Every week I read a huge number of personal finance and investing articles. I thought you might enjoy a weekly shortcut to the best.
First, my quick thoughts on the week’s news
So the Bank of England has cut interest rates to 1%. While anyone relying on cash savings should already have diversified their income portfolio, it’s still a terrible message to bail out borrowers (even if for the greater good) and punish prudent savers. Even the building societies wanted rates to stay at 1.5%.
But remember that with inflation falling fast, a 1% rate isn’t as bad as it might seem. In 2008 interest rates were 6-7%, but inflation was running at 5%. Inflation is now down to 3%.
The week’s best money posts
- Amateur Asset Allocator posted 5 Tips to prepare for a layoff in advance
- The Finance Blog has posted a useful graph showing real interest rates
- Pimp your Finances posted a great Investing Basics guest post from Mike at Oblivious Investor
- Some of my splendid US readers have written to say they like my Zopa articles, but there’s no Zopa in the US anymore. True, but there are other peer-to-peer lenders – here’s a good introduction from Moolanomy
- More Oblivious Investor, this time considering if the recession will scare off equity investors forever
- I’m almost scared to suggest you read the new The Behavior Gap blog, it’s so good. Try its latest post, The Great Reset
- I don’t write much about debt here on Monevator; I hate it, except in mortgages, and I don’t like it much even then. If you’re worried your slipping into debt you may find this post on debt to income on The Digerati Life useful.
- Trent at The Simple Dollar is continuing to push through The Intelligent Investor. If you’re going to write about one book chapter-by-chapter, it may as well be the best…
A few non-blog articles
- I’m an investment trust fan, and their ability to hold back cash to keep raising dividends in 2009 (FT) is one more reason why. (Did you bag an investment trust on a discount when I wrote about them back in July? Prices have been up and down since then, but broadly flat.)
- More bad news: A 220% rise in companies going bust in the UK
- John Lee has updated on his personal portfolio over at the FT
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