Good reads from around the web.
I am grateful to a Monevator reader who tipped me off [1] about this new TED video on the “psychological bias in financial decision making”.
It’s much more fun than it sounds. Watch and see!
It’s not a classic, but it is a very enjoyable walk through psychological flaws [2] (except when he pronounces “buoy” as boo-y instead of boy).
And anything that warns you about bouncing giddily into marriage as well as financial bubbles is fine by me.
p.s. Want to win £100,000 by larking around in an active trading experiment? With only eight rivals, the odds for anyone who makes the final cut are pretty good – even if you believe all outperformance is random! Apply at City Index [3] by 29 September.
From the money blogs
- Beware of bogus backdated performance figures – Rick Ferri [4]
- Is it convenient? Would I enjoy it? The wrong questions! – MMM [5]
- What makes something an alternative asset class? – Kitces [6]
- Do individual investors learn over time? – CXO Advisory [7]
- On “shareholder yield”: Dividends plus buybacks – Dividend Monk [8]
- Cheap ETFs provide an almost free lunch – Abnormal Returns [9]
- UK house value versus UK house affordability – RIT [10]
- Retired? Get an instant 25% return! – DIY Income Investor [11]
- Top-down versus bottom-up investing – UK Value Investor [12]
- Is gold cheap or expensive? – The Big Picture [13]
- Why the 4% rule is too simplistic – Wade Pfau [14]
Book of the week: I enjoyed Stephanie Flanders’ introduction to Keynes on the BBC the other night, though like all TV it was drawn-out, overly picturesque, and favoured trivia. If you want more John Maynard, try the recent Robert Skidelsky deep dive Keynes: The Return of the Master [15]
Mainstream media money and investing
- Passive fund costs falling, but watch the TER – CityWire [16]
- The Workspace 6% retail bond evaluated – Fixed Income Investor [17]
- Larry Swedroe: Investors worry while the markets rally – CBS [18]
- America’s richest hedgies – Forbes [19] (plus a riposte from T.R.B [20])
- Olive oil, drizzle, and drought – The Economist [21]
- A plea for a dividend-counting index – Motley Fool [22]
- Michael Mauboussin on decision making – Motley Fool [23]
- Flanders: How the coalition is failing to cut the deficit – BBC [24]
- US stocks future return, according to dividend model – WSJ [25]
- Felix Salmon: Was US housing a bubble or not? – Reuters [26]
- Fresh uncertainty over UK state pension – FT [27]
- Clouds ahead for farmland investors – FT [28]
- Merryn: The long-term price you pay for yield – FT [29]
- Martin Lewis: Stop calling student loans “debts” [I disagree!] – Telegraph [30]
- Study: Athletes do better when they make a fist of it – The Atlantic [31]
Product of the week: Santander [32] is about to launch a 1% cash back mortgage, which is a pretty unusual beast. However it will be capped at £10 a month, or £120 a year, and you’ll need to use its current account. (FT report [33]).
Like these links? Subscribe [34] to get them weekly!