Good reading from around the Web.
You may notice as you peruse Monevator – especially if you dive into the archives [1] – that an awful lot of Like buttons at the top of each article have an ominous zero counter next to them.
Embarrassing? Just a tad. To write an article that literally nobody has ‘Liked’ is a bit like a slap in the face with a wet fish.
It could be worse. Imagine if there was a whole range of such buttons – Bored, Suicidal, TLDR (look it up [2], grandad). It would take a lot of Likes to make up for one Fell Asleep.
Happily, the generous and much appreciated feedback we receive via email [3] and the blog comments tells me not to take the Like button too seriously. It’s a mechanism for Facebook sharing, not a vote on literary merit or usefulness. (Isn’t it?)
But there’s still a problem. A few weeks ago we had plenty of articles with five, 10, or in a few cases over 50 Likes to their name.
But now they sport just one or two – or none.
It’s happened because a few weeks ago we rewrote the web structure of the blog, which changed where the Like counters point to. I made the change to enable us to update old articles without losing in-bound links and also to enable us to bring them to the attention of new readers, which should be a net benefit.
But it does mean that we’ve lost a lot of Likes – “social equity”, the web gurus call it – despite an elegant trick that worked to preserve the Likes for a while but has stopped working (it’s still working for Twitter, for now).
All of which is a long-winded way of saying that if you see a big fat Zero next to an old article that you personally thought was worth the price of admission (free!) then don’t feel foolish. Maybe someone else Liked it too, but the site has forgotten.
Also, please do use the Like buttons if you feel able.
It spreads the Monevator message on Facebook. And it stops us sniffling.
p.s. It seems that problems with Natwest bank [4] may continue all weekend. This big FAQ [5] on The Guardian’s website could help you if you’re affected.
From the money blogs
- Tax notes to my unborn grandchild – The Psy-Fi blog [6]
- How to trade US presidents, box offices, and E.T. – Investing Caffeine [7]
- Why annuitizing reduces risk [US but relevant] – Oblivious Investor [8]
- The world’s most efficient air conditioner – Mr Money Mustache [9]
- How to find the best dividend-paying shares… – UK Value Investor [10]
- …though Richard Beddard doesn’t really get the appeal – iii blog [11]
- Understand the investment cycle… – Clear Eyes Investing [12]
- …though not everything is cyclical [PDF] – Lindsell Train [13]
- How to become a better share analyst in one hour – Geoff Gannon [14]
- Confirming the case for investing in quality stocks [PDF] – GMO [15]
- [From March] Jacob updates from the office – Early Retirement Extreme [16]
Book of the week: One reason I was pleased when The Accumulator started covering passive investing on Monevator is because I’ve been investing ever more actively (though it’s all relative, and my eyes are wide open to likely under-performance) and I didn’t want to lead you astray. But if you’ve already been led, then do check out Free Capital [17]
Mainstream media money and investing
- The crowd-funded economy: Raising capital online – The Economist [18]
- Peston: Will empowered shareholders curb excessive pay? – BBC [19]
- Roth: The case for investing in European stocks – Moneywatch [20]
- Emerging market indexing – Mint.com [21]
- The problem with Henry may derail the U.S. recovery – Bloomberg [22]
- Severn Trent RPI-linked bond evaluated – Fixed Income Investor [23]
- Time running out for trust-based tax avoidance schemes – FT [24]
- Brokers paid to favour ‘quality’ borrowers – FT [25]
- Some socially good ways to put your money to work – FT [26]
- Coutts: House prices could fall by 11 per cent – Telegraph [27]
- Average man will have earned £1 million by 50 – Telegraph [28]
- Bank bonds are getting less risky, claim managers – Independent [29]
- How should Prince William spend his £10m inheritance? – Telegraph [30]
- The £705,000 ‘affordable’ home in London – The Guardian [31]
- How dubious aggressive tax avoidance work – The Guardian [32]
- How we die (in one chart) – Washington Post [33]
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