A bit more about me

I am a chartered accountant: during my training I audited a number of stockbrokers, investment banks, and insurance companies, getting a good understanding of how they worked. After I qualified, I worked for a year as an investment analyst, covering insurance companies, and I completed the first year of the Chartered Financial Analyst qualification. So I have a broad understanding of the world of finance and investments, both theoretical and practical.

I am not a stereotypical accountant, though. I do not love numbers for their own sake. The aspects of my work that mean the most to me, are the interactions with people, and the satisfaction of creating something, be it a new system, or a set of financial statements. I have a very strong creative and aesthetic drive. I am a photographer, I love to draw, to read and to write, and I am passionate about architecture, particularly Art Deco.

So even though I have the knowledge and experience of the world of finance, I am the opposite of the practical, numerate, analytical person that some people find so hard to understand. And I'm hoping to act as a bridge between the worlds!

Regarding my present situation: although I have had well-paying jobs for most of my working life, I have not managed to invest anything beyond the automatic pension fund investments deducted from my salary by my employers. In fact, for a number of reasons that seemed like good ideas at the time, I am currently quite heavily in debt. And we are not talking about mortgage debt: I live in rented accommodation.

So I am not writing this blog from the point of view of someone who claims to know it all and to have achieved all my goals: far from it. But the idea is that, by documenting the process by which I get out of debt, buy a property, and start to achieve my investment goals and build real wealth, there will be opportunities for my readers to learn, and also to share their experiences, and together we can achieve more than we could on our own.