Informed Decisions Independent Financial Planning & Money Podcast

In 2016 The Natural Environment Research Council in the UK invited the public to name their latest scientific research vessel, which was costing £200m. This vessel was going to be doing (and currently is doing) really insightful and exploratory work, making new discoveries and so on. Really important, noble and global research for the good of the natural world. In the initial stages the likely sug...

If you have ever invested money in a fund or collective fund with a 3rd party, either through a pension or through an investment structure (product or platform) you will most likely have already completed a 'Risk Questionnaire' or 'Risk Survey'. It may have formed part of the bigger conversation about your investment goals, or it may have been the sole basis on which you made your investment decis...

Are you swimming in the nip dear reader? This week we share some ideas with you about a what the State Pension looks like currently, how much we might get, how we go about qualifying for it, and how the level of income we have from 'guaranteed sources' when we do retire determines how we can access other retirement funds we have set for ourselves.......so a nice simple one!! Welcome to Ireland's o...

This week we are finally getting round to a topic that has been on 'the list' for quite a while. One of the main benefits of pensions that 'the industry' of financial services harks on about a lot is the tax relief that is available on contributions, and that is certainly true. Having said that what is not true is that pensions are the only tax effective vehicle in which to invest in this fine cou...

Charles Dickens' novel about Dr. Manette, his 18 year incarceration in Paris and subsequent relocation to London to spend time with his daughter Lucie, and all the messing that apparently ensued is meant to be quite a read. I haven't managed it myself but am reliably informed that I should. Some day I will, as soon as I have read every investment and retirement planning book in existence! A Tale o...

Welcome to Ireland's only dedicated and straight-talking Personal Finance & Financial Planning Blog. We are on a mission to make a positive difference and to help people take control of their finances in a meaningful way. If you have a suggestion, question or feedback for us please do drop me a mail here , love to hear from readers.  This week we are joined in conversation with Eric Brotman from U...

This week we are hoping to answer several questions we have had from listeners in the past 6 weeks or so. It has been put to me that it would be valuable to share our thoughts and to explore whether it would be more beneficial to invest in a low-cost investment plan, achieve a decent level of return and pay whatever tax is due on withdrawal, or to invest into a pension, achieve the same level of r...

This week we are taking a closer look at the fabled '4% Rule' relating to drawing-down on investment or retirement pots. This particular 'rule' gets plenty of airtime in the US, UK and many other countries but from my own experience very few investors, pension holders here in Ireland seem to have heard of (and indeed even many advisors!). Let's try fix that! We are not going to challenge this 4% R...

We have recently been asked to share ideas on how an individual (or couple) can ensure their investments/estate/assets are properly distributed and managed once they die. It is an area that is of real value and interest to both the people who may be 'receiving' and indeed obviously to the people that are 'giving' it! While Trusts are an area that we have touched-on in previous episodes we would no...

Welcome to Ireland's only dedicated Financial Planning & Investing Podcast & Blog. We are on a mission to do things differently and to actually help people make decisions that help them achieve the results (& life!) that they want to achieve. This week we have a rather special guest, Mr. Guy Spier. Guy is the fonder of, and has been been the sole decision-makers of the Aquamarine Investment Fund f...

In a meeting last week I was asked why my philosophy toward successful long term investing was so simplistic and boring. I was delighted! For context the people I was working with had understood me to have been in the financial planning profession for 13 years (correct) and that I was a 'finance expert' (marginally correct!). Based on these two bits of information they had concluded that I would h...

As a young boy growing up many years ago a million euros (or pounds as it was!)  always sounded like an inexorably large amount of money. If you had €1m you were officially a millionaire and were in our eyes elevated to a stratospheric status.......The same can't be said anymore though! While it no doubt is still a significant amount of money by anyone's standards the sheen of being a millionaire...

