The Escape Artist

[...] A reader emailed me this question about the transition to Financial Independence and not working: I would be interested in what you did – just quit and stop working one [...]

[...] for potential escapees.  Lets turn our attention now to music and some classic anthems of financial independence hiding in plain view in the back catalogue of popular culture. All of the songs [...]

[...] reveals an uplifting story of hope, working class nobility and a non-obvious path to financial independence.  Below is The Escape Artist’s interpretation of the song. This may or may not reflect [...]

[...] , doing things that make you happy.  Think about what lies at the top of the pyramid of financial independence. Be ready to explain the difference between frugality and cheapness.   Frugality is [...]

[...] where to start. But start we must and a great place to begin is with glossy magazines. The Escape Artist has an opinion and it is this – subscribing to glossy magazines is like paying to have [...]

[...] funds from Vanguard (who have no incentive to screw you) for less than 0.40% per annum. The Escape Artist believes in proving this stuff using simple sums and showing his workings. Below is a [...]

[...] rate over 50%, then all things become possible.  This is The Magic of Thinking Big. The Escape Artist is unusual (I prefer the phrase “special”) in a number of ways. By working in the City, I got [...]

[...] That bear market feeling… I have a confession to make. The Escape Artist was not always the know-it-all smarty pants that he may seem today.  Along the way, The Escape [...]

[...] – Albert Edwards, SocGen Tagged: Financial advice, Financial independence, Whats wrong with financial services [...]

[...] be put back in the attic and safely ignored. Tagged: Happiness, Pensions, Whats wrong with financial services [...]

[...] and meaning for themselves. Tagged: Early retirement, Get out of debt, Whats wrong with financial services [...]

[...] x 0) + ((18/37) x 200) = 97.3 Tagged: Financial independence, Investments, Whats wrong with financial services [...]

[...] haemorrhaging away from a gaping wound and 2) stop getting screwed by wealth managers, financial advisers, active fund managers and other parasites. For most readers of this site, that is enough to [...]

[...] investors in actively managed funds are being screwed by wealth managers, fund managers and financial advisers. However, the more time I spend talking to people and doing financial coaching the more I [...]

[...] how bad things have got Most people who have wealth managers / active funds and financial advisers paid based on % of funds under management have no idea how much they are paying in [...]

[...] clients (people, companies) or from their funders (government). All wealth managers and financial advisers start the process of screwing you by demonstrating their credentials and convincing you [...]

[...] creating and selling the business. We always saved, paid down our mortgage and built up an investment portfolio from our early twenties. The sale merely accelerated the process. The business was a [...]

[...] to me. What should just have been a career hiccup became a personal financial crisis. My investment portfolio had previously exceeded the value of the mortgage, which I had been focussed on paying [...]

[...] little helps. 3: How much is enough? The short answer to this question is that an investment portfolio of 25x your annual spending is probably enough. This means that no matter how rich [...]

[...] is scary.  But its very unlikely that this will be the case. I have been doing some financial coaching, helping people with the stuff that I bang on about on this blog.   This is about [...]

[...] but having too much cash is actually a very common issue.  I’ve been doing some more financial coaching this week and this comes up a lot. Attractive woman…tenuously related to cash theme [...]

[...] between my last pay cheque from my former employer and my first earned income from financial coaching was less than 1 week.  It is possible to be recklessly over-conservative. Trust me [...]

[...] and financial advisers. However, the more time I spend talking to people and doing financial coaching the more I realise that there will always be a significant proportion of people that [...]

[...] But the qualification on average over the long term is key. At any given time, lots of financial assets are over or under-priced compared to their intrinsic value.  Maybe even most of them. [...]

[...] ride the recovery.  In an end of capitalism scenario, there would be no point holding any financial assets anyway, only shotguns and tinned beans would be worth having.  The system did what it has [...]

[...] diversified and have an appropriate asset allocation. For example, the VHYL ETF gives UK investors an easy way to gain diversified global equity exposure.  The dividend yield alone is almost 4% [...]

[...] are constituents of the FTSE 100 and both are often found in high yield portfolios of UK investors.  Both are mature, low growth UK businesses.  Both can be viewed as utilities with [...]