Business

Is investing like gambling? Should you get into investing right now? Watch this video for a clear explanation about where the market is right now and what ordinary investors should do.

2020s, Business, Economy, Finance, Thought Provoking

So many interviews on financial television is full of bullshit, meaningless nothingness or jargon filled inability to communicate anything useful.

Just came across this interview with Howard Marks on Bloomberg and it was amazing to hear answers that was clear and direct to the questions that were asked.

Is it a good time to get into the market? Risk is higher now because the market has been on a bull run for a long time.

Is investing like gambling? Investing relies on four factors. Information, luck, timing and skill.

What if you don’t have skill or information? In the past, mutual funds were paid over 1% in fees. However, they have shown that generally they don’t beat the market. So invest in index funds aka ETFs.

Watch the video here.

Brexit may not happen.

2010s, Business, Economy, Finance, Thought Provoking

Gideon Rachman in The Financial Times on why Brexit may not happen.

And what kind of new concession should be offered? That is easy. What Mr Johnson would need to win a second referendum is an emergency brake on free movement of people, allowing the UK to limit the number of EU nationals moving to Britain if it has surged beyond a certain level.

In retrospect, it was a big mistake on the part of the EU not to give Mr Cameron exactly this concession in his renegotiation of the UK’s terms of membership early this year. It was the prime minister’s inability to promise that Britain could set an upper limit on immigration that probably ultimately lost him the vote.

Sounds logical to me.

How to read a book a week

Books, Business, Thought Provoking

Useful tips on reading non-fiction books from the Harvard Business Review

  1. Start with the author. Who wrote the book? Read his or her bio. If you can find a brief interview or article online about the author, read that quickly. It will give you a sense of the person’s bias and perspective.

  2. Read the title, the subtitle, the front flap, and the table of contents. What’s the big-picture argument of the book? How is that argument laid out? By now, you could probably describe the main idea of the book to someone who hasn’t read it.

  3. Read the introduction and the conclusion. The author makes their case in the opening and closing argument of the book. Read these two sections word for word but quickly. You already have a general sense of where the author is going, and these sections will tell you how they plan to get there (introduction) and what they hope you got out of it (conclusion).

  4. Read/skim each chapter. Read the title and anywhere from the first few paragraphs to the first few pages of the chapter to figure out how the author is using this chapter and where it fits into the argument of the book. Then skim through the headings and subheadings (if there are any) to get a feel for the flow. Read the first sentence of each paragraph and the last. If you get the meaning, move on. Otherwise, you may want to read the whole paragraph. Once you’ve gotten an understanding of the chapter, you may be able to skim over whole pages, as the argument may be clear to you and also may repeat itself.

  5. End with the table of contents again. Once you’ve finished the book, return to the table of contents and summarize it in your head. Take a few moments to relive the flow of the book, the arguments you considered, the stories you remember, the journey you went on with the author.

Flogging passports

Business, Economy, Finance, Thought Provoking, Travel

The FT’s Tim Harford takes on the cost of EU citizenship.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/df091918-632f-11e3-886f-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2npBj0KQd

I hardly think that €650,000 cheapens the EU passport. For the typical British citizen, the message Malta is sending is that the passport in your pocket is worth more than your house and your pension pot put together. Which may not be far wrong: take a typical UK citizen, dump her in Calcutta or Dar es Salaam and see how she gets on. EU citizenship is more valuable than most EU citizens realise.

Reasons you need your own website

Business, Tech, Web

Just saw this post and many of the reasons also apply to organisations and individuals outside of music. I don’t understand why many business point potential customers to a facebook or myspace page.
Especially, when they are not controlling the experience.

It’s your’s… forever

I’ve said this more than once in this post.

You get the point right?

Your Facebook Page and your Bandcamp page are NOT yours. They belong to other people and cannot be forced to do all the things that you might want to do.