Empowering Futures: Insights on Resilience, Financial Freedom, and the Power of Purpose

It’s a celebration of hope, resilience, and new beginnings—a reminder that even the darkest times can be illuminated.

But let’s be honest: how it went and how it felt are often worlds apart, especially in government and society.

How It Went: A lovely display, some lights, a sprinkle of rangoli, and there we were, keeping tradition alive.

How It Felt: Vibrant, triumphant, alive with colours and possibilities. Like every challenge our society faces, we may often feel we’re up against darkness, but there’s a fierce light within us, a determination to shape a brighter future.

This Diwali, let’s hope not just for our own prosperity but for a society where everyone has access to opportunity, where government policies empower rather than stifle, and where we support each other in lighting up lives, even in the smallest ways.?

Here’s to a Diwali that reminds us of the power of community, resilience, and a bit of humour to keep things in perspective.

Jai Shree Ram. Jai Hind. God Bless the United Kingdom and us all.

Bonds in your pension do not behave how people think they do.

68% of contractors, consultants, freelancers, and entrepreneurs say working independently is more secure than having a traditional job.If you want real security, you’ve got to build something that’s yours.

Harvard Business School article here: https://hbr.org/2022/03/workers-dont-feel-like-a-9-to-5-job-is-a-safe-bet-anymore

Jasper the Cat at long last to get his own movie. His stock market forecasting skills from the Financial Times competition prove his credentials to be lead cat.?

If you want to invest better than cats and most humans, check out my Campaign for a Million to teach a million (humans) how to invest better and add an extra million to their portfolios over their lifetimes.

From Novice to Confident Investor

Trevor Atkin, a novice in the world of stocks and shares, had long trusted his workplace pension provider, Legal & General, to manage his retirement savings. However, after following Alpesh Patel’s webinars for just 18 months, Trevor decided to take control of his own investments.

With Alpesh’s clear guidance and expert insights, Trevor transformed his financial future, achieving an impressive 30% increase in his portfolio within just one year. This newfound knowledge has not only benefited Trevor but has also inspired his family to take charge of their own pensions.

My Investing Journey

I started following Alpesh Patel about 18 months ago after discovering his YouTube channel. Prior to that, I had always entrusted my pension to the workplace pension scheme managed by Legal & General (L&G).

Like many others, I believed the experts were handling everything efficiently, and I didn’t need to pay much attention. My focus was on working hard, earning money, and assuming my pension would naturally grow over time. How wrong was I!

Background

I had no experience with stocks and shares. When I began watching Alpesh’s weekly webinars, I knew very little about investing. I was, by all definitions, a complete novice. To get started, I invested very small amounts into well-known companies that I could follow through the insights and guidance shared in Alpesh’s webinars.

Over the first few months, the gains I saw were modest but consistent. It wasn’t anything dramatic, but it was steady growth. However, the real eye-opener came when Alpesh discussed the expected performance of pensions. Evaluating my pension

This prompted me to evaluate my own pension with Legal & General. Upon reviewing my pension statements, I discovered that over a 10-year period, my pension had only grown by 20%. To say the results were disappointing is an understatement.

For comparison, in the first six months of following Alpesh’s information and investing only small sums of money, I had achieved a gain of about 8%. Even more shocking, the interest rate on my savings account at that time was 5.1%—meaning even if I had just left my money in a savings account, I would have outperformed my pension provider! This realisation left me questioning why I had been trusting others with my hard-earned money for so long.

Taking control of my pension

After much contemplation, I made the decision to transfer my pension and manage the investments myself. I followed Alpesh’s guidance as closely as possible, attending his weekly webinars and staying informed on market trends.

Transferring my pension and purchasing stocks was one of the scariest decisions I had ever made. The fear of making mistakes loomed large, but Alpesh’s clear and concise explanations gave me the confidence to proceed.

My investing journey

The journey over the next few months was both challenging and rewarding. Some investments performed well, while others didn’t go as expected. However, the entire process was an invaluable learning experience. I was gaining knowledge and insight into how the market worked, and I was finally in control of my financial future.

Each week, I continued to follow Alpesh’s webinars, making sure I wasn’t missing any crucial updates or market shifts. His ability to make complex financial topics easy to understand was a game changer for someone like me, who was new to this world.

Results

Now, 12 months after transferring my pension, I am amazed by the results. In just one year, I have seen a 30% increase in my portfolio. This is a result I never could have imagined achieving, especially considering the dismal performance of my pension over the previous decade. This growth has not only been transformative for me but also for my family.

With the newfound knowledge I gained from Alpesh, I’ve helped several of my family members take control of their own pensions. They were in the same position I had been in—stuck with poor-performing pensions. Now, they too are making the move to manage their funds independently. Even my two sons have started investing on their own, following the principles I’ve learned from Alpesh.

Alpesh’s Guidance Has Been Life-Changing and Empowering

I cannot thank Alpesh enough for the guidance and support he has provided. His webinars and insights have empowered me to take charge of my financial future. I feel more confident than ever in my ability to manage my investments, and I’m excited for what the future holds.

