Informed Decisions Financial Planning & Money Podcast

  Optimism is the madness of insisting all is well when we are miserable. These words are reported to have come from Voltaire, the acclaimed French writer and philosopher. I am neither a Frenchman or a philosopher but I would like to put forward the suggestion that Optimism is actually the only way! When backed by concrete evidence it is the only rational belief to have, particularly so when it comes to investing your money over the long term. This piece aims to convey the rationale for such a belief whether you are savings €100 per month into a savings or pension plan, or have €10 million invested in a well diversified equity portfolio. This is not a debate about the virtues of owning equities over commodities, or for indeed property. Developing and nurturing this belief is the single most important attribute to have in achieving long term investment success. We can't predict the future values of equities, nobody can. The future is always uncertain, however it is rational and human to base our expectations a

Andy Hart is one of the UK's highest profile Financial Planners. He hosts his own Podcast, runs a successful Financial Planning firm, and is the organiser of the what is rapidly becoming UK's premier Financial Advisor & Planner Conference (Humans Under Management). And to top it all off he has invited me to share some ideas at his upcoming Dublin Conference.....so I'm super excited about that......We chat with Andy Hart of UK Financial Planning firm Maven Advisers to discover what exactly Financial Planning is, how it benefits clients, and how he saves them from themselves! As you will know we are on a mission here at Informed Decisions to help improve the financial futures of our listeners and readers. We have been voted Ireland's #1 Finance Bog & Podcast in Ireland, and are on a mission to keep the boot down and get the message out to as many people as we possibly can.....your help in sharing this with your friends, family & colleagues helps spread the word (and keeps me motivated!), so please d

Recently we had a few questions from people who were saving for deposits for their first homes. This week we had another, from Daniel (surname not shared for obvious reasons!), who having read our piece about the impact of inflation on deposit values over the medium term has been moved to get in touch and ask us what are the alternatives! Did you partake in our 2 minute survey yet?? If not then please please do, we would really value your opinion and help us shape what we cover on the blog & podcast. It's just here.....thank you. This is timely, seeing as this week we have also been contacted by Louise McBride, journalist with The Sunday Independent. Louise was seeking our take on what alternatives are available for people who are not content with deposit. While we will cover low volatility investing options in more detail soon I am keen to try to answer Daniel's question. If you are new here then please do check out our 'Why' and we'd be delighted to have you join our wee community of Informed-Decisione

Regular readers of the Blog and listeners of the Podcast will know that we are on somewhat of a vocation here at Informed Decisions! We are striving to help people get what they want, to take control of their own financial futures. We are not doing this for the applause (though that is nice to get it when it comes!). We are doing this to make a meaningful and positive difference in the lives of those we touch. We aim to connect meaningfully with you. We could of course just blindly go and do whatever we think is the right thing to do here, but we feel it more worthwhile to seek your feedback, your input and your say on what would be of use to you. We are absolutely not the best in the world at all things financial, but we do try our best to create things of use to other people.............as Seth Godin might say 'we are shipping our art'! Some will benefit and some will not. We are hoping to be of benefit to as many as we can. So this week we have something a little different, we are asking your opinion. Long

It is fierce common lately to hear the financial industry give out about the rates of interest available through bank deposit accounts and to recommend that you should invest your money into XYZ Fund (which just so happens to generate a nice chunky commission for whoever is doing the recommending!). It's funny, they weren't saying the same when equity markets were falling 30% per year and deposit rates were up at near 5% per year! (although they should have been!) We will explore in this episode whether deposit really is a good place or not to keep your funds over the long term. Welcome to Ireland's #1 Financial Planning Blog & Podcast. We're on a mission to share straight-forward ideas and information to help you get whatever financial life you want to have. We rely on feedback to help us improve the impact we have on our readers and listeners, so drop us an email, leave an iTunes review, and share the article if you feel it's of use to others. Access Full Blog Version Here

This week we get to chat with a guy who is making quite a name for himself. He is advocating for greater investor education, in particular with regards to the long-running debate on the value of Active Fund Management versus Passive or Index investing. This is the latest episode in Ireland's only dedicated Financial Planning & Investing Podcast.....available on iTunes, Podcast Stitcher, Podcast Addict and all other podcast players. If you find our podcast or website of any use then we would really appreciate your support, ideally as a iTunes review! We are on a mission to help our readers and listeners to get what they want in their financial lives. Why not subscribe to our community to get access to the latest information once it becomes available. Robin Powell is an award-winning journalist, blogger and content marketing consultant, based in the UK, with specialist expertise in the investing industry. He works primarily work with asset managers and advisory firms at improving outcomes for the end con

Welcome to Informed Decisions' very first 'Business Success Series'.  Our main focus over the past 18 months has been Financial Planning and all aspects of Personal Finance. By all means have a look at our back-catalogue here. We have a huge interest here too in the success of others, and in business successes. For that reason we will bring you 5 or 6 Business Success stories over the course of 2018, to hear how they succeeded and the financials behind their success. This week we are joined by Paddy O'Connell of Paddy O's Granola, who have been growing from strength to strength since it's beginnings a few short years ago. If you feel you have a great story to tell and would like to join us then please drop us an email here. Hope you enjoy the interview, and thanks again to Paddy O for joining us. Thanks, Paddy Delaney Helping Others Get What They Want QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach

