What caught my eye this week.
Bosses are increasingly insisting employees return to the office, while many workers are replying from their laptops with a polite but firm: “Yeah, maybe not…”
Evidence is easy to find. My local gym, set in a business park, is deserted on Fridays. Season ticket sales for UK rail travel have also slumped, suggesting fewer commuters are buying annual passes:
Source: Mail Online
The Mail Online reports (emphasis mine):
There were 60.3m passenger journeys made using season tickets in the latest quarter of January to March 2024. This was a 3 per cent increase on the 58.7m journeys made in the same quarter last year.
But season tickets made up 15 per cent of total ticket sales in the latest quarter, which was less than the 16 per cent in the previous year and down 24 percentage points from 39 per cent four years ago.
It’s also worth noting that the cost-of-living squeeze has likely discouraged commuters — several of the most popular season tickets into London now cost more than £5,000 a year, and the priciest is £7,150. Paying that much to spend an hour or more on a train, then possibly doing less focused work once you reach the office, doesn’t appeal to many.
No surprise, then, that people are reshaping how and where they work. Coverage this week continued to reflect the shift toward hybrid and remote arrangements:
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- For a detailed defence of working from home, see the Financial Times analysis
- Research on hybrid working’s benefits – Nature
- Inside Dell: employees push back on return-to-office orders – Semafor
- Practical advice on being happier at work – A Wealth of Common Sense
- Why managers find hybrid work hardest to adapt to – CNBC
- How destructive cultures are harming workplaces – Psychology Today
Best wishes to a fellow finance blogger
I was saddened this week to learn that US personal finance writer Jonathan Clements has received a serious medical diagnosis.
Jonathan, known for his long career as a financial columnist, more recently devoted himself to his own site, Humble Dollar. I’ve read his work and the contributions on his site for many years and regularly link to it. He has developed a distinctive voice and a thoughtful take on money, retirement and living well.
Reading how his views have evolved about post-work life and retirement has been instructive. That perspective makes his current health challenges particularly moving.
Both TA and I were struck by this passage from Jonathan’s recent post about his diagnosis:
The cliché is true: Something like this makes you truly appreciate life.
Despite those bucket-list items, I find my greatest joy comes from small, inexpensive daily pleasures: that first cup of coffee, exercise, friends and family, a good meal, writing and editing, smiles from strangers, the sunshine on my face. If we can keep life’s less admirable emotions at bay, the world is a wonderful place.
We send Jonathan our best wishes for his treatment and recovery, and hope he enjoys many more small pleasures in the days ahead.
Enjoy the sunny weekend.
From Monevator
Blind Date for Investors – Monevator
FIRE pioneers are showing a path for others – Monevator
From the archive-ator: The cautionary tale – Monevator
News
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Inflation falls to its lowest level in almost three years – BBC
NatWest to take over most of Sainsbury’s Bank – Which
Queues for first council housing in Somerset for 30 years – BBC
Hargreaves Lansdown ‘willing to recommend’ a £5.4bn CVC-led takeover – CityAM
Revolut seeks a $40bn-plus valuation in an employee share sale – FT via Yahoo Finance
Bank of New York rebrands, a sign of a changing Wall Street era – FT
Octopus Energy to repay £3bn of Bulb-related cash to HMRC ahead of schedule – This Is Money
Barcelona moves to ban short-term tourist apartment rentals to relieve housing costs – Guardian
Private equity firms have accumulated about $1tn in carried interest as taxation debates continue – FT
New data shows investment in the UK is the lowest in the G7 for the third consecutive year – IPPR
The election section mini-special
Pressure on Labour and Conservatives as the tax gap reaches £40bn – Guardian
Brexit and the election: supply chain delays turn guitar exports from 48 hours into three weeks – BBC
How the manifestos could affect your finances – Guardian
Reform and Green Party proposals for more radical tax changes – This Is Money
Election betting controversy raises questions about who knew what and when – BBC
Products and services
The best buy-to-let mortgages for landlords – This Is Money
St James’s Place under scrutiny: what customers are saying – FT
Get up to £1,500 cashback when you transfer cash or investments to Charles Stanley Direct (terms apply) – Charles Stanley
Is it cheaper to rent or to own a home? – Which
Santander’s bank switch offer: get £175 + £15 – Be Clever With Your Cash
Get up to £200 cashback when you open an Interactive Investor SIPP (terms and fees apply) – Interactive Investor
Ten ways wedding guests can save money – Which
Rising credit card debt is squeezing UK mortgage affordability – FT
Skinny homes for sale, in pictures – Guardian
Comment and opinion
Quiet compounding – Morgan Housel
Why some choose to go big early – Humble Dollar
How to get started with FatFIRE – Fire v London
“The stock market will crash!” – Darius Foroux
“I ask men if they have a pension plan before I seriously date them” – Business Insider
Roger Federer versus the stock market – A Wealth of Common Sense
Millennials ask “Will I ever retire?” – Guardian
Why stocks remain the greatest asset class – Of Dollars and Data
Six myths about working in retirement – Which
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality – Life After The Daily Grind
Just asking questions – Money With Katie
Don’t beat up your opponents too badly while smiling – Financial Samurai
Geriatric millionaires: why Boomers continue to gain wealth – Guardian
How the English clergy influenced discounted cashflow analysis – MIT (via Abnormal Returns)
Naughty corner: Active antics
Lessons from the Warren Buffett way – Flyover Stocks
How front-page headlines can mislead investors – Morningstar
Six charts that explain why US stocks are rising – Tker
Why small caps deserve attention on valuation grounds – CFA Institute
Hedge funds search for perfect trader talent – Bloomberg via Yahoo
Why corporate bonds are in demand right now – FT
Betting with a weak hand – Behavioural Investment
Millionaire exodus mini-special
A record 9,500 millionaires are expected to leave the U.K. this year – Fortune
Wealthy foreign residents step up plans to leave the UK as taxes rise – FT
Kindle book bargains
A Man for All Markets by Edward O. Thorp – £0.99 on Kindle
Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth – £0.99 on Kindle
Taxtopia by The Rebel Accountant – £0.99 on Kindle
The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau – £0.99 on Kindle
Environmental factors
A wild place in Cheshire that should be preserved, not bulldozed – Guardian
Insurers won’t deny climate risk publicly – FT
Iberian lynx downgraded from endangered after recovery in Spain and Portugal – Guardian
Global renewable energy capacity over time – Visual Capitalist (infographic)
The climate is central to the economy – Slate
Robot overlord roundup
AI displaced workers now get paid to make systems sound more human – BBC Future
The Goldilocks zone of technology and timing – Not Boring
Why Apple chose to go second in the AI race – Professor Galloway
Better than Google? – Seth Godin
AI cameras trialled at London stations to gauge passenger emotions – Evening Standard
Off our beat
The rise of DINKs, SINKs, DINKWADs, KIPPERs and other household acronyms – Forbes
But more young people are becoming NEETs – Yahoo Finance
The world faces a shortage of soldiers – Vox
Some scientists suspect extreme heat may explain disappearances in Greece – CNN
Japan’s abandoned houses cut nearby property values by $25bn – Nikkei Asia
The deceptive ads driving the mobile gaming industry – Sherwood
What Frank Lloyd Wright teaches us about late bloomers – FT
Is moving like an animal the key to better health? – Guardian
And finally…
“It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise
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