A new year is a time of hope and optimism, and also an opportunity for me to complain about some of my investment industry pet hates. In the latest episode of the Decision Nerds podcast, Paul Richards and I open the door to Room 101, where I get to send some of my least favourite things in asset management into oblivion.

Room 101 is the torture chamber in George Orwell’s classic book, ‘1984’; for those who cross its threshold, it contains, ‘the worst thing in the world’.  In Britain, Room 101 became a popular TV and radio show where celebrities suggested things to be consigned into the dreaded room.

Crimes of the charting kind.

I somehow managed to whittle my list down to three and the first episode kicks off with a seemingly minor but pervasive peeve – chart crimes, in particular those charts where a current time series of a financial market metric is overlaid with one from a different period of history. The current favourite of this genre is the path of inflation now compared to the 1970s/80s.

Wonderfully compelling, but total nonsense.

Rather than just hear my gripes, Paul tries to get to the bottom of what it is about this type of ‘information’ that I really don’t like.

The first of three short episodes is linked here and on all your usual platforms.