A few weeks ago, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who works for a big investment bank. He’s always struck me as an intelligent and considerate person, so it doesn’t take much effort to listen to him when he’s explaining his thoughts on something. This friend is reasonably high up the […]
“I hate being critiqued!” said a relative of mine. “I really hate it. I enjoy doing this; why do I care what other people think about how good I am at it? I just want to do my thing and enjoy it,”. It was eye-opening to me to hear this, as I never thought anyone
Personal Branding. Urgh. What a cliché. What a con. Who on earth cares? Well, according to a quick google search, enough to cause people to write 8,950,000 results for the question ’What is personal branding?’. If I’m honest, I think the whole ‘personal branding’ thing is a bit of a fad – you could call
Infrastructure; if people and commerce are the lifeblood of our society, infrastructure are the veins through which they flow. Whilst I could hardly claim to be an expert in economics, I feel reasonably confident in asserting that a correlation exists between long-term growth in a country, and its level of investment in infrastructure. Of course,
Is The West in financial collapse? I might not be an LSE educated economist, but it seems obvious to me that my side of the planet is facing some pretty serious economic challenges. Across Europe and America, inequality is rising, as are housing prices and unemployment. Bank rates remain at ludicrously low levels (even being
For many people, achieving income from savings and investments has been a struggle for the better part of ten years. With interest rates at record lows of 0.25%, the interest from cash deposits is negligible and unlikely to improve soon. The search for income is becoming increasingly difficult in an environment of low-interest rates, but that
The search for income in an environment of low interest rates Read More »
Have you ever wondered how to go about analysing a Cap Rate for an investment ? Are you trying to figure out what NOI means? Do you want to know how to calculate the various types of ROI, like Cash-on-Cash Return and Total Return? If so, no need to struggle alone – I’ve written what
An introduction to Real Estate Investment Analysis Read More »
The ability to acquire income generating assets is an essential part of achieving financial independence. If you can generate enough income from your savings, investments and business ventures, you can effectively ‘retire’ from the 9-5 grind of every day employment. For many people, this might seem like a pipe-dream, but it’s a serious goal of
There are many criteria I consider when making an investment in a stock. Among them is the price relative to historical value; does it look cheap, or is it at an ‘all-time high’? In theory, if I believe a company to be solid, short-term fluctuations in price are meaningless, so a falling value only encourages
We all know that a moment in time can change our lives forever. A decision we make, a path we take, a road we choose – they can transform our lives for better, or worse. It’s usually impossible to know exactly what the outcome of our actions will be. But by being prepared to deal
With constant reports of incomes being squeezed, house prices rising, and new fears about inflation ticking upwards, are you making the most of your money? In my opinion, the most efficient way to generate an income is to utilise tax-free allowances to maximise your tax-free income. To those that follow personal finance, you’ll know that ever
I generally try to avoid too much controversy on this blog. Admittedly, I might occasionally pen a provocative opinion piece, but by and large, I try to stick to informative articles. Earlier this week, I took a call from now investor who really, really wasn’t ready for an investment in his business. That might sound
Are you ready to start seeking investment in your business? Read More »
I’ve written before about my approach to investing and trying to create an income producing portfolio of assets. It’s been difficult to find stable and secure investments over the last few years; especially if you’re trying to find income producing investments. Naturally, my search for income isn’t restricted to a single asset class, but historically,
Thoughts on creating an income producing portfolio Read More »
In my opinion, the key to achieving financial freedom is becoming financially literate. Becoming financially literate is the best way you can achieve ‘quick wins’ financially, and move yourself towards the future you want. As investment and business are rarely taught well in an academic context, financial literacy is pretty poor for most of our society.
I’ve written previously about information overload and about some of the systems I try and implement to keep on top of my work. One of my favourite tools is (and has been for some time), a productivity tool called Evernote. Loads of people have heard of Evernote, but aren’t quite sure what to do with it. I
