Mouthy Money: Building wealth with long term investing and saving strategies

AI stocks retreated through July, and Ed’s portfolio went with them. Chris Tuite's didn't. So does Ed scrap his strategy and copy Chris T’s?
That question sits at the centre of this month's Investing Stakes, in partnership with Stratiphy. If you want to explore Stratiphy or build your own rules-based portfolio, you can use our referral link:🔗 https://www.stratiphy.io/referrals?code=INVESTINGSTAKESDisclosure: This is a referral link. We may receive a benefit if you sign up using it.
Ed’s tech-heavy Black Elephant strategy peaked in June and has handed back a chunk of it since, with Corning alone falling close to half its value and accounting for roughly half the decline. Chris kept out of the direct AI names and has carried on climbing. He is now behind every strategy and benchmark we track.
Chris Ling, Chief Investment Officer at Stratiphy, walks through why AI stocks pulled back, why the drawdown stayed concentrated in that corner of the market, and what happens to your returns when you abandon a strategy mid-run to chase whoever led last month.
We put six months of our own numbers into a matrix and follow what would have happened to an investor who switched into the winner every time. The answer is not flattering.
We also cover the difference between our two quantitative models, why a faster-trading strategy is not the same thing as a more volatile one, and the case for doing nothing when the market goes against you.
Chapters and full data tables are on the Substack, where we publish the monthly performance figures in more detail.👉 Stratiphy: https://www.stratiphy.io/referrals?code=INVESTINGSTAKES 👉 Substack: https://mouthymoney.substack.com👉 Subscribe for a new episode every monthYour capital is at risk. Past performance does not guarantee future returns. Nothing here is personal financial advice.

Ed pays £50 a month into a junior ISA for each of his sons. At 18 it's legally theirs, and he can't do a thing about it. So what happens if he uses a pension instead?
Full description
Every month he puts £50 into a junior ISA for each of his two sons. On their eighteenth birthdays that money becomes theirs outright — no conditions, no drip-feed, no veto.
So Ed modelled the alternative: the same £50 a month into a junior SIPP, a self-invested personal pension. Children get 20% tax relief despite paying no tax, which means £50 goes in as £62.50. Over a lifetime, that relief alone is worth £82,000.
The catch is that they can't touch it until 57 at the earliest, and probably 60 by the time his sons get there.
Chris and Ed work through the whole model — the tax relief, the charges, the inflation problem — and argue about whether an 18-year-old can be trusted with the money at all. We both end up somewhere we didn't expect.
The numbers, at 8% growth and 0.5% annual charges:
£10,200 paid in over 17 years becomes £19,930 in a junior ISA at 18, or £24,912 in a junior SIPP. Left alone to 60, that SIPP reaches £511,675. Restart contributions at 22 and it reaches £661,264, against £529,012 for the ISA. Raise charges to 1.2% and £181,915 disappears. Double the contribution to £100 a month and the pot hits £1,322,529 — which 3% inflation reduces to £231,211 in today's money.
(00:00) I think I've been doing this wrong(01:12) The junior ISA as it stands(02:32) Chris makes the case for the ISA(05:02) Would an 18-year-old actually blow it?(06:31) The tax relief is worth £82,000(07:20) Junior ISA against junior SIPP at 18(09:01) What happens if they restart at 22(09:40) When can they actually access a pension?(10:30) What charges do to all of this(13:00) Only 23% of UK workers are on track for a moderate retirement(15:43) What £100 a month becomes(17:36) The inflation problem nobody talks about(20:00) Tax on the way out(20:49) What Chris is doing(21:23) What I've decided to do
Full tables and charts, at both contribution levels and both charge scenarios, in cash and in today's money: [Substack link]
Retirement Living Standards figures from Pensions UK, 2026 update, calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University.
Neither of us is a financial adviser and none of this is financial advice. All projections are illustrations based on stated assumptions, not forecasts. Investment returns are not guaranteed and tax rules change.

