I did a local survey online to see how people were coping with the high energy bills. 15% said they were okay but 51% said they were cutting their energy use. 7% are driving less or driving slower to save on fuel. 18% are switching brands etc, to save money on food. Spending more money on essentials is cutting our discretionary income; that money is left after we’ve paid for all the essentials. You can add to your discretionary income by having income from investments but the poorest in society tend not to have any investments.
Those of us that do invest for a bit of extra income are seeing our investments devalued by inflation. The only thing to do is grin and bear it. Most investors are simply holding and no longer dealing. Many investors have abandoned growth stocks for more boring but safer defensive stocks.
What’s in store in 2023? I wish I knew! I will certainly continue to be thrifty and frugal and try to invest to make the most of falling inflation and return to growth. Knowing when that will be is the big problem. Energy stocks still look tempting but whenever the oil price drops so do the share prices of the oil majors. The UK stock market has fared better than the US market and other major markets. As China come out of its covid problems we can expect the global economy to pick up. We really need to stop buying anything from Russia and prefer buying oil from the US rather than OPEC. The world economy has to change and become more selective when trading.
I plan to do more photography in 2023. My finances are OK so the important thing is to look after my health as best I can and enjoy life as much as I can. I bought a ticket for the Euro lottery tonight. I won last week so I’ve bought tickets for tonight and tomorrow. I do tend to have runs of luck. I could be on a winning streak!
For those of you who are interested in my investing. I intend to hold and wait but I am tempted to add Centrica…
A Zillion Ideas 
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