There’s a movement called Zeitgeist that wants to do away with the current economic system and move to a so-called ‘resource based economy’. It was founded by Peter Joseph who had worked as a private equity trader on Wall Street. The problem with his movement is the same one facing Occupy and so many other…
That was a joke we used to say on the phone. “Get off the line, there’s a train coming!” For us as school kids it ranked up there with shouting to cyclists “your back wheel’s going round” and that thing where you stuff your tongue behind your bottom lip while making an unintelligible sound when…
Over the last ten years I’ve been to pretty much all the finance seminars you can imagine. From symposia run by Saxo Bank and SocGen to so-called training organised by people who, when you get there, it becomes obvious don’t trade. For example, one presenter was gaily saying that if he had a spare 15…
Lower oil prices have been a mixed bag really. Good for some industries and bad for others. Although to be fair, if oil is a major input cost then the hedging department should be protecting companies from serious downside. It would make interesting reading to see a catalogue of failures in hedging departments over the…
I wrote a blog post called ‘Cruising Home’ (July 3rd 2015) about cruise lines and how they are likely to remain pretty much bullet proof over the coming years. By contrast the more traditional bucket shops are not faring quite so well. A lot of the go-to cheap, hot places have got problems now. You,…
I don’t have a great deal of interest in the Labour leadership battle. It’s a bit like the Junior Championship at Wimbledon: maybe the stars of tomorrow, but you’re probably watching also-rans. Whoever wins the leadership is almost certainly only a steward until they have some semblance of a chance of winning. Some modern-day Neil…
As seen in this month’s issue of Master Investor Magazine. There’s a Scandinavian theory that if a war is inevitable then postponing it will simply make it all the fiercer once it comes. In other words, peace comes at a price. And one we may not think is reasonable if we could be presented with…
For as long as anyone can remember Ireland’s biggest export has been its people. I don’t mean has-beens as in Terry Wogan, but real people. They’ve reached every corner of the globe. The Irish Bar is ubiquitous in all civilised cities. The question was once asked as to why the English pub hasn’t been so…
One of the most disappointing nights of my life was going clubbing in London with a bunch of Canadians. It was only when they started climbing the fence of London Zoo and heading for the seals’ enclosure that I realised my mistake. Not really, just joking. Speaking of clubbing though, I’ve just read an article…
The standard of training in the UK retail investment community is abysmal. Thousands upon thousands of people who think they are traders simply go long or short based on gut feeling with absolutely no analysis whatsoever. They deserve to be part of the 90:90:90, the mantra of the spread betting industry: 90% of punters lose…
