What caught my eye this week.
I noticed as I compiled today’s links that I’ve a new favourite investing blog. Who Enso Finance [1] is I’ve not idea (and s/he is in great company there!) but I’m looking forward to their musings each week.
Take the latest post [2] on the limits of diversification:
Most things die. All things change.
The ultimate failure mode for diversification is to consider it in too narrow a context, and mistake our attachment to particular mythologies, cosmologies, and models for the immutability of those things.
There are many triggering ways of illustrating this, but I’ll leave it at this: society can remain communist longer than you can remain alive.
I have been linking to Enso Finance for a while. No reader has yet picked up and commented on anything below, though.
Perhaps it’s a blog that you need to have been around the block a few times to gel with? It feels to me full of deep wisdom. Like talking shop with the oldest genial person in the office.
If you’re a veteran investor I say give it a try.
Have a great weekend everyone!
From Monevator
Irish ETFs: post-Brexit CDI switch – Monevator [3]
Do you have an investing edge? – Monevator [4]
From the archive-ator: Tax relief upfront is the same as tax relief later – Monevator [5]
News
Note: Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view you can click to read the piece without being a paid subscriber. Try privacy/incognito mode to avoid cookies. Consider subscribing if you read them a lot!1 [6]
Private sector growth at eight-year high as retail sales jump – Guardian [7]
UK public sector spending deficit hits £303bn post-war record – Pound Sterling Live [8]
House prices hit all-time high; beach huts lead the market in price inflation… – Country Life [9]
…as total property sales hit 16-year high – Guardian [10]
Government to pay £120m to London Capital & Finance investors – Which [11]
FCA warns social media sites it will act on risky investment offers – Guardian [12]
Credit Suisse raises capital after the Archegos blow-up – Reuters [13]
Value has a long way to go before it catches back up with growth – The Irrelevant Investor [14]
Products and services
Vanguard launches price war in UK pension market [Search result] – FT [15]
‘BankHub’ trials an alternative to High Street branches – ThisIsMoney [16]
A three-year face-off between Nutmeg, Wealthify, and Vanguard – Much More With Less [17]
Nationwide increases borrowing limit to 5.5x salary, with a five-year lock-in – ThisIsMoney [18]
Sign-up to Freetrade via my link and we can both get a free share worth between £3 and £200 – Freetrade [19]
The pros and cons of using a buy-to-let managing agent – ThisIsMoney [20]
Gates, cameras, and home security systems are more costly than you might think [Search result] – FT [21]
Barclaycard reportedly facing customer backlash after slashing credit limits – ThisIsMoney [22]
Homes for sale near water, in pictures – Guardian [23]
Comment and opinion
Investors are the moths, markets are the flames – A Teachable Moment [24]
Does withdrawal frequency timing alter success in drawdown? – The Poor Swiss [25]
How much should you have saved by your 30s? – A Wealth of Common Sense [26]
Bonds as investments today [Podcast, fortnight old] – Wealth Managed [27]
Is the exhausting cult of productivity finally over? – Guardian [28]
Adaptation – Indeedably [29]
Wooden spoons – Humble Dollar [30]
Central bank money printing is largely irrelevant to money supply and inflation – Factor Research [31]
Investing is a joke mini-special
The most annoying bull market of all-time – A Wealth of Common Sense [32]
Yeah, I bought some Dogecoin today – Slate [33]
The era of the joke as an investment idea – Of Dollars and Data [34]
Naughty corner: Active antics
With specialty funds, bigger has been better – Morningstar [35]
Understanding edge – Party at the Moontower [36]
Increasing disclosure requirements could hurt investors – Albert Bridge Capital [37]
Wall Street has mostly given up on shorting pricey stocks – Yahoo Finance [38]
Why should equities be fairly valued? – Behavioural Investment [39]
Endowment performance has sharply deteriorated since 2008 – TEBI [40]
Covid corner
India’s Covid surge affects the entire world – Slate [41]
Kindle book bargains
Bezonomics: How Amazon Is Changing Our Lives by Brian Dumaine – £0.99 on Kindle [42]
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss – £0.99 on Kindle [43]
Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking by Matthew Syed – £0.99 on Kindle [44]
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Turbulent, Triumphant Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made by Jason Schreier – £0.99 on Kindle [45]
Environmental factors
“Urgency and agency”: Michael Mann on conquering climate despair – Behavioral Scientist [46] [h/t Abnormal Returns [47]]
Off our beat
How people get [really] rich now – Paul Graham [48]
The self-educating child – Mr Money Mustache [49]
How many T. Rexes were there? Billions – Berkeley News [50]
Parents are sacrificing their social lives on the altar of intensive parenting – The Atlantic [51]
How one man accidentally became a global fashion brand – Guardian [52]
The creator crisis forced artists to be founders [Podcast] – Josh Constine [53]
And finally…
“Why do bubbles end? One obvious reason is that they run out of fuel.”
– William Quinn, Boom and Bust: A Global History of Financial Bubbles [54]
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