Intuitively, I’m not the biggest fan of New Year resolutions. If you need to make important changes in your life, why wait January 1? And yet, I do also believe that, if you don’t write down your goals, it’s easy to lose track of them. Measuring progress every now and then is critical in achieving […]
The English Investor end of year review – 2018 edition
My fiancee and close family members sometimes tell me I can be difficult to satisfy. It might be an unintended consequence of being a lawyer: I am trained to spot issues, no matter how small the issue. Bearing this in mind, I’m happy to report that 2018 was overall a good year. I’ve never been […]
Flight canceled? what to do when things go wrong
You know when you hear those horror stories about passengers stranded at the airport because their flight got canceled? Well, that was me this week. We were literally about to take off on Friday when Gatwick Airport closed the airspace following a new drone sighting. I personally fail to understand how a drone can shut […]
How to claim EIS and SEIS tax relief
Earlier this year, I made a small investment in a company called Graphene Composite through the crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. Graphene Composite (GC) is a nano-materials technology company that combines graphene, aerogels and other materials to produce a range of composites that are extremely light, and yet extremely resistant. There are many applications for this technology. […]
The dangers of lifestyle inflation
A friend of mine went on a sabbatical last year and returned to work a few months ago. We were having a long day and decided to step out to grab coffee. My friend joked that, at the current pace, he might quit again and go on a new backpacking adventure. He then went on […]
How do you budget for a £500 weekly income in the U.K.?
This question came from someone on Quora. I respond to a few questions on Quora every month. You can follow me here. There are two critical assumptions that are not clarified here. The first issue relates to geography: are we talking about London or any other town in the United Kingdom? London is significantly more […]