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You’re 27. You’ve made a substantial amount of money. And now you’re unsure of how to make the most of it.

By its very nature, financial planning is just that: planning. We can’t know what will happen, so we make sure that even if the worst should take place, you’re protected. We find out when we meet you, what your capacity for loss is, and what your lifetime goals are.

In this article, I’m going to put forward the argument that investment firms, wealth managers and fund houses are actually not doing anything particularly special. That returns are generated by a simple formula and that is the relationship between two broad assets, equities and bonds.

Many investment and advisory firms have a rigid set of beliefs, often referred to as “Our Investment Principles”, or some other grandiose title. Some will claim a contrarian view point just to stand out from the crowd, others will say their modus operandi is evidence-backed.

At some point, someone in the marketing department of most investment firms will venture the following: “Well, we had better send our clients something to read, otherwise they will think we haven’t done anything all week. Make it sound important and it’ll justify our fees.”

When I was 23 I made a terrible mistake. I roped myself into a dreadful car finance deal that cost me £5,000.

How big does a pension need to be? That is the question, or versions of, that I am asked most frequently. I have worked in financial services for 17 years now. What I have learnt over that time and, related specifically to retirement, are two things.

Last month I hired a man to replace all the guttering and some lead flashing outside my house. It cost £3,176....