What caught my eye this week.
Data from MoneySuperMarket on household disposable income was presented by This Is Money this week as a regional ranking of which city’s citizens have the most spending power:
Disposable income is defined here as what you have left to spend after paying some 31 kinds of outgoings – from rent to council tax to car fuel.
Hence why London is fourth on the list. Higher earnings are countered by higher bills, especially for housing.
Of course, many Monevator readers will look at disposable income not as money to be spent but to be saved.
That snowball won’t just roll itself you know.
Geo whiz
We probably haven’t sufficiently discussed this end of geo-arbitrage – that is, living somewhere cheap to save more – on Monevator.
We did see the post-FIRE angle in Jake’s FIRE-side chat. And Squirrel highlighted the financial benefits of living in her rather rundown Northern town in her interview, too.
But we’ve never, say, cranked hard numbers on pursuing FIRE in Cardiff versus Clapham.
Then again, how could we? Where you live is a pretty personal decision, and everyone’s numbers will be different. Especially as any impact of moving could quickly be overwhelming by upgrading or downsizing at your new destination.
Food for thought anyway – and comments welcome.
That Amundi ETF: ISA update
Finally, a bit of good news on Amundi’s pesky former favourite global tracker ETF, which we wrote about delisting from the LSE a few weeks ago.
Developments!
Firstly, a comment a few days ago from The Accumulator:
We’ve received word from an industry contact that the distributing version of the Amundi Prime Global ETF is now ISA eligible, and an LSE-listed version could be tradeable by the end of January.
The ETF is currently listed on the German exchange (Xetra) and trades in GBP.
The product has now received approval under the UK’s Overseas Fund Regime (OFR). Once Amundi receives the nod from the LSE then there should be a version on the London Stock Exchange.
The ISIN for the distributing version of Amundi Prime Global is IE000QIF5N15. Xetra ticker: MWOZ.
The pre-merger ISIN was LU1931974692.
The ETF is still listed by Amundi as ISA ineligible on their website but watch this space:
https://www.amundietf.co.uk/en/professional/products/equity/amundi-prime-global-ucits-etf-dist/ie000qif5n15
We don’t have any information on the status of the Acc / Capitalising version (Old ISIN: LU2089238203, new ISIN: IE0009DRDY20).
And it now seems – via the link above – that the ‘IE000QIF5N15’ ETF is indeed ISA eligible. At least that’s what this factsheet says, so show it to your platform if you need to.
Hopefully good news for some of you.
Have a great weekend!
From Monevator
How gold is taxed – Monevator
An alternative to the myth of early retirement – Monevator
From the archive-ator: Tax relief upfront is the same as tax relief later – Monevator
News
Note: Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view click through to read the article. Try privacy/incognito mode to avoid cookies. Consider subscribing to sites you visit a lot.
Average house price hits record high of £298,083 – BBC
Number caught by 60% ‘tax trap’ up 45% in two years – International Accounting
UK interest rates forecast to be higher for longer due to Budget – BBC
Bitcoin hits $100,000 – Ars Technica
Revolut crowdfunders in line for a 400x return on investment…- City AM
…indeed UK startups broadly are punching above their weight – City AM
Bitcoin miner sues over £600m ‘lost in tip’ – BBC
The top 30 happiest places to live in the UK… – Guardian
…and the unhappiest – This Is Money
M&S given go ahead to knock down beautiful building and replace it with generic ‘meh’ [I may be over-editorialising] – BBC
Chinese bond market grapples with ‘Japanification’ – FT
Why London’s property market is stagnating [Search result] – FT
Products and services
NS&I cuts savings rates with new fixed-rate products – This Is Money
Seven ways to save on Christmas postage costs – Which
Should you pay more for parking if you have a big car? – BBC
Open an account with low-cost platform InvestEngine via our link and get up to £50 when you invest at least £100 (T&Cs apply. Capital at risk) – InvestEngine
The best Christmas mince pies reviewed and revealed – Which
Changed your mind? Your refund rights – Be Clever With Your Cash
Alternatives to Starling Bank as it scraps interest on current accounts – Which
How to give preloved items as Christmas gifts – Guardian
Comment and opinion
Bet on low costs – Humble Dollar
Scene from an office meeting, with two years to FIRE – 3652 Days
Do we need more bubbles? – A Wealth of Common Sense
“Follow your passion” is terrible advice – Hot Takes
Torsten Bell: why we should invest in more tax collectors – Guardian
Remembering Bretton Woods [Podcast] – A Long Time In Finance
Could the UK state pension end up being means-tested? – This Is Money
Thinking about jobs – Seth Godin
Yet another US market valuation mini-special
How value stocks can strengthen a US portfolio – Morningstar
The US market is the mother of all bubbles – FT
Why our best ideas for 2025 are outside the US – Morningstar
Naughty corner: Active antics
The ins and outs of venture capital trusts – This Is Money
Are investment trusts still relevant? [Search result] – FT
Leverage it or leave it? Making sense of turbo-charged ETFs – Elm
Memecoins will go away once we stop paying attention to them – FT
Kindle book bargains
Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb – £0.99 on Kindle
The Big Con [On the Consulting Industry] by Mariana Mazzucato – £0.99 on Kindle
Nudge: The Final Edition by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein – £0.99 on Kindle
How Westminster Works…and Why It Doesn’t by Ian Dunt – £0.99 on Kindle
EVs in the driving seat in UK mini-special
UK’s electric vehicle market is doing better than you might think… – Sky
…as Auto Trader forecasts ‘seismic shift’ to EVs in Britain – Guardian
Only 3% of EV owners would go back to a fossil fuel car – This Is Money
Environmental factors
Why Christmas trees might be good for the environment – BBC
Protection deal for Amazon rainforest in peril – Guardian
Sewage pipelines planned for unprotected UK rivers – BBC
Robot overlord roundup
ChatGPT hits 300m weekly users – The Verge
DeepMind’s Genie 2 can generate interactive worlds that look like games – TechCrunch
Building LLMs is probably not going to be a brilliant business – Cal Paterson
Off our beat
The next generation of great strategists are playing Magic: The Gathering – Sherwood
Bovaer: what is the cattle feed additive and why are [misinformed] shoppers pouring milk down the toilet? – Sky
How it seems versus how it is – Raptitude
And finally…
“It’s clear that owning a bit of everything helps – but as there’s no definitive ‘right answer’ lurking out there if you look hard enough, it’s not worth stressing about the details too much. In fact, in playing around with historical data since the year 2000, I’ve struggled to produce more than a 1% difference in average annual performance.”
– Rob Dix, Seven Myths About Money
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