I was watching a video of the 1996 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting where a member of the audience asked Warren Buffet where Berkshire kept their cash. If you watch the clip you might get some amusement from Warren casually stating “we have a billion and something in treasuries, and a little something extra in commercial […]
Cash flow, or the ability of a business to generate cash, is one of the most important factors for success in business. With interest rates at rock bottom levels, access to cheap capital has rarely been more available, but successfully deploying that capital to generate cash is the real measure of a business’s success. A
Earlier this month, I was talking to a friend about financial literacy and they were telling me that they felt ignorant of so much of what was available to them regarding their finances. They’d set themselves some basic goals – they want enough money to be able to provide a good education for their (as
There are many shocking statistics that highlight the seriousness of the financial illiteracy crisis in the UK. Recent reports produced about our country’s financial literacy highlight that only 38% of people understand inflation, more than 30% of people fail to carefully consider purchases, and that the average pension pot in the UK stands at less
The ultra wealthy, known as Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs), are wealth holders with a personal net worth of at least one hundred million pounds. Their wealth consists of public and private company shares, real estate investments, and personal investments, such as fine art and jewelry, cars and designer clothing. These individuals understand the
Six mistakes that Ultra High Net Worth investors know not to make Read More »
Despite our lack of financial training and advice at school, the internet is awash with financial gurus teaching different systems and techniques for financial success. From paying off debt, to reducing spending, to investing like the next Warren Buffet, there is no shortage of useful, well-written articles available for an interested reader to dive into.
Income producing assets are a great addition to your portfolio. The only problem is that they’re often prohibitively expensive to acquire. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t have £500,000 lying around to acquire ownership rights over a successful business. But what if you didn’t need the money right now? What if you
Using Seller Financing to Acquire Income Producing Assets Read More »
When I was a small child, I was once given a £50 note for Christmas by my paternal Grandfather and it was more money than I’d ever seen in one place. He wasn’t (and still isn’t) a wealthy man, but he’d saved up for a few months so that all his Grandchildren could each have
For nearly two years, I’ve been writing about personal finance. Admittedly, I’ve taken the odd break here or there, but who doesn’t get busy? One of my latest projects had me so busy in May and June that I barely had time to eat and sleep. As I started to feel the usual symptoms of
When making an investment in a business, it’s essential to understand that you’re becoming a part-owner of that business. Whenever you make an investment, you weigh up the chances of the business in question returning a greater sum of capital than you originally invested. I was recently asked how I go about weight up this
When I first started renting, I was asked to provide a ‘guarantor’ of security before my landlord would take me on as a tenant. Being young and lacking experience, I called a relative, got their agreement to use them and then thought no more about it. Essentially, I was offering a ‘guarantee’ that if I
A few weeks ago, I was engaged in an email chain with one of my readers who asked me whether I thought he should be using his paycheque to pay down debts or to invest in income-producing assets. This sort of sent alarm bells ringing for me, as I’m clearly not a financial advisor, so
Reader Question: Should I pay down debts or should I invest my money? Read More »
When I graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 2013, I was enthusiastic about gaining experience and building my financial assets, but like many my age had more debt on my credit cards than in in my bank account. I wasn’t struggling to pay the bills or feed myself; I certainly never went on debt-fuelled spending
At a recent dinner with a friend, we were talking about my blog when my friend asked me a pretty simple question; I’ve always had the view that savings and investments are a good way to protect myself from the uncertainties of life. Given that you lost your parents early on, how do you view
Reader question: How much money should I be saving in my 20s? Read More »
Anyone that’s been reading this blog for a while will have noticed that a significant proportion of my articles are about investments; the ones I love, the ones I hate and how my readers can help to improve their finances through strategies like building a passive income. Consequently, when I talk about investments, most
