Good reads from around the Web.
Thanks for the amazing response to The Accumulator’s call on Tuesday for your thoughts on the future of pensions in light of the Government’s new consultation.
So far over 60 of you have written really constructive comments. I’d suggest the whole thread is worth a read if you’ve only read the article so far.
If you’re a glutton for pension punishment, a couple of other UK bloggers have also taken up the consultation theme, including DIY Investor (UK) and ermine at Simple Living in Suffolk.
As for me, I’m off to start cooking this afternoon’s barbeque.
Yes, before 10am!
I have a whole leg of lamb that I am going to try smoking and slow roasting for 3-4 hours.
The truth is I’m a bit daunted.
While I’m already far from a LIDL bargain burger BBQ-er, this is the first time I’ve ever attempted something so meaty – and in particular boney – on a barbeque.
I love my fancy Weber Kettle BBQ
So have a great weekend, and if you don’t hear from me next week I guess blame it on the E. coli!
From the blogs
Making good use of the things that we find…
Passive investing
- Should I really be buying stocks (or bonds) now? – Oblivious Investor
- Why buy and hold works – A Wealth of Common Sense
- What does it take to be a successful investor? – DIY Investor UK
- So few generals, so few top fund managers – Rick Ferri
Active investing
- Pictures of global risks – Musings on Markets
- Embracing uncertainty – iii blog
- Are Rolls-Royce shares worth buying? – UK Value Investor
- Neglected or distressed? – Oddball Stocks
- Big oil may be cheap for a reason – The Value Perspective
Other articles
- Calculating your portfolio’s rate of return – Canadian Couch Potato
- How to quit your job: The Jump – The Escape Artist
- You can’t learn to be a great comedian or a great investor – AWOCS
- Can you forecast better than a dart throwing chimp? – The Psy-Fi blog
- Fear, paralysis, and getting started in investing – Abnormal Returns
Product of the week: Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s suggestion that rates might finally start to rise at the turn of the year knocked housebuilders’ share prices and sent some people rushing to fix their mortgages. Hopefully cash deposit rates might finally start edging up, too. Just this week Halifax and Virgin Money launched two-year ISAs paying 2%, which already make them table-toppers in that category.
Mainstream media money
Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view these enable you to click through to read the piece without being a paid subscriber of that site.1
Passive investing
- Faint praise indeed for active management – Morningstar
- Robert Shiller: The mirage of the financial singularity – Project Syndicate
Active investing
- Carl Icahn calls Blackrock and high yield ETFs “very dangerous” – N.Y. Times
- Income ain’t what it used to be [Search result] – FT
- Are the shares of gold mining companies a buy? – Bloomberg View
- Twitter spiked this week on a spoof takeover report – Bloomberg
- A visual history of failed stock market crash predictions – Fund Reference
Other stuff worth reading
- What rising interest rates mean for you – The Guardian
- How saving £86 a month extra could mean a good pension – The Guardian
- Apple Pay: What it is and how it works [Search result] – FT
- Cash is the only “entirely safe” investment – ThisIsMoney
- Inheritance tax: How does the UK compare? – Telegraph
- Investing philosophies in 10 words or less – Motley Fool US
- War against reason: The Genetically Modified Food (GMO) debate – Slate
Book of the week: The article on big oil by The Value Perspective in the links above suggested Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air
Like these links? Subscribe to get them every week!
- Note some FT articles can only be accessed through the search results if you’re using PC/desktop view (from mobile/tablet view they bring up the firewall/subscription page). To circumvent, switch your mobile browser to use the desktop view. On Chrome for Android: press the menu button followed by “Request Desktop Site”. [↩]
the book (pdf) on sustainability can still be accessed here http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.115.8634&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Thanks for the deep dive into oil companies. But I still think Shell is a bargain at the moment.
Thanks for the links.
I admire your work ethic, but I have a psychological aversion to cooking so being “barbeque man” is out of the question for me. My preferred position is in the shade, with an ice cold beer.
Just a random thought about the dividend income tax changes. Doesn’t this make VCTs and zero dividend preference shares much more attractive to higher earners?
To be fair, the LIDL BBQ burgers are actually pretty good!
So it’s now Sunday evening, sun is shining, it’s pleasantly warm, and I’ve had a drink. So how did the barbie go?
@Rob — Hah, cheers for asking. It was… okay.
I overcooked the lamb! Put in special long-life briquettes, pre-burned them for 45 minutes, then put the (heavily) marinaded lamb in (with a few foot long sprigs of rosemary for smoke!) But I gave it three hours (and 45 minutes or so resting) when I think probably two hours would have done. Most of the marinade/outer had turned black, the fat had turned crackling, and it was well done throughout.
All that said it was pretty nice, and the whole lot went (people literally pulled the last bits off the bone, when there was other stuff they could have been eating).
Will try again in a few weeks with less time — and more faith in the Weber! 🙂
@The Investor
Never tried slow cooked lamb.
Try pulled pork with a shoulder of pork and a low heat (~120-140 degrees) for around 9 hours. You’ll need a good spice rub and it helps to brine the pork overnight. You pull prok with a couple of sturdy forks, absoluytely delish. Don’t forget the homemade bbq sauce!
Slow cooking on the weber is a good metaphor for the slow and steady approach. Hard work and patience required, less fiddling the better, but rewarding in the end.
The morningstar article “Faint praise…” link requires premium membership. For non-premium access
http://www.morningstar.com/advisor/t/107155250/faint-praise-indeed-for-active-management.htm
works
@Fremantle — Thanks for the other link. Weird, as it worked for me on Saturday and I haven’t got membership? Possibly the URL changed or I copied the wrong thing!
Belated thanks for the links. A lot of girding of loins going on right now reminding one of how sticking to the plan – any plan – is almost universally better than winging it.
Also: good reminder to enjoy the weekend!