Holly's Blog: Oh my fur and whiskas, I'm late!!!
1 April, 2022
"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! I’ll lose my ISA allowance, oh such despair!
A short one from me this week as I have a few days off. But a quick reminder about the end of the tax year. Even the White Rabbit knew he had until 5th April to use his annual allowances and no amount of carrots would persuade HMRC to move any dates.
The internet is a mirror of public sentiment…
Behind the scenes at Boring Money, we get an interesting market-wide view of what investors are up to. We have had 250,000 people on our site in March, reading, learning, comparing and making choices. However, no-one is immune to the news cycle and we saw lots of reading but not much action at the start of the month. People were nervous.
Unsurprising really as we digested the awful global news from the Ukraine and Russia, and the local bad news in the form of letters from our energy companies with forecasts of massive future bills, reinforcing what we knew about the reality of inflation, courtesy of the garage and the supermarket.
But a week is a long time in news cycles and it’s been a very different story in the last 7 days, with investors starting to rush to use their allowances before the tax year runs out. That deadline and the desire to avoid the Nasty Taxman and the Brown Envelopes Of Dread still moves us. If you want to do something this tax year, and have been putting it off, check out our reviews (and customer reviews) for ISAs, Junior ISAs, Lifetime ISAs and DIY pensions providers.
….and a (white) rabbit hole
As our audience grows, I find the rabbit hole of the internet can provide a different and sometimes clinical take on global events. What is the financial effect of actions in a social-media fuelled world where pretty much nothing is private and everything has a quantifiable impact?
Will Smith. Discuss. Outraged guy defending his wife from a cheap shot? Thug taking his accumulated anger out on a convenient victim? None of our rubbernecking business?
Here’s a fact. Chris Rock’s ‘Ego Death World Tour’ starts on 2nd April at the Atlantic City Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa. After the Oscars, tickets for that show jumped from $46 to $341. The theatre seats 1,000 people so the effect of that ripple in the World Wide Pond can be put at ($341 - $46) x 1,000 = $295,000 a night. (Oh OK probably less assuming that his mum already had her ticket but you get the point.) That’s one ripple and one night.
The internet and data always provide an endlessly fascinating source of alternative truths and perspectives. Whether this data is helpful and what we do with it is of course a different question for another day!
Off for a few days on the English Riviera. Wish me luck - stuffing my ski jacket, thermal vests and hot water bottle into the bag as I type.
Have a good weekend everyone.
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