I think environmental degradation is the biggest external threat to my wealth. It makes me poorer, even as I save to get richer.
Mostly your financial future is within your control. If you work hard, avoid debt, and invest, then as long as you’re healthy you’ll do fine.
But some threats are outside of your control:
- War
- Revolution
- Environmental degradation (see Collapse
by Jared Diamond)
Of these, environmental degradation currently looks the most dangerous for Western investors.
What a relief. For a few terrible hours, it seemed a barmy alliance of the losers could have left Labour clinging to power.
As it is, the right parties got the job.
Yes – parties. I believe this coalition could be the best result for seeing Britain through the vital economic rebalancing to come. Coalitions led us through World War 2, and the fallout from the Great Depression. Partnerships can work.
Indeed, we’re already seeing some welcome changes to Conservative policy under the influence of the Liberal Democrats.
Update: Since I published this article the official ‘pre-nup’ agreement between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems is now available as a PDF from the Conservative website. The main difference between the facts and the early rumors I report below is that the £10K personal tax threshold is an aspiration, not a concrete figure that will be made law anytime soon.
Second Update: You can now download the final coalition agreement as a PDF.
Just a few links this week due to “events dear boy, events”. Specifically, I’m doubled up in bed with back pain and have just managed to get up long enough to add FT links to this article I wrote yesterday night, and to hit publish!
What a week! I assumed that by today I’d be sharing where I’d decided to deploy the cash I liberated by selling some shares a month or so ago.
As it’s turned out, I’ve been putting it back into the market!
Okay, not all of it. But with the markets plunging on Greek fears and the UK in political deadlock, I couldn’t resist buying Lloyds, for instance. (I’ll post why next week).
I’ve also rejigged some ISA holdings, swapping illiquid small caps that had held their value for much-reduced blue chips with diversified global earnings. At some point, I expect to swap back – either because the small caps I sold eventually fall too, or because the blue chips rally.
After the furore of the Greek debt crisis, the week ended with Brown, Cameron and Clegg in a Mexican stand-off to be the next Prime Minister of the UK.
As I’ve written before, it was time for the Conservatives to win and do their thing. If I’m honest I thought they’d squeak a majority.
But the folk memories in Wales, Scotland, and the North run deep.
Southern English constituencies have turned decisively blue everywhere that was red, but tribal loyalties far from London brought out voters who hate the Tories even more than they hate Labour’s wars, liberties with civil liberties, and the 2.5 million long jobless queues.
I am pretty sanguine about the Greek crisis and the panic that engulfed the market this week.
Newsflash – stocks don’t go up forever! If they did the FTSE would be even less affordable than UK houses. We’d need a dodgy mortgage from Lloyds or RBS just to buy their shares.
I understand the fears of contagion from the Greek crisis, the position of the Euro, the risk of the solvency of European banks, and so on.
But none of this is new. Not even Europe’s dithering – that’s business as usual. As a result, I think it’s just nervous investors throwing their toys out of the pram as they periodically do.
And that’s an opportunity for brave investors buying well-diversified UK and US stocks to profit from stock market fear.
