Process
Status Items Output None Questions None Claims None Highlights Done See section below
Document Notes
Always question agendas. Always question motives. No advice is truly free.. especially when it’s complicated or requires constant updating from the advice-giver.
Highlights
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people dispensing financial advice are even less neutral than we realise.
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We’re good at spotting the obvious conflicts of interest: of course mortgage providers always think it’s a great time to buy a house; of course the sharp-suited guys from SpeedyMoola.co.uk think their payday loans are good value.
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it’s more difficult to see that everyone offering advice has a deeper vested interest: they need you to believe things are complex enough to make their assistance worthwhile. It’s hard to make a living as a financial adviser by handing clients an index card and telling them never to return; and those stock-tipping columns in newspapers would be dull if all they ever said was “ignore stock tips”. Yes, the world of finance is complex, but it doesn’t follow that you need a complex strategy to navigate it.
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The human body is another staggeringly complex system, but based on current science, Michael Pollan’s seven-word guidance – “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” – is probably wiser than all other diets.
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Happiness, too, may be as simple as prioritising experiences over possessions, relationships over achievements, and time over money.
id757157318
money-related stress comes down to a broken, insufficiently regulated system that stacks the deck against all but the super-rich.