Pay less in fees for the same investments
David has 25 years of experience reporting on and working within the finance industry. He uses it to help people pay less in fees for the same investments that big banks and investment houses offer.
Why this site exists
David is determined to empower the ordinary investor. Hence he’s shared the model portfolio allocations, low-cost funds list, and risk questionnaire for free.
In the media
David was an international financial publisher, editor and financial reporter for 15 years.
He launched a series of corporate financial publications and made contributions to both national newspapers and radio. One of these publications predicted the financial crisis of 2007-09, the pensions deficit and the rating agencies debacle.
These predictions led to David appearing on the Stephen Nolan show on BBC Radio 5 Live in 2005, during which he warned of the forthcoming financial crisis. This was dismissed by the other panelists on the show as “trying to talk down jobs” and something that those panelists claimed would not happen. The other panelists were “experts”.
In the industry
David worked as an Investment Writer for four of the world’s largest financial institutions for the following 10 years. This involved writing and presenting investment-performance reports, explanatory articles and forward-looking pieces.
David received very high internal ratings – the internal bun-fight that determines how much of a bonus staff in financial institutions receive. However, he did not attend the “right” schools or know the “right” people, the ones who got paid the six-figure salaries.
Nevertheless, David did receive generous contributions to his company pension. Unfortunately, these respective company pensions all charged high fees and delivered poor performance.
So, he took control of his investments. He delivered performance for himself of between 5% and 55% each year for 10 years. He did this by researching lots of companies and investing in a selected few. This demanded endless reading, analysing and researching. It also cost a few thousand quid each year in research and analysis tools.
This was lucrative but high-risk, very time-consuming and, ultimately, a conversation killer at social functions.
Sharing his experience
As a result, David started thinking about ways in which he could invest by emulating the risk-rated funds that big companies offer, but for MUCH lower fees.
Meanwhile, back in his job, despite his best efforts, David’s sense of humour did not get him fired. This left him with no choice but to resign in order to write his most recent book, How to Invest Without Being Ripped Off.
This book lifts the lid on what he and many others consider to be a rip-off. It’s also very likely to put an end to anyone in the investment industry ever wanting to hire him again.