Informed Decisions Independent Financial Planning & Money Podcast

Thanks for joining us here on Ireland's only dedicated Financial Planning Podcast & Blog. We are on a mission to help you get what you want, and to help you make decisions which will help you lead a successful financial life, and to avoid costly mistakes. This week we are joined by Hugh Murray, founder of Dolmen Recruitment in Dublin. Hugh has many years experience working with individuals and firms in Financial Services here in Ireland. He is well placed to share the latest trends and opportunities for people, be that Funds, Compliance, Sales, Accounts or Fintech! Hugh tells us about trends in Financial Services, where there are opportunities for people who are new to it, or indeed those with many years experience and are looking for a new challenge. He also shares some of his knowledge on shaping a cracking CV, if you need to sharpen yours up! We are always keen to hear from our listeners so do drop us a line here, if you have any feedback, suggestions or questions, we'd love to hear from you! Thanks, Paddy Delaney QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach

Welcome to Ireland's dedicated investing and Financial Planning Podcast & Blog. We are on a mission to enable our listeners to help themselves to a better financial life. Thanks for checking us out! It is not every week we get to chat to one of the most successful investors of recent times, who has also founded a fintech firm (Rubicoin) that is changing how investors go about their investing! In this 45-minute interview we explore Emmet's own back-story, the origins and successes of Rubicoin, and he also shares his own top-tips on how to achieve successful long term investing, which is both practical and based on his considerable experience. For more investing and financial planning insight please do check out our website and blog here. Thanks, Paddy Delaney QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach

For decades Bonds have been touted as the elixir to an investors' nervous tendencies when investments hit volatility. If you look hard enough it will become clear that the only rationale for having Bonds in your investment portfolio is to help you cope when the market tanks again. Whether it is an existing pension fund or a personal investment you have then you may already have a shed-load of Bonds in there, and you may be very wise in doing so, or not! We conduct a study of 3 very different Portfolios to determine the impact having Bonds in an investment portfolio has, whether times are good or whether times are bad! We do not react to markets here, we do not run with the topical 'noise' that is flaunted on media, all of that is just noise, and you as an investor would be well advised to ignore it all and stick to your plan. The fact that market volatility has been mentioned in the past week is merely a coincidence, this episode was being created now, irrespective of the noise! If you are new here then you are indeed most welcome to Ireland's dedicated Financial Planning Podcast & Blog. We are not perfect by any means, but we are brutally honest and hopefully convey relatively complex stuff in a clear manner, which ultimately will hopefully help you make decisions which result in positive outcomes for you, and helps you avoid costly mistakes! To our returning readers, you know we love you!

If we were to take a close and honest look at it very many of us, I'm guessing, would admit that we have not given much if any consideration to where our journey in life might take us, or indeed where we WANT it to take us. For some reason we don't accept the fact that we actually do have some control over it, some. Welcome back to Ireland's dedicated Financial Planning & Personal Finance Blog & Podcast. We are on a mission to help as many people here in Ireland to achieve what is important to them, whether that be life or money related......it's all tied into one! We create a weekly blog & podcast in the hope that it will help some people make decisions that will increase their chances of achieving or doing whatever is important to them; which is exactly what we are talking about here today actually! There is a movement happening in the UK for the past 10 years or so, and we are slowly starting to see it happen here in Ireland. I was invited to speak at a Financial Planning conference (short video here) last week in DCU, which was lots of fun. But more importantly, the fact that over 200 Financial Advisors & Planners were present indicated a desire and a commitment to improve the service and benefit that you (the client) receive from financial advice. There is a definite realisation that there is more to advice than products! I have been beating the drum for the past 2 years and encouraging our readers and listeners to 'begin with the end in mind', but it's probably time to delve a little deeper in that, and explore the positive impact that doing that can have.

