Learning from the past/Laughing at the present/Thinking about the future
INVESTING MONEY: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. Never buy any packaged product from an IFA. Never do anything a finance manager recommends if he/she stands to make money from it.
2. Trust your common sense and maths when it comes to debt vs income, and terraced cottages costing £575,000
3. Never assume bankers, analysts, insurance companies and governments know what they're doing
4. Listen for how loud the banker's insults are over the supper table when you say something sensible. Ward's Law states that there is a direct correlation in excess of 96% between decibel level and the Truth. This is superior to any market research methodology of which I'm aware.
5. Get a one-day pass to see a bourse - any bourse - in action. Then decide that the whole system of bourse-raised finance is flawed by ego and testosterone. Then find a sane anti-globalist website.
6. Always apply the TINA (There is no alternative) rule - viz, listen for TINA, and then be certain forever that TINA has hundreds of alternatives that don't make these guys money.
7. Write contentious articles in the financial and marketing press - and ask for the anti-letters that come in to the editor. The more there are - and the more vituperative - the more you can be certain you're onto something.
8. If you've invested money in a company that becomes a takeover predator, sell immediately. If the same goes for a victim company, wait for the price to be lunatic, and then sell immediately. Organic growth, and the development of a company culture, are best on every financial, social and moral dimension. Look for companies like these. When they get taken over, sell - they will go to the dogs. (65% of all mergers and acquisitions destroy shareholder value. The Economist, 2004)
9. Marry when you're poor. Marry someone who's poor
10. Tell your kids to try their best without ever standing on somone's else's face. Tell them that if they love what they're doing, the money will come anyway. This never applies the other way round. (Also, they will do well and pay for your old-age care - mainly because they love you for the free advice proffered)
This article first appeared at garynorth.com
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