≡ Menu

Normal service will resume shortly

The stock market might have mounted a bit of a recovery over the past ten days, but unfortunately your writer has gone the other way. Picking up a particular virulent strain of Lurgy maximus while messing about on the river last weekend, I’ve been confined to bed for the past 96 hours on a diet of Ibuprofen and freshly squeezed orange juice.

I’m happy to report I’m feeling much better today though, so please do stay subscribed to Monevator, and look out for a resumption in posting once I’ve caught up with my other work next week.

{ 0 comments }

Weekend reading for investors: 14/3/09

Every week I read a large number of personal finance and investing articles. Here’s my latest weekly shortcut to the best.

I’m away suffering through a stag weekend today, so this selection of personal finance articles from the blogosphere doesn’t cover anything published after Thursday.

[continue reading…]

{ 0 comments }

Who isn’t buying the market right now?

"Get your favourite stock market, 50% off, everything must go...!"

“Get your favourite stocks here, everything must go!”

Eating breakfast this morning, I caught Hugh Hendry, the gloomy and currently outperforming UK fund manager, on CNBC.

Hendry’s main call, which he has been rewarded by repeating for months now, is to avoid equities.

Yes, the market has fallen, Hendry says, but that doesn’t mean it won’t keep falling. Look at the Great Crash of 1929, and all the down years that followed. Markets can keep dropping for years.

I like the twinkle in Hendry’s eye and his contrarian reflex, but regular readers will know I’m not convinced that he, me, or anyone else can really time stock market moves or spot bottoms over the short-term.

[continue reading…]

{ 13 comments }

Horizontal diversification

Horizontal diversification is when you hold different instances of the same asset class. In this form of portfolio diversification, you’re trying to reduce localised or industry sector specific risks.

A broad index-based ETF is a good example of horizontal diversification.

[continue reading…]

{ 0 comments }