Expensive business: Five ways to prepare your finances for your first child May 9, 2019 It has arrived. And I’m not just talking about the royal baby, but the mania – the 23-page newspaper spreads, the bets on baby names (Archie was definitely not the bookies’ favourite), the frenzy over the first glimpse of the little sprog. I don’t want to put a downer on all the celebrations, but babies aren’t [...]
Black Sheep on stirring up the coffee industry, volcanic plantations, and helping the homeless May 7, 2019 We might be a nation best known for drinking tea, but Brits are increasingly obsessed with coffee. According to market analyst Allegra, we spent a tea-spitting £10.1bn in coffee shops last year. You can’t walk 100 yards in most town centres without stumbling on a Starbucks, Costa, or Cafe Nero – though, with many coffee [...]
Failing to discuss your finances with loved ones could cost you thousands – here’s how to broach the subject May 1, 2019 They say money talks. But actually, it turns out that it doesn’t, because discussing financial matters is a subject that few families want to broach. In fact, according to a survey by More2Life, a third of adult children aged 30 to 55 have never discussed their parents’ financial circumstance as a family. But why is [...]
What women want? Fairness and flexibility at work April 30, 2019 Gender inequality across UK businesses remains rife. According to a recent KPMG survey, more working women than men primarily choose their jobs due to locality and flexibility of working hours. In an age of tech-enabled agile working, there is no justifiable rationale for these factors to be more of a concern for women than men. [...]
Don’t get stuck in your ways: How to cut carbon emissions without glueing yourself to buildings April 30, 2019 “You can't eat money” and “climate emergency” read some of the signs wielded by climate change protestors last week, as they glued themselves to the London Stock Exchange. As our planet heats up, so does the debate around global warming. Regardless of whether you agree with the tactics used by the protestors or not, there [...]
Incentives are needed to fix our broken social care system April 30, 2019 If I could choose just one phrase to sum up what politicians and civil servants need to know – the single maxim that should be tattooed on the insides of their eyelids – it would be this: “People respond to incentives.” It’s such a simple idea. But it’s extraordinarily powerful. Whenever something in government – [...]
We are hardwired to see the unknown as a threat, so how can you stop resisting change? April 30, 2019 None of us have to cast our minds around very far to alight upon an area of our lives that is currently in a state of flux. Change, we learn, is the new normal, and I – in common with many others – have made a career of helping people and organisations figure out how to [...]
Some investors are clearly living in a parallel universe April 30, 2019 Having watched the phenomenal “Avengers: Endgame” this weekend (no spoilers here), I did take a moment to think about parallel universes. To put it bluntly, it doesn’t take a genius like Tony Stark to work out that many market commentators are living in a parallel universe – that is, they can’t remember what happened 20 [...]
Missing the opportunity to align ourselves with the US would be a serious mistake April 29, 2019 The UK is the world’s leading exporter of financial services. Within that, there are few better success stories than the special relationship that we have built with the United States. The benefits for both sides are obvious. Every day, a million UK citizens go to work for US firms, while the same number of US [...]
The white paper’s strict salary threshold on EU migrants would only exacerbate inequality April 29, 2019 Britain is on course to leave the European Union by 31 October. However, Theresa May has expressed her wish that the UK should quit well before, provided her withdrawal agreement is passed. Nonetheless, whether we leave with a deal or without one, the government has been clear that ending free movement and bringing down immigration [...]
