Category
Risk Management
What protects the compounding run, when something goes wrong before the maths has time to work.
Long-term investing assumes you stay in the market for decades. The fastest way to break that assumption is to be forced to sell at the wrong time because something unexpected hit your finances first. Risk management is the unglamorous half of a serious portfolio: emergency funds, insurance, currency exposure, mortgage stress-testing, and the consumer-protection rules that decide whether your platform failure costs you nothing or costs you everything.
The articles below cover emergency fund sizing for UK incomes, FSCS protection limits and what they actually cover, currency hedging for a sterling-based investor, and the 40-year mortgage trap the lenders have been pushing since the affordability crunch of 2022-23. Read these before, not after, you need them.
7 articles
40-Year Mortgage UK: Stretched, Trapped, or Smart?
A 40-year mortgage looks like the obvious answer when you're stretched. The interest isn't the trap. It's what the bank can do to you at year 5.
Income Protection vs Critical Illness UK: Which Do You Need?
Critical Illness Cover sounds like the policy you need. The cover everyone forgets pays out when the CIC claim gets denied on a narrow definition. Which one wins on the maths.
FSCS Protection UK: What's Actually Covered Up to £85k?
Two of your accounts. Two different brand names. One banking licence. The FSCS rule everyone gets wrong until the morning a bank fails and the other £35k stops existing.
Why You Should Stay Away From CFDs
The FCA forces every UK broker to print one specific warning above their CFD products. There is a reason. Most retail accounts trading them lose money. The maths is structural.
Insurance for FIRE: Protecting Your Early Retirement Plan
Every revolution needs a defence. FIRE's blind spot is the illness that takes you out of work and freezes the plan. Roughly one in six careers hits it. Yours probably has no cover.
Currency Hedging for UK Investors: Diversifying Beyond GBP
The UK is 4% of global equities. Your salary is sterling. Your house too. Your pension default too. The single-currency bet most UK investors don't know they're taking.
Emergency Fund UK: How Much You Really Need
Most people call it a safety net. That framing is what keeps you in a job you hate. Rename it and the six-month number you thought was paranoid suddenly looks like the floor.