By Amanda Morrall
1) Value vs growth
John Kingham, writing for the U.K. Value investor, offers a defence of growth investing (sometimes known as the "greater fool theory'') over value investing. Kingham explains in simple terms the strategies he and others employ to beat the index. His singular focus is on revenues, earnings, and dividends.
2) Happy halloween?
October used to signal the start of a seasonally good time for stocks hence the moniker the "October indicator'' however it's not only weather patterns that are no longer predictable. Wall Street Journal Mark Hulbert speculates on how the upcoming U.S. election could impact on the markets and whether investors should stay put or flee to the safety of cash. In essence, it all depends on who you think will win.
3) Spotlight on women
The Retirement Commission, in its upcoming review of NZ's retirement policy, plans to make women a focal point along with the importance of private savings. Research has consistently found that women have less saved for retirement compared to their male counterparts because of pay inequity and also absences from the workforce related to child rearing. The report, due out in August, will look at ways to raise awareness about the situation and also remedy the savings gap.
Retirement Commissioner Diana Crossan, in a prepared release outlining the terms of reference, said the review was an "important tool for ensuring the Government is aware of the facts, any emerging trends, and new developments that could affect the long-term future of retirement income policy.
“The decisions we make now about retirement income potentially have consequences for generations to come. We need to regularly review and assess where we are to ensure universal New Zealand Superannuation is available for
Kiwis who are currently in their 30s and 40s,'' said Crossan.
4) Diamonds aren't your bestfriend
Diamond trader Ira Weissman, writing for the Huffington Post, offers 7 reasons why betrothed couples should dispense with engagement rings.
No.1 is compelling enough a reason alone.
The most common misconception about engagement rings is that they're some kind of ancient tradition that's deeply embedded in human history in societies around the world. This is completely false. The idea of a diamond engagement ring is roughly a century old. Guess who invented the concept? Not surprisingly, it's the same people who mined the diamonds -- the De Beers diamond syndicate. How far did De Beers go in their quest to create demand for diamonds? Edward Jay Epstein notes in his famous investigative article:
"In its 1947 strategy plan, the advertising agency strongly emphasized a psychological approach. "We are dealing with a problem in mass psychology. We seek to ... strengthen the tradition of the diamond engagement ring -- to make it a psychological necessity capable of competing successfully at the retail level with utility goods and services...." It defined as its target audience "some 70 million people 15 years and over whose opinion we hope to influence in support of our objectives." N. W. Ayer outlined a subtle program that included arranging for lecturers to visit high schools across the country. "All of these lectures revolve around the diamond engagement ring, and are reaching thousands of girls in their assemblies, classes and informal meetings in our leading educational institutions," the agency explained in a memorandum to De Beers."
I have nothing against clever marketing campaigns, but this is different. It's not like with cars, for example. You know you need a car, so the car companies compete for your attention with their ads.
In this case De Beers spent millions upon millions convincing the public that they needed to buy a product that they basically created out of thin air (thin air that they alone controlled).
5) A kid's perspective
Kids say the darndest things, it's true. U.K. investment advisor James Bartholomew, in this piece for the Telegraph, shares his 10-year-old daughter's advice for how to recover from a bad spread-betting position on the dollar. Classic.
To read other Take Fives by Amanda Morrall click here. You can also follow Amanda on Twitter @amandamorrall
35 Comments
#5 of course when it comes to kids the best financial advice you can receive is - don't have any.
They are expensive, a total buzzkill, and with the world groaning under the weight of 7 billion people, the last thing it needs is more children.
Best financial and life choice you can possibly make.
Not so Chistov - it is in fact the very purchase of the diamond engagement ring that is the cause of 50% of marriage breakups. Consider this: The very first serious calendar event in your relationship (the engagement) and you go and buy her diamonds. Whereupon a precedent is set - every important calendar event after that (birthdays, anniversaries etc) you are now expected to match or even exceed that initial offering or the recipient of the gift believes that the lesser expenditure is matched by a lessening of your love and affection.
You are much better off to buy something at the other end of the scale to declare your love and desire to spend your life with the object of your affections (eg spare tyres for the car, a PS3, tickets to an All Black Final, or some Black and Decker power tools) and then build up as the anniversaries tick by until you reach your 50th year of long service, which, correct me if I am wrong is called the Diamond Anniversary. Then you buy her a diamond.
hey Stanley I was just yanking your chain my man...!!
My particular wife, has the engagement, and one for every ten years, so that's five in all , but I don't see why they just keep getting bigger while she's getting smaller.....besides, I think you'll find the engagement ring is a sexual contract to a man while a committment to marry and protect to a woman.
Stanley mah boy....I musta just got dead lucky, or maybe I just know ....... something.
Her hand...? your not actually reading my posts are you Stanley...? I didn't say nuttin bout her hand...? I already got hands, hands I don't need.
And you really have to stop baiting Ralphie....ya scamp.
Interesting phrase you chose there Ralphy, I was having a mini debate a while back about surfing being better than windsurfing, and one of my surfing buddies came out with the same comment - you can't just list all the good points about surfing because it's more than sum of it's parts.
The point being that there are lots of things that are more than the sum of their parts, and being single typically allows you more opportunity to experience them. That has certainly been my experience anyway.
Also I'm confused - it almost sounds like you want to go first Ralph. I thought when you reached retirement age and you both have pensions the plan is to encourage your wife to take up new activities - like base-jumping, hangliding, underwater cave diving, moto-X, speedway etc.
Being allowed to claim your pension and hers as well would surely help coping with being free and single again for the rest of your life...
well true, but I was going on the more traditional definition of freedom which is the ability to make choices and/or take action free of certain constraints.
By that definition any kind of relationship entails a loss of freedom. Again, certainly true in my experience. And surely that is implicit in the gift of an engagement ring upon proposal - you are implying that you are willing to give up certain freedoms to spend your life with the finger you are placing the ring on, and it's owner.
Certainly the concept of the Stag Do proves that to be the case.
I'm a little late tonight with my comment but I take exception to Christov's slighting of towelling hats!
For quite some time I've searched everywhere to find a supplier that will sell me a replacement towelling hat, a proper towelling hat that you can use to wipe the sweat from your face on a particularly hot day, one that squashes up and fits in your pocket, one that can be used for a myriad of uses, wiping dry the seat of the motorbike...
No luck finding one in NZ, or on the internet. They sdaly seem to have gone out of fashio and I didn't notice as I had a few spare hats.
Last week I got an enterprising tailor in a small roadside shop in the Philippines to try his hand at making a towelling hat. Three in fact; I supplied the towels and he made me hats with a lining, albeit a little small for my head. The cost was P200, about $NZ6, for all three combined. A reasonable deal.
I'll get some more made up, just slightly bigger and the family can use the first ones when we go jalan-jalan on the motorbike.
A thread...any thread will do in a storm!...these two articles are well worth your time to read...together they point to the future NZ labour party approach to find a route into the Beehive..while also exposing what will be their massive lying in the process.....and the FT article is fair judgement on the UK socialists while also being a pointer to what is so very wrong with Shearer's mob in NZ.
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