Most stories in the papers tell us that people are worse off than they think they are – or we think they are. So, I have been pleased this week to see two pointing out …
Don’t let your financial adviser scare you into saving too much
Category: Blog
It’s just not worth investing in tobacco stocks
We’ve been talking a lot about sustainable investing here in the last few weeks – see my columns here and here. We’ve been asking exactly what sustainable means in the context of investment. Our conclusion is …
How incentive schemes can go horribly wrong
There isn’t much everyone can agree on in finance, but there is one statement you won’t find much argument on: the CEOs of big companies are paid much too much. Look at the research here …
The headline we hope never to see about Britain
Ed Miliband’s embarrassing mistake last week – the bit when he forgot to mention the deficit – led to much talk about how important dealing with it is. But given that the Conservative conference is …
How to make Britain fall in love with fracking
I wrote at the beginning of this year (here and here) that if we want the British to change from a nation of Nimbys to a nation of open-minded people ready to embrace change, we’ll need to …
Why do ‘unauthorised’ overdrafts exist?
A landmark court ruling last week is set to “open the payout floodgates”. Or so says the Daily Mail. The gist of the story is simple: Oliver Foster-Burnell went over his overdraft limit. As a …
Four myths about Scotland’s banks and the financial crisis
There are a huge number of numerically nonsensical myths doing the rounds of the Scottish independence debate at the moment, writes guest blogger Nick Reid. A good many of them are being put forward by …
Only Scotland can destroy the Scottish NHS
I am being asked on Twitter by some followers for a personal guarantee that the Scottish NHS won’t be in some way destroyed by Westminster following a No vote in Thursday’s referendum. I’m not convinced …
The rise of Scotland’s Yes vote: a backlash against globalisation
I wrote in a post here last week that the drive for independence in Scotland isn’t really about Scotland’s relationship with the rest of the UK but about a social backlash against globalisation – a backlash …
Independence could be ‘catastrophic’ for Scotland’s house prices
I’m amazed by how little attention either side of the Scottish referendum debate have given to house prices in the last few weeks, given how much the British (yes, all of us) care about house …