Last week I was back at a familiar place for a day-long meeting with a client at their country-club style conference/gym centre. This is a client I used to work with for almost 10 years – the first 10 years of my professional life. It was really surprising to see again the facilities that I [...]
If you Stooze, you can’t lose!(?)
For the first time in almost 15 years, I'm was without a salary for a month (October) and with nursery fees kicking in and holiday spending - money was tight. It's not the end of the world - just a cash flow challenge but it has given me the opportunity to take advantage of an [...]
Remembrance Day and the impact of inflation
a good post about inflation and rememberance sunday.
It’s Remembrance Day; a time to reflect on the incredible sacrifices made by all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the liberty we enjoy today.
I have a personal connection to this annual event through my grandfather, who served on HMS Ulster during World War II, taking part in 3 invasion landings (including D-Day itself), so I wanted to use this platform to pay homage to all those involved in the small way I can.
So let’s take a look at how inflation has affected our spending since the Armistice in 1918…
| Item | Average price in 1918 (£) | What is that worth in 2019 (£) |
| House | 195 | 12,188 |
| Fuel (per litre) | 0.44 | 2.49 |
| Average salary | 133 | 8,303 |
| Car | 250 | 15,625 |
| Bread (loaf) | 0.02 | 1.00 |
| Milk (1 pint) | 0.06 | 3.75 |
| Bacon (400g) | 0.12 | 7.25 |
Put simply, inflation effectively shrinks the buying power of our money over time.
In order to…
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Contracting Wisdom: Don’t let the tax tail wag the spending dog
I’ve recently started a new job where I am set-up through a Limited Company, contracting to a range of companies on work that is short term, insecure but well rewarded. This is a similar arrangement as for a lot of people in the UK. There are certainly advantages to this arrangement for me and the [...]
Tax: the elephant in FI the room
Do you (like me) not think of Income Tax as an outgoing / expense - it's just something you complain about but don't think of it as an expense of yours? Tax is an expense and something that you can't ignore - even if you think you'll be able to avoid. Policies can change and [...]
Thistle Wright Asset Trust: investment review
Somethings are built to last and some people are born to succeed. It’s just the way of nature and the Thistle Wright Asset Trust is proof of that fact. Marketed as the Scottish St. James' Place, the Trust has been managing the Great and the Good of Scotland’s money safely since the 1690’s. Thistle Wright [...]
Month-end accounts: October 2019
Another month over and done with. It seems like just yesterday when I was writing about September. In October, the big change for us is that I’m now in a new job – driving 135 miles a day and starting work at 6:30 and working till 16:30. Long hours, long commute? That’s what you [...]
Guest Post: How Woodford exploited the fundamental flaw in best buy lists
Today's scribblings is a guest post about Neil Woodford from Chris and James at Bristol based financial advisers Frazer James. They have an expert angle on Bedford Bernie Madoff (or the Wizard of Oxford); villain du jour Neil Woodford (boo hiss) and specifically around how he exploited/benefitted from best buy lists. I've written about the [...]
Month-end accounts: September 2019 (2)
After not doing my month end accounts for September at the end of the month, I have finished them now. A case of OCD maybe? But if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. Completing my September accounts a few weeks late made me realise that first of all; my time is previous [...]
Give us our savings back evil Neil Woodford!
It doesn't get any better for Neil Woodford. Everyone loves a pariah, a scapegoat, a whipping boy and Neil's our boy! Sure, we can't agree on Brexit but we can all agree that Neil is pure evil! It was obvious to everyone that his strategy was wrong (unless you lost money in which case you [...]
