Investments
Wrappers, holdings and how the two fit together.
Investing is two decisions, not one. First, which wrapper (ISA, pension, general account) because that decides how you're taxed. Second, what to hold inside it, because that decides how the money grows and how much it moves around on the way. Get the wrapper right and even ordinary investments do reasonable work. Get it wrong and good investments get quietly eaten by tax. A third thing decides more than either: what you do when markets fall.
ISAs, pensions, general accounts and bonds. Which one you use changes the outcome more than what you hold inside it.
A 25% government bonus, two ways to use it, and a penalty that takes back more than it gave.
Three different things get called risk, and confusing them is how people end up in the wrong portfolio.
Pooled investing, how the structures differ, and the handful of things actually worth checking.
One tries to beat the market, one tries to be it. What the evidence says, and where the argument is more interesting than it looks.
Both trade on an exchange. Only one of them can be bought for less than it's worth.
Owning individual companies: the concentration risk, and the specific trap of holding your employer's shares.
Charges are the only part of investing you can predict in advance. Most people can't say what theirs are.
Why waiting for the right moment costs more than being wrong about the moment.
Every calculator draws a smooth line. Here's how to read one without being misled by it.
Allocation first, funds second, and a rule for what to do when it drifts.
Junior ISAs, pensions for a two-year-old, and the tax rule that catches parents out.