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Merryn Somerset Webb is the Editor of MoneyWeek.
After gaining a first class degree in History & Economics at Cambridge, Merryn became a Daiwa scholar and spent a year studying Japanese at London University. In 1992, she moved to Japan to continue her Japanese studies and to produce business programmes for NHK, Japan’s public TV station.
In 1993, she became an institutional broker for SBC Warburg, where she stayed for 5 years. Returning to the UK in 1998, Merryn became a financial writer for The Week. Two years later, in 2000, MoneyWeek was launched and Merryn took the job of editor. - -
Merryn Somerset Webb: There are no rewards for being brave
I get a lot of irritating press releases. This week’s worst came from one of the personal finance websites and announced that “women are noticeably more brave than men as house prices drop”. The irritating bit? The use of the word “brave”.
Anthony Bolton: A checklist of health requirements
Top of my list of considerations when I buy a share is a simple question: how good is the company? Companies are not made equal – the quality of their franchises can vary considerably.
Oliver Ralph: Wading through the deluge
An EU directive has resulted in more than 200 UK companies reporting their financial results this week – overwhelming share investors with information, preventing analysts from finessing their forecasts, and making it a frantic week for me
Advertisers should switch on to TV
In the course of the average day, I spend several hours on the internet. Before I started writing this, I read and answered tens of e-mails. I looked up car rental prices for the bank holiday weekend. I even double-
checked the cheapest rates for offset mortgages (I am absolutely not planning to buy a house – just looking)
Merryn Somerset Webb: Make pessimism pay
Anyone who has put land up for sale in the past few years has had the satisfying experience of watching rich City-lifestyle buyers and real farmers elbow each other out of the way to get their hands on fields anywhere from Cornwall to Northumberland.
Merryn Somerset Webb: The problem with cash
We go on holiday to a remote area of Shetland every year. Last year, the talk was of little but fast-rising house prices and the need to get on the ladder as quickly as possible. This year, it was all about how the housing market had frozen. Final proof, were it still needed, that the bubble/bust cycle knows no boundaries
Merryn Somerset Webb: The recession has just turned global
The most interesting bits of corporate news out this week came from Vodafone and De Beers. These are two very different companies – mobile phone businesses drive their growth at the bottom end of the market and diamond companies at the top end. But they both said similar things.
Merryn Somerset Webb: It’s time to form an orderly queue at Northern Rock
I’ve never been one for tying my money up in long-term products of any kind. But I’m beginning to find myself looking rather longingly at some of the fixed-rate savings bonds on offer.
Merryn Somerset Webb: Get yourself more money and sense
Sales at the likes of Mulberry, Burberry and Horne & Co have been soaring and, in defiance of what most of us would consider common sense, those with access to cash continue to throw money at “passion investments” – fancy diamonds, wine, boats and luxury travel.
Merryn Somerset Webb: Sorry, but this is going to hurt for a little longer
How do you cope with a credit crunch? That’s the question I was asked to address in a talk to a group of Dutch pension fund managers earlier this week. First, you have to accept that it isn’t going away
