Yep.  You heard it right.  But what does that mean I hear you ask. Well let me explain..  

Two 30 year old men from Germany came up with the concept as a joke whilst realising that “everything keeps getting more expensive and building savings is super-hard to achieve”.   

They decided that they would try to see if one of their hamsters could make smarter investment choices than us humans make.  

Using a wide range of technology, they turned the hamsters cage into a ‘trading office’ that is connected to a Live Twitch streaming service.  This alerts a Twitter account which lets followers know that the trading session has started.   

There are two man-made tunnels in the cage labelled ‘BUY and ‘SELL’, the electronics wired to the hamsters office complete a trade according to the hamster’s desires i.e., whichever of these tubes that he runs through.  

You can read the full article here.  

Whilst we don’t advocate the use of a hamster to make important investment decisions, this story did remind us of the reason why we do what we do here at Proposito.   

I’m sure you have heard of Cryptocurrencies, the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum and the rest. In fact, there’s now over 200 different cryptos. But it’s important to remember they are currencies – and they are un-regulated. That’s why it’s important to seek financial advice before participating in any of the “latest trends”.   

Your aims and objectives, time horizons, attitude to investment risk and capacity for loss (to name a few) all play a part in determining what the best investment solution is for you.  Avoiding the latest ‘hot’ investment trends and instead doing what’s always worked (investing in the great companies of the world) is a sensible strategy for long-term investment success. 

At Proposito we believe that investing shouldn’t be complicated.  Our low cost, globally diversified index tacking investment solutions provide clear and sensible portfolios that are aligned to your financial goals.   

It’s very difficult for an individual investor to repeatedly beat the market over the long run. Whether it’s stock selection (what to buy or sell) or market timing (when to buy or sell) – or both – it’s extremely difficult to keep getting it right. So we don’t try. 

Instead we adopt a ‘buy and hold’ strategy.  This provides the discipline to ride the ups and downs of the market and maximise your chances of having a long-term successful investing experience. We’ll be interested to see how the hamster gets on. 

If you would like to find out more about our approach to investing, then please do get in touch.