Month: July 2016

Italy – epicentre of the next financial earthquake….

Monday 25th July 2016

Good morning, friends,

In this issue of Money Truths….

  • No financial Armageddon – at least not yet….
  • The rebalancing act….
  • The dangerously sick man of Europe….
  • The bail-out is coming….
  • The natives are restless….

No financial Armageddon – at least not yet….

Prior to the Referendum on EU membership, we were subjected to ‘Project Fear’.

The incumbent Prime Minister, his Chancellor, senior politicians, business leaders and other ‘Influencers’ all promised the British people misery, mayhem and catastrophe if we were foolish enough to vote Leave….

‘Britain would be poorer by £4,300 per household….’ (George Osborne, 27th February 2016)

‘The value of people’s homes will be affected and people trying to get on the housing market will be hit….’ (George Osborne, 8th May 2016)

‘Across Britain as many as 820,000 jobs could be lost….’ (George Osborne, 23rd May 2016)

Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said the NHS would be ‘starved’ of cash. Energy Secretary, Amber Rudd, said energy bills would ‘soar’. Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, said a Brexit vote would ‘devastate’ the life chances of children and young adults….

We were told businesses would vacate the country overnight. President Obama told us we’d be at the back of any trade-deal queue….… Click here to read more

100-years-old and still working a day job?

Monday, 18th July 2016

Good morning, friends,

In this issue of Money Truths….

  • I will never retire….
  • Depending on the ‘silver-haired’ brigade….
  • Ivan Roitt – you don’t get too many of him to the pound….
  • From the realms of science fiction….

I will never retire….

I cannot imagine ever ‘retiring’ in the conventional sense of the word….

Reaching retirement age is one thing. Quitting work altogether is another thing entirely. For me, getting to 65 or 68 years of age is not a cue to deepen my relationship with daytime TV or to retreat into a life that consists of reading the Daily Mail cover-to-cover every morning and visiting the local garden centre once a week.

Call me unique and peculiar but I enjoy work. I always have. And I don’t see that reality changing simply because the candles on my birthday cake have increased in number.

Life is short. Time is limited. And I want to make full use of every minute I have available to me. There are things I want to achieve. I have a long list of things I want to do. I want to be productive for as long as I can be productive. And I see age as no bar.… Click here to read more

Is the Bank of England reaching for the defibrillator?

Monday, 11th July 2016

Good morning, friends,

In this issue of Money Truths….

  • No universal meaning….
  • A cut in the base rate….
  • Reaching for the defibrillator….
  • Life-saving surgery….

No universal meaning….

Like politics, the financial world is largely driven by events.

Things happen. Every day. That much you can rely on….

But, in the financial world, events have no universal meaning. They don’t mean the same thing for everybody.

A single event can have a different meaning, create a different effect and produce a different consequence for different individuals, businesses, groups or interests.  Each can see and experience the same event very differently.

That’s one aspect of the financial world that makes it such an interesting and compelling environment – and one so difficult to fathom. It is a mass of complexities and contradictions….

Take what might happen later this week, for example. It means different things to different groups of people….

A cut in the base rate….

Last week the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, said that there was a prospect of‘material slowing’ in the British economy. In other words, a sharp slowdown in the rate of economic growth….

Economists took that warning as a strong hint that interest rates will be cut this week to a new low of 0.25%.… Click here to read more