What I have been reading - 28th October 2019

Here are a few of the things I enjoyed reading this week:

Warning! Frequently checking your kid's grades or your portfolio is bad for your health and wealth: There is a great analogy in this article. A must-read for parents and investors.

The most bullish signal in the world: The S&P 500 is at an all-time-high and only 27% of money managers are bullish on the stock market over the next 12 months, which is the lowest reading in 20 years. To me this says, in as clear a way as is possible, that we are nowhere near the top.

More money, more problems: Many (very) wealthy people tell me that they worry more about money now that they have it than they did when they had none. Here blogger Blair Duquesnay explains some of the issues faced by people as they either build their wealth, or suddenly come into wealth.

Useful biases: I am fascinated by behavioural biases, particularly in investing. But also in life. We tend to think of them as being detrimental to our decision making process. Morgan Housel explains how there are some behavioural biases that can serve us.

Those of us who know Ken Fisher know what's happening is a travesty: Whilst googling the latest outflow figure for Ken Fisher and his firm Fisher Investments (it now stands at over $3 billion of outflows), I came across this article. Generally what I have read about him has been less than complementary. You will have seen my comments on him in previous weeks. I reiterate that in 2019 you just can't talk about genitalia and other such things at a conference without expecting a backlash. I was going to share another negative article about him but this article is a reminder to me that there are always two sides to a story and everyone is human.

FINALLY:

While California fires rage, the rich hire private firefighters: This is fascinating to me on so many levels. Hurricanes or fires? I have always thought that I would take a hurricane over a fire. But now that the ultra-rich are being impacted by forest fires it seems that we are seeing innovation around how to protect oneself.

ENJOY!

Georgie

georgie@libertywealth.ky