What caught my eye this week.<\/em><\/p>\n I<\/span> can\u2019t deny the Monevator<\/em> Christmas party is always a little awkward, but I look forward to it every year.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the anonymity that makes it tricky. Not just keeping our identities secret from the waiting staff, but also from each other.<\/p>\n Finumus<\/em><\/a> doesn\u2019t want anybody to know who he really is, you see. But when you land your private helicopter in the pub garden it\u2019s a bit of a giveaway.<\/p>\n Meanwhile my false beard always gets covered in gravy.<\/p>\n Secret Santa adds to the surreal air, but again it\u2019s easy to guess who gave what.<\/p>\n Did I really need The Accumulator\u2019s<\/em> slightly musky Chillbreaker<\/a> now the cost-of-living crisis is over?<\/p>\n And while\u00a0Squirrel<\/em> accepted her framed stock certificate of a triple-levered uranium ETF \u2013 blatantly from Finumus<\/em> \u2013 with good grace, TA<\/em> groaned as he unwrapped a copy of One Up On Wall Street<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery bloody year\u2026\u201d<\/em> he complained, warding off Peter Lynch\u2019s stock-picking classic with a copy of Tim Hale\u2019s Smart Money<\/em><\/a> \u2013 which he carries with him everywhere to shun temptation, like a Holy cross.<\/p>\n Lynch\u2019s book flew back through the air at me \u2013 it\u2019s not easy to duck when you\u2019re sporting a three-foot long beard \u2013 and I packed it away for next year.<\/p>\n (Stay hungry, stay frugal!)<\/p>\n Then there are the gatecrashers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s nice enough when Lars<\/a> <\/em>shows his face for old time\u2019s sake. And it\u2019s heartening to see The Greybeard<\/em><\/a> grown fat on his equity income trust dividends after all these years.<\/p>\n But is that not Ermine<\/em> in the corner? Plotting something with a bright-looking fellow on a dusty old Sinclair computer?<\/p>\n When the whole of yesteryear\u2019s Team Monevator<\/em><\/a> turns up expecting brandy and mince pies, I\u2019m afraid to say we sneak out the back door and escape via that waiting chopper.<\/p>\n Monevator<\/em> membership<\/a> revenues are going quite well, but we\u2019re not running another Studio 54 here!<\/p>\n Talking of membership, a huge thanks to the many readers who now support<\/a> this site with a few quid every month. It\u2019s made a big difference.<\/p>\n I was reading Ed Zitron<\/a> this week on how the Internet, media, and just using a computer has been progressively ruined over the past decade, and I thought again that I\u2019d probably have turned off Monevator<\/em>\u00a0if enough people hadn\u2019t signed up to support our work.<\/p>\n Zitron writes:<\/p>\n As every single platform we use is desperate to juice growth from every user, everything we interact with is hyper-monetized through plugins, advertising, microtransactions and other things that constantly gnaw at the user experience.<\/p>\n We load websites expecting them to be broken, especially on mobile, because every single website has to have 15+ different ad trackers, video ads that cover large chunks of the screen, all while demanding our email or for us to let them send us notifications.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I know \u2013 of course we do some of this ourselves.<\/p>\n We show ads to non-members on the website, and I prompt new visitors to sign-up<\/a> to read us by email. We (sparingly) use affiliate links. And some of this involves the same tracking stuff we\u2019re all exposed to on every other site on the Internet, apart from possibly Wikipedia<\/em>.<\/p>\n I suppose a few people may consider us adding a membership tier to be part of this \u2018making everything worse\u2019.<\/p>\n Well I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n I love the membership tier and the purity of email.<\/p>\n Some dwindling number of diehards will never accept that creating digital products and destinations for years on end has to be paid for somehow.<\/p>\n But for the rest of us I prefer a model where we directly pay for things.<\/p>\n I do it myself with other websites and newsletters. Though I accept the costs add up, and there is a limit.<\/p>\n If you are of the grumpier persuasion, you\u2019d probably be surprised at everything I turn down.<\/p>\n Paid-for links to crypto, currency exchange, and loan sites. (We never sell links). Well-known companies asking us to create stealthy articles to promote their products. Lucrative guest posts by SEO firms. The long trails of clickbait ads that even old-line newspaper sites have at the end of every article these days.