14 March 2023

How you can protect yourself from Banking Crisis

Do not rely on Regulation!

Regulators are beholden to to politicians who in turn are beholden to the industries they are supposed to regulate. Banking regulations were loosened substantially in the United States towards the end of the last decade. The current crisis of confidence is to a large extent due to wrong policies pursued by regulators and the Federal Reserve Bank. The situation in the Eurozone and the UK is not much better. 

Lesson for all Investors: diversify your banking relationship and if possible invest in assets that are not dependent on a healthy bank.

Private Banking Advisory is happy to analyse risks contained in your investment holdings.

How Silicon Valley Bank skirted Washington's toughest banking rules

18 November 2022

Is there a difference between a Painting and a Crypto Token?

Don't misunderstand me. I went to any number of Art Museums and Exhibitions. Love to see great paintings of all ages. But looking at the latest Mondrian painting that just got auctioned for $US 51 Million I start to wonder.

What is really the difference between a painting like this one and a crypto token like Bitcoin? Why is the world so obsessed with originals when any decent art school graduate could replicate the Mondrian quite easily?

I don't have the answer, only the question. Maybe you readers make some comment that helps me understand this better.



30 September 2022

Beware of Financial Engineering!

When Times are good it is easy to forget Warren Buffett's famous dictum: "Derivatives are weapons of mass destruction". Recent turmoil in the UK Gilts market demonstrated that Financial Engineering (better called alchemy) has its limitations. And how much did the Pension trustees really understand when LDI was proposed as the magic solution? It just shows that the Quality of your Advisers is crucial for Investment success.


10 August 2022

Don't get suckered by 'Celebrities' pushing NFTs

 17 Celebrities Just Got Warning Letters About Shilling NFTs

1 May 2022

No reason to panic yet!


No reason to panic yet. While the short-term charts may appear to be horrible the long-term trend is still intact. This is a logarithmic chart of the S&P 500 and it shows that is still well within the uptrend. On the other hand, you can also see that there were quite long multi-year periods in the 1970s and between 2000 and 2012 where the Index moved sideways and the only return investors made derived from dividends.

18 April 2022

The Importance of keeping Fees low in Low-Return Investment Era




 

27 August 2021

Crypto "Currencies" - read this before you invest

Make sure you understand these terms if you really think you must not miss out on the crypto craze/mania: do you know what they mean? Hard Fork, chain activity, gas fees, burning mechanism, EIP-1559 upgrade,  deposit contract address, ledger device, staking contract, (crypto) wallet, proof-of-work vs proof-of-stake technology.
London burning! 100,000 ETH up in smoke after Ethereum upgrade

4 July 2021

Three Certainties in Life - Tax, Death and Fund Fees

Are you aware of the tremendous impact that fund fees (and fees for Private Banking or Independent Financial Advisers) have on the long-term performance of your Investments?

2 July 2021

How to measure the performance of your Financial Adviser

Most ordinary people - and I include the Rich and SuperRich in this category - are not really trained or qualified to manage their Financial Affairs, let alone their Investments. One would not expect them to as we all lead busy lives with family, work and other - maybe more interesting hobbies than checking on your portfolio every day.

As Financial Advisers handle the Investment affairs of the majority of people it is essential that their performance is checked in a professional and unbiased way.