What the current state of the Brexit talks means for investors

As Brexit talks extend into the festive period, anyone hoping the issue will disappear is set to be disappointed. The good news for investors, however, is that it doesn't matter. John Stepek explains why.

Boris Johnson & Ursula von der Leyen
Brexit will run and run.
(Image credit: © Aaron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

I haven't talked about Brexit here for a while. I mean, that’s probably not a terrible disappointment to any of us. But as the year-end approaches, I thought I’d quickly check in on it all. And believe it or not, I’ve got some good news.

I have no insight into what's going to happen as regards the current round of Brexit negotiations. My rule of thumb when it comes to second-guessing human beings is to look for the path of least resistance and minimum short-term pain, because on average, that's the path people will choose (note the focus on “short-term” – human beings discount future discomfort at an incredibly high rate, particularly if it's pain that will end up being inflicted on other people). The tricky bit then is to work out which path that is.

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John Stepek

John Stepek is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News and a former editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He graduated from Strathclyde University with a degree in psychology in 1996 and has always been fascinated by the gap between the way the market works in theory and the way it works in practice, and by how our deep-rooted instincts work against our best interests as investors.

He started out in journalism by writing articles about the specific business challenges facing family firms. In 2003, he took a job on the finance desk of Teletext, where he spent two years covering the markets and breaking financial news.

His work has been published in Families in Business, Shares magazine, Spear's Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Spectator among others. He has also appeared as an expert commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight, Daily Politics and Bloomberg. His first book, on contrarian investing, The Sceptical Investor, was released in March 2019. You can follow John on Twitter at @john_stepek.