Two days in Washington will do more for your money this month than any company you own. Here’s why I stop and pay attention. I’ll say the unglamorous thing out loud. The most important event for your portfolio this month is not a product launch, an earnings surprise, or a tip your cousin swears is […]
The Meeting That Sets Everyone’s Mood Read More »
Everyone told you the tracker fund was the sensible, boring, diversified choice. In 2026, that quietly stopped being true. For years, whenever someone nervous asked me where to start, I’d point them somewhere reassuringly dull: a low-cost fund that tracks the whole market. Don’t try to be a hero, I’d say. Buy the haystack, not
Your “Safe” Index Fund Is a Bet You Never Placed Read More »
Gold, crypto, your pension they’re all dancing to the same tune this year. Here’s the tune. Let me start with a slightly uncomfortable admission. For years, I thought I was beautifully diversified. Metals over here, some shares over there, a little crypto sulking in the corner different baskets, different risks, exactly what the textbook ordered.
One Meeting Runs Your Whole Portfolio Now Read More »
Gold had its worst quarter in over a decade. I bought a little more. Here’s the honest reason why. Can I tell you about the first time I bought gold? I did it badly. A headline shouted at me, I bought near the top, and for a glorious fortnight I felt like a genius. Then
The Metal Everyone Forgot to Panic About Read More »
Swift, the fifty-year-old plumbing behind global banking, has switched on a blockchain — and it may matter more than any coin launched this year. July 2026 · Money & Payments Markets & Policy You have almost certainly never heard of SWIFT, and you have almost certainly used it. Every time money has crossed a border
The Boring Giant Just Learned a New Trick Read More »
America just approved its first crypto-backed mortgages. The idea is clever, the mechanics are seductive, and the risk is hiding in the second loan. July 2026 · Personal Finance Markets & Policy A young couple in Michigan have just bought a house without selling a single Bitcoin. And depending on how you look at it,
You Can Now Buy a House With Bitcoin. Should You? Read More »
A whole industry is built on making you want more. Here is a quiet argument for knowing when to stop. Lifestyle · Wellbeing There is a story I think about more than almost any other, and it takes about thirty seconds to tell. A hedge fund manager throws a lavish party at his enormous house
The Bravest Word in Finance Is “Enough” Read More »
No kit, no membership, no lycra. The dullest possible workout may be the one that actually lasts. Health & Fitness I want to make the least fashionable fitness argument available to me, and I want to make it with a straight face. The best exercise for most people, most of the time, is walking. Not
The Most Underrated Exercise Is Just Walking Read More »
Self-custody sounds noble until you understand what it actually asks of you. Let me be the friend who tells you the truth. Crypto · Explainer Let me tell you the single most frightening sentence in cryptocurrency, and then let me make it useful rather than terrifying. If you truly own crypto, not an entry on
Twelve Words Between You and Everything Read More »
Rates near 4.7% look generous until inflation and the taxman have their turn. Here is the sum the adverts never show you. Personal Finance There is a particular feeling I want to describe, because I suspect you have had it. You move your money to a savings account paying a headline rate that looks genuinely
Your Savings Account Is Quietly Losing Read More »
