Viewing category: Stock Markets

“The FTSE 100 hits 14 year high!” Nope! When we look at the inflation adjusted FTSE 100 graph, we see the FTSE 100 is 26% below its 1999 high in real terms.

Beware of Risky Investment Products If you’re thinking about investing your money, you really need to be careful these days and beware of risky investment products by reading financial blogs. While some of the ultra rich have recovered from the recession of 2008 (that they helped cause) a lot of “normal” people are still struggling… Read more

FTSE 100 Diversification – Buying big The FTSE 100 is weighted by market capitalization. Because of this, the largest companies have a significant impact on the overall performance of the FTSE 100. In fact, the 10 largest companies in the FTSE 100 make up 43.4% of the index. Therefore, you may think that owning these… Read more

10 year government bonds vs FTSE 100 Since the FTSE 100 index began in early 1984, the overall performance has not been greatly different to the performance of the “risk-free” 10 year government notes. However, given today’s very low interest rates, returns on government notes should lag the market over the next 10 years.  … Read more

Santa Rally and other market phenomena Mummy, is Santa Claus real? No? Well, is the Santa Rally real? The Santa Rally is the idea that the markets perform well in December compared to other months. The theories behind this vary, but the data seems to suggest that the “Santa Rally” is indeed real.   The… Read more

Timing the stock market: can you easily time the markets? I’ll be brief. No. You can’t. Don’t try. The old saying “buy low, sell high” is the fundamental of investing. Even Homer Simpson knows that! However, timing the market to identify the lows and the highs is exceptionally difficult.   Buy and hold For all… Read more

Should I invest in China, India or other emerging markets? Currently, most of my investments are based on the UK economy. However, following a recent visit to China, my head has been turned to other international markets.   China – an economic powerhouse Having spent three weeks in China in hotels, I saw a fair… Read more