New Year, same old Playing FTSE. But stay tuned to the end for a BIG REVEAL from Steve W.

In this week’s show, we look both backwards and forwards. Backwards at how our portfolios have performed over the last year, what we’ve learned, and what has and hasn’t worked for us. Forwards at what we think will happen in 2022, what our ambitions are for the podcast, and how we plan on going about doing things differently to how we’ve been doing them so far.

But first, we start with a game of REIT or Not-REIT. Steve D’s design sees Paul and Steve W talking about REITs and their ticker symbols. Watch Steve try to mislead Paul on a ticker symbol that both of them know perfectly well, and then on a ticker symbol for a REIT that neither of them has ever heard of. Find out along the way which REIT Steve W mishandled last year and which Paul has been doing very well indeed on.

After that, it’s time for us to review our portfolio performances over the past year. One of us has slightly outperformed the S&P, one of us has slightly underperformed the S&P, and one of us finished a long way back. Who did what? We reveal all. Along the way, Paul tells us about how pleased he is with himself, Steve D gives us a blow-by-blow account of his battle with the indexes and Steve W reflects on the amount of work he’s put in to achieve very little in comparison to the broader market.

Next, it’s the exciting bit of the show. We list our predictions for 2022. What outrageous prediction is Steve W making about a US tech company getting acquired? What is Paul expecting to blow its top off? And what does Steve D think about the likely performance of ARK for the next 12 months? Find out as we make our predictions for 2022 about macroeconomics, individual stocks, and the general direction of the market.

Lastly, find out what Steve W is looking forward to in 2022 outside the markets…

This week the boys tackle who they think is the best investor ever, with a bonus round of what books they'd recommend. Who's going to win Lynch, Buffett, Wood or even Ackman? Find out in this weeks PlayingFTSE!

Merry Christmas Everyone! In this special episode of the Playing FTSE show, Paul and the Steves discuss their festive plans, their favourite stories from this year, and some of the things that they got right and wrong. Find out Steve D’s special plan for avoiding hosting Christmas, why Steve W is making travel plans, and which of us has a ridiculous amount of plates.  

Fear not, though, this isn’t one of those cheap review shows with no original content. We’ve got a brand new festive-themed game called “The 12 Days of Brismas”. Designed by Steve W, this one is a laugh-a-minute as Paul and Steve D attempt to remember the names of obscure companies such as AT&T, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks.  

Next we move on to talk about our favourite stories of the year. Find out what Steve D’s favourite way of describing an inability to sell stuff is, what Steve W identifies as the moment where the momentum came out of the SPAC movement, and what Paul’s favourite Twitter feed is. We also talk about our hits and misses from the last year. Steve D talks about being wrong about bottomless money pit Kirkland Lake, Steve W recalls losing his mind and buying Coinbase, and Paul discusses his failing beach body.   

We finish off with some quick highlights from the year for us. We’re a new podcast and we’ve been finding our way. It’s been a great fun ride so far, we’ve had a lot of fun messing about, thinking about financial things and we’re looking forward to more in the New Year. Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and we’ll see you all on the other side with more games, more nonsense, more stocks, more learning, and more laughter.

Do we really believe we can beat the market? Are we that conceited? Does it even matter? We'll try our best to give you our thoughts in this weeks PlayingFTSE midweeker!

Who needs to reaffirm their belief in Jesus? Find out in this week’s Playing FTSE show!!

We start off with some news. In a week where the FED announced an increase in the speed of their proposed tapering — to finish in March, rather than June — and three interest rate increases in 2022, the Bank of England also announced a hike in interest rates. Paul and the Steves start off by thinking about the significance of these movements for their investing lives and consider the immediate response from the market. Steve D points out that the announcements remove some of the uncertainty. Steve W notes that the raises in rates aren’t that aggressive, and Paul thinks about Tesla, because it’s not a podcast until someone does.

Next is game from Steve D called “Split!” Taking us back to school with some questions in the style of a Maths GCSE, Steve D asks questions about historic splits, reverse splits, and share offerings. Paul and Steve W attempt to guess hopelessly at questions they can’t possibly know the answer to as well as attempting to remember the answer to questions that they ought to be able to get on account of owning the companies involved. One of the players uses his quota of lucky guessing for the year playing this one — find out who!

Last week, on the podcast, Paul announced that he was in the market for a new stock. With Christmas fast approaching and this being a time for giving, the Steves thought they would go off and try to find him one. Based on Paul’s requirement that the stock should be one that “goes up” Steve D presents a mysterious stock with no name but lots of nice features. It’s a big big company and you absolutely will have heard of it — see if you can guess what it is. Steve W, on the other hand takes the road less traveled, into utilities to look at a company that you probably will not have heard of but it does have a name and pays a growing dividend. Will Paul like either of them? Who knows…

Gousto Link: cook.gousto.co.uk/raf/?promo_code=STEPH42220442

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What’s been going on in the financial world and why should anyone care? Find out as we dive into the latest news and try to figure out what any of it means. We talk about stocks, markets, politics, and loads of other things in a way that’s accessible, light-hearted and (we hope) entertaining. For the people who know nothing, by the people who know even less. Enjoy! 

