Articles
Practical, evidence-based personal finance for the long-term investor.
Generational Wealth: Why £100k at 25 Beats £500k at 60
The inheritance you leave will arrive in the wrong decade. By 60 your kids have a paid-off house and a vague relief. The decade it would have changed their lives is long gone.
Is a Recession Coming? A UK Investor's Guide
Paul Samuelson nailed the prediction industry in one sentence in 1966. It is still true. The recession is not the real threat to your portfolio. The threat sits between your ears.
Rent, Profit, Interest: Are They All the Same Thing?
Gary Stevenson says rent, profit and interest are the same flow of money in three legal costumes. He is more right than most of personal finance is comfortable admitting.
What Is the Yen Carry Trade? The $4tn Risk in Your ETF
Your global tracker is partly funded by a $4tn bet most UK investors have never heard of. In August 2024 it unwound for one day. Your portfolio felt it. The next one is building.
What Are Qualifying Earnings? UK Pension Explained
Your '8% workplace pension' is quietly less than 8%. The mechanism is legal, the gap compounds, and there is exactly one question to ask before your next job offer.
What Is GDP? Why Per Capita Is the Number That Counts
Your stagnant wages are not bad luck. UK output per person has barely moved since 2008. The US is now 30-40% ahead on the only GDP number that touches your salary.
Gary Stevenson's Wealth Tax: The Missing Manifesto
A Citi trader spent his twenties betting against the economy he grew up in and won. Now he's on the BBC arguing Britain needs a wealth tax. The bit of his case that doesn't land.
What Is IR35? The UK Contractor Tax Trap in 2026
The same day rate can pay a UK contractor £20k more a year, depending on one HMRC label. Get it wrong and the back-tax bill is retrospective. Most contractors get it wrong.
Why Bonds for De-Risking? An Honest UK Answer
Bonds dropped 20% in 2022 and a money market fund quietly did the same job for two years afterwards. So why is the textbook still 60/40? The honest UK answer near retirement.
How to Build a Budget UK: A Step-by-Step Guide
Most budgets fail before the first month is out. The problem isn't discipline. It's that you started in the wrong place. The step that needs to happen before any spreadsheet opens.
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