Do a reality check with the past before you invest

There is very little that’s new when investing. It’s always a good idea to look to the past so you don’t repeat other people’s mistakes.

Want to get rich or stay rich in difficult times? This week's magazine is packed with ideas on how you can do that. We look at Japan (still one of the best places to be invested). We look at gold (you must have some). We appraise a new emerging-market investment trust from Stewart Investors (which I like). And in our cover story we look at how you might make money from TV.

However, it's worth noting that many of this week's suggestions reference the past. We look at how gold has behaved in times of inflation and war, and at how today's valuations compare to those of the past in various markets, for example. None of these things tell us exactly what the future will bring. But they certainly give us some handy hints.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.