Here’s some good news (not in the headlines or Today on R4). And if someone runs $27bn, we’d like to hear what they think. In this blog:
A key part of inflation has gone negative
Here comes the bill
‘The weirdest time in 40 years’
My dad’s first job was as a projectionist at The Picture House Cinema in the market town of Beverly in East Yorkshire. There was no TV at the time and so news and entertainment were to be found there and he saw it all though the tiny square window of his projection booth. Then he went off to war.
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In 1992 Marc and Robert spun out a company from the MIT ‘leg lab’ that worked on developing robotics. In 2004 they demonstrated BigDog, which you’ll probably have seen. With the seed development already done at MIT it took the team twelve years to get to here – I don’t who was funding this, who the backers were/are, and surely in robotics there can be no certainty.
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Interest rates are up, gilt yields are up, and the Sunday Times is covered in adverts and editorials talking about annuities; we look at the numbers, not the commentaries. In this blog:
t’s all in the maths
“Colin” the Client’s Story
Once upon a time and by a fortuitous chain of events, I was very lucky to have a 1-2-1 tennis lesson with Rod Laver at Wimbledon. He was such a gent he even said I could tell my kids I won. More recently I’ve tried out tennis’ rival sport, Pickleball - billed as “a game for all ages”. And then there’s the other rival Padel.
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In the 1970’s there were 132 listed British sitcoms. From the 1980’s to the 2010’s it increased from 143 to 172 sitcoms. But this decade so far there have only been 54. An academic writing in a new book is claiming that some of those sitcoms make sense of the political attitudes that prompted Brexit…
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In this blog:
Don’t retire until you want to
The sweet spot in retirement
A big list of things to do over the next 12 months while you’re in the sweet spot.
This White Paper calculates the different outcomes of investing for income via FTSE & MSCI World trackers, traditional 60/40 portfolios and investment trust dividends, from 1986 to 2022. It applies four amounts of income against each strategy, and applies inflation to income drawn so investors can see the reality of the £-numbers separated from the mist of theory created by institutional research being mis-applied to personal portfolios. It further compares annuities over that time, and the resulting capital values for all investment strategies, and all income choices.
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It’s important to get what you’ve already paid for throughout your life, including your full state pension. If you haven’t done so already, then you can follow the outline below from Ian, our project director, who has had spells working in both the US and Switzerland. Here’s his take on how to find out and fix any gaps.
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Billy No-Mates is the poignant title of Max Dickins new book in which he explores the problems men can have with maintaining friendships. Women it seems, are much better at it. When Max proposed to his girlfriend, he realised…
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A rumbling of concern about electric cars came from an unlikely source earlier this month in the form of a piece in Mail Online by Rowan Atkinson. Unlikely, that is, until you are acquainted with his credentials.
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Inflation: CPI vs RPI. Saving with banks whose names you can’t pronounce, and living on a budget
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I won’t be seeing any of my four offspring on Father’s Day, and I don’t mind a bit. I have a similar attitude to birthdays. I won’t see any of them on Christmas Day either. Of course, I love spending time with my kids but…
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I came across the story in the New York Times last week; I can’t add anything to the explanation, so I’ve just quoted. You’ll agree that such Trumpian errors are scary…
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Gas and water bills, council tax and house insurance – some expenses are utterly predictable and though not guaranteed to be charged to us, the rational expectation is that they will be. Technically speaking every company in the FTSE 100 could pay no dividends this year, however the rational expectation is that they will: ‘rational’ because…
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Rod Liddle’s Sunday Times article headlined, “We slurped up loads more sugar and salt in the Seventies. So why are we fatter now?” He went on to bemoan Tony Blair’s government for bullying food manufacturers into reducing sugar and salt and in the process ruining the flavour of teatime favourites like Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup and Spaghetti Hoops, to the point where “nobody eats that stuff anymore.” Maybe he’s right?
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As the sun begins to make a more frequent appearance and the temperature rises, ice cream sales are also on the up. News so important that it featured in Radio 4’s bulletins, that Cadbury flakes, now made in Egypt, are too crumbly! Then there’s the matter of Percy Pig ice cream and Golden Gaytime…
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When King Charles was a prince there was a long-running tale that he never carried money; that was probably correct as he has always had people to do that for him. I suspect, however, that he has probably never…
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Since its founding, Black Hills has paid a dividend to its shareholders every year, for 81 consecutive years. This endows Black Hills with a place in the US’s Dividend Kings, though the longest run of increases belongs to American States Water at 67 years. Looking across the pond at dividends we see that
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I have known my colleague and friend for about twenty years. He trained as an accountant, has a neat haircut, smart appearance, and lives in the home counties. Having spent a great deal of time in his company I thought I knew him pretty well, but it seems he was hiding a dark secret.
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