<\/p>\n Again, you might say you\u2019re looking at an advert next to these words on our website right now.<\/p>\n All I can say is that this is the thin end of a very thick wedge. And I fight to stay at the right end.<\/p>\n Zitron\u2019s article turned a bit hyperbolic but I agree with most of it.<\/p>\n However where I disagree is his broad brush claim that media sites have done all this \u2018enshittification\u2019 for vast growth and profits.<\/p>\n In fact they\u2019ve usually made endless compromises and degraded the experience to near-unusable levels either because they are desperate not to go bust or because they already went bust and the new owner is squeezing out whatever juice is left in the brand. The big platforms have sucked all the air and money out of the Internet, and everyone else is left to starve.<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re spoiled in the UK. We have the BBC and (whatever you think of the politics) The Guardian<\/em>, two of the least-polluted free media sites left standing.<\/p>\n But countless others have gone dark, or else it would have been better had they done so.<\/p>\n As for independent blogs, maybe 95% of those I\u2019ve linked to in the UK are no longer around.<\/p>\n Honestly, I\u2019m sometimes tempted to turn Monevator<\/em> into a subscription-only newsletter and switch off the lights, too. It\u2019s a better experience for readers and better for us. No more fighting spam each day!<\/p>\n But we still get so many emails from new people thanking us for helping them take their first steps in investing, or from older hands for keeping them on the straight and narrow.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve collected several hundred of these. That folder is probably the crowning achievement of my working life.<\/p>\n Perhaps I should have tried harder to achieve more, I guess, but anyway I\u2019m loathe to turn off the site while we\u2019re making a difference \u2013 however much Google is trying to kill us and others off<\/a> with its endless algorithm changes.<\/p>\n So again, if you\u2019re signed up as a Monevator<\/em> member<\/a> then thank you!<\/p>\n You make it possible for us to continue to keep 99% of the 2,000-plus articles we\u2019ve written free to read. A portion of your subscription covers the 30 minutes or more I spend every day keeping Monevator<\/em> clear of toxic links, racist and sexist comments, and bit rot.<\/p>\n Hopefully you\u2019re enjoying the extra member content too, of course!<\/p>\n We\u2019re able to go deeper in the member-only articles, especially with my active ones. And it\u2019s very nice not to worry about search engines with them.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget you can browse all our Mavens<\/a><\/em> and Moguls<\/em><\/a> posts in their archives. There\u2019s quite a few now!<\/p>\n On the opposite tack, a few members have asked me to paywall more content.<\/p>\n Really \u2013 I was surprised too, but I guess it reflects a desire not to be taken advantage of.<\/p>\n Personally I feel we have the right balance with our investing-related content, but there is a chance that I will eventually make the Weekend Reading<\/em> links a members-only affair.<\/p>\n Doing these links is a service to our regular readers. Nobody stumbles across them via search.<\/p>\n And Weekend Reading<\/em> is the reading list I\u2019d love to see each week if I wasn\u2019t creating it myself. It takes eight to ten hours to compile each one (much of which consists of reading and rejecting articles you never see links to) but it is a labour of love.<\/p>\n However its roots lie in that better Internet of 20 years ago.<\/p>\n Back then we used to do \u2018blog carnivals\u2019 where blogs would link to each other to spread their traffic and credibility around.<\/p>\n Yet besides one or two honourable exceptions \u2013 thank you Simple Living in Somerset<\/em><\/a> and Abnormal Returns<\/em><\/a> \u2013 almost nobody links freely now.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve included hundreds of links to certain blogs and had at most a couple back to us over two decades. More often zero.<\/p>\n I get it\u2019s harder because we\u2019re a British site and we can be kind of nerdy. But we do have some articles that are universally worthy of linking to.<\/p>\n Even worse, Google probably penalises us nowadays for doing what used to be the right thing and highlighting the best of the web via these links.<\/p>\n It\u2019s so rare to do this now that it\u2019s potentially become an indicator of a spammy link farm.