It is fair to say that the Financial Advice industry in Ireland has a reputation for forcing products on people, only making money when they sell 'policies'. The truth is that advice has so much more to offer, if it is done right! That is where Financial Planning seems to come into play. A Financial Planner can still sell you policies I guess, however the onus of a Financial Planner (if they are really behaving like a Financial Planner) should be on exploring your future plans, and helping you determine a clear way forward, that maximises outcomes for you. Family Home Relief is one such thing that Financial Planning can help people be aware of......so here goes! This week we'd like to introduce you to Jack. Jack is in his 40's, and his parents, Frank & Sharon are both in their late 70's. Frank & Sharon had worked hard their whole lives, and through effective Financial Planning were able to retire at 62 with their desired lifestyles intact (nice cars, meals, clothes, holidays and hair & make-up!).

According to Central Statistics Office the average salary in Ireland (2016) of a full-time employee was a 'grocery-shop' more than €45,000. Knowing that figure might make you feel that you're doing well or it might make you feel like making progress on the income you are bringing in. In reality this is the main thing for many of us as we go through our careers ,our own sense of value and worth can unfortunately rest squarely on the amount of money we are paid to do a job for someone else! It's totally cock-eyed but for many people in ireland's society this is what they judge their success on. It's something that I am passionate about changing over the years, I just haven't quite figured out how yet (answers on a post-card please!). Anyway, as 'things' pick up in our economy, there are more and more jobs for people to move to, more and more salary increases happening, in comparison to 2008-2013 at least! While it is not being achieved by everyone there are at any one time many people getting salary increases,

Welcome back to another edition of the Informed Decisions Blog, Ireland's #1 Financial Planning Blog & Podcast! This week we will take on an obscure topic, a topic which is often left till the bitter end before we give it consideration! When it comes to focusing on your Financial Planning, Financial Independence or 'building wealth' it pays, quite literally, to begin with the end in mind! Speaking of Financial Planning I am delighted to share with you that the 'My Money Matters' Programme I was invited to help create with Count Her In is now alive and well (and carrying a decent introductory discount!) It was a really great thing to be involved in, to be creating a Programme which I believe will have a hugely positive impact for people that want to make positive changes in their finances. It made it all the more rewarding to get paid a few euro for my time and expertise in helping them create it! Seriously, we hope it is of real and tangible long term benefit to anyone who feels it would be of help. How C

We all love an oul get-rich-quick scheme don't we!? Even if we know it's far too good to be try we will 'click' through or read beyond the head-lines, we just want to know more, 'sure its only looking'.......that is what has you reading this right now! Well I am on a mission to train you out of such inquisitiveness, this is lesson 1!! (and it's totally free!) Imagine a perfectly sane and prudent nation of people getting swept up into a frenzy of buying, trading and bargaining of a particular item, an item that holds the value of a common flower bulb. Imagine the same frenzy taking hold of an entire nation for over 3 years, eventually resulting in a catastrophic downturn and wiping-out of many many of its' citizens personal wealth and life-savings. We will explore such an event which happened in the not too distant past, and explore what we can learn from it to protect ourselves from such get-rich-quick schemes in future. (some people have drawn similarities between this event and Bitcoin, we aren't doing that

Oxford dictionary define a commodity as 'A useful or valuable thing'. Another definition they put out there is 'A raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such as copper or coffee'. Whichever way you look at it, be that a useful and valuable thing, or indeed a basic product, Commodities have found their way into many many pension and investment portfolios. Apparently as many as 4,000 years ago our Neolithic ancestors here in Ireland made use of cattle, for food, leather and indeed milk. Many of you reading this may never have milked a cow, however you may well own a very tiny portion of a fund which tracks the price of those fine animals! Chances are, if you are a member of a company pension scheme, or have some spare money invested, you are investing in Commodities, whether you know it or not! As strange as it may sound cattle prices are frequently an aspect of Commodities in investment terms, so you could well have an active interest here! We are going to look at the pros an

Hey, We've spoken about volatility here before, and we have put it on a bit of a pedestal on account of it's hugely positive influence on the long term saver/investor who embraces it and recognises it as the huge ally it is. Euro Cost Averaging (Or Egg-Cost-Averaging as you'll see in a moment) is an outcome of these fluctuations. Euro-Cost-Averaging is just one of the many aspects of Financial Planning in Ireland, which goes some way to explaining why our Financial Planning and Money Podcast here, is over 60 episodes old and we have so so much more to share with you dear readers and listeners. We are on a mission to become the place for people to turn when they need real information and insight which is un-biased and practical to Irish people who want to deliver positive financial futures for themselves....not too much to aim for!? What is Euro Cost Averaging? This is a jargon term the industry created many moons ago. In plain English it refers to the fact that if you are saving regularly into an investment,

