Hello Everyone,
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.” (attributed to Albert Einstein)
There would seem to be a paucity of thought from governments of all persuasions when it comes to attacking the United Kingdom’s falling productivity. It is unfortunate that their efforts to improve the country’s financial situation appear, at the moment, to be directing more and more people into public sector jobs. This, along with the present and future looming tax regime, is likely to put a dampener on increasing private sector employment, yet that is what drives up productivity.
I do realise that it is necessary to address the struggling inefficiencies of the NHS, Royal Mail, railways, water boards, energy production, policing, etc., all of which will require public money. But it is all a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario, where to start first? I would like to think that it might be possible to do both at the same time. Encourage private sector businesses first, followed closely by tackling bureaucratic inefficiencies, and then placing expenditure into the public sector. Maybe this will happen. I just hope that our politicians will not be forced back into using huge government borrowings, only to be paid off by raising taxes.
Having said all of the above, it is a huge ask, and will require a great amount of luck and determination from a special team of people to carry the day. It also depends, to a great extent, on what havoc will be exacted from the uncharted changes that Mr Trump is throwing at the world’s economies.
It would be nice to think that we could have confidence in the skills and experience of the world’s leaders who are “in control”, and the following may sound a little unfair. But at times, when watching and listening to some of these leaders and decision-makers, I have to believe that when God was giving out brains, they thought he said trains, and they asked for slow ones!
At eighty-two years old, I now apparently fall into the official category of “Ancient”. This is naturally ringing alarm bells, and it raises the question of my future direction of travel. Will it be upstairs for a “How do you do with St Peter”, or downstairs to master the art of shovelling coal? Whichever way it turns out to be, it has now raised the challenge of educating my daughters and grandson in the ways and means of investing their future inheritance.
Today, many younger people think that it is all about catching the last spinning plate before it falls. I explain that while there may be an element of that for some people, as we know, investing can, and should be, more scientific and predictable. However, one must not forget that politics and luck can, and will, have a strong influence on the results. As Robert Burns said, “The best-laid schemes of mice and men go oft astray.”
My viewpoint is that selecting individual equities runs the risk of having “all eggs in one basket”, and this can be risky, although when successful it can be very rewarding. For me, it is more comforting to find a reliable fund with a good manager, supported by a strong research team, who is operating in a sector that interests me. Not all funds in the same sector perform equally well, far from it. You will have to put in the effort to identify these successful funds.
There are many financial publications and newspapers that print lists of share and fund prices. However, these are rarely laid out in an easy-to-use format that helps the DIY investor. Simply put, you need to find a regularly published, well-organised, and easy-to-read source of information showing the relative performance of Unit Trusts, OEICs, Investment Trusts, and Exchange-Traded Funds. You should not be surprised that the one that comes instantly to mind, that does supply an unbiased, regular, readable, and readily available circular, is, of course, Saltydog Investor. Well, I never!
Over the last few years, the generation of green energy has been a keen interest of mine. Wind power and solar energy are obvious routes to follow, but as we all know, these can be unreliable and are dependent on weather conditions. There needs to be a method of energy storage or an alternative method of generation. The first can be resolved by creating liquid hydrogen storage, and the second by using Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to generate nuclear energy.
I have managed to lose money in the first via the company ITM and the fund Hydrogen One. I have now doubled up on this by losing more money on the American SMR designers Oklo Inc. and NuScale Power. After the initial placing, all of these stocks raced ahead only to fall back just as quickly. At the time, the decision to make was whether to hold on or bail out. I held on and suffered the consequences.
Around the world, the route of using SMRs is still a hot favourite, and there are many on order. Unfortunately, not yet those designed by Oklo and NuScale. In the UK, we have Rolls-Royce, an acknowledged leader in the field, but as yet with no firm orders from the UK Department of Energy. Mr Millipede heads up this department, and it seems as though he just cannot get his legs in a row and place an order for civilian use. Rolls-Royce’s nuclear reactors are already successfully used in British submarines and aircraft carriers. They are also world-leading manufacturers of aircraft engines and armaments. I invested in Rolls-Royce some seven months ago and I am presently adding to this investment.
Since the “Great Helmsman” has secured a second term as President of the USA, his unique style of thought and delivery has collapsed stock markets across the Western World, particularly in America. The high-flying Technology and Artificial Intelligence stocks, the “darlings” of this generation of investors, have suffered major collapses in value. This has hit hard the many funds which, until then, needed to have a percentage invested in these stocks just to keep up with their own competition. It has been something of a bloodbath.
Trump’s “resolution” to the Ukrainian war, and his warm relationship with Pootin, has changed possibly forever the financing of NATO’s defence and that of the European nations involved. Now, unable to rely on American arms and money, they are having to become self-sufficient. This has injected a massive amount of money and enthusiasm into businesses involved in the design and production of armaments. This, in turn, encouraged the formation of the HANetf Future of Defence fund. It launched last summer and has risen a quarter since then, and in today’s uncertain environment, this strengthening may continue. I am adding to my holding in this fund.
As a matter of caution, bearing in mind today’s political climate, the bulk of my portfolios are still invested in the ‘Slow’ and ‘Steady’ Saltydog Groups. It is almost laughable, if it was not so serious, but if The Donald was to get dementia, how would we know?
It was Mahatma Gandhi who said, “If there is an idiot in power, it is because those who elected him are well represented.”
