The Full English Accompaniment – Spectres of our past

Just when you thought it was safe to peak out from under the covers, 2020 brings back that myopic decision to smash you in the face. A tetherball hit with venom and fury smacking the back of your head.

Image Source: The Thick of It

No, it’s not the impending second lockdown due to people getting too boozed up and handsy…

Brexit’s back in the news baby (1, 2).

Let’s distract the news cycle from that second wave and The Thick of It level of government with another joyous occasion. Spinning how the government has signed deals it’s not read and agreed to things it now wants to renege on. I mean mother beeb can put out good news articles about future trade deals (3), but it doesn’t detract from the fact BoJo& Co are looking at violating international law and breaking up the union. It just distracts.

Image source: The Thick of It

I’ve more or less tried to keep Brexit off these pages. I never thought it was a good idea, but there were glimmers of hope amongst the dung shovelled by greedy media-hungry political dilettante’s acting as the face of out. Maybe it could have been a grand vision. I had hoped we might see a Commonwealth trading block, bound together by shared history, serving to both compensate for our historic violence and crimes, and build prosperity for the future. Instead we’ve got this shower-of-shit government.

So I’ve started re-stocking the larder with long dated food. We’re re-tightening the proverbial household waistband; should MrsShrink lose her job. We’re parking cash for the rainy day and not sinking it into the vagaries of the market; expanding our emergency fund. 2020 has been a tasty warm-up for 2021. It’s going to be a long ride.

Image source: The Thick of It

Have a great week,

The Shrink

News/ Blogs/ Opinions:

• Tech had another bad week, slowly dropping lower. Is this the start of something, or a blip in the road up? – CNBC (4)
• Despite the fall, plenty of stock analysts are still worried about Tesla – CNBC (5)
• Either way, big tech company directors are cashing out positions – /u/datcreamcheese on reddit (6)
• While in China food and beverage companies appear to be in a bubble bigger than US tech – Bloomberg (7)
• And in the UK, someone has used the price of Freddo’s to prove that the minimum wage should be £18.50/hr – JOE (8)
• There’s still a host of portfolio updates from August to work through. Here’s Tony at One Million Journey (9)
• Zero to freedom covers his portfolio moves for September (10)
• Firevlondon’s August review (11)
• The Frugal Cottage’s dividend income (12)
• Moneymage’s savings report (13)
• Firelifestyle’s investments and garden (14)
• Sassenach Savings general investment/ saving/ debt/ life update (15)
• The UK Value Investor has sold out of Xar at a loss, and explains what they’ve learnt (16)
• The Humble Penny covers how to start your own business (17)
• The IT Investor has a look at the rise of China (18)
• Indeedably on why and how we do business (19)
• Banker on Fire on impending higher taxes (20)
• MrMedFI discusses our joyous exam season (21) – Having done and dusted mine, I wish you all the best
• Getting Minted faces up to dividend cuts (22)
• Can’t Swing A Cat considers premium bonds (23)
• TEA on why telling people the honest truth won’t make your blog popular (24)
• GFF continues posting several times a week, here on Tesla (25)
• And here on their household (26)
• The DIY Investor UK has an update on his BG Positive Change Fund investment (27)
• TI had a great post about longevity this week on Monevator. How would your finances manage if you reached 150? (28)
• Plus TA did an explanatory post on S&S ISAs (29)
• And the weekend reading has a massive collection of links, plus a nice graph (30)

References:

1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54099257
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54093220
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54116606
4. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/10/stock-market-futures-open-to-close-news.html
5. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/06/tesla-could-be-the-most-dangerous-stock-on-wall-street-investment-researcher-says.html
6. https://www.reddit.com/gallery/ioyq50
7. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-09-06/big-tech-bubble-could-be-rivaled-by-china-s-food-and-beverage-sector
8. https://www.joe.co.uk/comedy/someone-has-used-freddos-to-prove-that-minimum-wage-in-the-uk-should-be-18-hr-248521
9. https://www.onemillionjourney.com/portfolio-update-21-august-2020-105404e/
10. https://zerotofreedom.org/my-portfolio-review-september-2020/
11. https://firevlondon.com/2020/09/06/august-2020-eat-tech-to-help-out-your-returns/
12. https://www.thefrugalcottage.com/dividend-income-august-2020/
13. https://www.moneymage.net/2020-august-savings-report/
14. https://firelifestyle.co.uk/2020/09/10/financial-update-18-is-it-september-already/
15. https://sassenachsaving.home.blog/2020/09/12/august-2020-net-worth/
16. https://www.ukvalueinvestor.com/2020/09/selling-xaar.html/
17. https://thehumblepenny.com/how-to-start-a-business
18. https://www.itinvestor.co.uk/2020/09/china-investment-trusts-come-of-age/
19. https://indeedably.com/business/
20. https://bankeronfire.com/higher-taxes
21. https://medfiblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/11/exam-hustling/
22. https://gettingminted.com/dividend-cut/
23. http://www.cantswingacat.co.uk/2020/09/11/low-interest-premium-bonds/
24. https://theescapeartist.me/2020/09/12/when-you-want-to-help-people-you-tell-them-the-truth/
25. https://gentlemansfamilyfinances.wordpress.com/2020/09/11/tesla-bubble-bubble-bubble-pop/
26. https://gentlemansfamilyfinances.wordpress.com/2020/09/09/from-dinky-to-sitcom/
27. http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/2020/09/bg-positive-change-fund-update.html
28. https://monevator.com/put-150-years-into-your-retirement-calculator-and-smoke-it/
29. https://monevator.com/dont-wait-to-open-your-stocks-and-shares-isa/
30. https://monevator.com/weekend-reading-what-gives/