Select Page

How To Invest

Other How-To Guides

My approach to investing is pretty simple. I combine short-term investments that allow me quick access to my money with long-term investments that I plan to not touch for decades.

The long-term approach is typical and reflects what most financial experts would recommend. Stick your money in a tax-efficient index-tracker and then apart from reinvesting the dividends, don’t touch it.

But it is my short term approach that is a little more unusual. I put a large chunk of my money into short-term peer-to-peer loans (in particular Ratesetter) where I am earning inflation-beating interest, but also have very easy access to my funds.

I believe that opportunities are going to come along where I will need money readily available to take advantage of them. I do not know what they will be or when they will appear, but I know they will happen and want to be in the best possible position when they do.

Check out this post on investing in the light of Brexit where I outline my opinion in more detail.

Here are all my posts to do with investing:

My Updated Investment Strategy – Investing In The Light Of Brexit

My Updated Investment Strategy – Investing In The Light Of Brexit

This week I completed on the sale of some properties I had invested in, leaving me with a large bank balance and a very good problem to solve. Where shall I invest this money? Normally my strategy is pretty simple: I max out my ISA each year on the Vanguard 80% ACC...

Should I Invest In Bitcoin? My Experiences, Research & Strategy

Should I Invest In Bitcoin? My Experiences, Research & Strategy

Bitcoin, the currency of regret. Where you can make money and still feel like a loser. In this post, I delve into my own experiences, do a bunch of research, and ultimately decide if I should invest in Bitcoin. In November I sold half of my one bitcoin at about $6,000...

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T Kiyosaki – Book Review

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T Kiyosaki – Book Review

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki is probably the most well known 'how to be rich' books ever written. And it's also one that I have been putting off reading for a long time. I hate the branding - "what the rich teach their kids about money that the poor and middle...

Riding The Storm Of A Stock Market Crash

Riding The Storm Of A Stock Market Crash

For the first time since I have been seriously investing in the stock market, I am faced with a crash. I first started buying stocks and shares back in 2011 and enjoyed a very comfortable ride for the first few years. Then, just after the end of the tax year, I...

The Millionaire Tramp

The Millionaire Tramp

Meet Curt Degerman. For 40 years he spent his days searching through the bins of a small Swedish town called Skellefteå. Looking for scrap metal and tin cans. After he died of a heart attack aged 60, it was discovered he had left behind a portfolio of stocks and...

The Maths Behind My London Property Investment

The Maths Behind My London Property Investment

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may have gathered that I'm not the biggest fan of property as an investment. It's illiquid, undiversified, the fees are expensive and dealing with tenants can become a second job. But having said all that, I'm also a...

Retire by 40

Retire by 40

The definition of retirement is changing and we're all screwed. According to the government: "Default retirement age (formerly 65) has been phased out - most people can now work for as long as they want to." Well. Thanks a lot.... that's one way of putting it! Even...

Investing Made Easy

Investing Made Easy

Ever since launching this blog quite a few old friends have got in touch to ask for advice. You'd think they'd want to know about table tennis, coffee, gambling, or anything really that I claim to be a bit of an expert at. But nope, the most common thing I get asked...

Should I Try and Spend Less or Earn More?

Should I Try and Spend Less or Earn More?

Which do you think is better worth your time: spending less or earning more? It’s actually a harder question than I initially thought. There are some important pros and cons to both, and they’re not immediately obvious. A pound saved is worth more than a pound earned...

Rising House Prices are Bad for Homeowners

Rising House Prices are Bad for Homeowners

Warning. This post is a bit of a rant. It really bugs me when we read about the households “enjoying house price rises”. Really who apart from landlords enjoy rising house prices? Well people like me who would like to buy a home at some point certainly don’t, everyone...

Funding Circle – Get a Higher Return

Funding Circle – Get a Higher Return

This article was written in 2014 and quite a lot has changed! A lot about this article is still relevant, but you may be more interested in my most recent post on peer-to-peer lending and why I am moving my money from Funding Circle to Ratesetter. Out of all the...

Adventures in Property – My First Time

Adventures in Property – My First Time

I have been in some pretty surreal situations over the years but this has got to be close to the strangest. I am sat with my old flat mate Toby in a cramped office on the top floor of an apartment block in the capital of Malta, a small island somewhere between Africa...

What is Financial Independence?

What is Financial Independence?

I wanted to be rich. When I was a teenager I would get resentful that my dad had used his degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge to dedicate his life to trying to cure spinal injury rather than make loads of money. “Why would he do that?” I thought, imagine how much...