The bonus day at the bank recently come and went for another year. So, how best to sum up the atmosphere in the office the day after…. Things have definitely changed in the industry. Gone are the days when significant increases to both base and bonuses are the norm. These days in the run up to B-Day, there’s a customary round […] Read More
Investing
Being relatively young (mid thirties) means that NISAs (ISAs) are the savings/investment vehicle of choice for me when it comes to the stock market. While there are generous tax breaks on offer when you put money into a pension I currently prefer NISAs for the following two reasons: Any future income or capital gains generated […] Read More
The older (and wiser1) I get the more I find myself becoming less emotional about my investments. It’s been well proven in many studies that us humans are flawed when it comes to investing. Our psycological reaction to losing £1,000 is much great than the thrill of making the same amount. Of course there is […] Read More
So the markets traditional plan of drifting into the Christmas period merely squaring off positions and battening down the pnl for year end while enjoying a hazy fog of Christmas hangovers hasn’t quite worked out this year. The action has been been firmly focussed around the dramatic fall in oil prices in the latter half […] Read More
After reading Monevator’s recent article about committing to a long term investment strategy it got me thinking about my own journey through investing my strategies past and present. In particular I’ve been devoting some time to think about where I sit on the passive v active investment see saw. When looking at the equity investments in […] Read More
Yesterday I watched “Traders: Millions by the Minute” which is currently available on BBC iPlayer. This is a two part series that explores the world of financial trading. If you’re at all interested in investing this really is well worth a watch. Don’t expect too much insight in to how to make your millions. It’s […] Read More
Just as there are (allegedly) many ways to skin a cat, there are also many ways to measure your investment success. Of course we can focus on the usual metrics like portfolio value, annualised growth, ROI, IRR, trailing 1yr yield, however sometimes there are other less obvious milestones that we pass on our investment journeys […] Read More
I’ve just been playing around with the spreadsheet that I use to track my equity/fund portfolio. As usual I’ve been tinkering with the sheet, increasing the automation and improving the metrics and formatting as I often do when I’m bored! While taking a closer look at some of my positions and more specifically the trades […] Read More
It may seem an incredibly obvious statement to make but as investors, we should strive not to lose our capital. You don’t need to read lots from the likes of Benjamin Graham or The Sage before you hear them extolling the virtues of protecting your capital. Graham highlights the extreme example beautifully when he states: […] Read More
Last week Direct Line Group released it’s quarterly results. Compared to the first half of last year here are the main points highlighted on page one of the results statement, along with the reasons given by the board in (): Gross written premium fell 5.1% (“disciplined underwriting”…yeah right!) Operating profit fell 13.1 (claims from bad […] Read More