The first Weekend Reading every month can be read by anyone on the Monevator website. Subscribe for free to our email newsletter or become a member to get the rest. Also note: this is a bit of a speculative ramble this week. Please do skip down to the bond links at the bottom if sci-fi-economics isn’t your bag! For an example of just how wild owning individual stocks can be, here’s a one-year price chart […]

People have always preferred stories over statistics. But I do find it interesting that, in a world awash in data and information, narratives still seem to shape how people feel about the economy. I understand why this is the case. Your personal economy has a far greater bearing on your feelings and financial well-being than government data and aggregate averages. The one narrative that seems to make the most sense right …

All Insights | Exchange-Traded Funds | Start Investing Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap UCITS ETF At 0.07% Grows To $1 Billion In Just A Couple of Weeks europe finally gets THE GLOBAL market in one cheap etf Vanguard has launched the FTSE Global All-Cap UCITS ETF (VGLA / VALL) on multiple European Exchanges. It’s the cheapest single-ticket exposure to the entire global equity market, with large, mid and small caps across developed and emerging markets, at a total expense ratio of just 0.07%.The ETF began trading on 20th of August on Deutsche Börse’s Xetra and LSE, with parallel listings on Borsa Italiana, Euronext Amsterdam and the SIX Swiss Exchange.It is the ETF equivalent of US-listed VT – Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund (0.06% TER) and the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund long popular with UK investors, but still with 0.23% fee.It’s the first time Vanguard has offered whole-market coverage, small caps included, in a European ETF without an ESG screen. For the first time, the fee is very close to US-listed ETFs, as well. KEY TAKEAWAYS Vanguard’s new FTSE Global All-Cap UCITS ETF started trading on Xetra, Borsa Italiana, the London Stock Exchange, Euronext Amsterdam and SIX. At a 0.07% TER it is the cheapest broad global equity ETF in Europe – half the price of Vanguard’s own FTSE All-World (VWCE, 0.14%) and less than a third of its ESG Global All Cap (V3AM, 0.24%). It matches the 0.07% of the cheapest large/mid-cap all-country ETF (Amundi Prime All Country World, WEBN) while adding small caps, and undercuts the next all-cap fund (SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI, 0.17%) by ten basis points. It tracks the FTSE Global All Cap Index: roughly 10,000 large-, mid- and small-cap stocks across developed and emerging markets – around 98–99% of the world’s investable market capitalisation. Both share classes went live together on 20 August: Accumulating (IE000VAHT5T0) and Distributing (IE000CVUM3N6, quarterly payouts). A currency-hedged class at 0.10% is provided for in the prospectus but has not been listed. Update as of 4th September 2026: The ETF proves extremely popular. VALL/VGLA ETF Assets under management jump to $1 billion since launch. VGLA starts trading on five exchanges

All InsightsWeekend ReadingStrategyWheelersVanguard FTSE Global All-Cap reaches $1 billion in two weeks! Two ways to stress test spending from your portfolio.September 4, 2026Raph & Francesca Share On this page ⭐ Featured📊 Portfolio Construction🎯 Active Investing📈 ETFs🏖️ Wealth Management🚲 Design Your Lifestyle💻 Tech & Economy On this page ⭐ Featured📊 Portfolio Construction🎯 Active Investing📈 ETFs🏖️ Wealth Management🚲 Design Your Lifestyle💻 Tech & Economy ⭐ FeaturedBanker on Wheels Resources Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap UCITS ETF At 0.07% Grows To $1 Billion In Just A Couple of Weeks Banker on Wheels VALL/VGLA ETF Assets under management jump to $1 billion since launch – an incredible achievement for an ETF which started trading only 2 weeks ago. For context, that is money arriving faster than Vanguard’s own flagship VWCE gathered in its first entire year, and it has happened with no marketing push beyond the number that matters: the whole investable world, 10,000+ stock index, small caps included, for 0.07%. Europe’s investors have already voted with their savings plans, and the verdict seems unambiguous. Show more Brokers Choice: Banker on Wheels Broker Fee Comparison ToolBanker on WheelsThe $1 Trillion 2026 Wipeout: It’s Time to Finally Clean Up Your PortfolioBanker on WheelsThe Next Market Crash: The Bear Market Survival Kit for Savers & RetireesBanker on WheelsRide Morocco: The California of the Muslim WorldBanker on WheelsLightyear Review: One of Europe’s Most Promising NeobrokersBanker on WheelsFreetrade: Our 2026 ReviewBanker on Wheels Interactive Brokers: Step-By-Step Account Opening Guide Banker on Wheels So you have read our comprehensive review of Interactive Brokers (affectionately abbreviated IBKR or even IB by its users) and you have decided to open an account. This guide will walk you through the steps of the process. In some ways, this broker account opening process can be longer than for other brokers. That’s because IBKR is more sophisticated. But, we make this process a bit simpler. In the end going through it is worth the hassle given the benefits the broker may give you in the long run. Let’s get started! Show more 📊 Portfolio ConstructionAsset Allocation The Withdrawal Clock: How Retirement Length Changes Spending Morningstar This article examines how the safe withdrawal rate changes dramatically with retirement time horizon. Using Morningstar’s forward-looking assumptions and Monte Carlo simulations, it estimates that a 40% equity/60% fixed-income portfolio can support a 3.9% starting withdrawal rate over 30 years, but about 4.4% over 25 years and 9.7% over 10 years, assuming a 90% probability of success. The piece also shows how retirees can use these figures to adjust spending during retirement. Someone withdrawing too much may need to reduce spending or give up inflation adjustments, while someone whose portfolio has grown strongly may actually be able to increase spending or use the surplus for gifts and one-off expenses. Show more Beyond Buy and Hold: The Case for RebalancingVanguardPortfolios: How to Invest When Your Portfolio Gets BiggerA Wealth of Common SenseBeyond Passive: The Truth About Index