For anyone who has been stuck with underperforming pensions or has felt uncertain about their financial future, I can’t recommend Alpesh’s advice highly enough. It has truly been a life-changing experience.

Thank you once again, Alpesh, for helping me and so many others to see the light.

Trevor Atkin

Lightgassing is when one person agrees with or validates another person’s false beliefs or misconceptions in order to be supportive.?

Unlike gaslighting, lightgassing is an (unintentionally harmful) tactic of friends and supporters.

Here are common examples I’ve seen that are sometimes, but obviously not always, lightgassing:

? “Since they did X, they don’t deserve to be with you.”

? “It was reasonable for you to do Y because they made you feel bad.”

? “You did nothing wrong. It was 100% their fault.”

An ingenious advert is doing the rounds from a law firm presently, telling people to help their friends with an 'amicable' divorce. It's the first commercial behavioural use of telling friends to stop lightgassing those considering divorce I've seen.

In finance it's revealed to ourselves as confirmation bias and by others as lightgassing. The weak IFA/wealth manager without a clue will lightgas clients and push the problem down the road when it ends up biting them later.?

Rory Sutherland would love that.

The shocking incompetence of UK fund managers destroying UK pensions by overlooking US equities. And IFAs and Wealth Managers peddling the managers.

In my Government role, I love bringing innovative AI companies from abroad looking at a UK HQ and a founder capable of a move to the UK under the Innovator Founder Visa route.

Innovator Founder Visa Route

The key words are 1. Scalable 2. Innovative

My latest book has taken me around the world this year at an extremely leisurely pace. When I used to write my Financial Times columns I would pour over every word and the rhythm and cadence of each sentence and how it joins each paragraph. I’m loving the pace. If you love something make it last. Enjoy it. Don’t be rushed or busily finishing it.

Looking at Warren Buffett's diary, Bill Gates was shocked it's so empty. This year, with 14 staff at HQ Buffett's company crossed a trillion dollar ambition. They say it's not the destination, but the journey that matters.

You can go through the hard way, the obstacles, congestion, the busy-ness. Or if you can, work out a way to rise above it all, and get there in an easier journey.

The week I launched the Campaign for a Million in New York, meeting clients, has definitely been the 'non-busy' way. Learn about the Campaign to teach a Million people worldwide, how to add a Million to their investments across their lifetimes: www.campaignforamillion.com

Enjoy.

Friday speech "Duty, Honor, Country

Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.

Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.

The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.

But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mould you for your future roles as the custodians of the Nation’s defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid.

They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for actions, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm, but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet never to take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

They give you a temperate will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of an appetite for adventure over love of ease.

They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and joy and inspiration of life. They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman."

General MacArthur

What my friend James Fryer-Spedding is too British and too modest to tell you is that he got a distinction in his BCL at Oxford University (brewing his own beer at home along the way btw) and a First in his law degree. I witnessed both (I’m not clever enough to do the BCL) and Chancery Law is probably the most difficult there is. Brag my friend. Hell I’d buy the t-shirt if I could achieve either accomplishment.?

There is another admiral accomplishment. He met and remains with his lovely wife since the first week of law school!?

Yours in admiration!

Outstanding - will be must watch. Baroness Sandy Verma always delivers impactful results in bringing people together.

My best ideas come from 'doing nothing'. Walks in the park, cycling. I ensure in my diary 90% of my time is just for thinking and 'empty'. It's busy-ness that kills business.?

My wife asked me this morning as we walked in the park, "why aren't you working?" , I replied "well, you're Global Head of Venture Capital for the UK Government. I am working. I am asking your views on things".?

I love listening to Rory Sutherland (who agrees with me) and Warren Buffett (who is the same too). Or speaking to colleagues and running ideas past them. Steven Covey (7 Habits of Highly Effective People) also agrees.?

If it's my Government work, then coming up with ideas for the companies I work with is a joy. Meeting them and 'let's walk and talk' is invigorating - not so much Zoom calls - the founder of LinkedIn and most of Silicon Valley agrees with me on that one. Drafting email replies so they're well thought out not rushed. I am 'AI first' so if it's really complicated and deserving of a good brain storm then I will brain storm with Gemini first to structure and improve on my thoughts (not to avoid thinking) and ensure I have not missed out something.?

This month as a result of such time walking around listening to Rory, I came up with the idea of launching the 40% Hedge Fund Stock Picks service as part of my Great Investments Programme - ie hedge funds who deliver 40% pa for the past three years, and then their existing portfolios filtered against my metrics for undervalued companies with high growth, strong average low volatility returns and good momentum and 40% trend up for the stock in 12 months from now. Love it.?

Learn more at www.alpeshpatel.com/shares ?

Right, back to doing "nothing" - it's actually hard work is thinking. That's why so few people do it.

Alpesh Patel OBE

www.campaignforamillion.com

Visit www.alpeshpatel.com/shares for more and see www.alpeshpatel.com/links