What caught my eye this week.
I belatedly enjoyed Dumb Money on Netflix this week. Finumus put me onto it as a chaser to the story in my Active Antics links below about the Canadian who made and lost $300m trading Tesla options.
Dumb Money is hilarious (whereas that second story is almost tragic) but it’s also a solid piece of filmmaking.
The movie deftly captures the time and (all over the) place when Reddit GameStop trading was at its height. From Covid in the backdrop and mask-wearing on the metro to how it transmutes Pied Piper and YouTuber Roaring Kitty’s riffing into the void into almost a communal event – like some virtual version of Woodstock for Gen-Z – you can imagine it being watched in future decades as a historical drama.
For a darker follow-up to this follow-up, also read of Freddie deBoer, who this week offered a cold take on why the meme trading phenomenon still comes with cult-like language from its adherents:
Quite literally, everyone who bought into GameStop can’t make money off of doing so because somebody’s got to be late to the selloff.
Which is why this whole thing is such a particularly sad expression of aspirational capitalism; the meme stock people celebrate their own jocular spirit of togetherness, but fundamentally all of them are looking, someday, to fuck the people who wait too long.
For my part, I said sell very near the height on 28 January 2021. But of course I only had a couple of shares on Freetrade and I’d never have made the stacks racked up by the early diamond hands.
Then again neither would most of those who followed Roaring Kitty and the gang. Dumb Money is a great story but it’s not a guide to investing that anyone should follow – except maybe with some fun (dumb) money.
Indeed hundreds of millions of ordinary people got richer in that period just by holding the index.
As for once in a generation events, joining thousands of spaced-out hippies in a farm would probably be more profitable than playing pass-the-parcel with Reddit’s most degenerate gamblers.
Have a great weekend.
From Monevator
Rightmove. Wrong price [Members] – Monevator
How to buy index-linked gilts – Monevator
From the archive-ator: Investing for beginners: all about assets – Monevator
News
Note: Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view click through to read the article. Try privacy/incognito mode to avoid cookies. Consider subscribing to sites you visit a lot.
Rachel Reeves reportedly considering capital gains tax at 39%… – Guardian
…but rules out ‘exit tax’ for wealthy people leaving UK… [Search result] – FT
…while IFS paper says CGT needs to be reformed not raised – Institute for Fiscal Studies
Platforms object to [proposed] investment trusts’ ‘zero’ charges as ‘materially misleading’ – AIC
Landlords and second-home owners rush to sell up ahead of tax and energy changes – Which
House prices close to record high, says Halifax – BBC
Retail sales grow at strongest pace for six months… – Morningstar
…after the UK economy returned to growth in August – BBC
UK indie film industry gets a new tax break – UK Gov
Annual deaths outnumber births in Britain for first time in 50 years – BBC
Are you rich enough to be hit in the Budget? New data from Hargreaves Lansdown – GB News
A little money perspective – A Wealth of Common Sense
Products and services
High swap rates could herald mortgage rates rising again – This Is Money
Schroders proposes ‘Lifetime Savings Initiative’ to help poorer people save – Schroders
Open an account with low-cost platform InvestEngine via our link and get up to £50 when you invest at least £100 (T&Cs apply. Capital at risk) – InvestEngine
How to beat the Disney+ price hikes – Be Clever With Your Cash
Where next for two million savings accounts maturing by end of 2024? – Which
Get £100-£2,000 cashback when you open a SIPP with Interactive Investor (T&Cs apply. Capital at risk) – Interactive Investor
The five rarest 50p coins in circulation, led by Atlantic Salmon special – Royal Mint
Pikachu Pokémon card set to sell for £250,000 at auction – This Is Money
Homes for sale on High Streets in Britain, in pictures – Guardian
Comment and opinion
Do Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street run the world? – Of Dollars and Data
How rising care costs can wreck your retirement finances [Search result] – FT
The ultra-rich are building a separate world here on Earth [Podcast] – Odd Lots
Boomers’ money secrets are a ticking time bomb for their kids – Sherwood
20 rules for markets and investing – Charlie Bilello
14 ways to improve your credit score – Be Clever With Your Cash
The noise factory – Behavioural Investment
How to diversify your pension pot [Podcast, cheers for the Monevator mention] – Merryn Talks Money via Apple
Nerdy factor research mini-special
Do expectations errors explain factor returns? – Verdad
Trawling ancient market history for factor evidence – CFA Institute
Naughty corner: Active antics
Thoughts on running multi-baggers – Maynard Paton
Return on mental capital – Flyover Stocks
How a Canadian carpenter became an options trader, made $300m, then went bust – Sherwood
Do US election prediction markets offer an arb opportunity? – Sherwood
Yeah the US market is very expensive mini-special
High valuations are about time horizons… – Cullen Roche
…still, Jeremy Grantham sees US stocks in bubble territory – Morningstar
Kindle book bargains
Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How to Fix It by Sam Freedman – £0.99 on Kindle
Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis – £0.99 on Kindle
Bad Blood: Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos Scandal by John Carreyrou – £0.99 on Kindle
Casino: The Rise and Fall of the Mob in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi – £0.99 on Kindle
Environmental factors
Looking after L.A.’s favourite fake beaches – BBC
Insurer warns 7,116 new UK homes are being built on flood plains – This Is Money
America is lying to itself about the cost of disasters – The Atlantic
What range anxiety? One UK Tesla has clocked up 700,000 miles – This Is Money
Robot relationships mini-special
When your lover is a bot – The Walrus
The perfect girlfriend – Esquire
A.I. overlord roundup
Google DeepMind scientists share the Nobel prize for chemistry – Guardian
The rise of AI-powered job application bots – 404 Media
A data-driven case that A.I. has already changed the US jobs market – Forked Lightning
OpenAI talent exodus gives rivals an opening – Wired
Off our beat
Just 0.1% of Internet users are responsible for 80% of fake news – Sherwood
Metric-less success – More to That
Where have all the Chief Metaverse Officers gone? – Wired
How rich are Arab rulers? [Search result] – FT
The mystery of the dead billionaire – Sherwood
American’s disorder problem [US but UK feels similar to me right now…] – The Casual Fallacy [h/t Abnormal Returns]
[…] The unstoppable rise of mobile phone theft – Guardian
And finally…
“Life is very long unless it is not.”
– Gabrielle Zeven, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
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