2016 was a busy year for me. It was the second year as my “own man”. I am very happy about how things have developed.

I set out to do three things when I started Markets & Money Advisory back in the summer of 2015.

First, of all I wanted to do a lot of public speaking. I have continued to do that in 2016 and will certainly continue to do that in 2017. So if you want to book me for a speaking engagement anywhere in the world drop me a mail (LC@mamoadvisory.com) or my speaking agent Daniel Rix at Specialist Speakers (Daniel@specialistspeakers.com). In 2016 I spoke a lot about Trump and Brexit – and of course monetary policy and global markets. In 2017 I guess focus will turn to European political uncertainties with elections in France and Germany and surely I will also talk about my favour topics – monetary policy, global financial markets and I certainly hope to be back in Africa speaking on the prospects for this continent.

Second, I wanted to do more commentary and I have certainly done a lot of that. I writing regularly for four European newspapers – Børsen in Denmark, Frettabladid in Iceland, Gazeta Prawna in Poland and finally Il Foglio in Italy. Furthermore, I have also regularly contributing Geopolitical Intelligence Services. I enjoy my regularly commentary a lot, but the consequence of writing for other media than my blog has also meant that I have blogged less on The Market Monetarist than I have done in previous years. Hence, in 2016 I only wrote 77 posts on this blog. My ambition clearly is to do more blog posts in 2017 than in 2016, but the format will also change a bit. More on that below.

Third, when I started Markets & Money Advisory the ultimate goal was to do advisory particularly on monetary policy issues. I am very happy that the advisory business has continued to grow in 2016. Most of our business has been in North Africa and the Middle East and I certainly expect that to be the case in 2017 as well, but I certainly expect the advisory business to grow more in 2017.

The positive development in the business has meant that I had to change the business from being a one-man army and move from the home office to new offices in Copenhagen. During 2016 I also brought on two assistant analyst to help me – Laurids Rising and Christian Schoubye. Laurids is primary do research assistances, while Christian will be helping on communication and social media.

So all in all 2016 was a busy and interesting year for me and for Markets & Money Advisory.

Plans for 2017

2017 hopefully will be equally busy and interesting. A lot of people have noticed that Markets & Money Advisory still does not have its own website. The Market Montarist so far has functioned as company website, but that will soon change. Hence, in January or February we will launch a new website for Markets & Money Advisory.

I should stress that that does not mean that the blog will disappear. Rather the blog will be incorporated into the new website.

On the new website it will be possible not only to read the blog, but also be able to book speaking engagements and hear about our advisory services.

Furthermore, we will start a “research shop” on the website where we will be offering our new research products. The first research product we will launch will be a monthly publication on global monetary conditions – The Global Monetary Conditions Monitor. The Monitor will cover monetary conditions in around 30 countries around the world. We are very optimistic about the prospects for this publication. I have earlier written about our plans for the Monitor here and here. If you are interested in this product please drop me a mail (LC@mamoadvisory.com).

We hope also to launch other research products in 2017 – we have not yet decided on what specific publications to launch, but given our advisory work in the Middle East and Northern Africa I would certainly not be not surprised if we for example would launch a quarterly publication on the MENA economies and markets at some time during 2017. If you have suggestions and requests for other research product please let us know.

Another concept we are presently working on is white-label research. This means that we will be offering for example smaller financial institutions to do research for them, which they can share with their clients using their own logo and name. I am happy to talk to potential clients about this so feel free to drop me a mail.

I have had this blog since 2011 and I continue to enjoy blogging and that will continue in 2017. However, I can also see that the world of blogging is changing. Therefore, in 2017 we will try to add other forms of communication. That could for example be webcasts, conference calls, small movies, tutorials etc. Do you have other ideas? Let us know!

Furthermore, we will try be more focused on sharing my commentary, which I write for example different newspapers on the blog as well. Obviously a lot of it is not in English, but at least we will try to a weekly wrap-up of both the commentary as well as links to media appearances and presentations etc. We will also share some of my powerpoint presentations from different presentations I do around the world to the extent that is possible.  All in all the blog will develop in lot more dynamic direction when we launch the new website.

I or we? 

Writing a blog is a very personal thing and the format means that you will use “I” rather than “us” or “we”. Another thing is a company website, which means that you will see a lot more “we” than “I” going forward. That does not mean that the focus on money and markets will change and the “method” will very much continue to be market monetarist. That is after all the comparative advantage of Markets & Money Advisory, but it also means that in the future there might be more contributors to the company website – primarily of course Laurids and Christian to begin with.

Looking for international partners and new ideas

As the advisory business has been growing it from time to time has been necessary to bring in external economists for our advisory projects and I certainly expect that that will be the case going forward. Therefore, if you are an independent economist in any country in the world and you think that you could be able to contribute on projects in the future then we are happy to hear from you. You might even have an advisory project that you think that we could contribute to.

Finally, I want to thank my readers for the loyal support in 2016 and I look forward to share a lot more thoughts on monetary matters – and the markets – in 2017. And if there is anything that you are looking for please let me know. What would you particularly like to see from Markets & Money Advisory and myself in terms of blogging, commentary, research products etc.?