Smarter Investment Ideas

How much Investment risk is right for you?

on each of your financial life goals

Swimming naked. Buffett. Paul Claireaux

How much Investment risk is right for you?

on each of your financial life goals

This is a 10 to 20-minute read – depending on your speed. This Insight is for all investors – new, recent and experienced. Yes, everyone – because we believe, as a bare minimum, you (and your adviser if you have one) should take care to ensure that the level of risk you take on your investments…

Who might be happy after a stock market crash?

and who might be seriously upset?

Who might be happy with a stock market crash. Paul Claireaux

Who might be happy after a stock market crash?

and who might be seriously upset?

By the end of this Insight, you’ll understand more than most people about this important paradox of investing. In short, you’ll know why stock market crashes can (simultaneously) be good news for some people and miserable for others! We know that sounds impossible, but it’s what sometimes happens in the real world. So, it’s essential…

Two Nobel prize winners

with very different ideas on stock market pricing

Two Nobel Prize Winners. Paul Claireaux

Two Nobel prize winners

with very different ideas on stock market pricing

Some wealth managers promote their investment service as being robust because it’s based on the ideas of a Nobel Prize-winning economist. The trouble is, they don’t tell you about the other Nobel Prize winner of the same year, who had very different ‘herding’ ideas about what drives prices in stock markets. In this Insight, I…

Why most managers take bigger risks with your money, than you’d expect.

The story of Tony Dye

Tony Dye. Bulls and Bears. Paul Claireaux

Why most managers take bigger risks with your money, than you’d expect.

The story of Tony Dye

In this extract from chapter 5 of my book ‘Who misleads you about money?’ I explore the story of Tony Dye to help you understand why most fund and wealth managers will always take bigger risks with your money than you might reasonably expect. Dye was the chief investment officer at Philips and Drew when…

The Nobel name dropping game

depends on which name you drop

Modern Portfolio Theory. Paul Claireaux

The Nobel name dropping game

depends on which name you drop

Working inside the Financial Services industry for 25 years, and observing it from the outside for another ten, I guess I’ve seen a lot of what goes on. I know what good (and fair priced) financial products, and financial advisers, look like, and many of those advisers are really good at their job. However, they’re…

Does your adviser really understand risk?

And should you find out sooner rather than later?

Mencken. Clear, Simple & Wrong. Paul Claireaux

Does your adviser really understand risk?

And should you find out sooner rather than later?

Benoit Mandelbrot had a beautiful mind for risk. A Polish-born, French and American mathematician – he was the guy who discovered the idea of “self-similarity” in nature. You may have heard the term ‘Fractal’ which he coined to describe the beautiful and ‘apparently complex’ shapes in nature. This extraordinary simple concept explains how snowflakes are…

It’s OK to miss the best days

So you can ignore that misleading nonsense

Lies, damned lies and Statistics. Disraeli. lies. Paul Claireaux

It’s OK to miss the best days

So you can ignore that misleading nonsense

If you follow the money pages of any newspaper, you cannot have missed the ‘missing the best days’ story. But what they won’t tell you is that this story is … well… complete and utter nonsense. So, let’s expose it for the grossly misleading rubbish that it is – before you base any of your investment decisions…

What stormy weather can teach us about stock markets

And why we cannot control either of them

What stormy weather can teach us about stock markets

And why we cannot control either of them

We regularly have stormy weather around the UK: Strong winds, flash floods, thunder, lightning and occasionally hailstorms strong enough to set off the alarms on cars. Believe it or not, thunderstorms can teach us a lot about economies, stock-markets and house prices too!

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