It is difficult to avoid the commercialisation of a modern Christmas. There are of course many positive aspects to Christmas; for those with Christian beliefs the fundamental “reason for the season” is reason enough.   For those whose beliefs might be different, the tradition of gift giving provides the opportunity to think of others and what they might value.    For one of our family, who is about to embark on travel in South America, we thought that a book by Chris Ryan titled “How to stay safe in a dangerous world” would be appropriate. When traveling, Ryan advocates remaining vigilant about your surroundings and aware of possible threats. Most importantly he encourages his readers to develop strategies to deal with the unexpected. He also notes that sometimes the safest course of action can feel counterintuitive. Much of his advice seems common sense, but I guess the interesting thing about common sense is that sometimes it only appears “common” in retrospe...

In a previous article, I explained the power of compounding investment returns. The article highlighted the impressive synergies created by the combined effects of; starting early, maintaining regular contributions and reinvesting your returns.  It all sounds so simple. But I guess one of life’s truisms is; “that which is simple is not necessarily easy”. This disconnect between knowledge and action has caused some advisers and fund managers to rethink the way they provide advice to clients and construct investment portfolios.  It appears that for some clients the traditional diversified portfolio approach is a barrier to success as that portfolio can seem far removed from the client’s life. In the real world our financial goals are driven by the things that we want to achieve. They are fluid in nature and many in number. Accordingly they have different time frames and can even compete with one another.  A traditional diversified portfolio, which is constructed...