4 June 2025

Four ways we hold ourselves back from investing

If you read, listen or watch anything about finance, the mantra that ‘markets historically outperform cash’ has likely been engrained into your mind. While you might agree with this statement logically, you also could still be sitting on a pile of cash savings and have little to no investments in the market.

In case you haven’t heard the spiel...

4 June 2025

Should my investments be chosen by a computer or a human?

When you choose to invest, one of the first decisions you make is if your money will be invested actively or passively.

But what is the difference between the two? In short:

An active fund means that the investments are hand-selected by a fund manager. A passive fund means that your money will be invested in a fund that follows a specific index...

30 May 2025

Ways to pay your investment fees (and not think about it)

Paying fees on your accounts is admittedly not a fun task, but keeping on top of your investment charges is important to ensure your portfolio continues to run smoothly.

If not, there is a chance those fees could be taken out of your investments themselves, which could cost you in the future by having less money in the market. Instead, make sure...

23 May 2025

Your ETF might not hold what you think it does – is that okay?

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are a type of tracker fund and are meant to be a simple way to access a particular part of the market. You buy shares in the ETF and it mirrors the performance of a certain index. Look a bit closer and you’ll find some ETFs are not quite what you think are.

A traditional equity fund contains a portfolio of different...

21 May 2025

Why is my investment trust asking me for a continuation vote?

If you are a shareholder in an investment trust, you may receive communications asking you to participate in a continuation vote.

A continuation vote for an investment trust is simply a vote to ask if the trust should keep going as an investment vehicle, or if it should be shut down. When an investment trust is wound up, the assets are liquidated...

21 May 2025

Who should I trust for information about money and investing?

If you do a quick search on the internet of how to invest your money, you will likely end up with millions of answers and many that seem to contradict each other.

In short, no one can tell you with certainty what investment will give you the best returns. But if you have specific questions about your finances, or are looking for where to start...

21 May 2025

Tracking down your lost pension: Where does it go?

In the UK, there is currently £31bn in assets floating around in unclaimed pension pots. But what happens when these assets aren’t reclaimed by their owners?

Pension providers will make every effort to reunite lost pots with their owners, but ultimately lost pensions can go into the Dormant Assets Scheme, where they may eventually be donated to...

20 May 2025

The UK has over £31bn in lost pensions: can combining pots help?

There is over £31 billion* in unclaimed pension pots floating around the UK, a number exacerbated by frequent career changes and workers being automatically placed in a pension scheme.

The automatic enrolment workplace pension scheme has been touted as one of the most successful projects by government in recent years. In 2012, when auto enrolment...

20 May 2025

Am I saving enough for retirement?

Determining how much you need to save for retirement in your pension can be a tricky calculation because it involves a lot of unknowns.

Just 18% of people have a figure for how much they believe they will need for retirement, and only 20% are confident they are saving enough, according to the Pension & Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA).

By...