The Quarterly Brief — Vol. XVII, Issue 02

Considered writing on markets, money & the long view.

No hot takes, no clickbait, no upsells. Four essays a quarter from our partners and chartered specialists — drafted slowly, edited carefully, and read by 12,400 thoughtful investors across the United Kingdom.

Markets · Essay · 14 min read

The patient pound: why doing less has beaten every fashionable strategy of the past forty years.

An overlooked truth about UK investing: the boring index investor who held through Brexit, COVID and the 2022 gilt crisis has outperformed 89% of active managers — and slept better doing it. Here is the data, and what it means for the next forty years.

Eleanor Holt, CFP™ Chartered FCSI Senior Partner · Published 11 May 2026
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The Library

Recent essays & notes

Long-form thinking, working notes and short briefings — published when there is something worth saying, not on a schedule.

Pensions ·9 min read

The sequence of withdrawals matters more than the choice of fund.

An under-discussed truth about retirement: drawing from the wrong wrapper first can cost a typical client £74,000 in lifetime tax. A clean framework for getting the order right.

Tax & Estate ·6 min

The 2026 Budget — what the changes to AIM relief mean for your IHT plan.

Behaviour ·4 min

Why ‘cash on the sidelines’ is the most expensive sentence in personal finance.

Markets ·7 min

Gilts at 4.6%: the unsexy income story finally worth re-reading.

Why long-duration UK government bonds may matter more in the next decade than they did in the last twenty years.

Pensions ·5 min

State pension top-ups: a quick check that’s closing in late 2026.

The window to fill voluntary NI gaps back to 2006 closes soon. Why we’re emailing every client over 45.

Tax & Estate ·11 min

Trusts in 2026: still useful, occasionally misused, often misunderstood.

A plain-English guide to discretionary, bare and loan trusts — with three real-client case sketches.

Behaviour ·3 min

The advice you can’t bill for: marrying money.

Three honest conversations every couple should have before consolidating finances — from one who’s seen 400 do it well.

Firm Notes ·2 min

We’ve switched our default platform — here’s why & what changes.

A small operational change that meaningfully reduces ongoing costs for new clients. The full reasoning, in public.

Markets ·8 min

The case against thematic ETFs (and one quiet exception).

Why ‘the AI fund’ or ‘the green fund’ is usually marketing dressed as investing — and the rare structural exception.

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