I have a confession. On 6 October last year, the day bitcoin set its record at about $126,000, I did not think, ” This is the top”. I thought the number looked rather reasonable. That is how tops work. They do not feel like the edge of anything. A year on, bitcoin is trading around
Bitcoin Is Down 32%. That Is the Good News. Read More »
How many people have watched a perfect showstopper come out of the Bake Off tent and thought, quietly, I could sell that? Quite a lot, I suspect. And this autumn there is a fresh reason to wonder. A new judge in the tent The Great British Bake Off returned for its seventeenth series on 22
Can Home Baking Pay Its Way? Read More »
The world’s three most watched shoppers handed in their August receipts this month, and they could not have told more different stories. America spent like someone who had just been paid. Britain spent like someone who had checked their balance first. China barely opened its purse. If you want to understand where the global economy
The World Went Shopping in August. Not Equally. Read More »
The most profitable thing Costco sells is not in any of its warehouses. You cannot put it in a trolley, and nobody queues for it on a Saturday morning. It is the small plastic card you show at the door. The results On Thursday 24 September, Costco reported its figures for the final quarter of
Costco Sells Groceries. It Profits From the Card. Read More »
Do you remember the marshmallow test? A child sits alone at a table with one marshmallow. They are told that if they can wait a few minutes without eating it, they will get two. The adult leaves the room, and a hidden camera records the most relatable struggles in human psychology. The original studies, run
Delayed Gratification Paid Me Back, Slowly Read More »
You are probably wondering why a Swiss interest rate decision deserves your morning coffee. Most of us do not bank in francs, and very few of us have a chalet to worry about. But Switzerland is where the world runs when it gets frightened, and this week its central bank quietly said something useful about
Switzerland Held at Zero and Looked Relieved Read More »
I have a confession. When a business survey lands, I skip the headline and go straight to the prices. The headline tells you how busy firms are. The prices section tells you what they are about to do to your bill. This month, the prices section was the story. What the survey said On Wednesday
Britain’s Economy Slowed. Its Prices Did Not. Read More »
If someone handed you forty dollars and told you to spend it on something that would make you happier, what would you buy? That was, more or less, the question a team of researchers put to people in a study published in 2017. The answer they found has stayed with me ever since, partly because
The Richest Thing You Can Buy Is an Hour Read More »
The boring basket, explained properly Nine out of ten. That is roughly how many actively managed UK equity funds failed to beat their benchmark last year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. An index fund does not try to beat the benchmark. It simply is the benchmark, and in 2025 that was enough to finish
How to Invest in Index Funds Read More »
Most of what we call laziness is not laziness at all. It is a mood problem wearing laziness as a disguise. I say that as someone who has very little patience for real idleness. I have a strong work ethic for the right kind of work, and slothfulness is one of the few things that
Laziness Is Not What You Think It Is Read More »
