Bloomberg news just issued a report stating that the popular Apple iPhone would be coming to the Verizon network in January 2011. Analysts expect the phone could be wildly popular at Verizon, the world’s largest carrier, and sell as many as 12 million units per year. Read more…
After a dismal start to an “economic recovery,” rumors are swirling that the Federal Reserve will relaunch its quantitative easing programs to up the Fed’s balance sheet as much as $2.5 trillion. Previously, according to insiders at the Fed, Bernanke had the ability to expand the balance sheet to as large as $5 trillion. Read more…
Collectables as investments are out. The worlds largest gold coin, a highly collectable chunk of gold, sold at auction this week for nothing more than its melt value. This just goes to show that investors could care less about value added. Read more…
A few things have changed thanks to new financial reform legislation passed by Congress. Here are the top 5 changes. Read more…
On the day of the release of the iPhone 4, huge problems are already being unfolded. Read more…
Razor blade manufaturers and computer printer companies do quite well with a model that gives cheap hardware for expensive mantience later. But can tech companies afford to do the same? Should they subsidize hardware to maximize software sales? Read more…
It is often said that a picture speaks a thousand words. In this post, I’ll let the picture do the talking, but I’ll add just one thing. Read more…
Whether you’re willing to accept it or not, life insurance is an investment just like any other, and you should do just as much due dilligence with your insurance provider as you would an investment manager. I’ll do a very simple comparison between the two most prominent life insurance options, whole life insurance and term life insurance. Read more…
Get ready, Washington is about to take another stab at finance. As part of a new push to get more Americans to save for retirement, Congress will take on a bill next month to create government sponsored IRAs. The details are still thin, but if the program works as expected, it looks to be a generally good idea. This is, of course, coming from someone who is usually against this type of behavior from Washington DC. Read more…
The Chinese have been labelled as a “currency manipulator” by the United States, and now months later are working to remove the peg and allow for a freer floating currency. Read more…
Just as I suspected in an earlier post (BP Stock) BP will put aside only one year’s income to pay for the damage in the Gulf.
I’ve been on a roll lately with economics posts (see Time Preference) so I thought I might as well follow up with another on capital structure. Read more…
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved new futures on the success of new movie releases. The futures, traded online, will be a way to get exposure to new movie releases and ultimately finance new box office hits. Read more…
Any economist knows the term time preference. When it comes to money, finance, banking, and even consumer choice, time preference plays a major role. Consider this scenario: You’re at McDonald’s you can buy a 32oz drink for $1, or go to the nearby gas station and buy one for $.69. Assuming all you have to lose is time, which do you choose? $.31 or 5 minutes of extra time? Read more…
As the baby boomers come to retirement age, one has to wonder where all their wealth will flow. Though most are likely still largely invested in equities, eventually the time will come that they move to fixed income. When that will be, we don’t know, nor do we know if the selling pressure will break the markets. Read more…
Just when I thought the stock market couldn’t get any dirtier, it did. A hostile takeover bid by Alimentation Couche-Tard to buy Casey’s General Stores was interesting…especially in this business enviroment. The bid, something fresh in this business environment, is made even more interesting by the fact that Couche-Tard front ran its own hostile takeover. What?! Read more…
Competition in retail trading has led to incredible cuts in the price of trading index exchange-traded funds. Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard now offer commission free trading on a myriad of indexed exchange-traded funds, opening the door for investors to create highly balanced portfolios at zero cost. Read more…
After the Troubled Asset Relief Program, stock warrants, not options, made a comeback. The US Treasury infused bailout dollars into large corporations in exchange for warrants, similar to stock options, which allow investors to buy a certain stock at a certain price at a certain time in the future. There are some differences, however. Read more…
This past memorial day weekend, I got a call from a friend. He had called to ask me for advice on what he described as “a serious problem.” Of course, I was interested, and knew that if I were to get a phone call from this person it had to be serious. Read more…
