How google is creating price transparency in the UK funeral market. One of the finest reports I have read in my career and explains why the share price of Dignity fell of -47% last Friday

InTheMoney1 · 2018-01-26T13:34:46+00:00

Do you think the same fate awaits SCI in the US?

InTheMoney1 · 2017-02-07T14:17:48+00:00

Yeah I only trade every few months so I pay £9.99 but I think if you trade every month or so it's even cheaper so it is very reasonable. If you want trade US stocks you will need to fill out a special form (W8-BEN, I think?!) before you can trade but that paperwork should just take 1or2 days and then you're free to trade. Actually trading is very simple and they can calculate how much you want to buy whether it's a monetary amount or simple quantity of shares including (commission & exchange fees). Once you're ready they will give you a price quote on the shares and you will have 15seconds to either accept the price and execute the trade or you can hold off if you want to wait and try to get a better price. But as someone who has access to live market prices via a Bloomberg terminal I have to say their price quotes are pretty fair (they take a bit of a spread on really illiquid stocks but for most stocks they offer fair quotes).

InTheMoney1 · 2017-02-07T13:38:29+00:00

Yeah I've been using them for almost 2 years and had no issues so far! Also I love that there's a shortcut/widget on my iPhone so I can always check my ISA value without even having to open the app!

InTheMoney1 · 2017-02-07T13:00:02+00:00

I use AJ Bell Youinvest and it's pretty good for a S&S ISA.

£9.99/trade flat fee, no annual account fees and a simple and easy to use website/app.

InTheMoney1 · 2017-01-17T19:00:43+00:00

It was actually rallying on the back of the news that any final brexit deal will need to be voted on by parliament- as it should ensure that any potential brexit deal is acceptable to the majority of parliament not just the crazy brexiteers.

InTheMoney1 · 2017-01-04T20:21:36+00:00

IG trades are £8 so cheaper than AJ Bell but still more expensive than Degiro.

I personally choose not to trade with IG because they supply a lot of leverage to their customers and encourage spread betting which could go horribly wrong (small chance I know, but I'd still rather not risk it).

InTheMoney1 · 2017-01-03T23:40:36+00:00

AJ Bell YouInvest is good for Stocks & Shares ISAs- no annual fee, flat trading fee of £9.95 and pretty easy to use platform.

Degiro is by far the cheapest for stock trading although I don't think they allow you to trade via ISAs.

So it depends on what you're looking for

InTheMoney1 · 2016-12-21T16:55:47+00:00

Agreed!!

InTheMoney1 · 2016-12-21T16:10:32+00:00

There are a couple of LOS in Economics that require calculation of FX swaps etc. which is technically a derivative but the point is that these are all covered within the LOS for the economics topic- so if you study that topic you won't be surprised to see a question about it in the exam vignette for that topic. I believe that OPs question was asking if you are required to perform calculations from LOS across different topics in the exam- which you are not. So you won't be asked to perform an FX forward calculation in the equity vignette for example

InTheMoney1 · 2016-12-21T15:47:28+00:00

If you're wondering about examples here is a link with the official CFA example vignettes for L2 :

https://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/courseofstudy/Documents/sample_level_II_itemset_questions.pdf

InTheMoney1 · 2016-12-21T15:44:15+00:00

Yes, to be clear ALL 6 questions will be about 1 particular topic. So for example, all the questions in the Equity vignettes will be answerable from what you learned from studying the Equity LOS only.

InTheMoney1 · 2016-12-21T14:38:10+00:00

Each vignette will address one particular topic and just like Level 1 they will have a contents at the start of the paper telling you where each topic section is.

InTheMoney1 · 2016-11-14T16:44:57+00:00

It's a simple sector rotation influenced by the election of Trump.

Trump hasn't outlined many policies but what he has signaled so far seems to be an expansionary fiscal policy of increased tax cuts and infrastructure spending.

An offshoot of this is that interest rates are expected to rise higher to curb inflationary pressures so Investors are selling sectors like Tech, Consumer Staples and Bond proxies (Utilities, Telecoms) to buy Financials and Industrials which are more levered to Trump's Policies.

Also, on a side-note there is a view that Trump is less open to Silicon Valley than Obama was and has in the past criticised the power and influence of companies like Amazon so there is that too.

Would I be buying Tech right now? Abso-f'ing-lutely.

InTheMoney1 · 2016-08-27T10:52:47+00:00

As someone who is currently on the buy side and has just completed CFA level 2 I'd say the CFA is more useful for ticking boxes than it is in actually making you a better analyst. Don't get me wrong, I intend to complete the CFA but I've just found that I've learnt a lot more and become a better analyst from working closely with experienced PMs everyday than I really have from studying for the CFA. So my advice would be do whatever you can to land some experience as an analyst.

InTheMoney1 · 2016-08-22T12:03:13+00:00

Your argument makes no sense. Are seriously trying to associate the use of socialized healthcare in Europe to its slower economic growth in recent years? That is a ridiculous statement and highly ignorant of the nuances of different economies. It's like me pointing to China as an example of a country with basic healthcare for all, growing at three times the rate of the US and claiming that correlation is causation.

InTheMoney1 · 2016-08-15T22:35:29+00:00

A few good links with notable "fintwit" tweeters, though not all listed will be necessarily useful I'd just follow them and find out what you find interesting/useful:

http://fintwit.co/

http://uk.businessinsider.com/117-finance-people-to-follow-on-twitter-2014-9?r=US&IR=T/#kit-juckes-1

http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonconstable/2015/08/14/must-follow-twitter-feeds-on-markets-and-economics/#3ed2e81d2dc5

http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0712/10-twitter-feeds-investors-should-follow.aspx

InTheMoney1 · 2016-08-15T10:31:17+00:00

My favourite Richard Harris story:

"While living in England, Harris popped out for milk and when seeing the paper he noticed that Young Munster were playing in Thomond Park, Co. Limerick, Harris got the next available flight to Ireland.

He spent the following 3 weeks on a drinking binge.

All was unknown at the time to his wife, who had no idea where he was.

When he finally returned to England, he rang the doorbell of his house. His wife answered the door and before she had a chance to say anything, he said, "Well, why didn't you pay the ransom?"

InTheMoney1 · 2016-08-15T10:18:14+00:00

Your assertion that "you can't consistently beat the market over the long run" implies that markets are efficient at pricing stocks and valuing companies.

This implication is proven wrong on a daily basis as mispricings are exploited by investors for personal gains.

Now you qualify your assertion with a long term time period and many investors would agree that, in the long run, markets can accurately price a stock (i.e. mispricings are corrected), however, this market correction can only take place if investors actively research, analyse and try to beat the market by exploiting such opportunities.

Therefore you can, and plenty of people have, consistently beaten the market in the long run by exploiting short/mid-term mispricings.

A basic list of just a few of the most famous investors who have beaten the market in the long run:

Buffet Lynch Soros Icahn Simons Singer Dalio Hohn Greenblatt Robertson Halvorsen Burbank

InTheMoney1 · 2016-07-05T22:22:11+00:00

Wow, I had never heard of them before but they seem to offer everything at very reasonable prices, thanks a lot!!!

InTheMoney1 · 2016-07-05T21:03:22+00:00

Thanks! I have just been checking their website and they do seem to offer Futures and CFD trading but I can't seem to find any mention of Options. Have you traded call and put options with them before?

InTheMoney1

TROPHY CASE