Today we were treated to the second installment of the Federal Reserve’s new policy of openness with Chairman Ben Bernanke’s press conference. That followed on the heels of the statement by the Fed Open Market Committee about …
Markets
Real Estate’s in the Tank? Not in the Land of IPOs
It’s been what my grandmother would call “a month of Sundays” (i.e., a long, long time) since we’ve heard of a local housing market that wasn’t in the doldrums. In fact, much of the country is now officially in the …
5 Tips to Avoid Getting Scammed
After Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for scamming people out of billions while operating what has been described as the large Ponzi scheme in history, you would think people would be a bit smarter about …
The Frighteningly Fast Fall of Blackberry (And Why Even Apple Should Care)
On Thursday, the maker of the once-ubiquitous Blackberry devices, Research in Motion, reported its quarterly results. They were not pretty.
High Potential in Low-Debt Stocks
Companies free from financial problems should enjoy even greater advantages over the next five years.
Why Do We Cheer for NBA Stars But Not for Bankers?
There was something dramatic and striking about the Dallas Mavericks’ victory over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals on Sunday. No, it wasn’t the caliber of play – which was high – nor the sight of the vaunted Miami “Dream …
Markets Plunge Because of Greece, China, and the U.S. (Or so they say.)
Another day, another market plunge. Yesterday was notably sharp, with all major indices declining more than 2% and getting worse as the day wore on. The story du jour – and it is an axiom of market declines that there must be a …
Careless Consumerism: How You’re Really Spending Eight Times as Much as You Thought
“If you choose to spend a dollar today, you are actively choosing not to have four dollars, or six, or even eight later.”
Q&A: Matthew Schifrin, Author of ‘The Warren Buffetts Next Door’
A new book profiles ten unknown, ordinary investors—including college dropouts, engineers, a former truck driver, a retired DJ, most of them without MBAs or fancy degrees. What makes these investors extraordinary, however, is that they’ve managed to do what the wisdom on the street says can’t be done by consistently pulling in amazing …
Q&A: ‘Generation Earn’ Author Kimberly Palmer
To today’s young professionals, debilitating credit card and student loan debt and unemployment rates of 10% are common parts of their economic landscape, while ideas like job security and real estate investments that always rise in value seem like concepts of the distant past. How do people in their 20s and 30s differ from previous …
The Two-Day-a-Month Investment Road to Riches
Here’s an odd observation that I don’t advise you to act upon in any way: In 2010, you would have gotten an extraordinary return on your investment if you’d put money in the stock market only on the first two days of each month—and then pulled your money out every other day.
12 Signs of Continued Hard Times
Including more participation in food stamp programs and more people drinking beer at home, along with fewer people investing in stocks, buying videogames, going to the movies, and working at jobs that match their skill sets.