Asking the Right Questions
“20 Hours Learning Challenge” Revisited
At the end of August I wrote a blog – The “20 Hours” Learning Challenge – inspired by a TedxTalk from Josh Kaufman, entitled “The first 20 Hours – How to learn anything”. (YouTube link) Kaufman’s theory is that when starting something new, with just…
Thoughts on the Donald Trump Victory
You are hired. The next President of the United States of America, Donald Trump. While in many ways it is not surprising, the decision has sent shockwaves across the world. The initial panic in markets has subsided but the world is still reeling from…
US Presidential Election: Initial Thoughts
I wasn’t intending to write anything on the US Presidential Election because it is just a pantomime at this stage. An old celebrity billionaire (depending on who is counting) and another Clinton. Is that how bad things have become?
US Presidential Election: The Nuclear Option
Donald Trump bad. Hilary Clinton good. That is the general narrative on most discussions around the impact of the 2016 US Presidential election on the global economy, the US economy and the Irish economy. The Economist Magazine has become the latest media publication to…
Boring pensions and the corporate mindset
Speaking last week at the annual conference for the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association, Sir Lenny Henry provided some sensible advice on how the pensions industry can communicate better with members. Humour. In a segment entitled, “CAN SHAKESPEARE HELP BRITAIN SAVE?”, the comedian said…
Annual budget sideshow is just a distraction
“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” – John Maynard Keynes Another year, another budget! This time every year in Ireland the focus moves to the budget announcement of the Irish government. We are forced…
Economic Growth and Asset Prices…..
The OECD released their latest Interim Economic Outlook, warning that “the global economy is projected to grow at a slower pace this year than in 2015, with only a modest uptick expected in 2017”. This is another case of groundhog day, for years now…
Janet Yellen grunging to Nirvana
Last week marked the 25th anniversary of the release of Nirvana’s iconoclastic album, Nevermind, September 24th 1991. The album catapulted the band and the genre of music into the commercial mainstream, something that was perhaps too much for front man Kurt Cobain to handle….
Retirement planning; the future is not that far away
In the film “Back to the Future”, Marty McFly transported from 1985 to the year 2015 in the Doc’s DeLorean time machine. The fact that they had flying cars in the future shows how far away 2015 seemed to those in 1985. Now while…
Key points from Janet Yellen’s speech
In April I wrote a blog “Central banks and the certain uncertainty paradox”, reminding everyone that these institutions are no more certain than anyone else about how economic conditions will unfold. Still, market participants continue to hang on every word from the leaders of…
