🍇 The Blackberry Test: How Do You Know Who to Trust With Your Money?
Money Tipps® is a registered trademark covering financial education and related educational services.
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.”
— Richard Feynman (1918–1988), physicist
Don't simply ask who to trust. Ask: How do I know?
Last weekend, I went blackberry picking with my daughter.
She picked one.
“Can I eat this?”
A simple question.
But an important one.
Because how do you know?
Some berries are sweet.
Some are sour.
Some aren't ripe.
And some can be poisonous.
To an inexperienced eye, they can look remarkably similar.
So what do you do?
You learn what to look for.
You observe.
You compare.
You test.
You learn from experience.
And over time, you become better at recognising the difference.
That got me thinking.
Money is remarkably similar.
Money Tipps® is a registered trademark covering financial education and related educational services.
🍇 Not every financial berry is worth picking
Every day, we're surrounded by people telling us what to do with our money.
Financial advisers.
Banks.
Investment platforms.
Fund managers.
Newspapers.
Finfluencers.
And now AI.
Some provide excellent information.
Some don't.
Some have conflicts of interest.
And sometimes the problem isn't that somebody is deliberately trying to mislead you.
They might simply be wrong.
A well-meaning influencer can repeat bad information.
An inexperienced investor can present an opinion as fact.
A financial salesperson can recommend a product that isn't necessarily the best option for you.
A platform can promote something that is commercially valuable to the platform.
Even regulation doesn't remove every potential conflict.
For example, an FCA-regulated financial adviser operates within a regulatory framework — but that doesn't mean you should switch off your own judgement.
The same applies to investment platforms.
Being regulated matters.
But regulation isn't a substitute for understanding.
So the important question isn't simply:
“Who should I trust?”
It's:
“How do I know?”
The Money Tipps® approach: learn how to recognise the difference
This is the philosophy behind Money Tipps®.
I don't believe financial education should be about telling people:
“Trust me. I'll tell you what to do.”
I'd rather help people develop the knowledge and confidence to ask better questions themselves.
Because your financial decisions are ultimately your decisions.
Money Tipps® uses a simple principle:
Observe → Question → Test → Learn → Improve
It's essentially the scientific method applied to your financial life.
Don't accept something simply because somebody sounds confident.
Look at the evidence.
Check the assumptions.
Understand the costs.
Consider the risks.
Look for conflicts of interest.
Compare alternatives.
Then make your decision.
And when you get something wrong?
Learn from it.
That's how knowledge compounds.
⚽ Your money needs a formation
This is also the thinking behind Football Finance.
Most people don't have a money problem because they're stupid.
They have a money problem because nobody ever taught them how the game works.
You might have:
A current account
A savings account
A pension
An ISA
Investments
A mortgage
Property
Insurance
Debt
Football Formation Asset Allocation® is Neil Doig’s registered trademarked method for building wealth, achieving financial independence and planning for early retirement through a football-inspired approach to personal finance and investing.
But having lots of financial products doesn't necessarily mean you have a financial plan.
Think about football.
You can have eleven excellent players.
But if they don't work together, you don't necessarily have an excellent team.
Your money is the same.
You need to understand the formation.
That's why I use TIPPS®:
🟢 T — Tax
Are you making the most of the tax allowances and structures available to you?
Could you legally keep more of the money you earn?
Tax isn't exciting.
But unnecessarily paying tax can be very expensive.
🔵 I — Investing
What are you investing in?
Why?
What does it cost?
What are the risks?
Are you investing for the long term, or reacting to whatever happened in the markets this week?
You don't need to predict the future.
You need to understand what you own and why you own it.
🏠 P — Property
For many households, property is their largest asset.
But it's important to understand the numbers.
What is your property worth?
How much do you owe?
What's your mortgage rate?
When does your current deal end?
How much equity do you have?
And how does property fit into your overall financial plan?
Your house isn't just somewhere you live.
It's part of your balance sheet.
🟣 P — Pensions
A pension can be one of the most valuable financial tools you have.
But many people don't know what is actually inside theirs.
What are you paying?
What is your employer contributing?
What funds are you invested in?
What are the charges?
Are you comfortable with the level of risk?
And what could your pension be worth in the future?
Your pension isn't the investment.
It's the wrapper around your investments.
Understanding what is inside that wrapper matters.
