When people gossip, it’s always about someone else and more often than not, there’s a comment on someone’s behaviour. People watching or, more correctly, behaviour watching provides fodder for the chat magazines and the tabloids. This, in turn, has led to the huge growth in reality TV whether it’s the X-Factor, …
I have been helping clients make investment decisions for over 25 years and it never ceases to amaze me how the adage of “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” still applies – the more things change, the more things stay the same. Avoiding investment mistakes if no different. …
As a financial planning firm we get involved in a lot of sophisticated financial analysis. We crunch numbers in spreadsheets and similar tools with the same passion as kids (and now more recently many adults) play video games. Sad you might say that we prefer Excel to the latest PlayStation …
Most personal financial columns have a strong emphasis on investments. How do you get richer? How much can your money grow by? What are you worth? This is understandable as it is something that appeals to the greed element in most people. This is actually the wrong focus when it …
As someone who is in the investment advisory arena for more years than I actually care to remember I am often asked, by clients and financial media alike, what investments would I recommend to potential investors. My answer is always the same – None! My reason for such a statement is …
Investors are a worrisome lot. When markets are falling many can get upset. Should they sell? Should they buy more? When markets are rising, the questions are the same. Should they sell? Should they buy more? It also depends on what asset is in the news. For a long time …
It’s amazing. Some years ago it was considered normal if you talked at dinner parties or in the pub about what you invested in and the outcome. With the Celtic Tiger bust, this had become a topic that was taboo. Nevertheless, with stockmarkets hitting all time highs the discussion of …
Every so often I meet a personal investor who will tell me that now is the right time or the wrong time to invest. This may depend on whether the markets are going up or down as well as depending on that individual’s past experience. Despite having 30 years of …
Every so often I come across a new client who is searching for the magic elixir of finance – the quick fix to all their financial woes. What they are really seeking is a quick and easy way to make more money without taking risk or putting in time. A …
