Helping investors make smarter decisions. Journalist, author, evidence-based investing advocate. Founder of The Evidence-Based Investor.
Joined February 2010
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Jun 10
People often say to me, 'I read The Evidence-Based Investor every week. So can I manage my own investments?'
It's the wrong question.
Most people can learn the mechanics. Spread your money widely, keep costs low, leave it alone. That part isn't hard.
But can you manage yourself when markets fall and every instinct screams sell? Do you understand the UK tax system, which seems to change every year? And do you have a financial plan?
Most of us, if we're honest, will answer no to at least one of those questions.
Many people don't need an adviser, especially when they're starting out. But sooner or later, most of us hit decisions where good advice pays for itself many times over.
The new edition of How to Fund the Life You Want, which I wrote with Jonathan Hollow, helps you work out which camp you're in. And if you'd rather go it alone, we show you how to build your own plan, with an online workbook to guide you.
If you manage your own money, I'd love to know: what convinced you that you didn't need an adviser? And how's it going?
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Jun 12
Your brain was not built for investing.
Fight, flee and follow the herd might help survival, but they can hurt your portfolio.
#behaviouralfinance #investorpsychology #investing #moneymindset #financeuk
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Jun 11
Short-term results can fool you.
Randomness can make luck look like skill and lead investors into overconfidence.
#luckvsskill #investorpsychology #behaviouralfinance #investing #financeuk
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Jun 11
The usual story is that active fund managers can't pick stocks.
The truth is less comfortable: plenty pick the right stocks and STILL lose.
In 2025 the stocks held by the 100 largest active US funds beat the market. Most of the funds still trailed their benchmark.
Jeffrey Ptak from @MorningstarInc looked at what would have happened if the managers of those funds had frozen their holdings and left them untouched for a year.
That do-nothing version beat the managers' own actively traded results in nine of the past ten years.
The picking was sound. The trading gave it back, and the fees did the rest.
A few patient managers do beat the market after costs.
They're rare, and hard to spot in advance. For most funds, it's the churn between the good ideas that drains the returns.
#EvidenceBasedInvesting #ActiveVsPassive @syouth1
ALT TEBI quote card reading 'In aggregate, the managers of the largest funds in the world appear to be skilled at picking stocks. And yet, for most, it's still not enough to beat the index after fees', attributed to Jeffrey Ptak, Morningstar.
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Jun 11
Here's the full piece, with the studies and the UK numbers behind it ➡️ evidenceinvestor.com/post/wh…
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Jun 10
People often say to me, 'I read The Evidence-Based Investor every week. So can I manage my own investments?'
It's the wrong question.
Most people can learn the mechanics. Spread your money widely, keep costs low, leave it alone. That part isn't hard.
But can you manage yourself when markets fall and every instinct screams sell? Do you understand the UK tax system, which seems to change every year? And do you have a financial plan?
Most of us, if we're honest, will answer no to at least one of those questions.
Many people don't need an adviser, especially when they're starting out. But sooner or later, most of us hit decisions where good advice pays for itself many times over.
The new edition of How to Fund the Life You Want, which I wrote with Jonathan Hollow, helps you work out which camp you're in. And if you'd rather go it alone, we show you how to build your own plan, with an online workbook to guide you.
If you manage your own money, I'd love to know: what convinced you that you didn't need an adviser? And how's it going?
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Jun 10
You do not have to be right every time.
Long-term success comes from having a repeatable process that works over time.
#investing #decisionmaking #longterminvesting #smartinvesting #financeuk
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Jun 9
Returns matter, but so does the ride.
Good investing means balancing expected return with the risk that comes with it.
#riskandreturn #investing #portfolio #financialeducation #financeuk
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Jun 8
Interesting breaking news in the UK.. The FCA has opened civil proceedings against Neil Woodford's W4.0, alleging it provides regulated advice and promotions without authorisation.
Allegations, not findings. The bigger question though: should 'information' you can act on sit outside the rules built to protect the people acting on it? 🤔
#Woodford #FCA #FinancialRegulation
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Jun 8
The best strategy is useless if you abandon it.
Good investing means choosing a plan you can actually stick with.
#investmentstrategy #longterminvesting #staythecourse #investing #financeuk
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Robin Powell retweeted
Jun 6
It's not just the exploitation of a tragedy.
JD Vance's picture of Britain - where migrants have led to a crime surge - is the opposite of the truth.
comment.press/vance1234
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Jun 5
Process matters more than perfection
Long-term investing success does not require being right every time. It requires a repeatable process.
#InvestmentProcess #SmartInvesting
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Jun 4
Most retirement plans have one number the saver is assumed to control: the date they stop working.
Everything else in the plan is built around it.
The data says that's the wrong assumption.
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Jun 4
The fix isn't better forecasting.
It's a different way of building the plan. Two retirement ages, not one. Protection where the gap would otherwise open. A second view from someone whose job is to test the assumptions before reality does.
The arithmetic stops being existential.
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Jun 4
My latest for @rockwealthUK explains why unexpected early retirement is a statistical expectation, not a marginal risk, and what a resilient plan looks like:
rockwealthwharfedale.co.uk/b…
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Jun 4
Risk and return both matter
Investors want returns, but they also need to understand the uncertainty attached to them.
#RiskAndReturn #Investing
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Robin Powell retweeted
May 27
“There are a lot of retirement decisions you can’t reverse.”
That’s why Andrew chose independent advice from rockwealth Reading.
Clear planning. Fixed fees. No pressure. Just confidence for the future.
youtu.be/8-weA0hZBw4
#rockwealth #Reading #FinancialPlanning
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Jun 3
The strategy you can stick with
A good investment strategy only works if you can follow it when markets get difficult.
#LongTermInvesting #StayTheCourse
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