October 2020 update ($575,421 -$7,906 or -%1.4)

↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000

↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $3,588 or +2.7%

↑ GBP is slightly up to USD by 0.8% or $412 for my portfolio

Grand total additions: $6,028 USD

 

↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $6,540 or -5.6%

↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $3966 or -2.7%

↓ Fidelity Growth Fund is down by $1322 or -2.4%

↓ EUR is down to USD by 0.9% or $2,105 for my portfolio

Grand total losses: $13,934

 

Enough by John C. Bogle

  Some of my expectations which I had before reading the book were met. As a founder of Vanguard company John C. Bogle allocated significant part of the book describing advantages of the mutual funds and greed of the active managers.

The book is intentionally simplified, there are no numbers, calculations or anything else. Its targeting emotions.

There is an interesting statement on the greed: “… the rampant greed that threatens to overwhelm our financial system and corporate world runs deeper than money.  Not knowing what enough us subverts our professional values. It makes salespersons of those who should be fiduciaries of the investments entrusted to them.  It turns a system that should be built on trust into one with counting as its foundation.  Worse, this confusion about enough leads us astray in our larger lives. We chase false rabbits of success; we too often bow down at the altar of the transitory and finally meaningless and fail to cherish what is beyond calculation, indeed eternal”.  

 

With internet at our fingers, waiting online to serve us, we are surrounded by information, but increasingly cut off from knowledge. Facts (or, more often, factoids) are everywhere.  Wisdom, the kind of wisdom that was rife seventy – one hundred years ago is in short supply. Soon we shall know everything that does not count and nothing that does. 

 

Leadership and values

A difference between a leader and a manager? Managers task is to do things right,  then as leaders, whose task is to do the right thing. 

September 2020 update ($583,327 -$22,778 or -%3.8)

 ↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000
Grand total additions: $2,000 USD

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $2,717 or -2.0%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $3,519 or -2.8%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $6,165 or -4.0%
↓ Global Small Cap Index is down by $3,038 or -2.6%
↓ Fidelity Growth Fund is down by $411 or -0.7%
↓ EUR is down to USD by 2.4% or $6,392 for my portfolio
↓ GBP is down to USD by 4.5% or $2,535 for my portfolio
Grand total losses: $24,778

British FTSE trading like an emerging market

 My August financial independence monthly update contained graph, comparing various indexes. This included British Financial Times Stock Exchange Group (FTSE) and Moscow Exchange (MOEX). 

Couple days ago “Fortune” writer Bernard Warner made similar observation, but his writing made it to Yahoo finance.

Figure1. British FTSE trading like an emerging market and trailing behind Russian index in 2020

Lets see Bernard’s arguments:

August 2020 update ($606,105 +$34,659 or +%6.1)

↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $4,505 or +3.4%
↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $5,399 or +4.6%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $10,453 or +7.3%
↑ Global Small Cap Index is up by $6,753 or +6.1%
↑ Fidelity Growth Fund is up by $2,089 or +3.9%
↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000
↑ EUR is up to USD by 1% or $2,183 for my portfolio
↑ GBP is up to USD by 2.4% or $1,277 for my portfolio
Grand total additions: $34,659 USD

July 2020 update ($571,446 +$35,466 or +%6.6)

↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $4,084 or +3.4%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $7,565 or +5.6%
↑ Global Small Cap Index is up by $4,157 or +3.9%
↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000
↑ EUR is up to USD by 7% or $16,795 for my portfolio
↑ GBP is up to USD by 5.6% or $2,868 for my portfolio
Grand total additions: $ 37,468 USD
 
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $1,470 or -1.3%
↓ Fidelity Growth Fund is down by $532 or -1.0%
Grand total losses: $2,002

 

June 2020 update ($535,980 +$23,162 or +%4.5)

↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $7,087 or +6.4% 

↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $5,138 or +4.9%

↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $2,570 or +1.9%

↑ Global Small Cap Index is up by $2,683 or +2.6%

↑ Fidelity Growth Fund is up by $1,194 or +2.4%

↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000

↑ EUR is up to USD by 1% or $2,076 for my portfolio

↑ GBP is up to USD by 0.8% or $414 for my portfolio

Grand total additions: $23,162 USD