What participants say after the reading room

"I joined the reading programme not knowing what to expect. I had read Bogle years ago but never discussed the ideas with anyone. The Saturday morning format suited me well — enough time between sessions to absorb what I had read. I came away with a clearer sense of my own temperament as a saver and investor than I had before. The facilitator never tells you what to do. She asks the questions that make you work that out for yourself."

"I attended the Annual Review workshop with my wife. We had talked about doing something like this for years — reviewing our household finances properly — but kept not quite getting to it. The workshop gave us the structure to actually do it. We left with a draft that we have since refined. The template is simple enough that we have continued using it on our own. That is probably the best endorsement I can give: we did not need to come back to use it."

"The Documents programme was the one I had been looking for without knowing it. My father passed away two years ago and the process of finding his financial documents was slow and stressful. I signed up for this programme partly to avoid putting my own children through the same experience. The inventory I completed is now stored in a place my wife knows about. That peace of mind is worth considerably more than the fee."

"I have sat through several financial education seminars over the years and found most of them tiresome — either very basic or very clearly an introduction to something being sold. This was different. The reading format meant I had done the thinking before arriving in the room. The discussion then tested that thinking. Three months after finishing, I still find myself returning to the notes I made during the Saturday sessions."

"My complaint, if it can be called that, is only that I wish I had attended eight years earlier. The Annual Review framework is genuinely useful. I am a person who works with data all day and I had never sat down and looked at my own household finances in this way. The facilitator creates a room where it does not feel embarrassing to admit that. The small group matters — I would not have been as forthcoming in a larger setting."

"The Documents programme covered things I had not thought about — specifically what happens to provident fund records if the employer changes or closes. The facilitator had researched the Thai-specific questions carefully. I left with an inventory that my daughter has a copy of. It is not a dramatic thing to do, but it is one of the more responsible things I have done for my family in recent years."