Bitcoin is back – but what do you wanna see?
BACK in 2017, many in this column asked me if Bitcoin was a good idea. Those questions are back in abundance again. And it’s here to stay. Bitcoin is regularly pushed at me along with blockchain ledger as if it is the same thing. It is not. They are not related in price at all. […]
Get rich quick schemes? ‘Tulipmania’ is not something you’d want to be involved in
I’VE had a few questions over the Christmas and New Year break about some of the get rich quick schemes which keep appearing. Get rich quick schemes Sitting in our armchair in the last few days of our lives, thinking back in time, what might we say is the biggest takeaway in terms of our […]
Get ahead of the ‘tax wonks’
TAX . . . it’s as interesting a subject as a talk on ethics with a politician in the freezing cold. I have nothing against tax per se, it’s the inequitable application of it, coupled with the inequitable use of that money that bothers me. Ned Flanders in the Simpsons caps it off better than […]
Making money resolutions work
NEW year resolutions face many challenges. Many are just box ticking dreams. Those that work are built on a real ‘why’ – a solid reason, that when you come to the courageous crossroads of a decision, drives you straight in the right direction rather than procrastination or defeat. So start with learning from the past. […]
Don’t let scammers get their hands on your money
THE power of the scammers. Think you can’t be scammed financially? You could be in for a shock. The power, and incredible cleverness, of their strategies is quite extraordinary. They simply work to percentage success, and if you fall into each slot along the way, they are very capable of accessing your cash, emails, passwords […]
The power of ESG investing
WHETHER I am getting old or not, is not in question. Given my date of birth, and the alternative to being old, I am glad I am 52. The ‘wear sunscreen’ song reminds us of the ‘inalienable truths’: ‘Politicians will philander… and when you get old you’ll fantasise that when you were young, politicians were […]
Could commercial property represent a good investment as we enter the Covid vaccine era?
LAST week we covered the issues with property funds having to close due to withdrawals, and a further question was raised related to whether or not property is a good idea to be invested into. In each economic cycle, different assets perform in different ways. Warehousing and offices are very different marketplaces in terms of performance […]
Peter McGahan ranked by global media analytics experts for promoting investments with a social conscience
PETER McGahan, our chief executive at Worldwide Financial Planning, has been named the third most influential person on social media for promoting investments with a social conscience. The recognition came from global media analytics experts, Commetric, an international company which provides media analytics solutions to help communication and marketing professionals monitor and analyse conversations and […]
Property investments – beware the see-saw effect
BEFORE reading this column, remember your ISA, pension and investments are managed by ‘someone’. That someone, believe me, doesn’t always manage the money well, as the performance comparison showed last week in relation to the best and worst performer over the last 20 years for a pension pot. From the year 2000, for a pension pot […]
UK markets leading up to Brexit
IN 2016, I found it difficult to type the ‘B’ word – Brexit. Then it became the ‘C ‘word Covid and I nearly thought were going to have the ‘D’ word Donald! I would have learned Mandarin after that. It’s been four years of tap dripping psychological torture, but stock markets do not seem to […]
Is the stock market about to turn?
AS you know, there is rarely an obvious ‘good time’ to invest in the stock market, yet there is a natural desire to try and spot it. As my late father told me many years ago, ‘when everyone else starts running, I walk’. That theory makes sense in the investment world for sure, and the opposite […]
Saving private finances
IN many variations, lockdown has been here, gone and back again. Mentally this is, of course, a drain on everyone, and for business and for households, it is almost impossible to plan let alone saving private finances. The ability to plan gives us a sense of control in our lives that keeps us a bit […]