Taxed & Taken

On 29 December 1989, Japan’s stock market closed at a record high. For millions of ordinary people, it felt like the country had cracked the code. Homes had multiplied in value. Shares had surged. Banks were lending freely. Japanese companies were buying trophy assets across the world. And there was a growing belief that Japan was different. That the old rules no longer applied. Then the bubble bu...

Britain owes more than £3 trillion. America owes tens of trillions of dollars. Across the developed world, governments have accumulated debts that look almost impossible to repay. So how does this end? There are only a handful of possibilities. Cut spending. Raise taxes. Grow the economy fast enough to outrun the debt. Default. Or there is another option. Inflation. Not hyperinflation. Not wheelba...

Britain says its carbon emissions are down 54% since 1990. That sounds extraordinary. But there’s another number that tells a very different story. When you count the emissions created around the world to produce the things Britain actually consumes, the reduction discussed in this episode is closer to 20% . The gap comes partly from the difference between territorial emissions — what is produced...

Net Zero is usually presented as a simple transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean renewable energy . But there’s a problem with that story. There is no such thing as clean energy. The wind may be renewable. The turbine is not. Sunlight may be free. The solar panel is not. Every energy system requires materials, infrastructure, land, mining, manufacturing and eventually disposal. The real quest...

In 1997, Gordon Brown abolished the dividend tax credit received by pension funds — a change expected to raise the Treasury around £5 billion a year . His own officials warned that it could knock roughly £50 billion from the value of existing pension funds and force employers to inject billions more to repair the damage. But this episode is not the simplistic story that one Chancellor single-hande...

For the last 15 years, American shares have dominated global markets. Brilliant companies played a huge part — but there was another force underneath them: the dollar’s extraordinary position at the centre of the global financial system. But what happens if that advantage slowly begins to fade? In this episode, I look at why the dollar doesn’t need to collapse for your investments to be affected,...

Most people have no idea that their supposedly “global” pension is heavily invested in America. And there’s a reason. Over the last 16 years, American companies genuinely crushed much of the developed world on profit growth. But that wasn’t the whole story. US investors also benefited from rising valuations, a strengthening dollar and something no other major economy possesses: the privilege of is...

If your fixed rate is ending, this episode matters. In Part 3 of the Central Banks series, we move from theory to real life. This is the episode about what happens when interest rates hit households directly — and why that pain is not a policy accident, but part of how the system works. We look at what rising rates actually do, who gets hit first, who escapes relatively untouched, and why central...

Who does the British government owe its debt to? Most people would say pension funds, insurance companies, foreign investors, or the banks. And yes — all of those matter. But the single biggest lender to the British government is the Bank of England . At its peak, it owned around a third of all government debt in existence, and even now it still holds hundreds of billions of pounds of it. The stra...

Central banks were not originally created to control inflation or protect your savings. They were created because governments needed a reliable way to borrow enormous sums without defaulting, debasing the currency or provoking revolt. In 1694, the Bank of England lent £1.2 million to the Crown. Parliament guaranteed the interest using future taxes, while the government’s IOU was transformed into a...

Most people are told to follow the same financial formula: Invest regularly. Buy a diversified portfolio. Hold shares and bonds. Ignore the headlines. Wait. That advice worked exceptionally well during the economic environment that dominated much of the period from 1980 to 2020. But what happens when the environment changes? In this episode, I explain the four economic environments that determine...

This week a man walked into Number 10 having told the TUC that our economic model “doesn’t work well enough for ordinary people.” I want to be fair to him. He probably means it. That isn’t the danger. The danger is that we’ve heard those exact words before — and I can show you where they led. In this episode I explain, in plain English, the real difference between capitalism and socialism. Then we...

Gary Stevenson has become one of Britain’s most influential voices on inequality, arguing that the rich are getting richer while everyone else falls behind—and that a 2% annual wealth tax is the solution. In this episode, I take Gary’s argument seriously and examine it from first principles. We explore: * Why house prices and asset values exploded after 2008. * How Quantitative Easing and governme...

