http://www.ft.com/yourmoney/serioushttp://www.ft.com/rss/yourmoney/seriousFT.com - Serious moneyen© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2008. "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. See http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/terms#legal1 for the terms and conditions of reuse.support@ft.comFri, 18 Jul 2008 17:32 BSTFri, 25 Jul 2008 12:24:27 BSTNewspapers60http://news.ft.com/cms/d1f3ce1a-6bbe-11da-bb53-0000779e2340.gifhttp://www.ft.com/yourmoney/serious(PICS-1.1 "http://www.classify.org/safesurf/" L gen true for "http://www.ft.com/" r (SS~~000 1))http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/79e789e2-54e0-11dd-ae9c-000077b07658.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/79e789e2-54e0-11dd-ae9c-000077b07658.htmlStocks should be bought like groceries and not like perfume. A few days ago, I was reminded of this advice from Ben Graham, the father of value investing. The equity market certainly seems more like Aldi or Lidl than an eau de toilette counter at HarrodsFri, 18 Jul 2008 17:32 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bd9f773c-4f66-11dd-b050-000077b07658.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bd9f773c-4f66-11dd-b050-000077b07658.htmlHere's a question for you: do you remember what you were doing at 10.03pm on Wednesday July 9? No, neither do I. But judging by the some of the news coverage this week, it was a moment of such significance that it should be permanently etched on the collective memory. Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:18 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3b0c16de-49f0-11dd-891a-000077b07658.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3b0c16de-49f0-11dd-891a-000077b07658.htmlGoldilocks is dead! No, it's not a severely abridged version of the popular fairy tale. It's actually a riposte from HSBC Private Bank's head of global strategy, Fredrik Nerbrand, to Salomon Brothers' economist David Shulman who first coined the phrase 'the Goldilocks economy' back in 1992Fri, 4 Jul 2008 18:41 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/39106a4a-4461-11dd-b151-0000779fd2ac.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/39106a4a-4461-11dd-b151-0000779fd2ac.htmlPhew, what a relief! This week, Barclays almost effortlessly pulled off a £4.5bn share issue giving its shareholders the ability to avoid dilution by subscribing for new shares and, crucially, avoiding a fourth bank rights issue in the space of 10 weeks. Certain soothsayers gave reasons for optimism. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:57 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/00e2ab98-3ef2-11dd-8fd9-0000779fd2ac.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/00e2ab98-3ef2-11dd-8fd9-0000779fd2ac.html"Cash is King!" If had a pound for every time I've heard that in the past few weeks, I'd have… well, at least £2.75. But the only King that really matters to investors right now is Mervyn the First, and his crown is slipping as he battles the nation's arch enemy: InflationFri, 20 Jun 2008 19:25 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/83b3e528-396b-11dd-90d7-0000779fd2ac.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/83b3e528-396b-11dd-90d7-0000779fd2ac.htmlWhat goes through their heads at the Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)? This week they've let tax experts reveal to taxpayers just how un-thought-through some of their future policies really are. "Another day, another tax dolour", as they say at Somerset House. Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:16 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f25c5598-33ec-11dd-869b-0000779fd2ac.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f25c5598-33ec-11dd-869b-0000779fd2ac.htmlRising markets make geniuses of us all. How else could all those TV property experts have been held in such esteem? How else could equity analysts have been so rehabilitated in the eyes of investors and traders? But falling, or even sideways, markets have since put these geniuses to the test. Fri, 6 Jun 2008 18:42 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2914c71e-2e70-11dd-ab55-000077b07658.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2914c71e-2e70-11dd-ab55-000077b07658.htmlI almost feel sorry for hedge fund managers. Not only are they finding it hard to produce positive returns in today's markets, some also seem to have fallen on hard times. It's difficult to have much sympathy, though, when a simple stock-screen can outperform themFri, 30 May 2008 19:22 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2d77c2ea-28ec-11dd-96ce-000077b07658.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2d77c2ea-28ec-11dd-96ce-000077b07658.htmlI don't give short-term trading tips. I prefer to leave that to our technical analyst, Dominic Picarda, or our trading diarist, David Schwartz. But this week, there's such an obvious profit-making opportunity that I'm going to break the habit of a lifetime.Fri, 23 May 2008 18:28 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a428d702-236b-11dd-b214-000077b07658.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a428d702-236b-11dd-b214-000077b07658.htmlAlistair Darling is hopeless at maths. Anthony Bolton is not good at shorting stocks. It's hard to know which of this week's revelations is the more surprising. Well, OK, it's not that hard. But both should raise as many questions as eyebrows among private investorsFri, 16 May 2008 18:17 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/192fcebc-1dee-11dd-983a-000077b07658.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/192fcebc-1dee-11dd-983a-000077b07658.htmlWhat do Tony Hayward, Jim Ratcliffe, Tony Woodley and investors in a FTSE 100 tracker fund have in common? In the case of the first three, arguably not enough. But all four have found that they have a lot more invested in oil than they originally thought. Fri, 9 May 2008 18:53 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4c654618-186c-11dd-8c92-0000779fd2ac.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4c654618-186c-11dd-8c92-0000779fd2ac.htmlThis week, the Financial Services Authority wrote its own version of Death of a Salesman. It proposed that only individuals who recommend financial products from across the whole market can call themselves "advisers". And this is a lot less of a tragedyFri, 2 May 2008 19:50 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b72bb96a-12e4-11dd-8d91-0000779fd2ac.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b72bb96a-12e4-11dd-8d91-0000779fd2ac.htmlWhy are U-turns inevitably "humiliating", "damaging" or "panic-induced" when performed by politicians and chief executives of FTSE 100 companies, but generally deemed prudent (if often illegal) manoeuvres when pulled off by cab drivers? Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:40 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3cd49d6-0d37-11dd-b90a-0000779fd2ac.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3cd49d6-0d37-11dd-b90a-0000779fd2ac.htmlThe latest taxpayer-funded scheme to let banks rebuild their balance sheets will do little to restore fair value to equity or mortgage markets. The only compensation for borrowers - who get no state help - might be to cash in on banks' profitsFri, 18 Apr 2008 14:58 BSThttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d3e95e56-0829-11dd-a922-0000779fd2ac.htmlhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d3e95e56-0829-11dd-a922-0000779fd2ac.htmlI'm not sure I need to bother writing this column this week. Instead, I'm thinking of asking a former journalist to lead a working group that will review conditions on page 4 of FT Money , and report back at the end of the year. Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:00 BST