There is more money, but are you getting your fair share?

News from over the pond in the USA this week was that the rich have increased their wealth by around 15% in the past year. That doesn’t surprise me, the rich are getting richer all over the world. Governments print more money and it disappears. Are you getting your share? Or are you even worse off?

The distribution of all this extra money produced by central banks using quantitative easing doesn’t seem too fair to me. It would be better if the very wealthy and super-rich paid their fair share of tax, but they seem to be able to avoid that too.

Meanwhile, the quantitative easing planned by the USA and the European central bank does seem to be having a positive effect on stock markets. I own a few shares and they are going up today, but the markets are still very volatile. When we have computers buying and selling shares automatically, I think we can expect volatility. I do think some shares are still cheap, if governments around the world print more money in a coordinated action, it could do some good. They seem to take it in turns though. It will probably be the Bank of England’s turn very soon. If you have money in a pension fund, this isn’t such good news.

Quantitative easing also devalues currencies against commodities like oil which sends gasoline prices up. Commodities like food are also rising in price and with oil and gas used to generate electricity all prices tend to go up. We are seeing some bargains in luxury goods just now, expect those to rise in price sharply when the pay freezes experienced by most workers now come to an end. I think we can expect high inflation too.

I have seen my shares go up a little this week, gold was up too and the cash I put into Zopa is earning more interest. I am getting over 6% lending money through Zopa. If you have a few thousand to invest, you could do worse than Zopa. I don’t encourage people to go into debt, but if you need to invest in a car to get to work, for example and have a good credit rating, then give Zopa a try. It could be worth trying, if you have credit and are paying a high interest rate too. Get a loan to pay off your credit card perhaps?

I wrote a finance blog over on a zillion ideas today, why not pop over there and check the blogs out on my newer website. You can also comment with tips of your own. I just remembered, someone asked if chicken Oxo cubes are gluten free. No, I don’t think so. It has been a few years since I tried them, but they weren’t gluten free when I last bought some by mistake. Bovril cubes are gluten free!

Related articles

• Finance Friday | luck of the draw (mike10613.wordpress.com)
• Alternative finance: what are the options for the everyday consumer? (guardian.co.uk)
• How QE3 Will Make The Wealthy Even Wealthier While Causing Living Standards To Fall For The Rest Of Us (blacklistednews.com)
• Peer-to-peer lending: How to borrow from and lend to ordinary people (confused.com)

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