The award-winning book from Robin Powell and Jonathan Hollow
‘
WINNER!
“WORK & LIFE” CATEGORY
BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2023
‘This book possibly has the most heart of any finance book ever written. It gets right to the nub of why mastering the management of our finances for ourselves is so crucial – but also so difficult. Robin and Jonathan skilfully blend excellent tips with helpful exercises, relatable anecdotes and decades of wisdom. Their understanding of behavioural psychology underpins their very human approach, and the result is that topics are accessible in a way that I would venture has never been achieved in a finance book before.’
Becky O’Connor, Head of Pensions and Savings, Interactive Investor
‘HOW TO FUND THE LIFE YOU WANT takes a subject which is often viewed as dry and brings it to life with good, punchy writing, great book design and clear diagrams and images. The end result is an accessible and practical guide to personal finance that dispels myths, busts jargon and clarifies the best options for the reader to build their wealth through savings, pensions and investments. Robin & Jonathan show solid expertise on the topic and place important focus on evidence-based strategies rather than simply whatever is currently in fashion, making this a refreshingly honest look at personal finance.’
Judges’ citation, Business Book Awards 2023
Click on this link to buy our book
Also available as a Kindle e-book and an audiobook.
♦♦♦ A word about reviews: if you’ve enjoyed our book, we’d really appreciate you leaving a review on Amazon. It doesn’t need to be a long one. Most books in the UK are sold through Amazon, so even a short review there helps us to spread the word about the book. ♦♦♦
Consumer advocates, industry leaders and academics alike gave warm advance praise for HOW TO FUND THE LIFE YOU WANT
‘This is such a valuable guide to DIY investing, I recommend you make this book your first investment.’
Claer Barrett, Consumer Editor, Financial Times
‘If you’re serious about getting things right with your money – and avoiding costly mistakes – then set time aside to work through this excellent book. You will end up better off. No question.’
Paul Lewis, Freelance Presenter, Money Box BBC Radio 4
‘Wonderfully researched, jargon-free, thought-provoking, interactive and engages the reader from start to finish.’
Jeff Prestridge, Personal Finance Editor, Mail on Sunday
‘I’m often asked to recommend a good, essential book on investments within the UK tax and legal system. Until now, there wasn’t one. This book is now my go-to pick.’
Steve Conley, CEO, Academy of Life Planning, and former Head of Investments, HSBC
‘This is not just another book about investing. It is a comprehensive financial lifestyle manual relevant to people of all ages and walks of life.’
Mark Northway, Director, ShareSoc
‘I welcome this much-needed book, here to help anyone make sense of their money and pensions. With their human touch, no-nonsense language and a relentlessly practical approach, Robin and Jonathan have written the “missing manual” for everyday investors.’
Jackie Leiper, Managing Director, Pensions & Stockbroking at Lloyds Banking Group
‘Jonathan and Robin are refreshingly clear about a complex subject, offering a straightforward, evidence-based approach to retirement planning. Great for the everyday investor who wants to cut through the jargon and make good decisions for the future.’
Diane Maxwell, former Retirement Commissioner for New Zealand
‘Anyone who wants to get started in the world of investing faces information overload. It’s easy to take the wrong advice on social media or to be completely put off investing by reading content that is riddled with jargon. This book offers a great solution – it’s written by experienced authors that you can trust and it’s set out in a clear and highly digestible format.’
Moira O’Neill, Investing columnist, Financial Times
‘The book distils decades of expert evidence into actionable points every investor can follow. This is the book your overpriced financial adviser wishes you had not read!’
Jens Hagendorff, Professor of Finance, King’s College London
‘This book is an antidote to the misleading messaging and hype that some parts of the industry have been putting out for decades, to consumers’ detriment.’
Andy Agathangelou, Founder, Transparency Task Force
‘This is an important book that breaks down the barriers to financial planning, easily readable by non-experts and based around six sensible rules for investing.’
Professor Ian Tonks, University of Bristol
‘This is a must read for anyone wishing to make the most of their money and not give away too much to the people and firms that would manage it for them.’
Ali Hussain, Chief Money Reporter, Times and Sunday Times
‘There are many books about how to get rich fast. Their authors certainly get rich, readers less so. Much more useful and a lot rarer are books that help you to grow your money steadily and avoid losing your savings – this book achieves this. It is very precious!’
Ludovic Phalippou, Professor of Financial Economics, University of Oxford Saïd Business School
‘The book is grounded in robust evidence from a wide range of sources, and benefits hugely from the vast experience of two authors who have been at the forefront of the debate on how to democratize savings and allow individuals to be in control of their financial futures. I only wish the book had been written 20 years ago as it would have saved me from many costly lessons.’
Professor Iain Clacher, Professor of Pensions and Finance, University of Leeds
Then came the reviews from the most important readers: the people being helped by HOW TO FUND THE LIFE YOU WANT
All of the following are reader reviews, quoted in full, from Amazon:
‘The most useful book about money I’ve ever read – a brilliant book. The book has a logical layout walking through all aspects of managing money. It covers concepts, theory and definitions in an easily digestible way, but also includes convincing evidence, references and useful websites. I wish I had read it 30 years ago! I have bought 2 more copies to give to my children.’
♦♦♦
‘Comprehensive practical guide to your pensions and financial planning: finally, a UK focused practical and comprehensive guide to pensions and financial planning. This book is well written, evidence based and straightforward in explaining the complexities of UK pensions market. The workbooks and step by step approach are superb. Highly recommend it to all.’
♦♦♦
‘Brilliant book for explaining finance to everyone to achieve your goals, and NOT boring!! Finance can be a bit dry, but its essential part of life, especially if you want to live a great life. I found this book so helpful in defining my goals, working through what needs to be understood, gathering all the right info and the workbook was great too. It helped me feel really excited about my future. THANK YOU!!!’
♦♦♦
‘Highly recommend to UK readers: I was looking for a book that was UK focussed and could help me take charge of my financial future. It’s very well written and very practical useful advice. I wasn’t going to complete the downloadable workbooks but actually that has been incredibly useful and continues to be. This book has given me the confidence and knowledge I needed to plan for my financial future. Helpful for every stage of financial life but I wish I had read something like this 20 years ago!’
♦♦♦
‘Readable, approachable, really makes you think about your future: brilliant book that gets you thinking about your finances, pensions, savings, retirement. No gimmicks or flashy talk, just evidence-based material that is easy to apply to UK circumstances and gives practical, detailed advice. Highly recommended.’
♦♦♦
‘Stop trying to answer these questions on Google … A superbly researched and delivered practical guide to future planning. It describes the mistakes most of us make when trying to do this ad-hoc. Most of my mistakes were driven by googling, pensions, investments and/or share tips! 6 rules and a handy workbook that for the 1st time has given me the confidence to create a long-term plan. Having read the book over two-weeks, both my wife and I used the workbook to get our plan together. With three teenagers and long way to retirement (hopefully!) I was amazed at the amount of short-term thinking I was doing before. I thoroughly recommend the book and if, like us, you are just professional people trying to navigate subjects beyond your skillset this is the place to start. We were also reassured by the excellent advice on how to avoid traps and sharks!’
Click on this link to buy our book
Linked pages on this site
The book comes with a downloadable workbook to help you review your finances.
We will post any updates to the figures quoted in the book on a corrections page, and we welcome your own corrections and views.