Many Happy Returns

The Blue Whale Growth Fund has delivered outsized returns since its inception nine years ago. Recently those returns have come from concentrated bets on the picks and shovels behind the AI boom.

We talk to Stephen Yiu, Chief Investment Officer, about how he picks stocks, when he decides to sell, and what the recent chip sell-off means for a fund built on AI hardware.

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After a decade in the doghouse, small-cap value has had its best run in years, but almost nobody noticed. So is this a real premium that’s finally paying out, or just a good year for cheap stocks? We ask what actually drives returns and how you can buy them.

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A Swiss government bond pays half a percent a year. A British one pays more than five. Easy choice, you'd think. But yields can cut both ways. A low yield can mean the world trusts you with its money, or that your economy has stagnated. And high yields can be a sign of a strong economy, or that bond investors are getting nervous.

So, low yields or high ones, which would you rather live with?

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Many companies make their money from friction — forgotten subscriptions, tricky cancellations, loyalty penalties. Now AI agents promise to do all the tedious admin and save you money. So is this the end of the laziness tax? Are we about to see subscription-based moats collapse?

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Three hikes and a hold in eight days, all in answer to the same energy shock. So why did the Fed, the ECB and the Bank of Japan raise rates, while the Bank of England sat tight, despite facing the worst inflation path of the four? So would you vote to hike?

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I opened my 2025/2026 ISA with Lightyear. If you want to try them out as well, use PENSIONCRAFT to get between £10 and £100 in a fractional share or ETF in your General Investment Account.

Markets are meant to be efficient, yet somehow they keep producing meme-stock frenzies, CEO vanity projects, and wild booms and busts.

We're joined by Alex Edmans — Professor of Finance at London Business School and author of The Madness of Markets — joins us to discuss why even smart investors lose their heads.

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I opened my 2025/2026 ISA with Lightyear. If you want to try them out as well, use PENSIONCRAFT to get between £10 and £100 in a fractional share or ETF in your General Investment Accoun...

The Financial Stability Board says frontier AI is the most immediate threat to the financial system — above sovereign debt, private credit and equity valuations. As AI learns to find and exploit vulnerabilities faster than humans can patch them, are our banks about to be hacked?

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Thank you to Lightyear for sponsoring this episode.

I opened my 2025/2026 ISA with Lightyear. If you want to try them out as well, use PENSIONCRAFT to get between £10 and £100 in a fractional share or ETF in your General Investment Account.

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Bond ladders are a great way to feel in control of your money. A neat row of gilts maturing year after year, each one handing back its capital right on schedule. But before you buy your first rung, it's worth asking what the ladder is for, what you’re giving up for that certainty, and whether something simpler would do.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Has a developed market ever defaulted on its debt?

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Humanity has just fallen below replacement fertility for the first time in history. A new paper challenges everything we thought we knew about population decline and economic growth. So what happens to your portfolio when the pie stops growing?

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: Did the Black Death make Europe rich?

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The Japanese and US governments just spent an estimated $80 billion propping up the yen — and within a fortnight, the market had pocketed half of it. We ask whether politicians can ever actually beat currency traders.

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: Why can't the government just pick whatever exchange rate it likes?

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Corporate America has just delivered its best earnings season in years — record beats, record margins, and growth numbers that look almost too good to be true. Which is convenient, because some of them are. Meanwhile, Europe is also delivering the goods. We discuss what's driving the blowout quarter on both sides of the Atlantic.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Why do companies report every three months?

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Your ability to manage money declines steadily after sixty. Yet your confidence in that ability doesn't decline at all, so mistakes get made with total conviction and go unnoticed, especially by you. What you can do now to protect your portfolio before you reach old age?

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: How do you raise this with your parents without it becoming a fight?

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Economists have spent half a century building elegant models of how markets work, and the markets have spent half a century ignoring them. We investigate the great unsolved mysteries of investing.

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: If nobody can explain why stocks beat bonds, why are we confident they’ll keep doing it?

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Andy Burnham once said Britain had to “get beyond being in hock to the bond market”. That’s easier said than done when gilt yields are 5%, debt interest is running above £100bn a year, and the autumn Budget has no headroom left. Can the UK escape fiscal fatalism?

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: What's the oldest bond in the world? And is anyone still getting paid?

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Warren Buffett says “never bet against America”. But plenty of people spent the last eighteen months doing exactly that — betting the dollar would be dethroned and the "Sell America" trade would finally pay off. They're still waiting. We ask whether the United States is still exceptional, or just expensive.

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: Is the US the best performing stock market ever?

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As the World Cup reaches the quarter finals, we name our starting XI of asset classes. From the goalkeeper who does nothing for eighty-nine minutes to the super-sub you should never mistake for a starter.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Does the World Cup affect stock prices?

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Your "Human Capital" might be the largest asset you own, and it behaves like a bond. Seeing your career as a volatile asset might change how you think about saving, investing, and employment.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Do I need Income Protection Insurance?

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On paper, now looks like a fine time to retire. Annuity rates are generous, gilts finally pay a real return, and even cash earns its keep. But retire into a richly-valued market and a bad first few years can ravage a pot you can't easily rebuild.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Can you un-retire?

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The AI boom has all the signs of a bubble. An exciting new technology, stretched valuations, extreme concentration, circular financing, and uncertain cash flows. But how does it all end? Tom Stevenson joins us to game it out: a dot-com-style pop? A slow puncture? Or is this time really different?

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The best investors aren't necessarily the cleverest, the best-paid, or the most daring. In fact the evidence suggests they're closer to the opposite. We look at the backgrounds and temperaments that may outperform.

