Money
Don’t despair – there’s hope for the high street yet
Business rates keep rising. The online giants keep on expanding. The living wage has pushed up staff costs in what…
Loophole Cottage
I have a faint memory that I once came across a property called Loophole Cottage. It was named, I think,…
An object lesson in investing in luxuries
On Saturday afternoons, Bernie Ecclestone and I can often be found nudging in front of each other looking for bargains.…
The freelance trap and how to avoid it
In Victor Hugo’s masterpiece Les Misérables, police inspector Javert pursues the hero, Jean Valjean, with a single-minded doggedness, immune to…
Why you can’t beat shares
Pension freedoms granted to us by the coalition government in 2014, which allowed us to do what we liked with…
Is the current stock market a load of bull?
The roaring twenties. The booming sixties. The Asian tigers of the 1970s and 1980s, and the dot-com bubble of the 1990s. Every investor is well aware that there have been some great bull markets over the past 100 years…
Office rentals and hot-desk companies are booming – but for how long?
One morning in 2000 I was taken around the City’s back streets by an estate agent who wanted to show…
Rich pickings
The Old Masters, the tasteful antiques, the Montblancs — everything in a private bank looks reassuringly expensive but should you…
Want to predict the price of gold? Then watch Hollywood films
Wasn’t the point of gold supposed to be to act as a safe haven in times of crisis? That is…
Has the tide turned on emerging markets?
This year has been bad for investors in emerging markets. The MSCI index has dropped around 20 per cent since…
Meet the ‘Fangs’, the stock to sink your teeth into
They steal your data, and manipulate it for their own ends. They destroy local shops and small companies. They are…
The landlords walking into the great EPC trap
Buy-to-let investors have long occupied a slot in the national consciousness somewhere between arsonists and child molesters. They stand accused…
Why being a member of Lloyd’s of London is still a risky business
As a child, the very name Lloyd’s made me shudder. I am just about old enough to remember the dark…
The joys of compounding
Saving half a million pounds into a pension pot seems a goal so large and unachievable that many don’t bother.…
Back on track
We shouldn’t be so smug about how rundown the Gare du Nord is — dirty, badly planned, with some of…
Blowing bubbles
Do you remember the Beanie Baby crash of 1999? Chris Robinson, an actor who appeared in the TV series General…
The UK stock market still looks cheap
In my last column I argued that by many measures American shares are expensive. If that is the case, should…
Merchants of doom
The collapse of Carillion has reminded the public of the existence of short-sellers: stock-market participants who benefit from falling share…
Would you take a robot’s tip?
We are forever being told that artificial intelligence (AI) is coming to take our jobs. Is your financial advisor one…
A home in a tax haven
If there is one group of people you might think would be celebrating the rise of Jeremy Corbyn, surely it…
Coffee fix
I’ve long wanted to invest but have never known how. Buying stocks and shares or investing lump sums in blue…
Back to frontiers
There are several mantras that experienced investors use to guide themselves through the markets. ‘Sell in May and go away’…
Broken bonds
September’s annual IMF-World Bank meeting in Washington DC was a strange affair. Delegates fretted about Europe, about Brexit and, given…
Will the Chancellor squeeze VCTs?
Wealthy investors have a particular reason to keep an anxious eye open for Philip Hammond’s autumn Budget on 22 November.…
This week’s rate decision is all but irrelevant
The interest-rate decision by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee on Thursday 2 November — shortly after we went…
Fair shares for all
At a recent gathering of the venerable Company of Merchant Adventurers of York, I listened to a sermon on the…
Podcast: Table Talk
-
That's Life with comedian Simon Evans
Tune in for a sideways look at the people, ideas and events that have shaped the recent news agenda.
Most popular
- Read
- Recent
- Read
- Recent
Style
-
The best electric bikes: AnalogMotion AM1 Plus reviewed
The AnalogMotion M1 Plus delivers the dream electric commute without the hefty price tag
-
The dos and don'ts of afternoon tea
Navigate your way through the etiquette of afternoon tea to ensure your get the very most out of this iconic British experience
-
The do's and don'ts of John Bercow's wardrobe
Being short is not a barrier to being stylish unless one tries to compensate