<\/p>\n Ho hum. A halfway house would be to keep the Weekend Reading<\/em> list free but for email subscribers only. So again, subscribe<\/a> to the free emails if you haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n Finally, if you\u2019re a member but you\u2019re not getting the emails you expect to see, then please do drop me a line via a reply to this email (ideally) or via the contact form link top-right (risk of getting stuck in spam.)<\/p>\n The system is not perfect, but I can always sort out problems. Ditto if you have log-in issues. (Deleting your cookies usually does the trick).<\/p>\n Okay, that\u2019s a lot in the weeds for a busy Christmas weekend.<\/p>\n I try not to solicit membership too often but the reality is some people churn away (et tu Maven<\/em>?) so we have to keep topping up.<\/p>\n TLDR: please everyone sign-up as members<\/a> and then we can stay classy indefinitely.<\/p>\n Beyond that, thanks for reading us for another year.<\/p>\n With all the competition from cat and dog TikToks<\/em> and belaboured YouTube<\/em> videos where someone reads out their Vanguard statement for 20 minutes for 100,000 views, we do not take our audience for granted.<\/p>\n Nor, for that matter, the many wonderful readers who add so much value in our comments.<\/p>\n If Monevator<\/em> still has a USP in today\u2019s universally indexing-friendly age, it\u2019s surely in the quality of the discussions that take place beneath so many of our articles.<\/p>\n Right, that\u2019s us almost done for 2024. I\u2019ll have my Moguls<\/em><\/a> missive out for December but otherwise we\u2019re taking a break until the first Saturday of the new year.<\/p>\n So cheers, Merry Christmas \u2013 and see you in 2025!<\/p>\n (Now grab the other end of this cracker TA<\/em>\u2026)<\/p>\n Vanguard raises prices: what\u2019s the alternative? \u2013 Monevator<\/a><\/p>\n From the archive-ator: Board games to keep you busy during our Christmas break \u2013 Monevator<\/a><\/p>\n Note: Some links are Google search results \u2013 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.<\/em><\/p>\n Bank of England holds interest rates, says economy doing worse \u2013 BBC<\/a><\/p>\n UK companies cut jobs at fastest rate in nearly four years \u2013 City AM<\/a><\/p>\n London rents rise by record 11.6% year-over-year in November \u2013 Bloomberg<\/a><\/p>\n Brexit reduced goods exports by \u00a327bn, with smaller firms most affected \u2013 LSE<\/a><\/p>\n Hargreaves Lansdown blocks access to four investment trusts \u2013 Investor\u2019s Chronicle<\/a><\/p>\n Rachel Reeves puts pensions review on hold [Search result]<\/em> \u2013 FT<\/a><\/p>\n Anger greets decision not to compensate \u2018Waspi women\u2019 \u2013 Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n The relentless advance of American asset managers in Europe \u2013 FT<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Risk to renters\u2019 as buy-to-let lending predicted to fall \u2013 BBC<\/a><\/p>\n Boaz Weinstein starts campaign to take over UK investment trusts \u2013 Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/p>\n US fintech company collapses and takes life savings with it \u2013 Independent<\/a><\/p>\n A turbulent year for London\u2019s markets\u2026in four graphs \u2013 City AM<\/a> [Remember when I was told I was scaremongering?]<\/em><\/p>\n What to do if you need to remortgage in 2024 \u2013 Which<\/a><\/p>\n Chase\u2019s new best buy account pays 5%, including a six-month 1.5% booster \u2013 Chase<\/a><\/p>\n Should you ever use or buy gift cards? \u2013 Be Clever With Your Cash<\/a><\/p>\n Open an account with low-cost platform InvestEngine via\u00a0our link<\/a> and get up to \u00a3100<\/strong> when you invest at least \u00a3100 (T&Cs apply. Capital at risk) \u2013 InvestEngine<\/a><\/p>\n Why does a first class stamp now cost \u00a31.65 when they were 27p in 2000? \u2013 T.I.M.