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.” (attributed to Albert Einstein)
There would seem to be a paucity of thought from governments of all persuasions when it comes to attacking the United Kingdom’s falling productivity. It is unfortunate that their efforts to improve the country’s financial situation appear, at the moment, to be directing more and more people into public sector jobs. This, along with the present and future looming tax regime, is likely to put a dampener on increasing private sector employment, yet that is what drives up productivity.
I do realise that it is necessary to address the struggling inefficiencies of the NHS, Royal Mail, railways, water boards, energy production, policing, etc., all of which will require public money. But it is all a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario, where to start first? I would like to think that it might be possible to do both at the same time. Encourage private sector businesses first, followed closely by tackling bureaucratic inefficiencies, and then placing expenditure into the public sector. Maybe this will happen. I just hope that our politicians will not be forced back into using huge government borrowings, only to be paid off by raising taxes.
Having said all of the above, it is a huge ask, and will require a great amount of luck and determination from a special team of people to carry the day. It also depends, to a great extent, on what havoc will be exacted from the uncharted changes that Mr Trump is throwing at the world’s economies.
It would be nice to think that we could have confidence in the skills and experience of the world’s leaders who are “in control”, and the following may sound a little unfair. But at times, when watching and listening to some of these leaders and decision-makers, I have to believe that when God was giving out brains, they thought he said trains, and they asked for slow ones!
At eighty-two years old, I now apparently fall into the official category of “Ancient”. This is naturally ringing alarm bells, and it raises the question of my future direction of travel. Will it be upstairs for a “How do you do with St Peter”, or downstairs to master the art of shovelling coal? Whichever way it turns out to be, it has now raised the challenge of educating my daughters and grandson in the ways and means of investing their future inheritance.
Today, many younger people think that it is all about catching the last spinning plate before it falls. I explain that while there may be an element of that for some people, as we know, investing can, and should be, more scientific and predictable. However, one must not forget that politics and luck can, and will, have a strong influence on the results. As Robert Burns said, “The best-laid schemes of mice and men go oft astray.”
My viewpoint is that selecting individual equities runs the risk of having “all eggs in one basket”, and this can be risky, although when successful it can be very rewarding. For me, it is more comforting to find a reliable fund with a good manager, supported by a strong research team, who is operating in a sector that interests me. Not all funds in the same sector perform equally well, far from it. You will have to put in the effort to identify these successful funds.
There are many financial publications and newspapers that print lists of share and fund prices. However, these are rarely laid out in an easy-to-use format that helps the DIY investor. Simply put, you need to find a regularly published, well-organised, and easy-to-read source of information showing the relative performance of Unit Trusts, OEICs, Investment Trusts, and Exchange-Traded Funds. You should not be surprised that the one that comes instantly to mind, that does supply an unbiased, regular, readable, and readily available circular, is, of course, Saltydog Investor. Well, I never!
Over the last few years, the generation of green energy has been a keen interest of mine. Wind power and solar energy are obvious routes to follow, but as we all know, these can be unreliable and are dependent on weather conditions. There needs to be a method of energy storage or an alternative method of generation. The first can be resolved by creating liquid hydrogen storage, and the second by using Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to generate nuclear energy.
I have managed to lose money in the first via the company ITM and the fund Hydrogen One. I have now doubled up on this by losing more money on the American SMR designers Oklo Inc. and NuScale Power. After the initial placing, all of these stocks raced ahead only to fall back just as quickly. At the time, the decision to make was whether to hold on or bail out. I held on and suffered the consequences.
Around the world, the route of using SMRs is still a hot favourite, and there are many on order. Unfortunately, not yet those designed by Oklo and NuScale. In the UK, we have Rolls-Royce, an acknowledged leader in the field, but as yet with no firm orders from the UK Department of Energy. Mr Millipede heads up this department, and it seems as though he just cannot get his legs in a row and place an order for civilian use. Rolls-Royce’s nuclear reactors are already successfully used in British submarines and aircraft carriers. They are also world-leading manufacturers of aircraft engines and armaments. I invested in Rolls-Royce some seven months ago and I am presently adding to this investment.
Since the “Great Helmsman” has secured a second term as President of the USA, his unique style of thought and delivery has collapsed stock markets across the Western World, particularly in America. The high-flying Technology and Artificial Intelligence stocks, the “darlings” of this generation of investors, have suffered major collapses in value. This has hit hard the many funds which, until then, needed to have a percentage invested in these stocks just to keep up with their own competition. It has been something of a bloodbath.
Trump’s “resolution” to the Ukrainian war, and his warm relationship with Pootin, has changed possibly forever the financing of NATO’s defence and that of the European nations involved. Now, unable to rely on American arms and money, they are having to become self-sufficient. This has injected a massive amount of money and enthusiasm into businesses involved in the design and production of armaments. This, in turn, encouraged the formation of the HANetf Future of Defence fund. It launched last summer and has risen a quarter since then, and in today’s uncertain environment, this strengthening may continue. I am adding to my holding in this fund.
As a matter of caution, bearing in mind today’s political climate, the bulk of my portfolios are still invested in the ‘Slow’ and ‘Steady’ Saltydog Groups. It is almost laughable, if it was not so serious, but if The Donald was to get dementia, how would we know?
It was Mahatma Gandhi who said, “If there is an idiot in power, it is because those who elected him are well represented.”
Douglas
Founder
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