Wed, June 10, 2009
Why Not Buy a Chrysler or GM Car Now, While They’re Going Begging?
Here’s the test of whether you're a true contrarian: would you buy a Chrysler today? Read the full article
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Wed, June 10, 2009
Here’s the test of whether you're a true contrarian: would you buy a Chrysler today? Read the full article
Mon, June 08, 2009
The Credit Card Accountability and Disclosure Act of 2009 Act, signed last month, was supposed to drastically improve protections for consumers. While the new law eliminates some problems, banks are good at finding loopholes. Read the full article
Sat, June 06, 2009
Running out of budget-cutting ideas? Here’s one: cut your cable bill to zero. Read the full article
Wed, June 03, 2009
With the economy still in the doldrums, doing a home renovation could be an excellent idea. It’s a bit counter-intuitive, but hear me out. Read the full article
Mon, June 01, 2009
Each year the trustees of the Social Security/Medicare trusts are required to report on the status of the trust funds. Last month, having included the effects of the recession in their projections, they released a new report. The news is not good. Read the full article
Thu, May 28, 2009
My final post in recognition of Disability Insurance Awareness Month discusses key factors that can affect the cost of disability insurance. I’ll also touch on the question of how much disability coverage a person needs and discuss the things that you should consider in determining how much disability insurance to buy. Read the full article
Thu, May 28, 2009
A couple of items at the Calculated Risk blog caught my eye today; both suggest that mortgage rates might well be headed higher. Read the full article
Wed, May 27, 2009
If you’re shopping for your own disability coverage (rather than receiving disability insurance as an employer benefit), you'll encounter a myriad of policy differences. You need to understand one of the most critical elements in any disability insurance policy: the definition of what a “disability” is. Read the full article
Tue, May 26, 2009
My first post discussed why you might need disability insurance; today I’d like to explain a few of the important variations in disability coverage. Read the full article
Sat, May 23, 2009
Earlier this month I offered a list of financial planning suggestions for recent college graduates. Since It's often the case that there's a delay period between graduation and the start of a new job, I’d like to expand on one of the items in the list: finding health insurance after graduation. Read the full article
Sat, May 23, 2009
Yesterday I attended the spring New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) conference, held semiannually by the nonprofit economic research group that studies the region's economy. They were optimistically cautious. Read the full article
Tue, May 19, 2009
May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month. You won’t be getting any “Happy Disability Insurance Awareness Month” cards, though, because Hallmark™ hasn't caught up to this yet. Read the full article
Mon, May 18, 2009
Last Thursday, I attended an excellent seminar held by State Street Global Advisors and Morningstar. Although the meeting focused on building portfolios with exchange traded funds (ETF's), the highlight of the afternoon was a presentation on the current state of the global markets. Read the full article
Sun, May 17, 2009
Brokers are not innately bad people, but the systems under which they’re required to function can make it tough for them to work in the best interests of their clients. Read the full article
Thu, May 14, 2009
Could you use some free financial advice from a qualified financial planner? The NAPFA Consumer Education Foundation (NCEF), in collaboration with TD AMERITRADE Institutional and Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, will be helping Boston-area consumers make wise money decisions next week on May 20th and 21st.
Read the full article
Tue, May 12, 2009
The IBM Institute For Business Value recently published a study on the global financial services industry. The report, "Toward transparency and sustainability: building a new financial order" makes a number of interesting points about how the financial markets industry will need to change in the future in order to remain profitable. It also reveals something many consumers have suspected all along. Read the full article
Sat, May 09, 2009
At last I’ve gotten to the question I promised to address last month: how do different kinds of investments perform in inflationary environments versus deflationary ones, and is there any way to protect yourself against both risks? Read the full article
Wed, May 06, 2009
College graduation season, which lasts for several weeks, is upon us here in the Boston area. According to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), graduating seniors with educational debts carry an average debt load on the order of $20,000. More and more, college students are beginning their working lives with fairly heavy debt loads. It's more important than ever for newly-minted grads to hit the ground running with a plan for their finances. Read the full article
Mon, May 04, 2009
There’s a continuing debate over the question of whether active mutual fund management (funds that buy in and out of the market, looking for stocks that managers believe will outperform the market) is capable of consistently beating passive management (buy stock indexes). Standard and Poor’s Index Services recently weighed in with its latest assessment on this question. Read the full article
Fri, May 01, 2009
Are you still a little baffled about how the financial system came to be in such a mess? Here’s a very nice visualization of what happened (it's also the first video I've ever posted!) Read the full article
Tue, April 28, 2009
In recent years, health authorities have been urging that nations and businesses should prepare for the possibility of an avian influenza pandemic. Recent news of a serious swine flu outbreak in Mexico has prompted the World Health Organization to declare a phase 4 pandemic alert, meaning that the potential for community-wide outbreaks has been confirmed, but that a full-blown pandemic is not yet certain. Read the full article
Mon, April 27, 2009
A couple of weeks ago I began a primer on ISOs and some of the tax implications of exercising them. I’d like to discuss some cases in which an ISO grant is employed in a manner that is “disqualifying.” Read the full article
Sat, April 25, 2009
It seems only right to take a moment for brief reflection on the occasion of our first blogoversary! Read the full article
Sat, April 25, 2009
A friend who works in the food services industry (thanks, BE!) responded to my post on restaurants by informing me that there's a wave of promotions going on in the food-eaten-away-from-home world these days. He notes that a number of restaurants have begun waiving extra charges for splitting a meal or bringing your own wine. This week I also discovered a site that offers a growing registry of restaurants that offer “kids eat free” specials: mykidseatfree.com. Read the full article
Mon, April 20, 2009
I gave a short discussion of quantitative easing in the second post of my Inflation/Deflation series. I learned recently that the Financial Times web site has a nice explanation of how quantitative easing works to check deflation; if you're a visual learner, you might find it helpful. You may have to register at the FT site to view it, but registration is free. The piece explains the risks of quantitative easing and makes an important point: although many economists believe that too much quantitative easing could be very bad and that too little easing won't check deflation, no one knows for certain a priori how much quantitative easing is too much (or not enough). Read the full article
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