The richest town in America had an average income of $450,696 in 2017. It's tree-lined streets and acre sized lots offer the wealthy employees of Google, Facebook and Stanford University peace and privacy. The richest town in America is Atherton, CA. At Money, Shelly Hagan and Wei Lu report that Atherton, home to Eric Schmidt and Sheryl Sandberg, has placed as the nation's wealthiest town for the third year in a row. They write: “We value a semi-rural environment,” said Widmer, who moved to Atherton in 1996. “There are few sidewalks and many places don’t have streetlights.” Scarsdale, New … [Read more...]
Europe Takes Aim at America’s Big Tech Companies with Copyright Demands
European Union countries have backed a new set of regulations to force Google, Facebook, and other big online companies to pay content creators like artists, new agencies, and broadcasters for their output. That would even include the snippets of stories posted online in services like Google News. Reuters' Foo Yun Chee reports from Bussels: The revamp would require Google and other online platforms to sign licensing agreements with rights holders such as musicians, performers, authors, news publishers and journalists to use their work online. Google’s YouTube and Facebook’s Instagram and … [Read more...]
Surprise: Battery Powered Cars Don’t Work Well in Extreme Temperatures
Batteries have always had problems in extreme temperatures, that why it is interesting to see such surprise at revelations from a AAA study that suggest that electric vehicles perform worse in hot and cold temperatures than they do in milder weather. Lucas Laursen reports for Fortune: Not too hot and definitely not too cold–that’s when electric car batteries work best. “Batteries are like humans,” Anna Stefanopoulou, director of the University of Michigan’s Energy Institute told Wired: they do best at temperatures between 40°F and 115°F. In results that are unlikely to shock the many … [Read more...]
What Do You Need to Do Before You Retire?
Are you ready to plan ahead and to avoid rookie mistakes in retirement? At Money, Alix Langone discusses some of the things retirees need to do before they retire. He writes: It’s the biggest worry for people approaching retirement, financial advisors say: “Will I have enough? Where’s my cash flow coming from?” But if you actually map out your spending ahead of time, you’ll know the answer (at least for the short term), and you’ll enjoy greater peace of mind when you stop working. At a minimum, it’s important to figure out your first three to five years of cash flow — the money you will … [Read more...]
After Long Declines, Branded Consumer Companies Comfortable Raising Prices
Low wage and economic growth has been holding back the ability of branded consumer products companies to raise prices for a long time. But economic gains in the last couple years have given big consumer companies the confidence to once again increase prices for their products. With wages growth and consumer confidence up, it is becoming easier for consumer companies to increase the prices paid for their premium products. Aisha Al-Muslim reports for The Wall Street Journal: Makers of household staples from diapers to toilet paper are set to raise prices again this year after already hiking … [Read more...]
Can You Rely on Income Funds?
Managed payout funds are certainly better for retirees than annuities, but can you rely on them in retirement? Funds promising steady income for retirees are subject to the same market swings as other funds. If your expectation is that you'll always receive the same income stream, you should carefully reread the fund's prospectus. They aren't guaranteed. Barron's reports: Converting a pot of money into retirement income isn’t an easy task for many retirees—and it’s a tricky proposition even for fund firms. Take the Vanguard Managed Payout fund (ticker: VPGDX), one of the largest of a type … [Read more...]
Brazil’s Finance Minister Defends its ‘Vibrant Democracy’
After the election of Jair Bolsonaro, there was some skepticism about the new administration's ability to liberalize the economy. His finance minister Paulo Guedes is trying to change those perceptions. John Pual Rathbone and Andres Schipani report at the FT: The election victory in October of Mr Bolsonaro, a former army captain who admires US president Donald Trump and has frequently praised Brazil’s military dictatorship, was widely seen as part of the global shift to rightwing nationalism and a threat to Brazilian democracy. Mr Guedes insisted that was a mischaracterisation. “It is the … [Read more...]
Morgan Stanley Calls an “Earnings Recession”
Morgan Stanley's chief US equity strategist, Michael Wilson, has predicted what's known as an "earnings recession," for 2019. The FT reports: A string of disappointing forecasts from S&P 500 companies has led one of Wall Street’s leading market strategists to warn of a potential drop in earnings this year. Michael Wilson, chief US equity strategist for Morgan Stanley, slashed his base-case estimate for 2019 earnings per share growth to 1 per cent, down from 4.3 per cent. By contrast, Wall Street’s consensus estimate calls for earnings to grow 5 per cent to $170 a share, according to … [Read more...]
Cyber-War: Walmart Wants Amazon’s Ad Business
With the runaway success of Amazon's ad business, Walmart executives have become envious. They would like to replicate Amazon's success on their own websites. Bloomberg's Matthew Boyle reports: Walmart Inc. is big in almost every way—4,755 stores, 1.5 million employees and $380 billion in revenue in the U.S. alone. But one part of the world’s largest retailer remains minuscule. “We have a tiny ad business,” Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon told investors in October. “It could be bigger.” With about 300 million shoppers visiting its stores each month, according to Forrester … [Read more...]
Germany Doesn’t Like Facebook’s Data Collection
Germany has begun a crackdown on internet companies by telling Facebook it may no longer collect data about users across the internet without their consent. The move is a direct hit to Facebook's business model. Sam Schechner and Sara Germano report for The Wall Street Journal: Germany ordered Facebook FB -0.70% to stop combining data it collects about users’ activities across the internet without their consent, a novel application of competition law that strikes at a cornerstone of the social-media giant’s business model. In a decision issued Thursday, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, the … [Read more...]
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