Why Are You Doing This?

Because the status quo is failing too many savers. UK households have piled record sums into bank deposits while inflation quietly taxes cash. UK Finance reports household deposits on the high street at roughly £1.09 trillion by late 2024 - admirable prudence, poor strategy if left idle.

UK households now hold over £1 trillion in personal deposits - a record high. Prudent saving, yes, but poor strategy if left idle as inflation erodes real value.

History shows that owning productive assets beats parking money. The long-run UK data are unambiguous: equities have outpaced gilts and cash after inflation. A summary of the Barclays Equity Gilt Study shows roughly ~5% real annual returns for equities over 125 years, versus ~1.3% for gilts and ~0.5% for cash.

If the game were simply “buy anything with an equity label,” you wouldn’t need me. But the evidence says most active funds lag their benchmarks over time. SPIVA’s 2024 Europe Scorecard shows 93% of equity funds underperformed over 10 years on a fund‑weighted basis. SPIVA Europe 2024: 

spiva-europe-year-end-2024.pdf

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Where a disciplined process shines is behaviour. Vanguard’s research on Adviser’s Alpha suggests behavioural coaching alone can be worth up to ~200 bps a year through better decisions on rebalancing and staying invested. That’s not magic - it’s avoiding self-sabotage. So why am I doing this? To fix three chronic problems: too much cash, too many high-fee under-performers, and too many investors jolted out of good strategies by headlines.

The Great Investments Programme is my attempt to put rules, research and ruthless clarity into people’s portfolios. We can’t promise outcomes - nobody honest can - but we can tilt the odds with process and discipline. That’s the point.

Sources:  UK Finance deposits: https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/news-and-insight/press-release/household-finance-review-q4-2024 ; Barclays EGS: https://www.ib.barclays/news-and-events/equity-gilt-study-2025.html; long‑run returns summary: https://www.courtiers.co.uk/news-and-insights/125-years-of-data-courtiers-equity-and-gilt-study/; SPIVA: https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/documents/spiva/spiva-europe-year-end-2024.pdf; Vanguard Adviser’s Alpha: https://www.ch.vanguard/content/dam/intl/europe/documents/en/putting-a-value-on-your-value-quantifying-vanguard-adviser-alpha-eu-en-pro.pdf Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any financial product. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Investments can fall as well as rise in value, and you may not get back the amount originally invested. Always consider your personal circumstances and, if in doubt, seek professional financial advice. Alpesh Patel OBE www.campaignforamillion.com