£50,000 guaranteed, or a 50/50 coin flip for £1 million? YouGov asked 4,600 British adults, and 73% took the safe money.
That result set off a fair bit of argument — including between the two of us. Ed and Chris go through what the poll actually found, why the gender and age splits are the most revealing part of it, and how each of us thinks about risk with our own money. Then we both commit to an answer, and we don't land in the same place.
Along the way: why the coin flip is worth ten times the guaranteed option on paper, whether Americans really are less risk-averse than Brits, what £50,000 would actually buy you, and the question neither of us had thought to ask until the end.
Chapters
00:00 The question
00:58 What the poll found
03:15 Are Americans really bigger risk-takers?
04:30 The gender split
06:42 Why young people flip the coin
09:02 The financial equivalent of watching paint dry
11:04 The risk of not taking enough risk
17:35 What we'd actually do
18:45 Where the money would go
22:06 Wait — who's tossing the coin?
So what's your answer? Guaranteed cash or a shot at life-changing money — and what's the number that would make you flip? Tell us in the comments; we read and reply to all of them.
New episodes weekly. Subscribe so you don't miss one.
Everything here is general information about money, not personal financial advice. If you're making a decision about your own finances, speak to a regulated adviser.

Most parents want to give their kids a financial head start — few realise how much a Junior ISA can do it. Chris Tuite is joined by Stephen McGee, CEO of Scottish Friendly, to explain how JISAs work and why starting early matters so much.
They cover the £9,000 annual allowance, why cash isn't the safe option it feels like, and what £1,000 actually becomes over 18 years. Stephen also makes the case for a small rule change that would let grandparents open a Junior ISA for their grandchildren — something they currently can't do.
Whether you're a new parent, a grandparent, or just starting to think about saving for the family, this one's for you.
Got a question about Junior ISAs? Get in touch — we'll put it to a future guest.
This podcast is for information only and is not financial advice. Investing carries risk and your capital is at risk. Past performance is not a guide to future returns.

£500 a month has just freed up. Do you kill the mortgage — or supercharge the pension?
When childcare costs drop, most households would love the problem Chris is facing: a few hundred pounds a month to redirect, and one big decision to make. Overpay the mortgage and be debt-free years early, or pour it into the pension and let compounding do the work?
So Ed and Chris ran the real numbers on Chris's own finances — a £453k mortgage on a 29-year term, 27 years to retirement — and modelled both paths. The gap is bigger than you'd think: roughly £750k in the pension one way, around £1.3m the other.
But as they get into tax relief, the spread between market returns and mortgage rates, what each route means for retirement income, and a smart way to clear the mortgage with tax-free cash, it becomes clear the spreadsheet answer isn't always the one you'd choose.
In this episode:
- How £500 a month becomes a six-figure difference over 27 years
- Why a guaranteed 4.5% saved isn't the same as a hoped-for 7% earned
- Where both options land against the "comfortable retirement" benchmark
- Using your 25% tax-free lump sum to clear the mortgage — and the trap of doing it the wrong way
- Why pensions and property are now taxed very differently when you pass them on
Team mortgage or team pension? We'd love to hear how you'd play it.
We don't give financial advice — we're talking through our own situations. Everything here rests on assumptions that will change, so if you're weighing this up yourself, speak to an FCA-regulated financial adviser.
(0:00) The £500 question
(1:39) Chris's 29-year mortgage problem
(2:27) The reveal: £750k vs £1.3m
(4:42) Why the real number could be higher
(6:54) Shorting inflation & the 2.5% spread
(8:48) Clearing the mortgage a decade early
(9:30) What it means in retirement
(11:09) Finishing the mortgage with tax-free cash
(12:18) The inheritance tax trap: home vs pension
(15:27) A two-pronged plan
(17:39) The discipline problem
(18:51) Inflation, rates & staying ahead
(20:51) So, what did Chris decide?
The Mouthy Money podcast — how we actually think about pensions, ISAs, mortgages, tax and the economy. New episodes every week.🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@mouthymoneypodcast📰 Mouthy Money News (short explainers, twice a week): https://www.youtube.com/@MouthyMoneyNews📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mouthy.money📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mouthymoney/✍️ Substack: https://mouthymoney.substack.com/📩 Get in touch: editors@mouthymoney.co.ukListen anywhere:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72bQEJnPAWJprmy0B9Yy4uApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mouthy-money/id1712308475Full disclaimer: Produced for general information only. Not investment, legal, tax, mortgage or other financial advice. If in doubt, consult a regulated professional about your own situation. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you put in. Never invest more than you can afford to lose. More at https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart. Captions are auto-generated and may not be fully accurate.