ETFs For Beginners Investing in the stock market is one of the most effective ways to build wealth over time. But picking individual stocks requires extensive research, timing and risk management. Learn why Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) offer a simpler, low-cost alternative for both beginners and experienced investors. Find out exactly what an exchange traded fund is. Learn why index exchange traded funds make the most sense for investors. And, unpack how to invest in ETFs in a few minutes. This article may contain affiliate links which means that – at zero cost to you – I might earn a commission if you sign up or buy through the affiliate link. What is an ETF? An exchange traded fund, or ETF, is an investment fund that trades on a stock exchange, much like an individual stock. Think of an ETF like a fruit basket, with each piece of fruit representing one company’s stock. ETFs can own from hundreds to thousands of individual stocks. What’s great about an ETF is, if one stock tanks, there are many more that might rise or hold steady. Whereas, if you buy one or two stocks and one of them drops in price, your whole (or half) of your investment portfolio declines in value. What’s So Great About Index ETFs Among the most popular ETFs are those that are modeled after popular stock and bond market indexes. But why is investing in index ETFs so popular? On the first day of class in my MBA Finance class, the professor asked who can beat the market by picking and choosing individual stocks (ie active investor). My hand shot up, as I had been a portfolio manager and stock picker for awhile and had performed quite well. Much to my surprise, the professor said that each year, when comparing most stock market indices with comparable actively managed funds, the index funds outperformed the actively managed funds roughly 70% of the time. Now that was several decades ago, but I’ve kept up with the research and index funds continue to outperform actively managed funds. The reason that indices usually beat actively managed funds is because their fees are lower, and they are not plagued by human emotions of fear and greed. It’s tough for a fund which charges a 1.0% management fee to outperform an index fund with a 0.03% management fee. And, for those funds that do outperform the indexes one year, it’s unlikely that they will repeat their outperformance in successive years.

When I was 27 years old I was at a crossroads. I was five years into my career, yet I was stagnating. Though I was making six figures, which was great for my 20s, I knew I couldn’t make much more at my job. Without an advanced degree, my future compensation would be an endless chain of 3% annual “cost of living” adjustments and nothing more. At that moment, I knew I had to make a change. So I considered getting an MBA. I did research on different programs, the kinds of roles they led to, and what I could reasonably earn after graduation. Unfortunately, that’s where my MBA journey ended. After looking through the data, I discovered that the post-MBA salary (back in 2017) wasn’t that much higher than what I was already making. So why would I give up two years of income and pay $150,000 just to get a job where I’d earn about the same? While money isn’t the only reason to get an MBA, financially, I couldn’t justify it. But here’s the real issue I was wrestling with: even if my earnings did increase after getting an MBA, how would I know that this was due to the degree itself and not just my increased age/experience?  This is called a counterfactual, or an alternate version of the world. If I got an MBA, the counterfactual would be how much I would’ve earned without one. Of course, we can’t actually know the counterfactual. We can’t reverse a decision in the past and see how reality would’ve played out instead. But there is something we can do. We can compare the earnings of those who got their MBA to those who didn’t get their MBA, but are similar in many other ways. Then we can find the present value of non-MBA lifetime earnings and compare that to the present value of the MBA graduates’ lifetime earnings (after netting out the cost of the program and the years of lost income). This is what Preston Cooper at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP) did when analyzing the return on investment (ROI) of various graduate degrees. And, unfortunately, my gut feeling about the MBA was right. As Cooper noted: High earnings are not as valuable if the counterfactual is also high. The MBA is a prime example of this phenomenon. The nation’s most popular master’s degree boasts median earnings of $88,000 by the time its graduates are 45. This sounds impressive — it’s well above the median for all master’s degrees — until we consider that counterfactual earnings for MBA graduates at the same age are $83,000. MBA programs often draw from high-earning undergraduate majors such as business and accounting. This pushes up counterfactual earnings for MBA graduates. As a result, MBA programs have to “work harder” to supply their students with earnings that exceed the opportunity cost…many MBA programs fail to do this. When you look at the ROI for different master’s degrees (adjusting

  Getting free stocks sounds almost too good to be true, but several legitimate investing platforms offer stock rewards to attract new customers or encourage referrals. The catch is that “free” doesn’t always mean you can sign up, collect a stock, and immediately cash out. Some offers require you to deposit money, maintain a certain…

The SSB October 2026 issue pays 1.65% in the first year and a 2.32% average over 10 years. Both rates are up for a third straight month. Here’s where that sits historically, whether this issue is worth it, and how the year-one rate now stacks up against liquid cash options. The post Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) Oct 2026: Year 1 (1.65%), 10-Year (2.32%) & Results appeared first on Turtle Investor.