Why do homes feel more unaffordable than ever? Most people blame greedy landlords, property developers, foreign investors or a lack of supply. But what if they’re only looking at the symptoms? In Episode 30 of Taxed & Taken , we take a completely different approach to the UK’s housing crisis. Instead of asking “Why are houses so expensive?” we ask a much bigger question: What happened to our money...

Most people think property investing is about buying houses. The wealthy know it's about building freedom, protecting wealth and creating opportunities for generations to come. Over the past two episodes we’ve explored how to build a profitable property portfolio. But building wealth is only half the challenge. In this episode, we explore how experienced investors think once they’ve built a succes...

Welcome back to Taxed & Taken: The Podcast They Don’t Want You To Hear. This is Part 1 of a special two-part series on Property Investing. In this episode I explain why property remains one of the most powerful wealth-building tools available to ordinary people and how successful investors think differently from landlords. We discuss: ✔ Why property creates wealth ✔ The five wealth engines of prop...

What if everything you’ve been taught about money is backwards? For decades, we’ve been told to work hard, get good grades, find a secure job, buy a house, and save for retirement. But according to Robert Kiyosaki’s bestselling book Rich Dad Poor Dad , that advice may never lead to true financial freedom. In this episode, we break down the most important lessons from Rich Dad Poor Dad in plain Eng...

Most people are told to pay off the mortgage, get out of debt, and save cash. But is that always the smartest move? In this episode of Taxed & Taken: The Podcast They Don’t Want You To Hear , we question whether rushing to become mortgage-free could actually cost you long-term wealth. We compare two people with the same mortgage: one invests £300 per month from the start, while the other overpays...

In this episode, I break down the Laffer Curve and why it matters today. The basic idea is simple: if government taxes work too heavily, people work, invest, build, and take risks less. And if the welfare system makes dependence more rewarding than independence, dependency grows. This episode looks at how government policy has made work pay less, why Britain’s tax system punishes productivity, and...

Most people experience the business cycle as victims. They buy late in the boom. They borrow when money feels cheap. They trust the experts. They panic in the crash. And then they watch the wealthy buy the assets they were forced to sell. But the business cycle doesn’t just destroy wealth. It redistributes it. In this episode of Taxed & Taken — the podcast they don’t want you to hear , we look at...

What if middle-class parents are sacrificing everything… for the wrong future? In Episode 23 of Taxed & Taken: The Podcast They Don’t Want You To Hear, we explore one of the biggest assumptions in modern Britain: Is private school really the ultimate investment in your child’s future? Or has society confused educational prestige with financial freedom? This episode explores: The true £500,000+ cos...

What if your state pension isn’t what you think it is? Not a pot. Not savings. Not something building up in your name. Just a system where your money is used immediately… and your future depends on the next generation doing the same. In this episode of Taxed & Taken — The Podcast They Don’t Want You To Hear , we break down the reality of the UK state pension system: * How the pay-as-you-go system...

You’ve been taught your entire life to work hard, save money, and be responsible. But what if that advice is exactly what’s keeping you stuck? In this episode of Taxed & Taken , we break down one of the most misunderstood concepts in modern economics: 👉 The difference between money and currency Because once you understand this… You start to see why: * Your savings don’t go as far as they used to...

In this episode of Taxed & Taken , I break down: * Why lowering prices by law doesn’t create abundance * Why it often leads to shortages instead * And how one of the biggest drivers of today’s housing crisis… is actually a hidden form of price control most people don’t even recognise The Core Idea A price is not just a number. It’s a signal. It tells producers: * how scarce something is * how urge...

In this episode of Taxed & Taken , we break down one of the most important—and misunderstood—forces in the global economy: Oil Because when oil moves… everything moves. What You’ll Learn • Why oil is the hidden driver behind inflation• How rising energy costs ripple through the entire economy• Why stock markets often fall when oil rises• The role central banks play—and why they often make things w...