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The Intelligent Investor (July 2024)

The Wealth Transfer Dilemma

Most investors’ primary motivation for financial planning is to ensure they don’t outlive their money. Disciplined investors, most of whom are supported by a competent and caring financial adviser, can, however, reach a position where it becomes clear that they will never spend all their money in their lifetime.


Tax Alert: Prepare for Potential Tax Changes

With the arrival of a new Government and The Chancellor set to unveil her inaugural Budget on 30th October, I wanted to bring your attention to some potential decisions that might impact you.

Understanding Recent Market Shifts and Their Impact on Your Investments

In recent weeks, financial markets have been on quite a rollercoaster. With fluctuations driven by a mix of economic data, investor sentiment, and geopolitical tensions, it is essential to dissect what is truly influencing these changes and what they mean for your investments.

The Stock Markets

(Updated August 2024)

The key benchmark you should care about is achieving all of your financial and life goals and not running out of money.

The Unimportant Numbers – 1 Month

Monthly figures are a distraction from your long-term goals, we’ll help you avoid the noise.

The Important Numbers – 30 Years

Investing in the Great Companies of the World has produced life-changing returns for the disciplined and patient investor.

Inflation – The Real Enemy (Updated August 2024)

The number one enemy of the long-term investor is the financial dragon called inflation (the silent but steady increase of prices over time).

The only sane definition of money is purchasing power, and over the last 30 years, inflation in the UK has almost halved the value of your money.

But an investment in the global share market has consistently provided protection from this enemy.

IN THE MEDIA

The media is not a friend of the disciplined and patient investor. Whether it’s on TV, Print or Online, the media prefers to focus on short-term returns, market predictions, and negative news. Which is not suitable for a long-term investor.

Below are the stories, podcasts, and images which we wanted to share with you this month, which are uplifting, interesting and informative.

These links below will take you to articles on other websites.

Positive News

Here is this month’s selection of positive news stories not related to investing.

Further Reading

Here are some articles you may find interesting this month.

Listen & Watch

  • Quiet Compounding (Apple Podcast)
    Just like in nature, it’s where you’ll find the most impressive results
  • How to speak so that people want to listen​ (YouTube)
    Have you ever felt like you’re talking, but nobody is listening? Julian Treasure demonstrates some useful vocal exercises and shares tips on how to improve your speaking.

A Picture is worth 1000 Words

  • Charted: Olympic Athletes Are Getting Bigger​
    Mean weight and height by sport at the 1960 and 2016 summer Olympics. Values calculated for athletes 20 years or older, compared to the BMI classification for the general population.
  • ​Mapped: The Price of a Big Mac Across the World​
    What can a Big Mac tell us about currency rates? As it turns out, quite a lot. The Big Mac Index started out as a simple tool to make currency theory more digestible. Now, it’s a widely-known measure in popular economics to assess and compare currency valuations.
  • ​The Largest Company in Every Sector of the S&P 500
    This graphic visualizes the 11 sectors of the S&P 500, each sector’s total market capitalization, the top 10 companies’ share of their sector’s market cap, and the largest company in each sector.