What caught my eye this week.
Ours is an age in which bad ideas refuse to die quietly, so no surprise to hear from The Guardian that ministers are again consulting with ‘City bosses’ on cutting the £20,000 cash ISA allowance:
The City minister, Emma Reynolds, called a meeting with senior executives from six of the UK’s largest banks and building societies before what could be one of the biggest shake-ups of individual savings accounts since their creation in 1999 under the then Labour chancellor, Gordon Brown.
The meeting – which included bosses from NatWest, Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays, Nationwide and TSB – was held at the London offices of the lobby group UK Finance on Thursday, and is part of a series of government round tables taking place before a consultation on Isa market reforms.
Continuing the theme of dumb ideas that have already died once, they are apparently also considering reviving the British ISA dead donkey, too.
Look, it’s nice to see Labour and our captains of industry getting together to talk business.
But what a shame they can’t focus on, you know, actual business. Rather than returning again to fiddling with the financial goalposts.
This country seems to have become obsessed with apportioning up who gets to keep how much of what and where – be it a pension, an inheritance, or a lump of cash – rather than growing real wealth in any meaningful way.
It’s like a nation-state scale Lord of the Flies. We’re bickering about divvying up the same dozen special conch shells when we should be building a life raft.
Little Britain
Of course we all have our views about these wrappers and the best uses for them.
But does anyone really think that middle-class Britons keeping a bit too much money in cash when they could own shares in Tesco is what is holding Britain back?
Of course governments do a lot of things at once.
Just because Rachel Reeves is seemingly determined to fiddle with ISAs and even to slap ‘Buy Blighty’ on a poster somewhere, that doesn’t necessarily mean she isn’t hard at work the rest of the time on her AWOL growth agenda.
Does it?
Have a great weekend.
From Monevator
Avantis Global Small Cap Value ETF review – Monevator
Are easier mortgage regulations coming to the UK market? – Monevator
From the archive-ator: Asset allocation and your investment goals – Monevator
News
UK economy grew faster than expected in Q1 – Sky
HMRC toughens stance on wealthy households avoiding tax – Yahoo Finance
One in ten have no savings, financial regulator says – BBC
Treasury holds talks with fintech unicorns about London IPO prospects – Sky
…meanwhile fintechs face resilience test as interest rates fall – CNBC
New bank transfer fraud refund scheme sees 86% of losses refunded – Which
Central London property prices have crashed – This Is Money
Pension savers face running out of money 11 years into retirement – MoneyWeek
The farce of the deal – Apricitas Economics
Products and services
Is it time to fix your savings? – Which
Shops charging illegal ‘restocking’ fees for returns – Be Clever With Your Cash
Get up to £4,000 when you transfer your ISA to InvestEngine our link. (Minimum deposit of £100, other T&Cs apply. Capital at risk) – InvestEngine
Is it about to become easier to get a mortgage? [Probably] – Which
Mortgage rates fall again as product choice hits 17-year high… – Mortgage Introducer
…and two-year fixes fall below 2022 mini-Budget levels… – This Is Money
…but is this new 100% mortgage product a good idea? – This Is Money
Get up to £100 of free trades and pay no SIPP fee for three months with Interactive Investor. Terms and fees apply. – Interactive Investor
Why don’t tradesmen return calls or give quotes? – This Is Money
The ten places where you’ll get the biggest garden for your money – This Is Money
Homes for sale with stylish interiors, in pictures – Guardian
Comment and opinion
Dear HSBC, income does not equal wealth – Simple Living in Somerset
“All the ways I feel poorer than I am” – Ryan Holiday
A good time for the sleeping point story – Phil Pearlman
How Charlie discovered that time wealth can be key to a happier life – Guardian
These two factors tend to drive portfolio success – Alpha Architect
Donald Trump vs Mr Market – Tim Harford
Trouble on the horizon – Behavioural Investment
How to prepare your portfolio for a recession – Morningstar
Handling requests for advice from friends and family – Investment Talk
Go for the gold? – Humble Dollar
The venture capitalisation of culture – Money with Katie
The inescapable principle of comparative advantage – Econlib
Understand US equity return expectations [Research, PDF] – AQR
Naughty corner: Active antics
Airbnb’s second, second act – Spyglass
Terry Smith on Warren Buffett [Paywall] – FT
Thoughts and prayers for Apple – Asymco
Nestle is trying to spin off its bottled water business – Sherwood
Warren Buffett’s $160bn Apple bet: a history – Satpost
Active management is quietly reinventing itself – CFA Institute
Kindle book bargains
Hype Machine: Inside the Cult of Crypto by Joshua Oliver – £0.99 on Kindle
The Price of Money by Rob Dix – £0.99 on Kindle
The Great Crashes: Lessons from Global Meltdowns by Linda Yueh – £0.99 on Kindle
Failed State: Why Britain Doesn’t Work by Sam Freedman – £0.99 on Kindle
Or pick up one of the all-time great investing classics – Monevator shop
Environmental factors
Why are all of American’s biggest cities sinking? – Grist
Car parks could be covered in solar panels to deliver EV charging – This Is Money
Are sailing ships the future of sustainable shipping? – Reasons to be Cheerful
Dangerous clear-air turbulence is worsening due to global warming – Ars Technica
Scars from the world’s first deep sea mining test, 50 years on – BBC
How to grow your own rainforest [Paywall] – FT
Robot overlord roundup
Thoughts on thinking – Dustin Curtis
FaceAge tool can tell your biological age from one photo – Guardian
PR pros discovering how to best influence AI chatbots – Semafor
“We’re definitely going to build a bunker before we release AGI” – The Atlantic
Musk’s AI bot Grok rants about ‘white genocide’ in unrelated chats – Guardian
AI is too busy to take your job – Dror Poleg
Not at the dinner table
Tariffs and manufacturing jobs: three big problems – Agglomerations
Drill, baby, dr…never mind – Paul Krugman
Kayfabe and the trade war – Kyla Scanlon
The end of the rule of law – The Atlantic [h/t Abnormal Returns]
What if the President tries to annex Greenland and Canada? – Reason
Off our beat
How ships escaped the great stagnation – Works in Progress
Taiwan’s double, double toil and trouble [Paywall] – FT
Why do people lie about taking Ozempic? – Guardian
Ending the ‘anger economy’ – More To That
You might live to 100. Are you ready? – Guardian
Silicon Valley billionaires literally want the impossible – Ars Technica
When do pop stars reach their peak? – Stat Significant
A more holistic approach to back pain – Peter Attia
The Dead Sea Scrolls unravel the mystery of the pyramids – London Review of Books
A few questions – Morgan Housel
The red door – Ted Merz
And finally…
“Monopoly is the condition of every successful business. All failed companies are the same: they failed to escape competition.”
– Peter Thiel, Zero to One
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Typo alert: It’s *Red* Sea Scrolls (recently discovered), not Dead Sea Scrolls, that relate to the Great Pyramid.