Perspectives
Much Ado About Nothing
March, 2021
The budget this week was a fine balancing act between nurturing an economic recovery and recognising that the costs of the pandemic will need to be recovered. The bottom line is that tax rates will rise but not yet, to give time for the recovery from Covid to become established. Taxes will be higher in […]
Bubble Trouble
February, 2021
The economist John Maynard Keynes is famous for saying that “markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent”. Our version of this is that “markets can remain solvent longer than you can remain rational”. The fear of missing out is a powerful force. Today, the market “solvency” is fundamentally driven by low interest […]
On Bankruptcy
February, 2021
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” “What brought it on?” “Friends,” said Mike. “I had a lot of friends. False friends. Then I had creditors, too. Probably had more creditors than anybody in England.” Perhaps Mike in Hemingway’s story should have paid more attention to his […]
Why Invest?
February, 2021
Every now and then a question comes up that makes you take a step back and think. Sometimes the simple questions are the hardest to answer; for example, we were recently asked the question, “why invest?” The fundamental answer to that question is that aggregate savings fund aggregate investment through both public and private channels. […]
The Unintended Consequences of Leverage
February, 2021
The past week has seen retail investors become the centre of attention as they have driven the share prices of certain companies up by more than 100% in a day. This in itself is not newsworthy to us, however the fact that they created significant losses for certain hedge funds has reminded us of the […]
Lessons from the Future
January, 2021
In investing, there is always a metaphorical tug of war between the past and the future. Is history always doomed to repeat itself, or will the future be vastly different from the past? Is looking into the past the best way to predict the future or is such an approach as flawed as looking through […]
On Debt
January, 2021
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty and six, result misery”. Poor old Mr Micawber should know, he ended up in debtor’s prison when he was unable to meet his creditors demands. The world has a tense relationship with lending and borrowing, even the words used, from the latin “credere,” […]
Inflation Protection
January, 2021
The past decade has seen central banks pumping liquidity into the financial system on an unprecedented scale – it has been given the beguiling name of Quantitative Easing. In old coinage, we would call it printing money. This has been with the noble intention of preventing a collapse of the global economy, which would have […]
A Note on the Future
January, 2021
At the turn of the year, it pays to spend some time reflecting on the past – what has worked, what has not and why. Over the last decade, including the tumultuous year that was 2020, one of the best performing stocks (including investment trusts) listed in the UK has been the Scottish Mortgage Investment […]
Tacit Christmas and New Year Arrangements
December, 2020
Tacit will be closed on the public holidays for Christmas and New Year – 25 December, 28 December, and 1 January. The Tacit Team will operate a skeleton staff on other days and will monitor email and telephone lines. Any urgent matters will be dealt with as required; non-urgent matters will be dealt with after […]