Credit Crunch

The Immutable Laws of Solvency

We need to cut up our credit cards now! When I was in corporate banking, the definition of solvency that I used was ‘the ability to meet your debts as they fall due.’ This means that avoiding insolvency depends upon: the ability to meet all your expenses from current cashflow or that you have headroom [...]

Read the full article →

House Prices In The UK Are About To Get Worse

Why do I think house prices are about to get worse when today we have had news that the recession is officially over ( – a pitiful 0.1% growth!). Firstly, the housing market in the UK remains 29% overvalued on a price to rental basis according to the Economist: Second, in 2008 the interest rates [...]

Read the full article →

The US Housing Market

House under construction from Crestock Stock Images This is an extract from an article: On Jan. 12, Amherst Securities published a study on the estimated losses Fannie and Freddie will absorb as foreclosures flow through the credit loss pipeline in the coming years. Using a database of 29 million active prime mortgages from First American [...]

Read the full article →

The Financial Problems Facing The US

Take gold, abandon the pound? In the article entitled ‘Escape To Gold‘ , the writer sets out the debt financing problems facing the USA.  Within the next 12 months they will need to refinance $3.3 trillion dollars of short term debt equivalent to 30% of the GDP of the USA. As it is unlikely that [...]

Read the full article →

How Will A Depression In America Affect Your Business?

A tragedy of Shakespearian proportions is slowly unfolding in America. In this article I want to explore how the deep-rooted problems in the American economy may affect business in the UK. I am now certain in my own mind that the days of the dollars role as the world’s reserve currency are numbered.  The Fed [...]

Read the full article →

A Suckers Rally? … You Decide

This is a chart of  a typical bubble scenario: Main Stages In A Bubble I’ll give you no prizes for guessing where we are on the chart.  I’m expecting house prices to head on downwards within the next couple of months as we have reached the ‘return to normal’ stage.  Watch and learn. Share on [...]

Read the full article →

Was 2008 Just A Dress Rehearsal?

I am watching what is happening in America with a great deal of interest.  One of my wifes school friends works in the US as a teacher for children with learning difficulties.  The state has just cut his working week by 3 days because ‘they can’t afford to pay him’. I have been well aware [...]

Read the full article →

Destroying Gordon Brown’s Reputation For Financial Competence

As the size of Britains debt burden becomes more and more into focus, it seems clear that there will be massive cut-backs in the public sector in the next couple of years in order to bring the budget deficit under control.  This will add to the growing unemployment problem. Now, more than ever, Britain will [...]

Read the full article →

The Very Stuff Of Life

It’s very easy to miss out on the important things in life. A new ‘renegade’ just 56mm long! For example, I missed out on every occasion when my wife went for a scan for our two children.  My banking career must have seemed more important at the time!  How sad is that! Here’s a picture [...]

Read the full article →

Three Ways To Get Wealthy

Many years ago I listened to Richard Dobbins speak at a seminar.  Richard is a highly qualified business consultant.  Among many other things, he bought a publishing business for £1 and sold it for £49 million pounds several years later.  He went on to write an excellent book entitled ‘ ‘What self-made millionaires really think, [...]

Read the full article →

House Prices and the Economy

Read this article ‘Real Estate – the 800,000 pound deflationary gorilla‘.  It sets out what is happening in the US property market.  Conditions are deteriorating and forecast to continue deteriorating until 2011/12. Keep your hat on, its not over yet! Apparently Banks are now hiding foreclosures and refusing to list foreclosed homes on the market.  [...]

Read the full article →

Renegade Thoughts:Why Our Economy Is In Trouble

Regarding with our economy, I saw this amusing post on a forum which seems to illustrate the decline in education standards and the underlying cause of unemployment.  I’ve recently had this debate with my 17 year old son and his girlfriend, who is a straight ‘A’ student: 1. Teaching Maths in 1950 A Straight A [...]

Read the full article →