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Cameron and Clegg must make a suicide pact

UK post-election Mexican standoff

After the furore of the Greek debt crisis, the week ended with Brown, Cameron and Clegg in a Mexican stand-off to be the next Prime Minister of the UK.

As I’ve written before, it was time for the Conservatives to win and do their thing. If I’m honest I thought they’d squeak a majority.

But the folk memories in Wales, Scotland, and the North run deep.

Southern English constituencies have turned decisively blue everywhere that was red, but tribal loyalties far from London brought out voters who hate the Tories even more than they hate Labour’s wars, liberties with civil liberties, and the 2.5 million long jobless queues.

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Greeks gift us a buying opportunity

Greek crisis turns to riots

I am pretty sanguine about the Greek crisis and the panic that engulfed the market this week.

Newsflash – stocks don’t go up forever! If they did the FTSE would be even less affordable than UK houses. We’d need a dodgy mortgage from Lloyds or RBS just to buy their shares.

I understand the fears of contagion from the Greek crisis, the position of the Euro, the risk of the solvency of European banks, and so on.

But none of this is new. Not even Europe’s dithering – that’s business as usual. As a result, I think it’s just nervous investors throwing their toys out of the pram as they periodically do.

And that’s an opportunity for brave investors buying well-diversified UK and US stocks to profit from stock market fear.

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Using a watchlist to improve your investing

Using a watchlist

Keeping a watchlist of attractive stocks is a useful discipline for active investors, whether you’re in a bull market that’s grinding higher or a bear market in headless chicken mode.

If you’re a passive investor, then regularly investing in a tracker and turning off the TV when share prices fall is a perfectly sensible strategy. Invest for long-term returns, ignore the noise, and enjoy life.

If like me you choose to trade some individual shares alongside your passive funds, then it’s vital to keep your head when the market is on the move.

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Weekend reading: Opportunity knocks

Money, articles, investing, news

My regular weekend ramble, plus links to some great blogs and financial articles for you to peruse.

I am not convinced that having a good idea, failing to pursue it, and eventually seeing it implemented by someone else is worth beating yourself up over.

And not just because I’d have knocked all my teeth out!

Mainly it’s because I’ve learned that good ideas are common, whereas good implementation is hard and rare. And then you need good luck.

One day I’ll do a post called I Coulda Been a Contender, but for now there’s Missed Opportunities on Eliminate the Muda. It’s my blog post of the week.

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