“The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator” ― Benjamin Graham, author of The Intelligent Investor It is fair to say that in January our focus was on inflation and central bank policies. We expected market wobbles, but we remained cautiously optimistic for 2022. For someone fascinated by history, […]
Quarterly Market Update – April 2022
“Howay the Ladds Monthly Spotlight” – April 2022
The quarterly market and portfolio updates will provide some thoughts around markets and what is happening. In the monthly spotlight I wanted to spend some time on why the investment side makes us different. April Spotlight “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin In January I shared some insight into what […]
The Connect 4 conundrum
There is an app to play Connect 4 I recently discovered and it’s great. Set the level to hard and give the computer the first counter and it’s a real challenge. You must try to work out what the opponent is trying to achieve and stymie that whilst achieving a winning strategy yourself. This seems […]
Tony Dwyer knows stuff
Tony Dwyer is one of the people who when he speaks, we listen. There aren’t that many, Tom Lee, Adam Parker, Brian Belski and Mike Wilson are others. He did an hour with the Josh Brown Podcast on Friday, and these are the key takeaways. He has a core thesis that he does not deviate […]
Comparing apples with apples
We listen to and talk with investment professionals most days. We can access the thoughts and analysis of the best. And in periods of volatility, they will do one of two things. They will either say “Pay no attention to macroeconomic noise, it doesn’t assist in generating long term outsized returns.” Or “This is how […]
The unruly dog theory
Trying to understand how markets react over short periods can be perplexing. A conundrum wrapped in a riddle of a black cat in a darkened room that maybe isn’t really there. This was demonstrated in early 2020 when the pandemic struck globally and markets around the world went into free fall. They fell 30%, a […]
Crypto
The best performing crypto coin of 2021 is Shiba Inu, up 2.4million%. That’s a far better result than Warren Buffett’s 60-year total investment return and for buying what exactly? Well, Shiba Inu was created as a parody of Dogecoin which itself was a joke crypto coin in homage to a Japanese breed of dog. I […]
It’s Deja Vu – All Over Again
The observation comes from the inimitable Yogi Berra; fabled baseball catcher for the New York Yankees (1946-’63). Firstly, yes, Yogi Bear really was named after him. Secondly, he was the absolute master of the nonsensical but still oddly profound sports saying. You just sort of knew what he meant. As examples: ‘When you come to […]
Pardon the interruption
Below is my take on the start on the year to now. An attempt to tease out the key elements as a guide to where we may be heading. I wrote this as a guide to myself and a reference for the team but it may be of some interest…….or not. Part 1 – from […]
Zig zag to the onion bag
Portfolios have recaptured the majority of their pre virus values and the last month has seen sectors previously thrown into the dumper in March, receiving some investor love. Too much short term love in some cases possibly, but certainly not in all. This seems like an apt time then to take stock and look ahead […]