The biggest refrain you hear from people who think you can beat the stock market goes as follows:
“By definition, 50% of investors do better than the market and the other 50% do worse. Surely it cannot be so hard to be in the first group.” […]
If you want to embark on a thankless affair, look no further than the pursuit of financial independence. There are a million constantly moving pieces being debated in the personal finance community. Persistent calls to “index and chill”. Heated discussions about safe withdrawal rates. […]
Earlier this month, I set out to cross off a few items on my 2021 money agenda. As part of that (somewhat boring) exercise, I had to transfer roughly £150k from my wife’s workplace pension into Hargreaves Lansdown. Alongside Vanguard, Hargreaves is one of […]
When it comes to building wealth, the first £100k is a critical stepping stone. But it is crossing the one million mark that makes you realize you are well on your way – at least in financial terms. […]
One of the fundamental truths of being a personal finance blogger is that it invariably involves telling readers what you think. The internet, however, is a funny, opaque place. Things are not always what they seem. And for all you know, I could be […]
On Saturday morning, I woke up to an email from a long-time reader of this blog. To preserve anonymity, let’s call him Carl. Carl sent me a link to this story from the Sunday Times and asked for my views. I was still in […]
Of the many conceptual arguments playing out in the personal finance space, buying versus renting has got to be one of the longest-running ones. Based on what I have seen over the past couple of years, the “buyers” represent a solid majority. After all, […]
Ahh, the sweet promise of early retirement. The date is January 31, 2020. The news outlets are slowly picking up coverage of the strange pandemic that’s shutting down Chinese cities and seems to be spreading beyond the country’s borders. I have zero time to […]
A lifetime ago (i.e. back in my teenage days), I had a very short but highly memorable stint working for a moving company. The set-up was simple. The owner of the company, who doubled up as the CEO, CFO, driver, and mover, had offered […]
It has begun – and it’s relentless. It happens at nursery drop-offs and pickups. At playdates and playgrounds. At birthday parties and barbeques. And anywhere else where you might be unlucky enough to bump into an acquaintance with a child who turns 5 next […]
For the vast majority of people, building wealth is an evolution, not a revolution. Unless you come into an inheritance, win a lottery, marry rich, or knock it out of the park with a highly speculative investment, you can expect the journey to take […]
Ever since starting this blog, I haven’t been shy about sharing my views on real estate investing. On one hand, it is one of the most effective ways to build wealth for retail investors. The first property we bought generated an over a decade. […]
When I first moved to the UK about ten years ago, I remember being mightily confused by the concept of a self invested personal pension, also known as a SIPP. I ended up parking my mental questions on the topic when I had realized […]
A couple of years ago, I happened to attend a social event hosted by Lance Uggla. For those of you who haven’t heard of him, Lance is the founder and CEO of a business now known as IHS Markit, an S&P 500 constituent with […]
Over the past year, I’ve published posts on the best ways to build wealth in your twenties as well as your thirties. Much as I hate to admit it, there will come a time when our glorious twenties and happy thirties will be well […]
Another horrible commute. A highly unpleasant interaction with a passive-aggressive colleague. A manager that seems to pile on more work every day – and yet isn’t nearly so generous with the recognition. And the work itself. What (hopefully) seemed exciting early on has now […]
A while ago, Peter Kim (a.k.a. Passive Income MD) published a post titled “Buy one property per year and retire early”, which I found to be fascinating reading. Somewhat unfairly, Peter took a bit of flack in the comments for making assumptions that some […]
In the first twenty or so years of my life, I didn’t come across many wealthy people. I suppose that’s not entirely surprising considering we lived in a working-class neighbourhood and had about £5 left over after covering our family’s basic necessities every month. […]
One of the biggest problems of personal finance is that it’s just so damn hard to get started. We all know saving and investing money is something we should be doing, but hardly anyone does it – or does as much of it as […]
In a way, aspiring to financial independence is all about comfort. Forgetting what the jam-packed commute feels like. Never having to deal with workplace politics again. Leaving all the money worries behind and spending the rest of your days in a state of pure […]
I was scrolling through my Twitter feed the other day when I stumbled a tweet extolling the virtues of dividend investing – and the investing superpowers of dividend investors themselves. I won’t quote it verbatim, but it had all the requisite components, such as: […]
Over the past six weeks or so, it seems that the vast majority of news articles, blog posts and social media updates I read are, in one way or another, related to Covid. This blog is no exception. So today, I want to take […]
Figure out your expenses. Multiply them by 25 to get your magic FI number. Hit that number. Leave your job – and live happily ever after. Simple enough – if you believe 99% of the personal finance articles out there. Except it’s not. On […]
On Saturday night, after a long day of taking care of the kids, catching up on life admin (and even squeezing in a workout!), I was partaking in my favourite activity – relaxing on the couch with a cold beer. Unfortunately, I broke my […]
When it comes to finances, 2019 was an eventful year for the Banker On Fire family. Early in the year, I had a pretty significant setback at work which caught me totally off-guard. It was totally out of my control and yet had a […]
A few months ago, I was grabbing a quick lunch with one of the analysts on my team. His name was George and he is arguably one of the top performers I’ve come across in my career. As we stood in line to pay […]
When it comes to stock market investing, do you ever feel like the people in the picture above? Chances are, you do. After all, the fear of losing money is the #1 reason so many people remain on the sidelines. As a result, we […]
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