VER's blog
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2022-07-01 at 11:59 Timo Löyttyniemi
People in the United States love big words. The financial crisis was known as the ‘Great Recession.’ In the same vein, the long and relatively positive period preceding the financial crisis is called the ‘Great Moderation’. And of course, there...
2022-06-03 at 14:56 Timo Löyttyniemi
Geopolitics has taken centre stage. Geopolitics refers to the exercise of political influence and economic power. As we have seen, it may, at times, mean the exercise of power through the threat of war or even outright war. The Russian war of...
2022-05-20 at 11:50 Timo Löyttyniemi
The world economy and financial markets are in a state of amazement. Just as we in the West are leaving Covid-19 constraints behind, we are exposed to pressures from three different economies and three strict policies. These pressures are felt in...
2022-03-31 at 12:16 Timo Löyttyniemi
Europe does not need war; we are simply too civilized to fight. It turns out that the situation in Europe was not as good as we wanted to believe. Now the war has been here. At the beginning of February, I myself did not expect a war to break out....
2022-01-26 at 12:55 Timo Löyttyniemi
The Covid crisis has persisted despite vaccines and people’s efforts. The new Omicron variant upset all plans for a gradual return to normality. A reversal was inevitable and return to normalcy was replaced by further distancing. A number of...
2021-12-17 at 11:01 Timo Löyttyniemi
A year is a short time. Exactly one year ago, when I was looking ahead to 2021, it did not occur to me that we could be facing the same challenges again in a year's time. Very little has changed over the past 12 months. Equity valuations remain...
2021-12-01 at 16:32 Timo Löyttyniemi
Investors play an important role in combatting climate change. However, this role is often not what it is widely believed to be. Fact is that investors do not normally produce or manufacture anything. Even so, investors wield influence in several...
2021-10-08 at 9:37 Timo Löyttyniemi
Money is not a concept that you need to give much thought to. It just is. But if you start thinking about it at any length, your faith in it may flounder. After all, money is based on confidence. However, money is currently undergoing a digital...
2021-09-08 at 16:05 Timo Löyttyniemi
Phenomena stemming from climate change are attracting widespread attention. Last summer events such as floods in Central Europe and forest and bush fires across the world made it clear that insurance policies fail to cover all loss and damage....
2021-06-11 at 10:18 Timo Löyttyniemi
Index investing is often misunderstood. People say it’s easy. You just pick an index fund to invest in. Right, but before reaching this point you need to make a number of choices. Fact is that index investing is a much broader concept than people...
2021-05-12 at 11:52 Timo Löyttyniemi
The size of the population and labour force are central to any assessment of economic development. Economic activity can be explained by population size. Incomes, consumption and savings can be explained by demographics. The strain on public...
2021-03-12 at 12:17 Timo Löyttyniemi
Now it is clear: Bill Gates is a wise man. Recently, he published a book entitled ”How to avoid a climate disaster: The solutions we have and the breakthroughs we need”. He doesn’t complain or brag. He doesn’t blame others or criticise. He...
2021-03-02 at 12:40 Timo Löyttyniemi
Inflation has not made a comeback, but it has resurfaced as a subject of debate. There are several reasons for this. One is nostalgia, because many fear an overall fall in prices. Another reason is the heavy debt burden of states and a lot of...
2021-02-04 at 13:56 Timo Löyttyniemi
It’s seldom that anything this interesting happens. Web postings by small investors triggered a price rally which got a major hedge fund into trouble and caused it to lose 50% of its assets. This event will have wide-ranging consequences. But it’s...
2021-01-28 at 16:24 Timo Löyttyniemi
The debt burden of nations has been growing in recent years. As a result of the coronavirus crisis, sovereign debt has reached a substantially higher level. Currently, the government debt of the euro area countries stands at 101.7 per cent of GDP....
2020-12-16 at 11:49 Timo Löyttyniemi
The investment market is always challenging. Up to the present day, a diversified portfolio has generated sufficient returns in the long term. But the road is bumpier when it comes to short-term investments. While the prospects for 2021 inspire...
2020-11-11 at 8:23 Timo Löyttyniemi
The most important piece of news this autumn was China’s pledge that the country would become carbon neutral by 2060. While it may not have come as a surprise, the declaration will have major implications on world politics, international...
2020-10-30 at 13:51 Timo Löyttyniemi
A book about a crisis is seldom published before it happens. Normally, a large amount of writings are released after the fact. An exception to this rule is ‘Pale Rider – the Spanish flu of 1918 and how it changed the world’ by L. Spinner which...
2020-09-29 at 11:17 Timo Löyttyniemi
The buzz word of the season is ‘wave’. Most people knew to be prepared for a second wave of the coronavirus. Now it’s here, and the pandemic appears to be accelerating, as expected. What is surprising, however, is that there are many different...
2020-08-10 at 14:05 Timo Löyttyniemi
Pension investing is an interesting field of activity. It pursues important social goals while at the same time being at the heart of the financial markets. Pension investing affects all citizens. Even if it is often perceived as a black box, the...