We kick of 2018 full of optimism, gratitude and excitement for the year ahead. After what was hopefully a nice Christmas break we all are raring to go, and apparently as many as 50% of us (myself included!) feel that customary urge to set some resolutions for the year ahead. The top resolutions that we make (the 50% that do!) are; weight loss, exercise related, smoking/alcohol related and money related. So even as a broad estimate this suggests that 15% of the population in Ireland try to motivate themselves into better money management habits at the beginning of the year. According to Professor John C. Norcross Ph.D of University of Scranton Psychology USA, 10% of all resolutions result in sustainable change. Pretty poor that therefore 90% of all resolutions crash and burn! We are keen students and readers of all things performance, behaviour and success related here. Never-mind it's impact on how we deal with our money, the ability to perform, behave or succeed has such huge impact on our life and the lives

What do most of us have......really really desperately wanted it initially..........but now we really really want to get rid of (a clue, it's not your partner!).................the answer is of course our mortgage! We have covered mortgages a few times on here, including the ever popular 'should I clear my mortgage or save for the future' episode. This week we are going to ramp up the pressure on existing mortgage holders, we are going to hold a mirror up to them and their habit, and indeed inertia! In a survey we held earlier this year we asked how many of you believed you were on the best possibly mortgage rate.....interestingly 70% of people were not sure! That points to the fact that people aren't informed as to the best mortgage rates in Ireland at the moment, and whether they are getting the best deal available or not.....we are going to fix that right now! Switching mortgage in Ireland for some reason is no that popular versus many other states, however for some it can be a very financial prudent thing

Welcome to another episode of Ireland's #1 Financial Planning Blog & Podcast. This week we have a cracking interview with UK's Jason Butler, where we discover some tips and guidance on achieving financial well-being, getting our lives the way we want them to be. Jason has super insight on this aspect of life, and is now living his message.......most of us will hopefully take a few nuggets from this interview (I'm not taking any credit there!). Be sure to check out our wee website, our why, and if you like the show then an iTunes review would be a much appreciated gesture to us.......You're a legend! Enjoy, Paddy Delaney QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach  

This week we are aiming to share some slightly different insights, and reveal some major news in the world of Financial Services in Ireland! Last week the Central Bank released a proposal which is due to come into force next year (subject to Dept. of Finance), which is aimed at maximising the protection consumers get when it comes to buying any financial products....we have dissected all the Publications released by Central Bank to determine the details, and it's an interesting one! Firstly, thanks for checking out Ireland's award-winning Financial Planning Blog & Podcast, we're delighted to have you join us. We'd be thrilled if you had the time to check out our 'why', and to learn a little about what we are trying to do, for you our reader. The Green-Grocer! Indulge us for a few moments, trust me it'll make sense shortly! Imagine that you are walking down the road after getting off your bus from work, and you notice a shiny new green-grocer shop on the corner. It's called 'Gerry's Independent Stores'...s

Welcome to Ireland's #1 Financial Planning Blog & Podcast. Our purpose is to help you make informed decisions with your money, and importantly to avoid some costly mistakes that they rest of us have made! We are aiming to make this THE home of Financial Planning ideas and insight for normal people in Ireland!   This week, after last weeks' cracker about clearing your loans at 32, we are back with a bang, and what more do we love than a good oul list! Which is ironic seeing as only recently I had the fortune to have attended a Workshop on using Mind-Maps....which suggest that lists are the devil's work and that our brains hate lists really. I have to say I am a fan of Mind-Maps now, I'm converted, so don't be surprised if I land a financial one on you all in the very near future! It was actually doing a Mind-Map for myself that got me thinking about what is absolutely of most importance to me at the moment in terms of personal, family, career etc. It got me thinking of what we might say to an 18 year old v

Welcome to Ireland's #1 Finance Blog & Podcast. We are here to help you make informed decisions with your money...and ultimately to bring true Financial Planning to Ireland's normal people! This week we are taking a little peep into the magical world of Jimmy & Aggie.....how they have different views on life and money, and ultimately how they went their separate ways with regards their pension options, and how that panned out for each of them! Aggie's Story: Aggie is in her mid-30's, a sound woman by all accounts! She works as an Accountant in a medium sized law firm. She's as happy as a trout in her job, and plans on working her way up the ladder over the next 10 years in the firm. Good on Aggie! When she met her now husband Jimmy it was like a scene from a Disney Movie.....sparks were flying.....they were married within 6 months. That was 7 years ago now, and in fairness their gut feeling was right...they're having a ball! Herself and her husband Jimmy have a wee baby girl, Jacinta, who is the centr

This week we are chuffed to share with you the story of the guys at '2 Cup House' in USA. They were living the life of modern trappings, and one day decided that they wanted a different route. It may not be for everyone but it is a great story that proves if you want to achieve something, and are willing to apply yourself if is often very achievable! As promised in the episode there are a few snaps below of what their home looks like, and here's a link to their Blog.  Hope you enjoy the show, we certainly did! Thanks, Paddy Delaney QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach