Introduction Buying a house is widely viewed in the UK as part of achieving ‘the dream’, along with getting married and having children, another tick in the box to show you’ve made it. Society’s drive to put buying a home on a pedestal will undoubtedly make this a controversial blog, but I feel it’s needed as there are too few voices providing a balanced view. Personally, I am definitely not immune to society’s idealisation of home buying and it’s something…
Introduction I love reading other blogs, especially by creative individuals who are established in multiple different fields. They help me become a better blogger, provide inspiration and broaden my horizons of interest. The aim of this piece is to share with you the best bloggers I believe millennials should be following right now. This article is part of a mini-series I have been sharing over the last few months, the first two articles in the series are: Favourite Men’s Lifestyle…
Introduction It often feels that not a day goes by without reading about another scary prediction that robots, artificial intelligence (AI) and other types of intelligent technology are going to rise up in the next few years, taking over our jobs, then our minds and reducing humanity to nothing more than a pet or play thing of super intelligent technology. Whilst this a somewhat tongue in cheek opening line, the headlines and articles – from highly credible sources – aren’t…
My Overview Richard Thaler is one of the greatest behavioural economists ever, he was pivotal in bringing the founding ideas of Daniel Kahnman and Amos Tversky into mainstream Economics. He was also one of the key experts brought in to help formulate the British Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) aka the Nudge Unit in the UK, similar units cannot be found across most Western governments. I have been fascinated by behavioural economics since I first started studying economics aged 16. I…
Introduction Placebo effects are fascinating things which often produce very divided and divisive views. But let’s start simply: what is a placebo? A placebo is best described as a ‘harmless’ remedy that has positive effects on an ailment that cannot be attributed directly to the remedy itself. When most people think of a placebo one of two things often comes to mind; (1) a parent kissing a child’s knee after they have fallen and hurt themselves (2) a patient being…
PLEASE NOTE: If you haven’t read Part 1 of this piece I recommend you start with that, before reading on, you can find it here. Calculating how to reach your Target income Making calculations years into the future is far from easy, for starters we might all be retired in 30 years with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots doing all our work for us. Even without considering massive changes like that, making calculations is harder, a couple of percentage differences in…
Introduction Retirement, it is something which millennials often think is too far away to think or worry about. However, I think about it more than your average millennial because I want to be able to retire early. If you are a millennial in the UK the chances are you won’t be able to receive your national pension until you are at least 70, given most people would have started full time work between the ages of 18 & 22, that…
Introduction My girlfriend and I enjoyed an early summer trip to Lisbon & Sintra, in Portugal, over the first bank holiday weekend in May 2017. I’m sharing our itinerary and top tips in case anyone is planning to visit or is inspired to go there after reading about the city and its top attractions. Overall, we loved Lisbon and it was easy to see why it’s grown, and continues to grow, hugely in popularity. If you are looking for other…
My Perspective There are few more famous books that Marcus Aurelius’ ‘Mediations’, it was written as a series of spiritual exercises and the common belief was that it would never to be published. For me it is the inner dialogue of an extremely powerful and rich man – the Emperor of Rome – trying to fight the same battles that we all face on a daily basis: how to be a better person, how to show courage, be just, be clever and…
Introduction As part of my website and through my blogs I try to offer a good sprinkling of personal finance advice, based on solid finance theory and my own experience, focusing on important issues for millennials. Of course, the solid finance theory that I provide doesn’t just come from my own mind, I spend a good amount of time seeking out and refining the advice of others. The aim of this piece is to share the 7 best personal…