How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb
Do you read the FT? Most readers here will say ‘no’, and that’s as it should be, we’ll show you why. Anxiety free investing? There’s a very real technique in doing this, backed up by a Nobel Prize, so I outline for you how that’s done, and what you definitely should not be doing.
The universal guidepost for all financial decisions
An astute investor I know of in the US, Morgan Housel, is also a very, very accomplished communicator who is effective at distilling practices and experience into simple summaries. The simple litmus test of financial decisions he believes is the question ‘Does this help me sleep at night?’ What he is saying is…
The power of cash
Following on from last week’s note, maybe its only stuffy baby boomers who have noted the irony in the FTX crypto investors rushing to the exit to sell their crypto holdings for cash. Next up on the list of items proving cashflow is king, is Mike Ashley – he’s in the process of…
Lifting the lid – the company with £12bn too much money
As people we know about ‘the law of unintended consequences’, and that rule applies throughout the arithmetic of investment. Some is unintended, some consequences are designed, some are simply natural. Interest rate rises have a…
Mr Hunt – which pocket will he pick and will it hurt?
Like borrowing money for a car or a house, government money also needs to be paid back, and that job belongs to Jeremy Hunt. His predecessor said he planned to ignore paying back what we owe so the lenders had him and his boss evicted. It’s interesting to note that…
11% interest: don't get eaten by the angler fish
How to get rich slowly and avoid the puddles. The hullabaloo over gilts has had a knock-on effect with interest rates, and you’ll have noticed that interestingly large rates are now being advertised. We should probably repeat ‘if it looks too good to be true …’,
Are "interesting times" a blessing or a curse?
I’m never sure whether the Chinese regard it as a curse or a blessing to live in interesting times, and I’m pretty sure anyone connected to the media in the UK is having a blast with our current shenanigans. Last week’s newsletter came to you a day early due to Kwasegate, and it happened that we pressed the button a mere five minutes before his disciplinary at the head mistress’s office.
And now again – as I write this on Thursday we’ll try to ensure we
Stats and facts
I'm leaving this question in for you - it's rhetorical, but it is very important in setting the right frame of mind for income investing. A quick question to ponder on: are you more anxious about what your income will be in the next 12 months, or in 10 years time?
Beating inflation
Baby boomers know about inflation, today’s 60 year old hit teenage years when the price of his Spirograph was shooting up in price by 24%. Spikes always occur, however from 1970 to 1980 the average of the annual inflation rates was 13.3%. Yikes.
The SafeMax 4% Theory
The 4% Rule was defined in America by Bill Bengen using US stocks and bonds records, along with US inflation. This is Bill's original essay and calculations. The study does not transpose to the UK because UK equity, fixed income and inflation levels are not the same; the principle is valid in the UK but not the calculation.
Understanding inflation, by looking at inflation and deflation together
This is what’s called macro – it’s to do with wealth in a country, a continent, the world, and within that macro environment we all exist, earn and pay our bills. The macro measures big ticket items, like the price of everything at the factory gate
We draw on Irving Fischer’s book “Money Illusion” and examine what inflation and deflations means to us.
Things go better with Coke - would you like some?
Warren Buffet first invested in Coca Cola in 1988. He (Berkshire Hathaway) now own 400m shares, 9.4% of that company.
As a result, on the 15th March of this year he received a payment of $168,000,000 from Coca Cola. In cash. It’s a quarterly dividend.
Rule of 72
This is the most important calculation any investor needs to know. It is simply a shortcut to estimate the number of years required to double your money for a given rate of return / interest / yield.
Converting cash sums into monthly pay cheques: rational income investing in a post-QE environment
In this free white paper, we argue that Modern Portfolio Theory is an inappropriate basis for generating a retirement or other long-term income for individual investors because their main objective is reliability of income, not capital growth.
In Search of the Perfect Portfolio
The golden goose of low fees and high yields has been the dream for investors and advisers alike and a common way to try and achieve this has been to predict the markets. However, in reality, this is akin to trying to predict the lottery.
When QE Broke the 4% Rule
Research from the actuary Lane Clark & Peacock assessing modelling of retirement portfolios alongside consideration of relevant asset allocations for decumulation. It also outlines their thinking on why the heuristics on spending rules and portfolios need to be updated.
Delay for more Pay: Should I defer my State Pension?
The government will increase your State Pension for every week you defer it. You delay, they pay. This increase amounts to 1% for every 9 weeks you defer or 5.8% per year. But is it worth it?
Dealing with Average % in Investment Calculations
A very simple rule that is very important – investment returns are not symmetrical; if you have an investment that falls 20%, it has to then grow by 25% just to get back to where you started.
3 Ways to Earn the Same Return With Less Risk
In our everyday course of business we are constantly assessing investments, and we abide by the rule that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That said, we believe there are three simple concepts you can employ to potentially earn the same return with less risk.
Jargon Busting
As in every industry, the number of financial planners claiming to be experts are endless, but in reality, very few will give clear, personalised expert advice to those who are not planning investing with gold bars and computer code and mid-Atlantic hotel rooms.