What caught my eye this week.
I am heading away early for the weekend, so not much time to muse over any of this week’s abundant links.
So I’ll just highlight this rather striking statistic from the ONS, as reported by The Guardian [1]:
“It now costs nearly £19,500 to buy enough residential floor space for a decent-sized coffee table in London’s priciest borough – but only £777 to accommodate the same small piece of furniture in a living room in south Wales.”
Obviously that’s an apples to oranges comparison (and I say that as a fan of South Wales!)
But can the London market really hold such a premium for much longer in the face of Brexit?
From Monevator
Do you need income protection insurance? – Monevator [2]
From the archive-ator: The poor performance record of active funds – Monevator [3]
News
Note: Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view these enable you to click through to read the piece without being a paid subscriber.1 [4]
Old £1 coins defunct from Sunday, but shops likely to ignore deadline – Guardian [5]
Bitcoin rises 75% in a month to top $5,000 – ThisIsMoney [6]
Amount retirees can ‘safely’ withdraw each year from pension drops to just 1.9pc – Telegraph [7]
National Living Wage has boosted low salaries without job losses – Guardian [8]
‘Hard Brexit will plunge the UK into recession, wipe 18% off growth by 2030, and cost each worker £11,500,’ warns investment bank – ThisIsMoney [9]
Products and services
How would ETFs fare in a market downturn? [Search result] – FT [10]
Remortgage now to grab a cheap fixed-rate mortgage – Guardian [11]
Tips on buying a new build home – ThisIsMoney [12]
‘We are being ripped off by our freeholder – what are our rights?’ – Telegraph [13]
Thousands of loyal Yorkshire BS savers to see 3.55% rate slashed – ThisIsMoney [14]
How much does it cost to leave your stockbroker? – Telegraph [15]
Self-employed and want a mortgage? Halifax only needs proof of one-year’s income – ThisIsMoney [16]
Comparing the costs of the new electric vehicle energy tariffs – ThisIsMoney [17]
A summary of UK workplace pensions – DIY Investor [18]
Comment and opinion
Passive versus active investing: A debate – Bloomberg [19]
Look after the pennies – Retirement Investing Today [20]
Investors do not underperform their investments – Advisor Perspectives [21]
(What to do if you have) enough already – Humble Dollar [22]
When mean reversion fails: Thoughts on the expensive market – Charlie Bilello [23]
‘Momentum’ investing bubble worries fanned by focus on market cap [Search result] – FT [24]
Do Index Buyers Make Overvalued Stocks More Overvalued? [Bit geeky, PDF] – I.I. Journals [25]
Unearthing bargains among high-yield stocks [PDF] – John Kingham [26]
When it comes to the numbers – SexHealthMoneyDeath [27]
Why Thaler’s Nobel is a well-deserved nudge for behavioural economics – Tim Hartford [28]
Down on the farm: Q3 portfolio review – Fire V London [29]
The striking similarities between getting rich and getting ripped – The Escape Artist [30]
Finding winning fund managers: The perils of past performance – Behavioural Investment [31]
Off our beat
Use what exists: A strangely inspiring interview with Jeff Goldblum – Shortlist [32]
Charts: How Americans differ by age – Visual Capitalist [33]
Electric car Vs winter – Mr Money Mustache [34]
And finally…
“A retirement income plan should be based on planning to live, not planning to die. A long life will be expensive to support, and it should take precedence over death planning.”
– Wade Pfau, How Much Can I Spend In Retirement? [35]
Like these links? Subscribe [36] 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”. [↩ [40]]