In this day and age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a safe haven for our money, and indeed for any type of asset. The safe investments of the global economic paradigm of the past no longer exist. How easy it was for the investor who wanted security, a decade or two ago, to place assets in fixed income or bank deposits, with the only worry being that inflation would not eat them up, wasn't it? (more…)

It is common knowledge that Spanish banks resort to underhand tactics to squeeze as much as possible out of their long-suffering customers in the form of commissions and exorbitant charges of all kinds. But the pressure that some banks are putting on their customers to prevent them from investing in external funds (from other management companies) where the fees for the bank are lower is reaching levels of mafia-style extortion that are entirely reprehensible.
Most of you will no doubt remember the famous Spanish film entitled “
Below is a link to our latest article, published as
When situations seem destined to lead to bipolar outcomes, reality surprises us with balanced resolutions that are often unexpected. Experience usually shows us that solutions are rarely black and white, but rather shades of grey. They are probably less daring but perhaps also more widely accepted, more popular – for better or for worse. The same could happen in the resolution of the Eurozone crisis, where the peripheral economies can no longer coexist with those of the German-led bloc without causing each other real harm. 
So far, it has been a quiet August on the markets. And that is probably due to the absence of political interference in share prices. The Eurozone’s problems are still there and remain the same, albeit exacerbated by the relentless passage of time, but they seem to have been temporarily sidelined. The fact is that those responsible for the problems – namely the political class of the EU’s Tower of Babel and its Eurocrats – are on holiday. And it shows.
A friend of mine told me about the ‘beer border’ or ‘beer line’, referring to the imaginary boundary that separates creditor Europe – rich and productive – from debtor Europe – insolvent and in recession. In other words, the coincidences – or perhaps not – of life, and Hollande’s victory in France, have meant that the Eurozone is now divided into the rich countries, which usually consume and produce beer, and the poor countries, which have traditionally favoured – and continue to favour – wine. Two very distinct cultures and, probably, two very different ways of viewing and living life as well.