How to invest in stocks: fighting the demons: a journey
From now on, I will put out a podcast every Thursday or Friday and (at least one) blogpost every Tuesday. The idea is simple. I want to speak about some personal stories where you can hear my voice, and use the written word to describe some of the academic evidence out there. Merging the personal […]
QROPS and SIPPS: British Expats and Pensions
In my book on the 6 steps to financial freedom, I mentioned one often forgotten aspect of financial planning; tax minimization. More specifically, I spoke about some often forgotten tax minimization strategies. Everybody knows you don’t want a huge tax bills and many people living in the UK know about the benefits of investing […]
How to become rich by investing: Rational Investing Based on Evidence vs Speculation
How to become rich by investing
A new way for aspiring entrepreneurs?
I was considering something today when I was reading some question and answer sessions online: many people want to become an entrepreneur. It has a glamorous reputation, when the job itself isn’t always a million miles away from working on commission. In the early days, an entrepreneur is sometimes the firms only employee, and needs […]
The simple way to financial success
It was in 2011, and I was traveling I Brazil, watching the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United. Barcelona dominated 3-1, and the score should have been 5-1 or 6-1. For many people including myself, that Barcelona team was the best they have ever seen. What was striking about them, however, was the […]
Changing financial advisors and 2 other quick wins in finance
A lot of things take time. All good things, compounded, will produce more than quick wins, but that demotivates people. Therefore, let’s look at some quick wins that will help you. Hopefully these quick wins, or potential quick wins, will motivate you to get more long-term wins as well: 1. Spending habits Download a spending […]
Losing 500K in 10 days.
You have heard me mention now on several occasions why speculating and market timing doesn’t work. However, a picture paints a thousands words and statistics. Let’s look at the graph below which is from JP Morgan’s research. It shows investment results from depositing $10,000 in the S&P in 1993 until 2013, adjusted for how many […]
Is investing a good idea: there are two kinds of people in this world
During previous blogs, I have posted a lot of academic evidence about investing and finance in general. Some people are open-minded to changing their ideas when the facts change, and others aren’t. We all know the types. The types that will never change their views on politics, life, business, religion or whatever topic you care […]
Mental accounting: why we sometimes like lower returns
Richard Thaler’s Paper on Mental Accounting Matters, looks at “the set of cognitive operations used by individuals and households to organize, evaluate, and keep track of financial activities”, in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. In his work, Richard finds that the framing of gains and losses isn’t often rational. According to mainstream academic theory, we are all […]
Account openings and online investment sites
Best online stock investing websites
Which assets perform well in inflationary conditions?
As previous blogs have pointed out, equity markets have consistently beat inflation, producing an average return of 6.5% after inflation in the US. This is a simple average, however, so let’s look at whether there is a correlation between inflation and the rate of return for different asset classes. Bennyhoff, and Donald G, wrote a […]
6 Steps to Financial Freedom and Passive Income Investments
During all my years overseas, I have been amazed at how few people are truly financial independent. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, after all 98%+ of industries want to convince you to spend money on impressing people you don’t even like. Instagram and L’oreal, with their famous slogan, are probably two extreme examples of this […]
Why a herd mentality reduced returns
In their work Does Portfolio Rebalancing Help Investors Avoid Common Mistakes, Steven Beach and Clearance Rose looked at investors who chase performance, in other words, put more money into high-performing funds. They then compared them to people who rebalanced away from the winners into the losers. To save you time and the boredom of reading […]
CNBC vs Bloomberg? Switch them both off
Most people who have read the evidence know that it is time in the markets, and not timing the markets, that matters. Many don’t realize just how important that is, however, and just how profitable that can be. Consider a startling statistic. Professor H. Nejat Seyhun found that between 1963 and 1993 the stock market […]