What caught my eye this week.
There are some writers who can knock out zingers worthy an entire article from a rival hack, and one of investing’s is Jason Zweig.
In fact it’s a good thing Zweig is so pithy, because most of the piece [1] the following quote is from sits behind a Wall Street Journal paywall.
If I ask you in a questionnaire whether you are afraid of snakes, you might say no.
If I throw a live snake in your lap and then ask if you’re afraid of snakes, you’ll probably say yes – if you ever talk to me again.
Investing is like that: On a bland, hypothetical quiz, it’s easy to say you’d buy more stocks if the market fell 10%, 20% or more.
In a real market crash, it’s a lot harder to step up and buy when every stock price is turning blood-red, pundits are shrieking about Armageddon, and your family is begging you not to throw more money into the flames.
Then risk is no longer a notion; it’s an emotion.
If you do have a subscription to the Journal you’ll find the rest there [2]. (Do tell us if there’s anything else to beat that opener.)
All else I can do is point you to a sample from Zweig’s Devil’s Financial Dictionary [3] and a few wordier pieces we did on assessing your own risk tolerance:
- The Devil’s Financial Dictionary: An ABC for Passive Investors [4]
- How to estimate your risk tolerance [5]
- Know your own risk tolerance [6]
- Why I’m looking at my portfolio more as the news gets worse [7]
Have a great and snake-free weekend!
From Monevator
What is a master pension trust? – Monevator [8]
From the archive-ator: Financial calculators and tools collected – Monevator [9]
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 [10]
Bank of England forecasts lower interest rates for longer – BBC [11]
1-in-3 parents with stay-at-home adult children are tapping pension pots to cover £5K a year costs – ThisIsMoney [12]
What 2019 seed funding data says about our collective future – Crunchbase [13]
London slips further behind New York in financial centre rankings [Search result] – FT [14]
[15]
If you’re getting into angel investing, understand that venture capital returns are hit-driven – Medium [16]
Products and services
Hargreaves Lansdown [17] follows Fidelity [18] and Interactive Investor [19] in dropping exit fees – ThisIsMoney [20]
Merryn S-W: Wealth management could soon cost less than you think [Search result] – FT [21]
How fraudsters syphon away eBay money to copycat PayPal accounts – ThisIsMoney [22]
Total credit card spending overtakes cash for the first time – Guardian [23]
Seedrs will give you a £50 free investment credit [and me a cash bonus] when you invest £500 or more – Seedrs [24]
Where to get the new iPhone 11 at the lowest cost – ThisIsMoney [25]
Homes for sale with blue plaques [Gallery] – Guardian [26]
Comment and opinion
[Psychology aside] If you have cash on-hand, it’s best to get it invested ASAP – Of Dollars and Data [27]
Tackling climate change: An investor’s guide [Search result] – FT [28]
Financial markets are made of events, not things – A Teachable Moment [29]
Why we love to call everything a bubble – Bloomberg [30]
What number? – Humble Dollar [31]
How to escape the ‘motherhood penalty’ at work [Search result] – FT [32]
What is the value of financial advice? – Pragmatic Capitalism [33]
The pros and cons of sacrificing pension index-linking – Simple Living in Somerset [34]
What rugby union can teach us about investing – The Evidence-based Investor [35]
Yes, the stock market is going to crash – A Wealth of Common Sense [36]
Will the government end up losing money on Help To Buy? – ThisIsMoney [37]
How to retire before you turn 50 [Missed this last week – h/t reader J.] – Evening Standard [38]
Naughty corner: Active antics
TR Property trust: A real estate superstar – IT Investor [39]
Insights on VC Pricing: Lessons from Uber, WeWork and Peloton – Musings on Markets [40]
Venture capital, private equity, and… tennis – CFA Institute [41]
Brexit
UK Brexit plans fail all basic backstop tests, warns EU [Search result] – FT [42]
Kindle book bargains
ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever by Jason Fried and David Hansson – £1.99 on Kindle [43]
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion – £0.99 on Kindle [44]
One Last Job: The true story of Brian Reader, the man behind the Hatton Garden heist by Tom Pettifor – £0.99 on Kindle [45]
Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO is Shaping our Future by Ashley Vance – £1.99 on Kindle [46]
Off our beat
Feel the air fully – Raptitude [47]
Google claims to have reached quantum supremacy [and I for one welcome…] [Search result] – FT [48]
Finance memes are running rampant across Wall Street via Instagram – Institutional Investor [49]
The climate crisis explained in 10 charts – Guardian [50]
How mobile phone battery icons shape our perceptions of time and space – Phys.org [51]
What if Donald Trump [or Brexit…] just happened by accident? – Yahoo [52]
And finally…
“We don’t need to outsmart everyone else. We need to stick to our investment discipline, ignore the actions of others, and stop listening to the so-called experts.”
– James Montier, The Little Book of Behavioral Investing [53]
Like these links? Subscribe [54] to get them every Friday!
- 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”. [↩ [59]]