This group was established to focus on TP. Discussions about other investments vehicles and products are inevitable as, ideally, TP shouldn’t be viewed as an isolated element of one’s future financial plans. However, discussions about other investment vehicles and products will always be peripheral to the purpose of this group.
Just recently, we have been getting an increased number of posts asking for particular recommendations for investment vehicles like AVCs, SIPPs and ISA and also the odd post asking for specific investment product recommendations. It is great to see group members thinking about and planning their financial future.
Group members will often give recommendations or tell of their personal experiences and choices but this should NOT be construed as advice. Any suggestions for particular investment vehicles and products are NOT endorsed by this group as the suitability of an investment product depends on the individual.
When choosing an investment, you can either:
i) Get professional advice from a financial advisor – this is especially the case if you don’t have the time or inclination for point ii)ii) Put the time and effort into learning about personal finances and investment – if you go down the DIY route, you must DYOR (Do Your Own Research) and be prepared to stand by your decisions.
Each of these strategies comes with its own risks but neither of them are as risky as taking a piece of advice off the internet wholesale without understanding what you are buying and why.
Whether an investment is good for a particular individual depends on many things, including but not limited to:
1) your current financial commitments and situation2) a prediction of your future financial commitments and situation
3) your future plans and aspirations for your later years4) your time horizon for investing5) your attitude to risk and volatility and your ability to tolerate or ignore them6) the amount of money you are able to commit and in what form (ie regular or lump sum)7) your other current and future income streams and WHEN they come onstream
your personal priorities and values
With that in mind, and for those who want to take a more ‘DIY’/ ‘DYOR’ approach to investing but aren’t sure where to start, there are some ideas of (IMO, excellent) UK content creators listed below who focus on non-TP aspects of UK personal finance and investing.
This curated (by me) list of ideas is intended to start you off. Each provider offers a huge amount of free content, some offer additional premium content – I have no experience of any paid content from providers on the list. You will need to spend a while finding a person(s) or ‘tribe(s)’ that appeals to you:
1) REBEL FINANCE SCHOOL – run by husband and wife team, Katie and Alan Donegan. The site is their passion project. They don’t charge for any of their content. They have recently been awarded BEM’s for services to personal finance education. What I like about them is that, in addition to their standalone videos, they have a set of 10 videos that provide a sequenced set of lessons that provide a ‘road map’ to learning about personal finance. An excellent grounding in personal finance. They promote a passive investment strategy. Their content and ethos reflects one leg of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rebeldonegans
Website: https://rebeldonegans.com/finance/rfs/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/589924215050166
2) YOUR MONEY SORTED FOR TEACHERS – run by Eileen Adamson who is a teacher and member of this group. She offers a mixture of (majority) free and (some) free content that requires an email address and (some) premium content. I have not accessed any of Eileen’s paid content and my knowledge of her content relates to her free content. Her content is particularly, but not exclusively, aimed at women who want a gentle and encouraging step into personal finance. Eileen has a large catalogue of finance-focussed podcasts with inspirational guests as well as other free content.
Website: https://www.yourmoneysorted.co.uk/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/877562585674897
3) DAMIEN TALKS MONEY – Damien Jordan’s presenting style is like having a straight-talking chat with a mate. Clear, engaging and easy to follow explanations. And I love his Brummie accent.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DamienTalksMoney
4) MEANINGFUL MONEY – Pete Matthews, the avuncular host, is a Charted Financial Planner with lots of free content on his youtube channel. He has an enormous back catalogue of videos. His explanations are clear, engaging and easy to understand.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MeaningfulMoneyUK/videos
FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/meaningfulmoney
FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/meaningfulmoney/
5) JAMES SHACK – The uber-cool James Shackell is a professional financial advisor who has lots of free content on his Youtube channel and website. His 10-to-20-minute-long videos break complex ideas down into small, manageable ideas. He uses a lot of charts and graphs and examples to illustrate the ideas he is explaining. Would probably suit members who already have a solid grounding in personal finance as his videos cover a broad spectrum of topics from the basics to the more complex, sometimes in the same video.
Website: https://james-shack.co.uk/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JamesShack
6) PENSIONCRAFT – this youtube channel has had lots of positive feedback from group members on this group and other finance groups I am on. The content is good and the back catalogue of videos is massive. Beware, there is a lot of advertising in their videos (eg Hellofresh)
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Pensioncraft
BONUS
7) FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE UK – a sizeable FB group of people dedicated to the FIRE. The discussions are quite forthright and lots of strong opinions are shared freely! Lots of interesting content in the files tab of their group. This group is, IMO, more suitable who those who already have a reasonable understanding of personal finance and investing.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/319801698550308