Got a question for us? Drop it in the comments below or reach out to us on Twitter (@PlayingFTSE).

Enquiries: playingftsepodcast@gmail(dot)com

What did Steve D get for his birthday? What does Paul think of the Lion King? And why does Steve W think Corning is a transparent company? Find out in this week’s Playing FTSE podcast!

This week, we start off with a game from Steve D. Paul and Steve W take random pairs of stocks and try to figure out which has the highest TRAILING EPS. This one’s a high scoring one as Paul and Steve W reason, remember, and wildly guess their way through acquisitions, stock splits, and twenty numbers to remember. Some of these are easier than others—see how you get on. More importantly, see how you get on with the Netflix vs. Visa question. “WOW” says Paul…

With the game out of the way, it’s onto a semiconductor special. We start off with the latest developments in the story concerning Nvidia’s attempt to buy ARM Holdings. Led by new antitrust enthusiast Lina Khan, the FTC has sued to stop Nvidia from acquiring ARM on the grounds that it might unfairly stifle competition with other chip manufacturers. Steve W takes baby steps in figuring out exactly what ARM does, Paul thinks about the implications for Nvidia, and Steve D ponders the possibility of a future ARM IPO and the prospects of owning shares if the company appears on the LSE.

In contrast to Nvidia, Intel has been lagging somewhat lately. Underperforming shares and a general struggle to innovate has caused the X86 outfit to lose ground to its rivals. But this week, the company announced an intention to spin off self-driving car unit Mobileye—arguably the most promising aspect of the company at the moment. With the intention of improving “visibility” for Mobileye, both in terms of investment and in terms of attracting talent, Intel are letting the company trade separately whilst retaining a controlling interest. Paul runs us through the difference between Intel’s Mobileye and Tesla’s FSD as the Steves take opposite views on the wisdom of the move from Intel. Who loves it and who hates it? Find out here!

Lastly, we have a look at the new ETF from ARK. With their flagship ARK Innovation ETF down 22.6% over the last 12 months against a 29% gain for the S&P 500 (figures correct at the time of writing) ARK have launched a new ETF focused on the most transparent companies. Paul looks through the holdings and investigates how closely the fund is tied to the index it purports to track. Steve W wonders why ARK weren’t doing this sooner. And Steve D reflects on the run that ARK have had this year.

Support the show:    There are many ways to help support the show, liking, commenting and sharing our episodes with friends! You can also check out our clothing merch store:  https://playingftse.teemill.com/   We get a small cut of anything you buy which will be reinvested back into the show....COMPOUNDING! (you read that in Svens voice right? Did Briscoe mention he got Sven on the show!?)    

Show Notes: What’s been going on in the financial world and why should anyone care? Find out as we dive into the latest news and try to figure out what any of it means. We talk about stocks, markets, politics, and loads of other things in a way that’s accessible, light-hearted and (we hope) entertaining. For the people who know nothing, by the people who know even less. Enjoy!

Got a question for us? Drop it in the comments below or reach out to us on Twitter (@PlayingFTSE).

Enquiries: playingftsepodcast@gmail(dot)com

If it's your birthday, then stop listening now...

... In a week where everyone's portfolios got double-teamed by the FED and the new COVID variant, Paul and the Steves sit down to discuss the Greek alphabet, buying phones, and the good old days of the S&P 500.

This week's game is a lesson from history as Steve W looks back at the largest holdings of the S&P from days gone by. Some winners still win, such as Microsoft and Apple. Others get too big to succeed, like General Electric and IBM. No comment is made in this about the merits of AT&T... Paul and Steve D try to guess which company had the largest market cap in some of the last 30 years and we think about what this means for buying companies that are thought to be vulnerable to the laws of large numbers inhibiting their prospects for growth.

After that, the present reality hits home as we talk about Omicron and inflation. In a week where a crypto called Omicron boomed for no reason other than the obvious, FED chair Jerome Powell suddenly and mysteriously became concerned about inflation shortly after being nominated for a job extension. Steve W thinks about consumer goods and the capacity for brands to pass on inflation, Steve D thinks about quantitative easing around the world and the implications for an interest rise as Paul wonders whether food in Costco will still be as cheap as it always is.

It's not all bad news, though -- the Steves have found something they like the look of. Salesforce shares fell after their earnings, which were strong but with some disappointing guidance for Q4. A dip in the stock caused Steve W to try and figure out what this company actually does and why everyone seems to think it's so great. Paul and the Steves talk about the company's moat, whether everyone needs a CRM, what a CRM is, and why Salesforce apparently needs two CEOs. 

One of the Salesforce CEOs was elected Chairman of the Board at Twitter this week. With that in mind, we finish with a look at what Jack Dorsey's been up to and what's going on at Twitter. With news that Dorsey has decided to leave Twitter to concentrate his energies on the company formerly known as Square, we think about Square, Twitter, and activist investors who get impatient about stagnant share prices.