by The Investor
on May 15, 2010
My regular musings on the week’s best article, followed by other great posts and pieces.
There are three big themes in the papers this weekend, and we’ve already covered them all on Monevator:
Suffice to say, I’ve kept re-investing more of my recently liberated cash into cheaper stocks. I also finally bought some preference shares for my ISA – Natwest ones yielding nearly 9%. I’ll try to write about them soon.
Instead of repeating myself on Greece and the market gyrations, I’d like to highlight a Motley Fool article featuring quotes from the great Charlie Munger.
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by The Investor
on May 14, 2010
I think environmental degradation is the biggest external threat to my wealth. It makes me poorer, even as I save to get richer.
Mostly your financial future is within your control. If you work hard, avoid debt, and invest, then as long as you’re healthy you’ll do fine.
But some threats are outside of your control:
- War
- Revolution
- Environmental degradation (see Collapse
by Jared Diamond)
Of these, environmental degradation currently looks the most dangerous for Western investors.
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by The Investor
on May 12, 2010
What a relief. For a few terrible hours, it seemed a barmy alliance of the losers could have left Labour clinging to power.
As it is, the right parties got the job.
Yes – parties. I believe this coalition could be the best result for seeing Britain through the vital economic rebalancing to come. Coalitions led us through World War 2, and the fallout from the Great Depression. Partnerships can work.
Indeed, we’re already seeing some welcome changes to Conservative policy under the influence of the Liberal Democrats.
Update: Since I published this article the official ‘pre-nup’ agreement between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems is now available as a PDF from the Conservative website. The main difference between the facts and the early rumors I report below is that the £10K personal tax threshold is an aspiration, not a concrete figure that will be made law anytime soon.
Second Update: You can now download the final coalition agreement as a PDF.
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by The Investor
on May 8, 2010
Just a few links this week due to “events dear boy, events”. Specifically, I’m doubled up in bed with back pain and have just managed to get up long enough to add FT links to this article I wrote yesterday night, and to hit publish!
What a week! I assumed that by today I’d be sharing where I’d decided to deploy the cash I liberated by selling some shares a month or so ago.
As it’s turned out, I’ve been putting it back into the market!
Okay, not all of it. But with the markets plunging on Greek fears and the UK in political deadlock, I couldn’t resist buying Lloyds, for instance. (I’ll post why next week).
I’ve also rejigged some ISA holdings, swapping illiquid small caps that had held their value for much-reduced blue chips with diversified global earnings. At some point, I expect to swap back – either because the small caps I sold eventually fall too, or because the blue chips rally.
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