Let’s assume you have a portfolio of stocks and shares, whether that be through personal investments or pensions. However, given the direction of base rates (and hence interest rates), along with predictions they will continue increasing to address, or at...

Cash-strapped workers should think twice before pulling the plug on their pension contributions, experts are warning. Yet significant numbers seem to be ignoring that advice as the cost of living crisis bites – soaring energy bills, surging inflation and higher...

We face big challenges – Brexit, Covid, surging inflation, the cost of living crisis, the energy price explosion, talk of recession, Chinese sabre rattling, and Ukraine. Any investor who doesn’t move with the times (while still keeping the medium to...

Emerging markets have not performed well of late, buffeted by the fallout from pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising inflation, mounting debt and surging energy prices. There are fears around what a possible Chinese storming of Taiwan could do to...

Tens of thousands more of us will soon have the chance to benefit from a £5 million expansion of the Department of Work and Pensions’ “Mid-life MOT” initiative. It is a structured review for workers in their 40s and 50s...

We’ve talked a lot down the years about the benefits of diversification … but not in comparison with Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Villa or whoever is your favourite team. Yet investments and football do correlate – you need some good...

Absolute return funds have gone from being the poster boy of investments in the early 2010s to complete pariahs now. Some £3 billion was withdrawn from the sector over the course of 2021, with 60 per cent of such funds...

Investing through “market noise” as volatility and rising interest rates bite means holding your nerve. Many don’t, selling in a blind panic. Too often an ill-considered knee-jerk reaction. In its most recent announcement, the Bank of England, worried that inflation...

Mortgage rates rising, taxes rising … it can easily spill over into financial stress rising too. In turn, that can tip you into a mental health crisis. The BetterUp website cautions: “When we’re stressed about money, it’s not only our...

Should financial planning be part of the school curriculum? An introduction to income tax, mortgages, credit cards, loans, interest rates, keeping your data safe, being aware of bogus emails … and much more besides. It could mean the difference between...