<\/a><\/p>\n How to buy a castle in France for the price of a semi in Britain \u2013 This Is Money<\/a><\/p>\n More than half of all bank transfer scams originate on Meta \u2013 Which<\/a><\/p>\n How to ensure you qualify for Nationwide\u2019s \u00a3100 Fairer Share payment next year \u2013 This Is Money<\/a><\/p>\n Homes for sale with dining rooms fit for Christmas lunch, in pictures \u2013 Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n All that really matters in investing \u2013 Optimistic Callie<\/a><\/p>\n Sharing lessons \u2013 Humble Dollar<\/a><\/p>\n Why 2025 could be the start of the \u2018Great Downsizing\u2019 \u2013 This Is Money<\/a><\/p>\n The three best inflation hedges \u2013 A Wealth of Common Sense<\/a><\/p>\n If you\u2019re so smart, why aren\u2019t you rich? \u2013 Hot Takes<\/a><\/p>\n The trouble with US equity exceptionalism \u2013 Behavioural Investment<\/a><\/p>\n Morningstar\u2019s annual safe withdrawal rate review [US but relevant]<\/em> \u2013 Morningstar<\/a><\/p>\n Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous \u2013 A Teachable Moment<\/a><\/p>\n Making a retirement plan when you\u2019re still young \u2013 Flow FP<\/a><\/p>\n Sizing Bitcoin in portfolios \u2013 Blackrock<\/a><\/p>\n Towards a longer view of US financial markets [Nerdy]<\/em> \u2013 CFA Institute<\/a><\/p>\n Beware the return of the S&P 500 bubble \u2013 UK Dividend Stocks<\/a><\/p>\n Warhammer is weird. That\u2019s why it works [Search result]<\/em> \u2013 FT<\/a><\/p>\n Persistent alpha \u2013 Verdad<\/a><\/p>\n Who Neil Woodford blames for his funds\u2019 collapse \u2013 City AM<\/a><\/p>\n A common misconception about Warren Buffett \u2013 Flyover Stocks<\/a><\/p>\n Traders are going crazy over obscure quantum computing stocks \u2013 Sherwood<\/a><\/p>\n Why the 2022-2024 fintech winter may thaw in 2025 \u2013 The Basis Point<\/a><\/p>\n Some angel investors are better than others [Research]<\/em> \u2013 NBER<\/a><\/p>\n Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder<\/em>\u00a0by Nassim Taleb \u2013\u00a0\u00a30.99 on Kindle<\/a><\/p>\n The Big Con [On the Consulting Industry]<\/em>\u00a0by Mariana Mazzucato \u2013\u00a0\u00a30.99 on Kindle<\/a><\/p>\n Nudge: The Final Edition<\/em>\u00a0by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein \u2013\u00a0\u00a30.99 on Kindle<\/a><\/p>\n How Westminster Works\u2026and Why It Doesn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0by Ian Dunt \u2013\u00a0\u00a30.99 on Kindle<\/a><\/p>\n How balcony solar is taking off \u2013 Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n Pacific nations wrestle with how to protect oceans \u2013 and livelihoods \u2013 Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n Seven climate wins you might have missed in 2024 \u2013 BBC<\/a><\/p>\n Asia<\/em> reveals how a hobby is driving singing birds to extinction \u2013 Yahoo<\/a><\/p>\n Rapid spread of bee-killing Asian hornets halted in UK \u2013 Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n Illegal cockfighting threatens sea turtles across Central America \u2013 Mongabay<\/a><\/p>\n Caviar pizzas, new money, and the death of the ancient fish \u2013 Hakai<\/a><\/p>\n Apple urged to scrap AI feature after false headlines \u2013 BBC<\/a><\/p>\n To whom does the world belong? \u2013 Boston Review<\/a> [h\/t Abnormal Returns<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n An uncertain future requires uncertain prediction skills \u2013 Wired<\/a><\/p>\n We don\u2019t have to destroy ourselves \u2013 The Garden of Forking Paths<\/a><\/p>\n Uncertainty is a part of being human \u2013 Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n I have a few questions \u2013 Morgan Housel<\/a><\/p>\n Easier for Rachel \u2013 Humble Dollar<\/a><\/p>\n How fit are you? 11 ways to easily test your strength, balance, and mobility \u2013 Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n Hundreds of websites to be shutdown under UK\u2019s \u2018chilling\u2019 Internet laws \u2013 Telegraph via Slashdot<\/a><\/p>\n Why most of us are posting less \u2013 Culture Study<\/a><\/p>\n A weekend at the ventriloquist\u2019s convention [Loooong]<\/em> \u2013 N + 1<\/a><\/p>\n How Paul Krugman change the public face of economics \u2013 Noahpinion<\/a><\/p>\n How to avoid getting lost in thought \u2013 Raptitude<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.\u201d Like these links? Subscribe<\/a> to get them every Friday. Note this article includes affiliate links, such as from Amazon<\/a> and Interactive Investor<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\nThank you, thank you<\/h3>\n
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We\u2019re still standing, yeah yeah yeah<\/h4>\n
The weakest link<\/h4>\n
The best readers on the Web<\/h3>\n
Happy new year<\/h4>\n
From Monevator<\/h3>\n
News<\/h3>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nProducts and services<\/h3>\n
Comment and opinion<\/h3>\n
Naughty corner: Active antics<\/h3>\n
Kindle book bargains<\/h3>\n
Environmental factors<\/h3>\n
Robot overlord roundup<\/h3>\n
Existential mini-special<\/h3>\n
Off our beat<\/h3>\n
And finally\u2026<\/h3>\n
\u2013 Holy Bible: King James Version<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n