by The Investor
on October 17, 2009
My weekly commentary followed by this week’s links to blogs and financial articles.
I only wrote two posts for Monevator this week, instead of my usual three.
I’m currently working long hours, you see, and that’s devoured most of my free time.
But never mind, because according to the specious logic of self-justifying bankers, I must be entitled to a six-figure bonus check as a result of my labours.
After all, “We work hard!” is one of the cries that the denizens of the financial goldfish bowl use to justify their inflated incomes.
As if nobody else works hard.
[continue reading…]
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by The Investor
on October 13, 2009
A core principle of most sensible investing strategies is to avoid having all your eggs in one basket:
Enough of the eggs already. (Not least because it’s making me hungry).
In practical terms, what it means is splitting your wealth between several asset classes, such as shares, bonds, and property. (See the Ivy League portfolio for an example).
It also means not putting all your money in just a couple of stocks or bonds or one rental flat above a Chinese restaurant, but rather diversifying for instance your equity allocation by buying a dozen or so stocks, or by using an index tracker.
All very sensible, and advisable. But in recent times largely useless.
This post will show why asset allocation isn’t delivering like it used to.
[continue reading…]
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by The Investor
on October 10, 2009
My weekly commentary followed by this week’s links to blogs and financial articles.
Star fund manager Neil Woodford caused a stir this week by revealing he has sold his holdings in oil giants BP and Shell.
Woodford believes the oil majors dividends are not secure, which makes them untenable in his £18 billion equity income fund.
[continue reading…]
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by The Investor
on October 10, 2009
More French office workers are dying by suicide every day. I don’t mean they’re wasting time in dead-end careers. They’re jumping out of windows.
The Guardian reports:
France Telecom, now Europe’s third-biggest phone company, has seen its brand name, Orange, suffer a public relations disaster as 24 workers have killed themselves in shocking circumstances in the last 18 months, with at least a dozen others making failed attempts to take their lives. Some staff were found dead in their workplace or left harrowing notes blaming the company for “management by terror” and bullying.
In the latest death, a 51-year-old threw himself off a bridge in the Alps after being moved from a back-office job to one in a call centre. Previously, a 32-year-old jumped from her office in front of colleagues at the end of the working day. Both left notes blaming unbearable working conditions and enforced job changes.
It’s possibly a statistical quirk. France Telecom employs 100,000 people, and unfortunately a percentage of any big number of people kill themselves annually, as The Independent points out.
But if the suicide notes are to be believed, then the news is even sadder and more frustrating.
[continue reading…]
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