but it’s a better song than Free as a Bird or Real Love…”

In this blog:

1. Don’t ignore the objective and debate the detail

2. Starting with the basics

3. Two rules of thumb that investors should accept and not debate

4. Why doesn’t everyone do this?

One for the bucket list:

‘Coloured cottons hang in the air. Charming cobras in the square. Striped djellabas we can wear…’ A description of Marrakesh by Crosby, Stills and Nash written in 1969 and just as true today.

The internet can be a wonderful thing, and we think that the site at visualcapitalist.com has some interesting compilations of statistics. Here’s one that sticks out: if you’ve ever wondered if the French really are the work-shy-gilets-jaunes who retire as soon as they’ve learned to grow vines in the garden, well…

Depending on which research you read, dyslexia affects between 10 and 20% of people. The spread is wide because of the number of people who remain undiagnosed. I can relate to this because, until my son was diagnosed, I had no idea I was so cursed…or blessed too.

Born in the wake of WW2, baby boomers are the first generation of Britons since the act of union 300 years ago not conscripted to fight. The history of conflict, of course, goes back way beyond then. The Crusades, or Holy Wars started in 1096…

In this blog:

1. Client case studies

2. Our mission

In this blog:

1. When is a 3% return better for an investor than a 6% return?

2. Averages – simple, huh?

3. Like Helvellyn, investing seems quicker coming down than going up.

4. When is 3% more than 6%?

“Live to 100. Secrets of the Blue Zones” is Dan Buettner’s Netflix series which explores communities which have significant populations of people who age gracefully and reach their century.
The Blue Zones regions are where a higher than usual number of people live much longer than the average…

In this blog:

1. Metro Bank

2. Is he who he says he is?

My first experience of going to a professional football match was on a cold afternoon at Boothferry Park, home to Hull City, to see a dismal, nil, nil draw. My dad and I cycled there and after chaining our bikes to a lamppost, joined my uncle and cousin on the terraces. No seating, just a rail to lean on, or swing from. This was…

In this blog:

1. What’s inside the grey box?

2. Probable v possible: the cost

3. Guarantees are contractual, dividends are discretionary

It’s tempting to think of retirement as one long long holiday where we kick back after years of hard work and indulge in hobbies and interests. As a vision that’s appealing, but it fails to take into account that ageing is not a choice it’s inevitable. This is fine to a point, but a more realistic view is to think of retirement as a series of phases during which lifestyle wishes and healthcare needs can change dramatically over decades. The good news is that planning for later-life financial security IS achievable if you are proactive now. To help you along the way, we’ve compiled this baby boomer’s roadmap.