This week in Ireland's dedicated Financial Planning & Personal Finance Blog & Podcast we take a look at what has been my worst investment ever, but also my greatest lesson as an investor. I am an open book, and happy to share this with you, in the hope it may help others avoid the same mistake! It revolves around a company share scheme that I was involved in 10 years ago, and a cheque which I received only last week for a grand sum of €0.26 (yes 26 cents!) which was what I got back, in total, having previously invested almost €10,000! Here's how it happens....... Thanks for listening, please tell a friend! You're a Legend, Paddy Delaney QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach

This week we are trying to share a simple message, an appeal to you, one which we hope will help move things forward for you in a positive direction. When we procrastinate about or delay committing to positive action we will always manage to rationalise it in our own heads, always! We are masters at it! Some of us are more prone to this than others, personally it's one I regularly struggle with. No matter how blatant our delaying tactics are we will quickly come up with an excuse, a rationale as to why delaying it is the right thing to do. Even if we know deep-down that we are dragging our heels and jeopardising the thing that we really do want to do, achieve or get. That's what makes us human, and so very interesting beings! Welcome back to Ireland's only dedicated Financial Planning & Personal Finance Blog & Podcast. We are on a mission to help you get what you want in life, and you are truly welcome to our little website! We would be delighted to stay in touch, and to share with you a weekly update, just pop your email over here. Thank You, Paddy Delaney QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach

Welcome back to Informed Decisions, Ireland's only dedicated Financial Planning Blog & Podcast. Hope you are winning! When it comes to investing in Ireland there are many folks that have no interest in what they are investing in, provided it makes them a decent return and it doesn't disappear over-night! Others like to take a closer look at their options, to think about portfolios and what they should be doing. They might like to identify what will work for them as a suitable portfolio, to figure out if there is anything they could invest in that they had not previously heard of or been aware of much. This episode is for these types of people! (not to suggest that the 'other type' aren't welcome to keep listening!). Is Small Cap one of the best things you can invest in? What are the risks of investing in Small Caps? How can you invest in Small Caps? These are some of the aspects we take a look at in this weeks episode.....thanks a mill for checking it out. Paddy Delaney QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach

We don't ever go out of our way to be pessimistic on this blog, in fact we tend to be quite the opposite, having a firm belief that optimism is the only valid way when it comes to investing. However, when it comes to borrowing, which as we all know is essentially the reverse of investing, it pays, quite literally, to be even a little pessimistic! If you are new to our website then you are truly welcome, thank you so much for giving us a chance to help create a positive financial future for you. We are on a mission to become THE place where people of Ireland turn to for practical and truthful information and ideas in regards their Financial Planning, Investing & Personal Finance. Thank you for playing a part in this mission. Be delighted if you joined our growing community here. Buying a home, whether it is your first, second, third, fourth (well maybe the novelty wears off around now!) or whatever, is an exciting time. For many purchasing a home is a way out of a tough situation or indeed an opportunity to put down roots that they feel desperate to put down. We have no intention of talking anyone out of doing what they need to do, but invite you now to consider some aspects prior to committing.......... Thanks for tuning-in, Paddy Delaney QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach

"Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around and guard it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head" Those remarks about the logic of owning gold as an investment were made by someone far more experienced and accomplished in the world of investing than I, and who has been recognised over the past 4 or 5 decades as one of the single most successful investors of all time, Warren Buffett. We have written about the fact that there is a significant fall in the value of markets on the horizon, there always is, it is merely a matter of when it will happen, not if! Whenever that happens there is usually a run to gold as it is seen by many as a 'safe-haven' for their funds when the equity markets are falling. Why people don't just do nothing, and leave their investments alone in order to benefit from the constant upward curve of growth that the equity market provides is another issue altogether! Aside from that the fact is that gold gets very popular when markets hit a downturn, so we are going to explore the pros and cons of owning gold for investment purposes. If you are new here then you are most welcome to Ireland's dedicated Financial Planning and Personal Finance blog and podcast......we are delighted that you have joined us! If you are a returning visitor you'll already know we love you!! Paddy Delaney QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach

Welcome back to Ireland's dedicated Financial Planning Podcast & Blog. We have had a lot of enquiries about Peer 2 Peer Lending over the past few months, so we thought what better way to find out the detail than to interview a man that has been involved in it for many years. Oli Cavanagh is co-founder of an Irish Fintech 'Fender' which is focused on growing the Peer2Peer marker in Ireland. We met with Oli to learn about P2P lending, how it works, what to watch-out for and to hear about the growth of their firm Flender. Drop us an email here with any questions or suggestions you might have, would love to hear from you! You're a legend, Paddy Delaney, QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach