The hidden ‘treasures’ in my office

I HAVE been clearing out my office ahead of a move across the road (no, I’m not leaving quite yet).

Amongst the treasures I discovered were a Complete Guide To Personal Finance written by my good self (2002) and Jeff’s Lunchbox (an amusing insight, even though I say it myself, into the rumbustious relationship between financial journalists and public relations advisers).

Also, buried under the office rubble was a splendid hardback edition of Toby Walne’s 101 Extraordinary Investments (covering everything from Action Man to World War paraphernalia) and Mark Dampier’s guide to Effective Investing – where he boldly stated (in 2015) that Neil Woodford was the ‘best fund manager currently working in the UK’.

Although Woodford was at the time working at Invesco, Mark’s enthusiasm for Woodford helps explain why Hargreaves Lansdown, where he worked, recommended investment fund Woodford Equity Income right up until the day it was suspended in 2019 – and subsequently dismantled.

For the record, all four books are available on Amazon at £0.63, £6.53, £3.53 and £0.95 respectively. Only my lunchbox and my colleague Walne’s book (once popular in South Korea), have maintained a semblance of their value. Stocking fillers they are not.

I AM a big believer in personal finance education. The more financially aware children are when they leave school at 16 or 18, the better prepared they are to face up to the myriad of loan sharks, scammers and spinners of cryptocurrency financial miracles that will come their way.

It’s why I recently spent a Sunday judging entries for Interactive Investor’s Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Awards.

What struck me reading through the excellent shortlisted entries was the imagination, creativity and passion of all the teachers. So, to the winners of the primary school and secondary school teacher awards, a massive congrats.

Yasmeen Abbas, St Silas Church of England Primary Academy, Blackburn – you are a personal finance teaching star. The same goes to Emma Baker, who teaches at Caldicot School in Ysgol-Cil-y-Coed in Monmouthshire. Winners in so many ways.