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: Are cats better stockpickers than fund managers?

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The Powell era is over — a pandemic, two wars, and the worst inflation in four decades. We ask whether JPow did a good job, or just survived it. Now Kevin Warsh inherits the chair. But what actually changes?

Beneath the handover lie bigger questions: what a central bank is really for, who it answers to, and whether any of it works the way they claim.

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The largest IPO in history is three weeks away. SpaceX is aiming for a valuation of almost $2 trillion despite reporting massive losses. We ask what happens when our beloved index funds are forced to buy the AI giants, whatever the price?

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: Why does an IPO need 23 banks?

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With gilt yields at their highest since 1998 — has the bond market finally lost patience with Britain? We ask whether this is really a UK problem, if the Bank of England is pouring petrol on the fire, and whether gilt yields above 5% are a bargain or a trap.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: What's the difference between RPI and CPI?

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For two decades, calling a UK house price crash has been a reliable way to look clever and be wrong. But while nominal prices have barely moved, a slow grind is reshaping affordability, rents and the housebuilding sector.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Are short-term fixed-rate mortgages a problem?

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Stocks have rallied to record highs while the Iran war is merely paused, oil prices are elevated, and inflation remains sticky. But while equity investors cheer the recovery, is the bond market quietly telling a different story?

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: What is the crack spread?

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"Do Your Own Research" is one of the most parroted phrases in investing — slapped on every stock tip, TikTok video and crypto tweet. But what does good research actually look like for a retail investor?

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Do contrarian investors actually make money?

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The investing world runs on numbers. We look at the statistical tricks that make bad investments look good, mediocre track records look brilliant, and risks disappear entirely.

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: What makes a finding 'statistically significant'?

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After weeks of market turmoil, asset prices across the board are lower than they were. But is anything actually cheap yet? We grab our valuation toolkit and go bargain hunting across stocks, bonds, and commodities to find out what's on sale.

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: Does valuation tell you anything?

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Your portfolio was probably designed for falling interest rates and cheap oil. That is no longer the world we live in. Equity indices have minimal energy exposure. Bonds amplify losses during a rising rate environment. And even gold is down 20% from its peak. So what you can actually do when the big asset classes are struggling?

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: What is the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index?

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You've seen the oil price soar. But crude is just the start—the Iran conflict is sending shockwaves through natural gas, fertiliser, helium and a host of other commodities we take for granted. What does it all mean for inflation, interest rates, and how you might want to position your portfolio?

And in the Dumb Question of the Week: Does the futures curve predict where prices are going in the future?

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What does popular finance content reveal about everyday investors? Damien Jordan from Damien Talks Money joins us to explore the gap between the videos people click on and the information they actually need.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Has making finance content changed how you invest?

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I opened my 2025/2026 ISA with Lightyear. If you want to try them out as well, use PENSIONCRAFT to get between £10 and £100 in a fractional share or ETF in your General Investment Account. See...

No one likes to lose money. And some funds are designed to deliver a positive return whether markets go up, down, or sideways. Sounds easy. It isn't.

We’re joined by Jasmine Yeo, fund manager at Ruffer, to discuss the art of capital preservation.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: If markets usually go up, why spend so much time thinking about what could go wrong?

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The US Supreme Court struck down Trump's tariffs in a landmark 6-3 ruling, and Trump responded by immediately imposing new ones under a different law. We look at what the ruling actually means and whether any of this changes the outlook for investors.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: What is the "spaghetti bowl" effect?

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Bitcoin has had everything going for it: a crypto-friendly president, ETF approval, congressional legislation, institutional adoption, a strategic reserve executive order. And yet the price has halved from its all-time high. So what’s going on?

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: What happens when it costs more to mine a bitcoin than it’s actually worth?

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A trillion dollars was wiped off software stocks after Anthropic released an AI legal tool. Suddenly the market is asking: if AI agents can do the work, why pay for the software? The "SaaSpocalypse" has dragged everything from Microsoft to Salesforce down double digits, leaving Wall Street split on whether this is an existential risk or a massive overreaction.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: What is a moat?

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After an incredible run, gold and silver just suffered their worst day in over forty years. Gold fell 11%. Silver dropped 30%. So what caused the crash?

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Why do we spend billions digging gold out of a hole, just to put it back in a different hole?

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After a decade of UK underperformance, Vanguard is going global. The UK’s most popular fund range is dialling back the domestic tilt, and launching a purely market-cap weighted alternative. We look at what's changing, whether you need to do anything, and if home bias is actually a mistake.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Why are multi-asset funds limited to stocks and bonds?

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President Trump is threatening tariffs on eight NATO allies to force a deal on Greenland. Europe says it isn’t for sale. So what happens when an immovable object meets an unpredictable force? Tit-for-tat counter-tariffs, an untested “trade bazooka,” or the nuclear option: leveraging $8 trillion in US assets.

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Can a Treasury auction fail?

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The US has captured Venezuela’s president, the White House is openly threatening to invade a NATO ally, and the Fed Chair is under politically-motivated criminal investigation. Apart from that, everything's fine. But should you actually change anything about your portfolio? Or is "carrying on as normal" always the answer?

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Is any asset risk-free?

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Where does investing end and gambling begin?

From Premium Bonds to meme stocks to deep-out-of-the-money options, today’s markets are full of bets that look a lot like lottery tickets. The line between rational risk-taking and pure chance has never been blurrier. So what really separates a calculated investment from a coin flip?

And in today’s Dumb Question of the Week: Are boring stocks better?

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