24 May 2009
One of the hardest things about being an investor in the past 18 months was watching the failure of almost all the experts' most cherished concepts.
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11 May 2009: There has been a hullabaloo in the media recently about prices falls. The UK's retail price index fell by 0.3% in March, the first decline since 1960. Meanwhile the Bank of England says the consumer price index (CPI) is likely to fall to zero and stay there until 2011. ... more
2 May 2009: Sometimes it’s not so much what you don’t know but what you misunderstand that hurts you. That came through loud and clear in my recent reader survey about KiwiSaver.... more
11 Apr 2009: The latest in my list of anecdotal evidence about the state of the NZ economy comes from a valuer with government agency QV. She reports that around six months ago she was commissioned by customers to produce property valuations only once or twice a day. Currently she is doing 10 to 12 a day. ... more
4 Apr 2009: The most significant of the April 1 KiwiSaver changes is the lowering of the minimum employee contribution from 4 per cent of gross pay to 2 per cent. ... more
28 Mar 2009: A few developments in recent times have started me thinking that the worst of the credit crisis may be over. That does not mean we are about to revert to the debt-fuelled boom times of recent years but it may bring us a step closer to stability. ... more
21 Mar 2009: I first heard people saying, “You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar” years ago, when I lived in the US. I bet the saying isn’t quite as common there these days, now that millions of people have, indeed, lost huge amounts because of property.
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16 Mar 2009: At the end of 1974, most shares had lost half their values in two years. After such a horrendous time, nobody wanted to touch stocks. Nobody, except Warren Buffett. His timing was perfect. ... more
21 Feb 2009: You're struggling on a low income, as a part-time or full-time worker. All this talk about saving is fine for those making plenty, but you feel you can't spare anything. Fair enough.... more
14 Feb 2009: As well as looking at hard data I like to get a feel for what’s happening in my community and society generally as this can be very revealing about how the wider economy is going.... more
