managing risks

1. 16 September 2022

   How I money (2022)

   A follow-up to my 2019 “How I money”, showing how my wife and I actually structure our savings, investments, insurance, and spending three years on. Don’t treat this as a guide — it’s illustrative onl…

2. 11 February 2022

   Don’t cancel or reduce your insurance in the heat of the moment

   When people are thinking about cancelling or reducing their personal insurances because of short-term cash flow pressure, I try to get them to s-l-o-w the decision down. Step back. Think big picture a…

3. 12 November 2018

   Parents can help out their children by underwriting risks

   Parents help their kids in obvious ways — education, deposits on homes. But there's a subtler one worth naming: underwriting risks. A parent in a sound financial position can take the place of a traum…

4. 15 December 2017

   If you’re getting personal insurance, don’t go direct

   If you need personal insurance, it's tempting to go direct to an insurer or use a comparator like Life Direct. I don't recommend it. Policies look similar but differ in ways that matter: wording, excl…

5. 15 December 2014

   What are the odds?

   If you're in your late twenties or thirties, the odds that you'll die in a given year are very low — less than 0.15% for men, less than 0.07% for women. Pretty good odds. But in a group of 300 friends…