Investing

I have written about several specific company’s shares here on Monevator over the past six months. How have they done?

Buying Lloyds shares is basically a bet that sweating its assets will out the earnings, eventually.

The 18th Issue GEB from NS&I offers limited returns for the risks of seeing no gains. I wouldn’t go near it.

To invest in oil, you don’t need to buy barrels of the stuff. Here are five ways to get exposure to oil without dirtying your hands.

I think the time has come to buy commercial property. And almost nobody agrees with me.

Property has bond-like qualities, in that it represents a solid asset that produces an income via rents.

The markets are still far below a level they first reached in 2000. They may go up or down, but don’t doubt we’ve suffered enough.

The endowment funds of Ivy League universities like Yale and Harvard have historically achieved excellent returns, with less volatility than an index tracker fund.

Today I read an article from Alan Steel, a fund manager. Here are the key reasons why he thinks the March low means equity investors could see great returns for years.

When deciding how often to rebalance your portfolio, you’ll need to consider several factors, including: The kinds of assets you hold The cost of trading such assets Tax issues The free time you have available Your personal judgement How often you can be bothered to do it I’m serious about that last point, incidentally. If [...]

Once you’ve committed to rebalancing your portfolio to maintain your chosen asset allocation, you need to decide when you’ll do the deed. As usual, I’m definitely not going to give you a precise plan on how often you should rebalance. I think there’s no perfect answer, and you need to decide for yourself. That said, [...]

I have previously discussed why rebalancing your portfolio is a good idea. In short, by reducing or adding to your holdings in different asset classes, you can smooth your returns and keep risk within a level you can tolerate. How do you actually do it? Well, rebalancing is definitely an art more than a science. [...]

Most of the benefits of investing are obvious. Many would say they amount to zero – or rather all the zeros you hope to see at the end of your bank balance! More thoughtful souls ask what successful investing could translate into, whether it be the sports cars and fancy holidays you imagine as a [...]

Very few private investors give much thought to asset allocation, even though it’s far more important than picking stocks or funds in determining your investment returns. Even worse, those who do set up a nicely diversified portfolio often forget all about their ideal asset mix once they’ve made their initial decisions! This is foolish, and [...]

This series has previously looked at the general principle of investing during a crisis, as well as how you might react to particular headline news events. But crisis investing is also relevant to particular company stocks. Companies are hit by media headlines proclaiming ‘crisis’ all the time, whether it’s a crisis in the boardroom, a [...]