by The Investor
on August 18, 2009
I have already read a couple of books by panelists from Dragon’s Den, the BBC TV show that puts would-be entrepreneurs in front of self-made millionaires for their money or their ridicule.
On Saturday I picked up another — Theo Paphitis’ Enter the Dragon
— in a Waterstones’ 3-for-2 offer.
Perhaps I’ve become a Dragon’s Den groupie? I’m certainly not reading these books for their literary qualities.
100 Secret Strategies for Successful Investing by Richard Farleigh is like the brain dump of a share bulletin board poster with verbal diarrhea. There wasn’t much takeaway value, though Farleigh’s rags-to-riches tale was heartening.
Duncan Bannatyne meanwhile took time off from snarling at the inventors of dog treadmills and revolutionary shower caps to write Anyone Can Do It.
Bannatyne wasn’t promising much more than a pep talk, but his book worked better than Farleigh’s, perhaps because Duncan made his initial money selling ice creams, whereas Fairleigh earned his wodge investing other people’s billions — not really an option for most of us.
So what about Theo Paphitis? The Dragons are famously competitive: Does Theo measure up?
Enter The Dragon: How I Transformed My Life and You Can Too is at least snappier to read than its title.
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by The Investor
on August 15, 2009
This week we saw more signs that the world was moving out of recession. Well, that France and Germany were moving out of recession.
Both countries posted +0.3% GDP growth figures for the second quarter, causing economists to splutter their croissants and sausages all over Le Monde and Der Spiegel.
In difficult times one has to put aside one’s Little Englander mentality and be grateful for good news, even if it falls at the feet of the Germans and the French.
After all, what happens across the Channel will surely soon follow here (leather shorts, saying ‘Ciao!’ and a sensible attitude towards alcohol excepted).
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by The Investor
on August 14, 2009
A couple of days ago I bought shares in the Blackrock Smaller Companies Investment Trust (BRSC).
Together with my positions in two other similar trusts – Aberforth Smaller Companies and The Rights and Issues Investment Trust – plus a handful of individual small cap holdings, I’ve now got around 15% of my net wealth in mini companies.
Partly I think (or thought) that these trusts were beaten down too much in the bear market; I’ve already written about the Rights and Issues Trust, and my investment in Aberforth is showing a profit, too, although my first buy was too early.
But my putting money into the Blackrock Smaller Companies Trust is prompted by a slightly different motivation.
I’m increasingly minded to think the worst of the economic slump is behind us.
As recently as February I felt isolated in looking on the economic bright side; given what happened in March, perhaps that was deserved!
But latterly optimism has spread as fast as bearishness did in 2008, leading to a big run up in share prices.
This optimism is the motivation for investing in small caps.
Historically, over the long-term small cap value shares outperform larger companies – it’s one of the very few edges a private investor can be fairly confident of securing versus investing in a broad market tracker.
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by The Investor
on August 13, 2009
I went to two weddings last weekend, at opposite sides of the British Isles.
For practical reasons my girlfriend and had to drive from one to the other, which meant getting up at 7am on the Sunday after hitting the pillow at 3am the night before.
Roadworks on the Sunday morning also saw us getting dressed for the second wedding behind an outbuilding in a car park. You can’t fake class like that.
Attending two weddings in a weekend was great fun, but far too expensive. My personal finance tip would be to have less friends, so it’s less likely to happen to you.
When it comes to money and hosting weddings though, I realised that actually I do have something useful to offer.
I might be something of a perpetual bachelor (note: bribing all those brides to throw the bouquet away from my partner doesn’t come cheap!) but I’ve been to a couple of dozen weddings over the years, and watched what works and what isn’t worth the money.
Here then are a few less ordinary tips for any brides, grooms or anxious parents on how to throw a wedding on a budget from the point of view of the most important person there – the bride, the bride’s best friend, me!
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