What caught my eye this week.
I was delighted this week when we were named Best Investing Blog in the 2021 SHOMO Awards [1].
These awards have been running since 2015 and we were chosen by a panel of money bloggers as well as journalists and PRs. A nice way to start the year!
But why aspire to hang one award on the wall of the guest bathroom when you might pick up another?
And to that end, we’ve been nominated (thank you, whoever did the deed) for Online Financial Influencer of the Year in the 2022 British Bank Awards.
These fairly prestigious gongs are chosen by the public. So please do feel free to have your say – for us, or for our sworn enemies – via the official voting survey [2]. All entries go into a draw with a £1,000 cash prize.
Anyway this is Weekend Reading, so I thought I’d celebrate our SHOMO win by spreading the joy and linking to recent posts from runners-up in our category:
- 10 steps to becoming debt-free while loving life – The Money Principle [3]
- How to get a free flight upgrade – The Financial Wilderness [4]
- Why do bankers call things ‘sexy’? – Hannah Duncan [5]
- Bitcoin first – The 7 Circles [6]
- Avoid impulsive buying and save money – NJURLIFE [7]
Hope you enjoy them. But not by so much that you think there was a miscarriage of justice.
Good stuff
Finally and sticking with voting, the results of our best FIRE film [8] poll are in.
The winner by a clear majority was that tale of 1970s utopian suburbia, The Good Life. A respectable second place was claimed by It’s A Wonderful Life, with the Playing with FIRE documentary coming in third.
Thanks to everyone who cast their lot.
Judging by the comments and emails, it’s not clear to me whether The Good Life won on account of its financial messaging merits, or on the back of several dozen rekindled flames for Felicity Kendal.
Here’s a bonus clip [9] from the winner then to please all parties!
Have a great weekend.
From Monevator
The best FIRE films – Monevator [10]
Will you spend less as you age? The case against – Monevator [8]
From the archive-ator: The first law of personal finance is to spend less than you earn – Monevator [11]
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 [12]
UK economy grew at whopping 7.5% in 2021, but off a very low base – BBC [13]
Thousands more to be auto-enrolled into a pension as ‘earnings trigger’ frozen at £10,000… – ThisIsMoney [14]
…and there are calls for the trigger to be abandoned [Search result] – FT [15]
US inflation comes in hot, with CPI up 7.5% compared to a year ago – CNBC [16]
Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion – BBC [17]
[18]
Economists have solved the great toilet debate – Klement on Investing [19]
Products and services
TransUnion to include ‘buy now, pay later’ debts on credit reports – Which [20]
How are UK supermarkets trying to limit price rises? – Guardian [21]
Free money promo Join the 400,000+ people saving with a FSCS-protected Chip account, and we’ll both get a free £10. Download the Chip app here [22] then head to the ‘Promos & Referrals’ section on your profile and enter the code CHIP-EBZ267
Where can you get the highest rates on your savings? – Which [23]
Homes for stargazing, in pictures – Guardian [24]
Comment and opinion
Should you die with zero? – Rad Reads [25]
The media and the markets – M.Y.F.E. [26]
The hidden leverage of stock-based compensation [Search result] – FT [27]
Making a comeback – Humble Dollar [28]
Lies, damn lies, and stock market valuation – Valididea [29]
Why most money floods into assets at inopportune times – Young Money [30]
Dolmens and doldrums – Simple Living in Somerset [31]
Wall Street ethics: the good, the bad, and the ugly – Morningstar [32]
All things property, with Rob Dix [Video] – Foxy Monkey [33]
Measuring inflation mini-special
Is inflation worse for the poorest households? We don’t know – Tim Harford [34]
Covid-era kinks will screw with the inflation data – Joachim Klement [35]
Crypt o’ crypto
BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute – Guardian [36]
“Hackers helped me find my lost Bitcoin fortune” – BBC [37]
Not everyone is ready to ‘play the sap’ for crypto – Institutional Investor [38]
Ownership and the American Dream – Not Boring [39]
Naughty corner: Active antics
Suffering: the ultimate investing superpower – Compound Advisers [40]
Risk = danger + opportunity! – Musings on Markets [41]
Addition by subtraction – Novel Investor [42]
David Tepper: the king of bouncing back – Neckar’s Insecurity Analysis [43]
Covid corner
The ending of the last restrictions in the UK: “brave or stupid” – BBC [44]
Why are so many Americans still dying of Covid? – NY Mag [45]
Kindle book bargains
The World for Sale by Javier Blas and Jack Farchy – £0.99 on Kindle [46]
The Joy for Work by Bruce Daisley – £0.99 on Kindle [47]
What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence by Stephen A. Schwarzman – £0.99 on Kindle [48]
The Perils of Perception by Bobby Duffy – £0.99 on Kindle [49]
Environmental factors
Architects call for the mass insulation of interwar homes – Guardian [50]
UK’s North East coast devastated by mysterious mass die-off – Guardian [51]
The engineers battling to stop global warming ruining roads – BBC [52]
What is sustainable? – The Belle Curve [53]
100% of the snow at the Winter Olympics 2022 is artificial – TIME [54]
Off our beat
Would a four-day workweek work for your company? – Protocol [55]
After the fact – Morgan Housel [56]
Location, Location, Location: realistic edition [Video] – via Twitter [57]
How thinking about your future self can build a happier you – BBC [58]
The best and coolest decade: nostalgia for the 1990s – Spectator [59]
Brexit: what have we learned so far? [Video] – Gresham College [60]
Interesting outline of North America’s ‘new industrialism’ – Noahopinion [61]
And finally…
“Advice is one thing that is freely given away, but watch that you only take what is worth having.”
– George Clason, The Richest Man In Babylon [62]
Like these links? Subscribe [63] to get them every Friday! Note this article includes affiliate links, such as from Amazon [64] and Chip. We may be compensated if you pursue these offers, but that will not affect the price you pay.
- Note some articles can only be accessed through the search results if you’re using PC/desktop view (from mobile/tablet view they bring up the firewall/subscription page). To circumvent, switch your mobile browser to use the desktop view. On Chrome for Android: press the menu button followed by “Request Desktop Site”. [↩ [69]]