Stephen Desmond

The discipline of investing – and there’s a lot of discipline involved – conjures many metaphors. Some liken it to baking a cake or making bread because you combine the right investment ingredients under the right conditions to grow a successful portfolio. Others compare it to a rollercoaster ride, where the investor feels the ups and downs of market movements, or the ebb and flow of the tide. When I think about investing, I think about running.

The events in Greece have caused unrest in financial markets around the world for several weeks. Here we keep you informed of the latest news and what it means for Nutmeg portfolios.

When investing, you can never guarantee the returns you might get, but there are things you can do to boost the potential for a positive outcome. Here are eight guiding principles that could help manage your risk and improve your chances of achieving reliable long-term returns.

Getting your head around the world of pensions can be a daunting prospect. So let’s start with the basics. Here we take a look at the different types of pensions available in the UK to help you decide which options feel right for you.

If you’re looking for an income of around £26,500 per year in your retirement years – the current average salary for UK workers – you’ll need to save a fairly substantial pension pot – £442,000 in fact, according to our pension pot calculator. Are you on track for the standard of living you’d be comfortable with in later life, or is it time to look at how much you’re putting away?

One of the common misconceptions of ISAs is that you can’t switch your ISAs from previous years to another provider. Actually, you can. It’s relatively easy to transfer ISAs and, in doing so, you may well be able to increase the returns on your money.

A recent Nutmeg survey, carried out by Opinium, revealed that less than one in five people (18%) would turn to professional services such as a bank or independent financial adviser for guidance on their investments. The rest of the 2,000 online respondents said they’d primarily look to friends and family for help (43%) or wouldn’t even consider involving anyone else with their money management (31%).

As the government fast-tracks its controversial Help to Buy scheme, we trawl the data to reveal the state of the UK’s regional property markets today. 

There’s such a glut of economic commentaries and forecasts out there that digesting them can be time-consuming and bewildering at times, even for the most savvy among us. So how can we focus in on the useful stuff and filter out the scaremongering and political posturing?

In the last decade we’ve seen industry and jobs change in a big way, becoming more tech-focused, agile, mobile and temporary. And even greater change is on the cards for the future. So what will your working life and income look like 10 years from now? And how do you evaluate your investment plans to keep everything on track?