by The Investor
on October 21, 2009
“Never in the field of financial endeavor has so much been owed by so few to so many.”
— Mervyn King, Governor of the bank of England
I have said before I’m too lazy busy to feel able to update you about every trade I make in the active portion of my share portfolio.
But I don’t mind saying that I’ve now sold all my Lloyds shares.
While I didn’t catch the highs — and have already explained how my heady trading profits were pretty illusory — the quick gains I did bank were too tempting in light of the ongoing risks of holding Lloyds.
Lloyds shares still look cheap – and sitting through the many risks is what investors will likely be rewarded for – but with even the Bank of England governor Mervyn King last night stating banks must be broken up, the uncertainty just keeps mounting.
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by The Investor
on October 20, 2009
A few people emailed to ask how I calculated the yield on the RBS Royal Bond.
Hey presto! This post will tell you everything you need to know about calculating bond yields, whether for government or corporate bonds.
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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.
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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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