Moomin Valley

I haven't updated Moominmama's portfolio for a while due to my world travels . So this update covers the months of August, September...

Following my new investment I thought I'd update our allocation to stocks and funds: Where possible I have given the ticker code. But a...

I have been a follower of Mebane Faber's blog World Beta for a while. Mebane is chief investment officer at Cambria Investment Managem...

Two of the TIAA-CREF funds I am invested in are being frozen which means that I can't transfer money into them in future. I am not clea...

After accidentally overwriting a file with an older version that was inside a newer version of a folder that I was backing up I wondered why...

Revanche posted a link to a website where you can produce maps of the countries and states you have visited. Here is my world map: visited ...

I'm going to give up waiting for a tax statement from EAIT . It's not like I've received the distribution itself either and my g...

I now have an interview lined up here for early next month. The original deadline for the job was early this year but they advertised for a ...

The main venues to eat out in Bangkok are in waitered restaurants, food courts in malls, and in the street. Upscale malls might have waiters...

Snork Maiden tells me she has more pictures of Israeli food. Maybe they will follow. There are a few main influences on Israeli food: Centra...

I've just completed drafting my tax return for this year. Our tax year ends on June 30. That's presumably because the agricultural y...

As usual, not all the final numbers are in but this is roughly what the accounts for September look like. Also, as usual, everything is in U...

Preliminary performance figures for HFRI show an overall gain of 3.37% for hedge funds in September, which is very strong: There was strengt...

I'm gradually digging out of the financial mess that awaited me here in Australia. The most worrisome thing is that the US IRS is still ...

We found during our trip that Commonwealth Bank charges enormous fees for using ATM's overseas. Anything from AUD 6 to 14 depending on t...

We're finally back from our "World Tour" and now into getting back up to speed mode here. Last stop was Bangkok. At some point...

The best food to be had in Germany, in my opinion, are the cakes and breads: This is a cherry cake at a café on Marienplatz in München. On t...

Chocolate for sale: This bread is called "Zopf": We bought a 700g loaf. I thought it might be a bit sweet like some hallah but it ...

The traditional Swiss dish, Rösti, at the Altestramdepot restaurant in Bern: This is basically a lot of grated potato plus heaps of cheese. ...

Two salads ordered by Snork Maiden in Paris. This was called an "Italian Salad": at a café near the Arc de Triomphe called "L...

Well at least in the store next to the hotel I stayed in. Jars of pickled herring too. As well as the notorious fermented herring. By Austra...

HFRX results are in for August. The overall hedge fund index was only up 0.17%. Equity market neutral performed particularly poorly and syst...

The MSCI World Index lost 3.46%. We seem to have lost roughly 3% slightly ahead of the market.

I expected that Snork Maiden would have to pay an extra $A13 in tax for the 2009-2010. In fact, she got a $A203 refund. So that's nice!

Credit Suisse have now reported for July 2010: They report an average return of 1.59%, a bit below HFRI's preliminary 1.82% .

A reader commented on my last post: "Hi I have a question for you. After 2 years of travelling I am coming back to Australia and I want...

Preliminary results for the HFRI index: Overall, hedge funds gained 1.82% vs. a 8.17% gain in global equities. As a result of the latter, sh...

Everest Financial still hasn't reported fund results for May let alone June so the numbers are getting fuzzier... As usual everything is...

A nice portfolio performance this month but the MSCI World Index rose 8.2% in USD terms. European and Brazilian equities made gains in that ...

Congratulations to Snork Maiden who got her her permanent residency in Australia today! We've been here just over 2.5 years. So in 1.5 y...

It's tax time again down under. The tax year ends on 30th June here and the deadline for submission is 15th October. It will be a while ...

The NYT follows up their recent article on how it is illegal to rent an apartment for less than a year in Paris with one about doing just t...

HFRI is reporting a -0.81% return for hedge funds in June while Credit Suisse Dow Jones is reporting -0.88% with 77% of assets reporting. T...

Snork Maiden got her second visa today. Where to? There is a clue in the picture. So things should all go smoothly now :)

The true numbers for this month will be slower to arrive than ever. Everest Financial still hasn't reported fund results for May . So I ...

This New York Times story stunned me with how stupid regulation can be. So the government prefers wealthy people to leave their apartments ...

The HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index declined by -0.94% for the month of June, bringing the YTD 2010 performance to -1.20%. The weakest area of ...

I have long been a follower of Mebane Faber's blog World Beta . Quite a few of the ideas I have presented were influenced by my reading ...

Moominmama's portfolio actually saw gains this month despite the 2.95% fall in the MSCI World Index in USD terms. As always I report Moo...

Following a strategic review, Everest Financial Group is to wind up the business, return capital to shareholders and transfer the funds und...

CREDIT SUISSE AND DOW JONES INDEXES JOIN FORCES ON HEDGE FUND INDEXES Former Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Indexes To Be Rebranded Dow Jo...

Snork Maiden got her Schengen visa which allows travel to most European Union countries apart from Britain: I thought that it was strange t...

This guy lives in a van while doing a masters degree at Duke University. I read an article by him before but just discovered he now has a b...

We spent a lot last month in particular on flight tickets to Europe and a new laptop computer. At least half of those expenditures are busi...

This month's numbers are pretty terrible, especially in US Dollars: But, as you can see once you take out the exchange rate losses of $3...

Just booked a couple more steps in our crazy trip . We will fly from Copenhagen via Billund in Jutland - the Danish Peninsula - to Paris. I...

Credit Suisse/Tremont have published preliminary results for hedge fund performance in May: The index lost 2.73% which is very similar to th...

Enough Wealth suggested on my last post that really I could have gotten a Dell laptop and saved money over buying a Mac. So, at least part ...

Recently we booked a trip to Europe . The tickets came in at $A5,900. And we're not yet done with trip costs. On the other hand, the peo...

The Daily HFRX hedge fund indices show an overall loss of 2.64% for May. In comparison to the MSCI World Index's loss of 9.48% that'...

This was a tough month in the markets. Stocks, and especially European stocks, and non-US currencies were hard hit. Alternative investments ...

Yesterday, I bought a new MacBook Pro. The old one was less than three years old but it was again malfunctioning, has an almost useless bat...

As I have shares in the Aurora Sandringham Dividend Income Trust , I just received a prospectus for the IPO of the manager. Investors in the...

Back in March I wrote that I was nominated by the Australian government for a UN scientific advisory body. I just heard today that the UN g...

Wow, if this is even somewhat accurate this is both outrageous and crazy. Using national emergency powers to campaign for the RSPT? If it i...

I just switched this back again. At least my average price is lower now...

HSBC (USA) is converting my checking account from "Interest Checking" to "Basic Checking" because the former product is ...

Today we booked at paid for our flights to Europe and Israel. We'll also be staying in Thailand for a couple of nights. Hopefully, condi...