About 65% of Americans simply don't know how much money they'll have to live on in their retirement years. Planning is essential to a successful retirement, and according to a new survey by TIAA detailed here by Investor's Business Daily, nearly two-thirds of Americans aren't doing even the basics. When it comes to confidence in their retirement planning, nearly six out of 10 American adults can sleep easily at night. Those 58% of Americans feel good about how much they've saved, according to a new survey by financial services firm TIAA. They believe their savings are on track to generate … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2016
Is Your Money with the #1 Online Broker?
No surprises here as Kiplinger’s names Fidelity as the top online broker thanks to its mix of services, investing products, and retirement-planning tools. If you don’t have an account with Fidelity then you’re missing the boat. Investors looking for the best brokerage firm need look no further, according to Kiplinger’smagazine. The results from the magazine’s annual broker survey are in, and while many firms shined in one category or another, Fidelity claimed the number one spot overall for 2016. This is the fifth time Fidelity has received this award. It previously won in 2007, 2008, 2011 … [Read more...]
Worthy Reads: Fed Meeting Could Send Signals About Future Rate Increases
Bank of Japan Steps Into New Waters With Policy Revamp (WSJ) Fed Meeting Could Send Signals About Future Rate Increases (WSJ) A Top Performing Hedge Fund Predicts the Biggest Correction Since 2008 (Bloomberg) A chocolate war is about to heat up in the U.S. (MarketWatch) Exchange rate pass-through: What has changed since the crisis? (BIS) … [Read more...]
How to Prepare for the Next Real Estate Bust
You make your money in real estate when you buy, not when you sell. In recent years, commercial real estate prices have boomed. Bubbled might be a better word. Commercial real estate certainly isn’t the only asset class that looks expensive today, but it is the only one that the Fed has put in its cross hairs. Commercial real estate is a reliably cyclical business. In all likelihood, we are much closer to a cyclical top than we are from a cyclical bottom. Limiting your exposure to commercial real estate today isn’t a bad idea, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be preparing for the next … [Read more...]
Russia’s One Commodity Economy and Shrinking Population
The Wall Street Journal lays out the risks Russia faces over the long term. Investors seem fine with the victory of President Vladimir Putin’s political party, United Russia, in elections for the Russian Parliament this weekend. But Russia has been a big winner all year for those who bought the country’s beaten down stocks, bonds and currency. The year’s gains, and Monday’s, have a lot to do with oil. The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, is up 1.73% on Monday and over 25% this year-to-date. “Russia is looking pretty good to us, just in terms of their ability to … [Read more...]
The Future of Solar Power Is Under Construction
MIT Technology Review tells readers about the amazing rebirth in Buffalo. In a industrial park near the shore of Lake Erie, hard by the Buffalo River, the future of the solar power industry is under construction. SolarCity’s sprawling Buffalo factory, built and paid for by the state of New York, is nearing completion and will soon begin producing some of the most efficient solar panels available commercially. Capable of making 10,000 solar panels a day, or one gigawatt of solar capacity a year, it will be the largest solar manufacturing plant in North America and one of the biggest in the … [Read more...]
Surprise: New Report on Housing Starts Misses Estimates
In August, builders began construction on 1.14 million new homes. The numbers didn't hit consensus estimates made by economists polled by Bloomberg, failing to hit even the lowest estimate of 1.17 million starts. The question is whether or not the miss is a blip, or the beginning of a slowdown in a residential housing market that has been pulsing with activity. … [Read more...]
$25 Million Ain’t What it Used to Be
Barron’s cover story, “Penta Millionaires: The New Rising Class” reports in 2015 there were a record one million households with more than $5 million in investable assets, up 5% from 2014. This should be fun. Let’s guess how much of this new wealth will actually stick. I’m not talking about the Pentas' necessarily. I’m thinking more about the $25 million crowd. Imagine their burn rate—fueling those jets is expensive! What caught my eye is the story of a Mr. Anthony Alves, 54, who sold his New Jersey company, Oasis Foods, putting his net-worth well over $25 million. “It was life-changing,” … [Read more...]
The Start of a Merger Frenzy in the Pipeline Sector?
There are few publicly traded businesses that have better economics than oil and gas pipelines. The business is simple. The pipeline companies dig a hole, lay some pipe, and collect a relatively stable revenue stream that is often inflation adjusted. The barriers-to-entry are high, and maintenance capital spending requirements are low. The downside: investors in pipelines have to periodically deal with their fellow shareholders losing their heads and causing unnecessary price volatility. The most recent bout of volatility came last fall when the Alerian MLP index lost 40% over about a six … [Read more...]
Can There Be Any Future for Intel, EMC, Dell and HP?
Wired digs into the past and examines the future for these computer giants. What you read will surprise you. Wired tells readers: HP. DELL. EMC. Intel. The giants of computer hardware aren’t what they were ten years ago. Heck, they’re aren’t even what they were five years ago—or, for that matter, just a few months ago. These hardware giants realize that the technology landscape is shifting. With the rise of smartphones and tablets, PCs are far less important. With the rise of cloud computing services from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and others, many businesses can build websites and … [Read more...]
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