Almost half of all marriages in the US end in divorce. The number one reason given is disagreement about finances. It is quite common for couples to have different views on money and what they are trying to achieve. You don’t have to have the same approaches to money but you need to understand what […]
The second blog article I wrote way back in July 2013 (we are now on blog 472) was the 6 biggest mistakes retirees make. The number 1 mistake that a retiree can make is carrying debt into retirement. Ten years later and my view hasn’t changed, I still think it is the biggest mistake a […]
Packing my clothes to go on summer holidays this year, I was thinking how many pairs of shorts I would bring with me. I had 10 different pairs of shorts and that’s not including sports shorts (I have about 10 pairs of them too 😳). I remember thinking to myself, “I think you have enough […]
Parents want to help their children out financially in the future, especially with money for a deposit on their first home. They could just gift them the money at the time that their child needs the money. But any large gift that is given to a child should be declared to the Revenue and it […]
On my recent holiday, I’d go for a jog in the morning. It was an easy enough run to the local surf club, exactly 1.5 km away, so a 3km run in total. Even though I knew the exact distance, I would always turn on Strava when I began each run to record my data […]
Andy Friend is a long way from home. The Australian rugby coach has just finished a five year stint as head coach with Connacht rugby. It’s now time for him and his wife Kerri to go home and spend some time with their family. But they aren’t going straight home. Last year they bought a […]
I got a phone call from a client at 21:55 last night. As he and his wife aren’t young, I answered, just in case. “Steven, we’re thinking of going to South Africa in the winter. It wasn’t in the plan. Can we afford it? And it’s a long flight, so we’re thinking of business class. […]
In the tv show Suits, Michael gets a job as an associate in top law firm Pearson Hardman, despite not having a law degree. They get several series out of this before he and the firm gets exposed and the firm is almost ruined. In professions like the law or accounting, you have to be […]
We’ve all had fantasised about what we would do if we won the Euro millions and had more money than we could think of. Who we would buy houses for, who we would give a few quid to? What car would you buy? Where would you go on holidays? Would we give up work, reduce […]
Using a financial planner isn’t for everyone. Lots of people have an interest in personal finance and are willing to spend the time learning about it and keeping track of things (although over confidence in their own abilities can be an issue). But there are lots of people who have no interest in personal finance […]