News

  • Time for a shot of 1970’s Sass into 2022

    The 1970’s are portrayed as the decade that taste forgot, remembered for a quadrupling of the energy price, rampant inflation, endless strikes and declining stock markets.  Sounds familiar?
  • My Financial Musings...What is in inverted yield curve and who cares?

    Investors care.  Consequently now could be the time to don a mechanics overall, open the bonnet and have a good look at what is happening in your portfolio.  Amber lights have been flashing for a few weeks now and most investment portfolios could do with an MOT.    
  • My Financial Musings...Move from ABC investing by learning your XYZ thinking

    Baby boomers are now a minority in the workforce and that is changing our world.  The rules of investing are being rewritten from concepts such as Web 3 & blockchain, the role of fossil fuels as well as renewables in the transition toward a net zero world and how the corporate world is responding to greater demands from both consumers and investors to the shift toward a more sustainable economy.  
  • My Financial Musings...Walking the “woke” talk or walking in the trail of dinosaurs?

    In a topsy turvy world, Larry Fink, a scion of capitalism as the founder and CEO of Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager with US$10tr of assets is accused of being “woke” as he encourages more companies think of stakeholder capitalism. Is that an insult or a compliment?
  • News and Talks ... Pondero "Gold to Cryptocurrencies"

    News & Talks
    “Joyful MFV morning - Back at Pondero for a Live Talk on "Gold to Cryptocurrencies”  
  • My Financial Musings... Does the Emperor have any clothes on!

    Mia Motley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, gave the speech the world needed at the Opening Ceremony of COP26 asking when will leaders lead. “National solutions cannot solve global problems”
  • My Financial Musings...Harvest Moon

    We have just enjoyed a Harvest Moon at what has traditionally been a time to celebrate nature’s bounty and gratefully prepare for the next sowing season.  

     

    In practical terms, though food is plentiful there are pricing pressures and fuel too is rising in cost. 
  • My financial Musings...Summer Festivals and our Woodstock moment

    The last few weeks have been a watershed of bad news from harrowing images out of Afghanistan to raging forest fires across the world, a poignant illustration of climate change in action.  Sometimes the temptation is to put our heads under the duvet and scream in frustration and helplessness or just seek a few moments of peace and quiet. 
  • My Financial Musings...“Summer silly season” is upon us and the Minions assemble

    The summer season on Wall street is traditionally when the Minions are in control while their bosses decamp to the Hamptons or Nantucket.   Markets are often more volatile, a euphemism for going up and down.  Sometimes it feels like the gentle swell of the ocean and others more like a big roller - so get ready for some surfing!  
  • My Financial Musings...Women are good investors, so why not take more control of your family’s savings?

    The life-changing magic of tidying up” enhances your life and encourages you to discard what no longer brings joy according to Marie Kondo.

    Are your finances the same? – Do jumbled up & messy savings leave a nagging sense of guilt and yet end up at the bottom of the “too hard basket”?  

  • My Financial Musings...Goldilocks and the inflatable duck

    There is an economic term known as the Goldilocks economy, characterized by steady economic growth and low unemployment; not so hot as to push the economy into inflation nor so cold as to push the economy into a recession.  
    The Duck test is a form of abductive reasoning, making a probable conclusion from what you know from past experience. If it looks like a duck, swims like duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck….. is inflation this duck?
  • My Financial Musings...Einstein, Starbucks and the Magic of compound returns

    Albert Einstein once joked that the most powerful force in the universe is neither mass nor energy. It’s compound interest, which is what happens when you earn a return on your money and on the return that is already earned. Einstein called compound interest the 8th wonder of the World.