How disciplined rebalancing keeps your investments off the rocks In Greek mythology the Sirens lured sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwrecks on the rocky coast of their island. The hero Odysseus survived the Sirens’ call by getting his sailors to plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast. Evolution

How thinking of boiled sweets can put tax in its place When investors are disappointed by the returns on their investments they often blame their ISA or pension. But it is almost certainly the underlying investments that will be to blame. An investment can be thought of as having two parts: the tax wrapper and

Just as a circus lion tamer uses chairs and whips to fool you into thinking that the lion is a wild and scary beast, so the investment industry uses jargon and other tactics to make you think investing is somehow mysterious or difficult. The PageRussell Investment Guide aims to help you see past the noise created by the markets and media and concentrate on the decisions which will make the greatest improvement to your financial well being.

How much mixer do you like with your spirits? Investors are faced with bewildering jargon to describe the funds they can invest in. Fortunately, whatever the label on your investment, it will be made up of a mix of the following main investment types: Cash, Fixed interest (also called bonds), Equities (also called company stocks

Money is just a tool to help you live the life you want At PageRussell we create your financial road map using a personal financial forecast. We do this by quantifying your life goals into a target amount of cash over a timescale. Then we work out how much money is available now. Based on

How do I stay on track? Most economists assume we always make calm and rational financial decisions. But real life is messier and we humans are predictably irrational. We put an emotional value on money. Perceived losses hurt more than gains give pleasure; so we avoid risk. We tend to latch onto high numbers, increasing

“Risk” means different things to different people: danger, uncertainty, opportunity or thrill. In the investment world “risk” or “volatility risk” normally means the amount your investment goes up or down compared to the expected growth rate over time. At PageRussell we often call this “uppy-downiness” because we think it makes more sense. The decision on

Traditional financial advice treats you like a supermarket customer Influenced by traditional financial advisers, most people only buy a financial product as a reaction to a life event.  They might move house and buy a mortgage; change jobs and buy a pension; have children and buy life insurance; or they might read in the financial

At first glance this seems like a strange question to ask. Surely the answer is obvious? But people use a wide variety of measures to keep score of how wealthy they are. For example, some define wealth in terms of how much they can borrow; whilst others keep score in terms of cash in the

Investing versus saving and speculating Investing means different things to different people. Here at PageRussell we use the word “investing” to describe putting your money away for the long-term in an investment where you can expect a link between the short-term volatility risk taken and the long-term return. Investing is NOT: Putting aside some cash