In this in‑depth conversation, Irish financial educator Dan shares his journey from auditing global funds at PwC to building Honest.ie, a platform devoted to independent personal‑finance education. Drawing on his background as a chartered accountant and tax adviser, Dan explains how he translates complex financial ideas into simple, actionable advice for ordinary people. The discussion covers everything from budgeting, debt, and housing decisions to ETF investing, pensions, and tax efficiency. Dan also opens up about what “honesty” means in practice — staying free from product bias while building trusted tools and educational content. Listeners learn how to create a simple, lasting financial system, avoid common behavioural traps, and take advantage of pensions as a powerful wealth‑building tool. Throughout, he argues that independence, transparency, and consistency matter more than chasing the next market trend.
Agenda
- Dan’s journey: from auditing big funds at PwC to building Honest.ie and choosing an education‑first, product‑free model.
- Money foundations: emergency fund, simple budgeting without spreadsheets, good vs bad debt, and the “housing trap” in Ireland and Europe.
- ETF investing basics: go‑to long‑term portfolio, the “How to invest €100” framework, why broad global ETFs work, and building a simple global stack.
- Behaviour and staying the course: emotional pull of active investing, common behavioural traps like FOMO and panic‑selling, and how to build a system you can stick with for decades.
- Pensions, tax and Honest.ie: using pensions as a secret weapon, keeping taxes simple, and how Dan keeps Honest.ie independent while building tools that help investors compare products.
Links
Video and podcast
Listen to “The ETF Playbook: Simple Rules for Long‑Term Investors (Dan Malone)” on Spreaker.
