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| Source: wikipedia |
Rather than a particular focus this week my brain has been a
little all over the place. Maybe it’s
the after effects of too much Christmas and New Year cheer... What it means though is that instead of a
detailed focused post today what you get is a smattering of random
thoughts. If that’s not your thing then
you might want to move onto your next piece of Saturday reading.
Stock Market Fun
The big boys and girls seem to have come back from their
Christmas vacations and (started to?) put the markets back in their place. On the week:
- China’s Shanghai Composite Index is down 10.0%;
- The US’s S&P500 is down 6.0%;
- Japan’s Nikkei 225 is down 7.0%;
- Our FTSE100 is down 5.3%; and
- Our FTSE250 is down 4.0%
It’s only a week of market action but I thought it might be
interesting to compare that action to a diversified portfolio that has different asset classes across multiple countries. I hope I have one of those so comparing to my
portfolio I’m down 2.3% on the week. I’m
not yet at FIRE but even now in pounds, shillings and pence that is a fall of
£19,320 which is more than a year’s worth of post FIRE post home purchase living
expenses.
London Housing
It’s all too rare that The Investor over at the excellent
Monevator has a good rant but there was some good value this week with the post
they don’t tax free time. Like The Investor I've watched the
London property market go insane so this comment
“But with London prices having moved from extreme to insane
to “oh, so this is what my grandmother meant when she said flinched at
50p for a bag of chips that used to cost a ha’penny”...”
was particularly amusing. Now every year I try and assess the house value of all the counties ofEngland and Wales so I already knew it was insane and really no longer a place for anyone who isn't an oligarch or money launderer. Hell even the bankers can’t afford it any more. In light of this throwing this chart together this week did make me smile:
Click to enlarge, London first time buyer gross house price
to earnings ratios
Does this make my first picture today relevant?