Welcome to Ireland's only dedicated Financial Planning & Personal Finance Blog & Podcast. Last year we won the award of 'Ireland's Best Finance Blog'......we have re-entered that same competition again this year, and will hear how we get on over the coming couple of months.....this might just be akin to the 'difficult second album'!! As we approach our 100th Podcast we have really tried to focus o...

Welcome back to Ireland's award winning Finance Blog & Podcast. Delighted you have joined us! Our mission is to help people avoid mistakes and help themselves to live successful financial lives. Our big aim is to ultimately change how financial advice is done here in Ireland, to put the focus back on what you want to achieve, not the products that only really serve as the tools to enable you to do...

There was a large scale research study done by Gallup Consulting Group (a hugely credible global research company) this year which shows that the majority of people under 35 years of age do not own any form of shares/equities through investments, pensions or savings. This is in comparison to 2007 when the majority of people under 35 did own some for of equities. The research also demonstrated that...

Growth and Value Investing are both around a long time as an 'investment strategy', and there are compelling rationale for investing in either, there are many fans of both, yet there is also quite a lot of regular investors that have no real familiarity with either. We aim to fix that even if ever-so-slightly in this episode. We will endeavor to explain a few key things about this 'earth-moving' t...

Nobody likes to be suffering from something that they aren't aware of, particularly if it is a nasty and invasive something that has a long term impact on their well-being, & that could do so in a pretty significant way.......so this week we are going to explore and try to diagnose if anyone here is suffering from a nasty dose of Bid-Offer Spread on their investment or pension planning. Welcome ba...

Thanks for joining us here on Ireland's only dedicated Financial Planning Podcast & Blog. We are on a mission to help you get what you want, and to help you make decisions which will help you lead a successful financial life, and to avoid costly mistakes. This week we are joined by Hugh Murray, founder of Dolmen Recruitment in Dublin. Hugh has many years experience working with individuals and fir...

Welcome to Ireland's dedicated investing and Financial Planning Podcast & Blog. We are on a mission to enable our listeners to help themselves to a better financial life. Thanks for checking us out! It is not every week we get to chat to one of the most successful investors of recent times, who has also founded a fintech firm ( Rubicoin ) that is changing how investors go about their investing! In...

For decades Bonds have been touted as the elixir to an investors' nervous tendencies when investments hit volatility. If you look hard enough it will become clear that the only rationale for having Bonds in your investment portfolio is to help you cope when the market tanks again. Whether it is an existing pension fund or a personal investment you have then you may already have a shed-load of Bond...

If we were to take a close and honest look at it very many of us, I'm guessing, would admit that we have not given much if any consideration to where our journey in life might take us, or indeed where we WANT it to take us. For some reason we don't accept the fact that we actually do have some control over it, some. Welcome back to Ireland's dedicated Financial Planning & Personal Finance Blog & P...

This week in Ireland's dedicated Financial Planning & Personal Finance Blog & Podcast we take a look at what has been my worst investment ever, but also my greatest lesson as an investor. I am an open book, and happy to share this with you, in the hope it may help others avoid the same mistake! It revolves around a company share scheme that I was involved in 10 years ago, and a cheque which I rece...

This week we are trying to share a simple message, an appeal to you, one which we hope will help move things forward for you in a positive direction. When we procrastinate about or delay committing to positive action we will always manage to rationalise it in our own heads, always! We are masters at it! Some of us are more prone to this than others, personally it's one I regularly struggle with. N...

Welcome back to Informed Decisions, Ireland's only dedicated Financial Planning Blog & Podcast. Hope you are winning! When it comes to investing in Ireland there are many folks that have no interest in what they are investing in, provided it makes them a decent return and it doesn't disappear over-night! Others like to take a closer look at their options, to think about portfolios and what they sh...

We don't ever go out of our way to be pessimistic on this blog, in fact we tend to be quite the opposite, having a firm belief that optimism is the only valid way when it comes to investing. However, when it comes to borrowing, which as we all know is essentially the reverse of investing, it pays, quite literally, to be even a little pessimistic! If you are new to our website then you are truly we...