“Do you want an inheritance or do you want a cruise?” Can money buy happiness?
The crowd was so silent that we could hear a gull calling overhead. Tension scrawled across every face. Our final player stepped up and, without hesitation, struck. The disc slid across the deck and landed on a seven. We threw our hands up in the air. The victorious shuffleboard player walked over to the kids. …
In praise of paying tax: A personal polemic
As Nina Simone almost certainly meant to have sung: “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new tax year for me….and I’m feeling good.” Ah yes April. The beginning of a new tax year. Empty tax-exempt saving accounts like ISA’s waiting to be filled, new pension allowances just begging to be used,…
When I grow up: My hopes and fears when I achieve financial independence
It was the morning of Friday the 24th of June 2016. I can place it precisely as it was the day after the UK had voted to leave the European Union. My emotions were all over the place: Sadness, fear but also something that may have been tendrils of excitement. But I had to put…
External networking: How to get your introverted mojo on outside your organisation
It was the middle of a typically boring afternoon, in the middle of a typically boring day, in the middle of a typically boring week at work. My mobile rang. It was a headhunter who’d been chucking me a series of, frankly, uninteresting opportunities over the last year. My instinct was to hit reject but,…
March 2019 update: The one I wrote the morning after a stag weekend
Ah Spring. As I write this the clocks have just changed so the days are getting longer. Everywhere blossom and daffodils are exploding into bloom. The sun is shining, and Easter is just round the corner. Frankly you can’t turn around without the sap rising somewhere. And, in the middle of all of this, I’m…
An M-Shaped life. Unlocking career success and Financial Independence
“Have you ever climbed a mountain?” I looked up as Nimit posed his question. It was Madrid. About 10pm on a beautiful Iberian night. I was in my second year as a management consultant and I’d been sent to Spain to help an internet start-up. As was pretty typical for our company it was a…
Making a million. Why saving for kids is a terrible idea and why I’m doing it anyway
I love my kids. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them. When I get home after one of those days when nothing has gone right they’ll always put a smile on my face. How do children just mange to stay unfailingly cheerful even when I’m walking about with a black cloud over my head? Turning…
“I always thought he was poor.” How shame made me waste money for years (and how I recovered)
Shame is powerful. Of all the emotions I think it’s the least rational. Like so many emotions it can only affect you if you allow it to…but it is so easy to feel embarrassed. Often this is just a fleeting feeling By the next day you’ve forgotten all about it. At other times it becomes…
February 2019 update: Emerging from hibernation and some swords
February goes by fast doesn’t it? I feel like it’s only been a few days since I was doing my January update. I like February though. The days are starting to stretch out and get warmer. In fact it turns out that we had the warmest February day since records began in the 1600s. Crumbs.…
12 easy actions you can take to save the world while getting richer
Last time I did a mini-rant about why I think ethical investing doesn’t work. Bit of a downer huh? But I did promise that I would follow up with some positivity. So here it is. The good news is that it’s still possible to do things to, genuinely, help save the world. Hopefully as relevant…
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