the corner office

"I've never believed in the afterlife," my late grandfather-in-law once said, "but the older I get, the more I think about it."

So it is with me and money. I've always been rather ambivalent about money - perfectly happy to have it, in principle, but not particularly taken by being too much in pursuit of it. But life goes on, and you become a Responsible Adult with a Family, savings and retirement and "financial security" matter more, and things change. One day you're thinking "I don't care, plenty of time," and the next you're thinking "damn I hope I haven't messed up our Section 104 holding pool CGT calculations" and "this fund's charging a few basis points more than I care to pay", and so on.

Which is to say, over the years I've learned enough to be mostly comfortable that I know what I'm doing when it comes to retirement and savings, but I couldn't say with confidence that I was entirely on top of things. Earlier this year I got a bee in my bonnet and decided that it was time to tie up a few financial loose ends, including closing up and transferring some old pensions, and also to be a little more formal and structured about our financial plans. I bought one or two books, and read them, and then a few more books, and read them too, and did a ton of research, all of which culminated in me undertaking what I now call The Great Portfolio Rebalance of 2025.

(Long-time readers/friends might observe that this goes alongside other Great Occasions Of Particular Years, like the Great Hard Drive Crash of 2004, or the Great Bike Crash of 2012, and which might suggest something quite ominous, but in fact not. Read on...)

I read the books and was relieved to see that my knowledge was mostly up to scratch, at least not obviously wrong, and was happy to close a few gaps and areas of uncertainty. The only perilous part of it all came from me deciding to start all of this shuffling and financial tidying up as Trump's Liberation Day kicked in. "White knuckle ride" doesn't quite do the experience justice. I have no idea how much money we made or lost by moving investments between brokers and funds and whatnot as all of it was happening, but at this stage, I don't know and don't want to know.

Anyway. I was speaking to a colleague about some of this and mentioned the books I'd read. I gave him this list, which he said he found helpful, so I thought I'd continue with my tradition of listing books here, which might get linked to fuller reviews in future.

1. How to Fund the Life You Want - Robin Powell and Jonathan Hollow. The first book I read - a layperson's introduction to UK finance and retirement savings. Lays out the various things you ought to know and think about. Pro passive investing. I knew most of it already, but a good starting point regardless.
2. Smarter Investing - Tim Hale. A much more detailed and research-heavy look at building your savings portfolio. UK specific, pro passive investing, but suggests a very structured and methodical approach. A gentle introduction to modern portfolio theory (not strictly necessary but helpful to think about how to balance returns with how you feel about risk), taking me back to my BCom textbooks in the early 90s and financial modelling textbooks of the late 00s. I read one review which said it was rather dry - perhaps true - but thorough and probably taught me the most.
3. Investing Demystified - Lars Kroijer. A slightly gentler take on the arguments and approach outlined in Smarter Investing. Argues in favour of passive investing if you don't believe you have an "edge", and makes a pretty strong and detailed case about why you probably don't have an edge, even if you think you do. Appendices dive a littler further into portfolio theory and stats.
4. Die with Zero - Bill Perkins. More a lifestyle book than a finance book, but recommended by many on forums. On your deathbed, experiences matter more than wealth, etc. Take care of the basics, help loved ones and charities now and then YOLO the rest of your life. An interesting take and food for thought.
5. The Psychology of Money - Morgan Housel. Also less an investing how-to than about, well, how we think about investing and wealth. Twenty chapters, each laying out an idea or thought. Many of those are about making sensible choices, and thinking carefully about risk. In some ways a counter to Die With Zero, also a valuable read.

I started reading a couple of Jack Bogle's books as well, but they soon went back onto my someday/maybe reading pile. His writing tends toward arguments in favour of passive investing or polemics against the active investing industry - preaching to the choir with me, and by then I was all financed booked out and realised I'd pretty much gotten what I wanted to know from the books above.

Finally, if you're in any way interested in retirement and investing in the UK, then the Monevator website is an invaluable resource. I'm old school and like books, but when it came to details and investing and tax nitty gritty, I learned as much, if not more, from Monevator as from the books I'd read. Highly recommended.