By The Off-Duty Economist
Investing, explained.
Plain-English guides to ETFs for people in the UK who have never invested. Written by an economist, in his own time, for people rather than other economists.
No ads · No affiliate links · Nothing to sell
Start here
Three places to begin
Each guide starts with the short version, then shows the evidence. Every fact links to its source.
ETF basics
What is an ETF?
One purchase, many companies. How ETFs work, what they cost and what can go wrong.
6 min read
Getting started
Cash ISA vs stocks and shares ISA
From April 2027, under-65s can put only £12,000 a year into cash ISAs. What changes, and how to think about the rest.
7 min read
Tools
Fee calculator
See what a 0.2% fee and a 1% fee do to the same money over 30 years. The difference is bigger than most people expect.
Interactive
Why this site exists
of UK adults with significant cash savings and no investments say they haven't considered investing.
Source: FCA Financial Lives research, via the Investment Association.
The top reasons, and where they're answered
The guides
Five questions this site answers
New guides arrive every week. Each one answers a question people actually ask before they invest.
01 · Start here
What is an ETF, and how does it work?
What ETFs are, what they cost, how safe they are and the main types.
Read the ETF basics
12 guides in ETF basics
How do I actually start?
ISAs, SIPPs, platforms and buying your first ETF, step by step.
Getting started 8 guides
Will I lose money?
Crashes, recoveries, inflation and timing, checked against 150 years of UK data.
Worries and myths 6 guides
What does it look like in numbers?
Calculators and charts built from public data, so you can test the ideas yourself.
Tools and data 2 tools, 3 data guides
What does the research say?
Plain-English summaries of the academic evidence on fees, active vs passive, and more.
Research 4 guides
How this site works
Built to be trusted, not to sell
- 01
Every claim is sourced
Facts link to GOV.UK, HMRC, the FCA, fund documents or published research.
- 02
Pages are kept current
Each guide shows when it was last reviewed. Tax figures are rechecked every April.
- 03
Mistakes are logged
When something's wrong, it's fixed and recorded on the corrections page.
- 04
Nothing to sell
No ads, no affiliate links, no sponsored posts, and no "best ETFs to buy" lists.