Interesting Links for 21-04-2025

[andrewducker]

1. The Scandal of Financial Nihilism

(tags:life money philosophy )

2. As unions decline, inequality rises

(tags:unions inequality )

3. Happy Easter! 'Chris is Risen'!

(tags:spelling fail easter UK religion Christianity )

4. 'Biological reality': What genetics has taught us about race

(tags:race racism genetics history politics USA )

Comments

Re: 1.

[andrewducker]

Oh yes, active investing is really hard.

But I more meant that buying an annuity would then move the risk to the finance company, who would then be able to spread the risk across everyone.

Re: 1.

[channelpenguin]

That was kind of my point right at the top of my rant. Pension companies aren't allowed to make "risky" investments. So returns are low. It doesn't take much inflation to wipe out. And even "non-risky" investments may be (or may become) unreliable. Not hard right now to imagine government bonds of certain governments being less trusted and therefore less reliable.

But your pension annual statements over the past 20 years are already telling you all this, no?

Re: 1.

[andrewducker]

Mine was up 80% in the last 5 years, until Trump knocked it back down a chunk. So some risk is clearly allowed.

https://documents.feprecisionplus.com/Factsheet/SL/FS/ZQ30_en-GB.pdf

Not bitcoin amounts, obviously. But could be a lot worse!

There are also index-linked annuities. Although it looks like you'll get about 5% on those rather than the 7% you'd get on a straightforward one. But that's risk-hedging for you.

https://www.hl.co.uk/retirement/annuities/best-buy-rates