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This week from November 24th, the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) is organising Financial Planning Week – a consumer awareness campaign aimed at helping everyone take some simple steps to improve their financial situation. Financial Planning Week is about helping consumers make a difference to their lives. Millions of people face financial

The saying goes that you must ‘speculate to accumulate’. This proverb says little to help people in search of a sensible long-term investment strategy, but it does suggest something important about one of the basic principles of investing; the relationship between risk and reward. For

Life is weird sometimes. Even a normal looking day can deliver unexpected surprises. Earlier this week I had a meeting in London with a potential client. Nothing strange there. Neither was it strange that this was my first meeting in Canary Wharf and equally normal that I got

Getting financially fit is no different to getting physically fit. The steps are pretty similar but lots of people fail – particularly if they start on 1st January. Here’s what you need to do to increase your chances of succeeding. Turn your dreams into goals –

‘Sow and ye shall reap’ is the old adage about being patient. No one is more aware of this than Eugene Fama. He first began publishing his ideas on stock market prices in 1965 and on 14th October 2013 (48 years later – and at the ripe old age

The latest inflation figures for the UK were published this week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).  The main rate of inflation used in the UK is now the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). The CPI figure for the year to the end of September 2013 is 2.7% and is

Early October saw the movers and shakers in the world of financial planning gather at the Celtic Manor Hotel for the Institute of Financial Planning annual conference. The event was of particular significance for Proposito as we were in the running for one of the most prestigious awards presented at the conference  –

When it comes to fund charges murky doesn’t even come close. Here’s my attempt to lift the lid of Fund charges and clear the muddied waters a bit. Up front fund charges There are some fund charges that you pay up front and are usually deducted directly from

Imagine you are sat at the hairdressers (guys read barbers if that’s your thing). It’s Saturday morning and there’s a bit of a queue. You read the newspaper/Heat/OK/GQ/What Car? (delete as applicable).  You play on your phone, look around at the kid picking his nose, at the ear

When you haven’t got much capital of your own, the road to financial security can seem long, hard and complex, but the truth is that wealth building is relatively simple. All it takes is time and the price of a cup of coffee. This blog by Dimensional Fund Advisors’ Jim Parker,

Guaranteed returns – we love ’em. Or to be more accurate: investors love ’em. It’s the very nature of investment which means that people will pay a premium for the promise of a “certain” return. But research shows these supposed guarantees often come with hidden costs and risks attached. Imagine an

One of the UK’s most popular active fund managers, Richard Buxton, announced last month he is leaving Schroders for Old Mutual. His £3.5bn UK Alpha Plus Fund has performed well by conventionally accepted standards and is ahead of its FTSE All Share benchmark over most time periods. People who

I suppose that after more than 30 years in financial services, I could say that I have seen and experienced more financial ups and downs with clients than most. From my first days back in 1979, it was a lesson soon learnt, that if I came across a prospect

Proposito Financial Planning has again been named as one of Constant Contact’s All Stars. We are part of a prestigious list of companies recognised for their outstanding email marketing practices in the past year. Constant Contact is an email marketing company that provides marketing tools to more than half a million business customers across

The arrival of spring weather can be difficult to predict. Last year, we enjoyed a balmy March and as soon as the hosepipe ban was announced in April, it rained until Christmas. This year was going according to plan with temperatures steadily rising until we were struck by an