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Setting financial goals for investors allows them to focus on decisions that will contribute to their overall objectives, rather than monitoring the outcomes for a range of individual investments.

Whether it’s shopping at a local market or eating at a nearby restaurant, many of us are naturally inclined to make selections close to our geographic familiarity. This can also be the case when making investment choices.

For investors, risk represents the chance that a particular outcome or financial gain differs from its expected return, however, it’s important to recognise that risk is an inherent part of investing and that there are different types of financial risk.

A fund is a type of investment that enables multiple investors to collectively purchase securities, whilst retaining ownership and control of their shares.

From year to year, it is difficult to predict which asset classes will be the best performers. Most investment specialists agree about the benefits of spreading your money across different investments.

Only investing locally means missing out on opportunities offered by global markets. Better diversification, more investment options and reduced volatility are among some of the reasons investors should consider investing globally.

Both savings accounts and multi asset funds can offer benefits for investors. Over the long term, investing and saving can complement one another and potentially help towards achieving financial goals.

Instead of focusing on just one type of investment, multi-manager funds invest in lots of other single-focus funds. This can allow investors to choose a single fund that diversifies investments and combines the talents of many fund managers all in one.

Volatility in global markets is normal. Despite this, and many investors' tendency towards 'loss aversion', we explain why it is important to keep to your long term goals and avoid making decisions based on short term fluctuations.

Stocks don't go up every year but over the long term, they have risen roughly every three years out of four in the US. We examine how higher corporate productivity and cashflow, population growth and adjustments to what investors are prepared to pay supports long term investing.

This is a simple and effective technique to deal with the difficulty of buying and/or selling at the right time. It encourages a disciplined approach to investing and we show how it helps to smooth the effects of adverse market conditions.

Investors all have unconscious biases and this can influence their investing decisions, sometimes with negative consequences. We illustrate the most common of these.

By selling a holding for less than they bought it for, investors will be locking in their losses. We examine what this means in market environments which have continued to prove resilient despite the dramatic and volatile narrative of recent years.

Market sell-offs are perhaps more frequent than you think. Despite this, the long term evidence shows that markets consistently recover. It may be daunting to consider buying after corrections, but investors should remember that these can offer opportunities for excess returns.