Living

The start of the year 2017. Happy New Year to everyone. May this year be another year full of successes, awesomeness, happiness, health, and wonderful experiences. The month of January has proved to be the month of gender pay studies indicating that the young experience a difference in pay, while millennials are the lucky ones where women earn almost as much as their male counterparts. But not only are women catching up in the workplace, they are also becoming increasingly important clients for big wealth management firms.

The last couple of years have been full of surprises, highly anticipated moments, a bull market interrupted by some significant pullbacks to only repeatedly be topped by new historic or annual highs across the major indices such as the Dow Jones or FTSE 100. Interest rates, on the other hand, have never been as low, property prices never that high, alternative investments rare and gaining in exoticism from antique cars and art to LEGO playing sets.

The girl with the purse or how a secretary who flashed her assets didn’t have enough money to go on holiday.

A few years ago while still working in banking a secretary from another department came into the office for a little chat with a colleague sitting at an adjacent desk. A good-looking twenty something, a part-time model who was once featured in GQ and who’s full-time job was personal assistant to the head of the derivates team. Let’s call her Jen.

You may or may not be familiar with the feeling and anxiety you experience on your final day of your tenancy. Excitement of leaving mingled with the feeling of wrapping up and closing an old chapter. The day when push comes to shove and the landlord or his representative goes through a long list of items to decide on how well you have taken care of their property.  It is always a bit of a stressful experience in any case, walking through each and every room, opening every cupboard and seeing every floor and wall inspected for scratches and holes.

The last month of the year. December 2016 is coming to an end and with it an eventful 2016. From Brexit to Donald Trump, from historic OPEC deals to interest rate hikes. December doesn't fall short of interesting, intriguing, and fun news. Warren Buffett's love for Coca Cola (amongst other things) in a new documentary, Millennials's take on car ownership, football players who earn more in a week than the average person in ten years, millennials start ups.

It’s the time of the year again: the streets are brightly illuminated, the sound of familiar Last Christmas and Jingle Bells is sounding in bars, shopping centers, and Christmas markets. It’s the time of the year for personal reflection, charity, and unity. Christmas is around the corner and with every sheet torn off the calendar, every door opened on the advent calendar, the special day of celebration is closer.

What a month from an investor's point of view. Who would have thought that the last few days of November might bring about such a massive upswing in oil prices, and subsequently more expensive fuel prices at the pump. Saudi Arabia taking the biggest cut on their oil production amongst all OPEC members, others upping up their production, Russia being on board and capping their production.

The month of October. The US election in full swing has left many in high anticipation for what new revelations may sway the polls. But besides all the politics, some really interesting things have happened in the lives of Millennials, Australia, and Fintech. Millennials are a massive target group for many financial institutions, but coming to grips with their spending and saving habits is still slightly territory.

September has now come to an end and what a month this has been. September is known to be a bad month for bull markets. The pattern has been similar over almost a century: falling share prices and high volatility. Some of it was also due to the Fed's refusal of raising interest rates, its suggestion to go beyond buying bonds and start buying stocks, and a major bank falling deeper into abyss.

August, the month of sun, holidays, beaches, oceans, lakes, outdoor sports, and garden parties. Sharing a cold drink and some good food with your friends in the beergarden. It is, at least to me, the month of life, love, and happiness, when everything in life just seems this wee bit lighter and brighter. What a shame this wonderful month of August has already drawn to an end.