🟡 S — Savings
Savings provide something investing can't always provide:
Resilience.
An emergency fund can stop an unexpected expense becoming expensive debt.
But cash has a cost too.
Inflation can gradually reduce its purchasing power.
So ask:
Where is my cash?
What interest am I earning?
Can I access it when I need it?
Is there a better option?
The highest rate isn't automatically the best account.
You need to understand the conditions, access, bonuses and risks.
Money Tipps® is a registered trademark covering financial education and related educational services.
The most important financial question
You don't need to know everything about money.
You don't need to become a professional investor.
You don't need to understand every financial product ever invented.
But you should develop enough financial literacy to ask good questions.
When someone recommends an investment, ask:
Why this one?
What does it cost?
What could I lose?
Who gets paid?
What are the alternatives?
What evidence supports this?
What happens if I'm wrong?
And perhaps the most important:
“Who benefits if I say yes?”
These questions won't make you immune to bad financial decisions.
Nothing can.
But they'll make you much harder to fool.
And that matters.
Because a financial mistake can cost far more than the price you paid for the advice.
Experience matters. But evidence matters too.
Experience is powerful.
I've worked in financial services, financial advice and markets.
I've seen how financial products are created, sold and explained.
I've also seen how complicated money can appear to someone who hasn't spent years around it.
But experience alone isn't enough.
That's why Money Tipps® combines experience with:
Evidence.
Research.
Observation.
Testing.
Comparison.
And where appropriate, peer-reviewed research and established financial theory.
It's the combination that matters.
One person's experience is an anecdote.
Repeated evidence is something much more useful.
The goal isn't to find somebody who is always right.
The goal is to develop a process for making better decisions.
So… how good is your financial eyesight?
Imagine someone puts ten financial “berries” in front of you.
Some are excellent.
Some are average.
Some are expensive.
Some are unsuitable.
And perhaps one or two could cause serious damage.
Would you know which ones to pick?
Give yourself a score:
1/10
I wouldn't know where to start.
5/10
I'm getting there. I understand some of it.
10/10
I understand my options and feel confident making decisions.
There is no shame in scoring yourself a one.
In fact, recognising what you don't know is often the first step towards becoming better with money.
Financial independence isn't just about having more money
We often think financial independence means having a large investment portfolio.
It certainly helps.
But I think there's another form of independence that comes first:
Being able to think independently about your money.
Not automatically believing the bank.
Not automatically believing the adviser.
Not automatically believing the finfluencer.
Not automatically believing the newspaper.
And not automatically believing AI.
Think.
Question.
Check.
Understand.
Then decide.
That's financial education.
And that's what Money Tipps® is here to provide.
🚀 Want to improve your financial eyesight?
If you're ready to stop feeling confused about your money and start building a clear financial game plan, I'm opening registrations of interest for the October Money Transformation Accelerator.
It's a 6-week practical financial transformation designed to help you:
Understand where you are financially
Get clearer on where you want to go
Improve your money habits
Understand investing
Make smarter financial decisions
Build greater financial confidence
Work towards financial independence
And you'll also get a FREE Financial Independence Calculator to help you understand your starting point.
You don't need more financial noise.
You need a better way to understand the game.
👉 Register your interest for the October Money Transformation Accelerator
Money Tipps® — independent education for your financial game.
🍇 Pick better. ⚽ Play better. 💷 Keep more.
The next time you're walking down a country lane and your child asks:
“Can I eat this?”
You'll probably look twice.
That's the lesson.
You don't need to be afraid of every berry.
You just need to know what you're looking at.
Money is no different.
There will always be people telling you what to buy.
There will always be new investments.
New platforms.
New products.
New opportunities.
New predictions.
New experts.
And new AI-generated answers.
Don't blindly trust them.
Don't blindly reject them either.
Ask questions.
Look at the evidence.
Learn from experience.
Test your assumptions.
And above all:
Don't simply ask who to trust. Ask: How do I know?
About Money Tipps®
Money Tipps® provides independent financial education designed to help people understand and improve their personal finances.
Money Tipps® is a registered trademark covering financial education and related educational services.
Our TIPPS framework covers:
Tax • Investing • Property • Pensions • Savings
Money Tipps® is financial education, not personalised financial advice. Always consider your individual circumstances and seek regulated advice where appropriate.
Understand the game. Play your way.
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