Monevator: The UK's leading website for private investors

Thesis theme marks new direction

by The Investor on July 25, 2008

Regular readers will have noticed Monevator has had an overhaul in recent days. The new look is based on Chris Pearson’s amazing new Thesis premium WordPress theme, which I’d urge all you WordPress users to consider using.

I based the previous incarnation of Monevator on one of Chris’ earlier themes, Copyblogger; I loved the clean typography and logical way Chris had put together that theme. There were also lots of great little extras, such as the pull quotes you more often see in magazines than websites.

When I discovered Chris had Thesis, a very affordable premium package, in the works, I knew I had to try it out and I’ve not been disappointed.

Thesis has all the grace and style of Chris’ previous free themes, but this time it’s backed up by what seems like almost daily tweaks and upgrades (free for life!) and also a lively support forum. All for the price of a decent steak dinner for two!

I’ve tried many WordPress themes, and this is something special.

A list of advantages to Thesis would run and run, but my favourites include:

Super typography, as you can see from this site – I’ve never even seen another WordPress theme with drop caps, for instance. Your site will look effortlessly great
Thesis is easily tweaked, due to its logical structure, even by the less skillful coders out there
The Thesis support forums have seen most problems before, so it’s the work of minutes to find a solution to a common customisation query, such as inserting blocks of ads or changing the header
Chris is writing excellent Thesis tutorials, which have expanded my knowledge of WordPress as much as of Thesis. A great bit of icing for the cake…
Finally, there are more goodies to come from the Thesis stable, such as a magazine-style WordPress theme (I asked specifically for it, and Chris wrote back within 24 hours to say one was in the works!)

I hope you stick around for more changes to come with Monevator, and I hope you agree the new look is a winner.

To be honest, Thesis made it pretty easy to smarten up. It costs $87 to buy, which is $87 more than all the free themes out there, but with the volume of Internet sites out there nowadays, I’m not sure free really cuts it anymore. And that $87 entitles you to lifetime upgrades, and currently a special second theme that’s in the works from Chris, too.

But don’t just take my word for it, check out these Thesis Testimonials.

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Should you swap your shares for an investment trust on a discount?

by The Investor on July 15, 2008

(Image: rednuht)

During a bear market in shares (like the bear market we’re in as I type), investors flee the scene like lemmings leaping off the Titanic.

One effect of such pessimism is widening discounts on investment trusts. When nobody wants to buy them, big, venerable investment trusts can easily trade at 10% discounts to their underlying assets (known as the trust’s Net Asset Value, or NAV for short).

For adventurous investors, discounts are an opportunity to get more shares for your money. A classic play is to buy the investment trust at a discount when times are bleak and then sell it when everyone has cheered up and the discount has narrowed, or even become a premium.

What if you’re already fully-invested and have no spare cash? Well, how about swapping your existing portfolio of blue chip shares, such as a high yield portfolio (HYP), for a discounted investment trust that holds similar shares already, and then selling and swapping back to a HYP when the discount closes?

Would it be sensible? Is it even financially viable, after trading costs? I’m not sure myself, so let’s explore whether you really can make money by swapping your portfolio of shares for a discounted investment trust.

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Vince Cable attacks attempts to prop up house prices

by The Investor on April 23, 2008

Following my recent post on the Government’s urging banks to help reckless (sorry, ‘hard-pressed’) borrowers, a reader alerted me to this excellent article from Vince Cable of the Liberal Democrats in The Independent pointing out that banks played their part in pumping up prices:

British banks, in particular, lent too much, too quickly, too carelessly, based largely on the optimistic but irrational belief that house prices can only increase and never fall.

[…] Banks and their executives are rightly excoriated for their cynicism in offloading risk and losses on to the taxpayer while pocketing large profits and bonuses. But they are correct to say that there are willing borrowers as well as reckless lenders. Much of the lending boom has been based on property and the belief that houses are not just our homes but the main source of family wealth: a pension, a bank account and a dwelling rolled into one.

The Government’s emergency package is at least partly designed to stop house prices finding a more sustainable level: a costly and ultimately fruitless objective.

If you’re new here, read my post urging the Government to leave house prices to fall to sensible levels, and see how housing is over-priced, relative to rent.

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Now the UK government wants banks to bail out borrowers

by The Investor on April 23, 2008

Not content with lending billions to the banks and bailing out Northern Rock, the UK government has set its sights on homeowners who are struggling to pay their mortgages.

According to the BBC:

Homeowners will have enough support to ensure that their homes are not repossessed, the government says. The comments came after key mortgage industry figures met Chancellor Alistair Darling and Housing Minister Caroline Flint at 11 Downing Street. But ministers did not outline how they would stop people losing their homes.

There are two ways to read this news: cynically, and angrily.
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