Buttonwood’s notebook
Analysis of the ever-changing financial markets (Wall Street trades used to take place under a Buttonwood tree)
Overpaid, over-important and over-geared
The flaws of finance
The sector is essential to the economy. But it is rewarded too highly and imposes wider social costs. The penultimate in a series of farewell blogs
Affording retirement
Hope I save before I get old
Although we will probably spend 20 years or more in retirement, we don't think about it enough. The third in a series of farewell blogs
Black and white and read all over
The best books on finance and economics
A great book from the late Hans Rosling heads the list. The second in a series of farewell blogs
Long-term investing
Six precepts every investor should remember
The first in a farewell series of blogs
Technology and the economy
The smartphone and the toilet
Technological change has brought great benefits that aren't captured in GDP. That's not new
Fixing America's pensions
A plan that needs more money
Topping up Social Security is a good idea but 3% contributions won't be enough
Democracy and economics
We have seen the future and it twerks
Leadership may be divided into the entertainment figurehead and the policymaking experts
Godzilla escapes
Markets think trade war is good for “absolutely nothing”
It may turn out to be bluster but it makes the world riskier anyway
The mulligan rule of investment
Beware of performance figures
Most funds fail to beat the index. But a lot of funds say they have. There is a simple explanation
The soaring cost of old age
The real problem with pensions
The big problem with DC schemes is that contributions aren’t high enough