Is Journalism, as suggested by the Washington Post's Michael Gerson, dying a slow death? Or is Mr. Gerson simply being melodramatic? The issue boils down to how you define journalism. If journalism- in the mold of the traditional magazine and newspaper journalism- is dying, is that the end of news? Tough questions, for sure, but what is the goal of media? To train journalists?
One pays a dividend, has enterprise value, and has the potential for growth. One is a piece of metal long accepted as a store of value. Which one do you invest in: gold (or silver) mining stocks, or gold (or silver!) itself?
Ready for a Generation Y surprise? From U.S. News and World Report comes this report (using a Scottrade study) about the attitudes of Generation Y investors mid (post?) recession. Yes, instead of running scared from ticker symbols to the safety of buried backyard treasure, Generation Y is taking the recession in stride- even increasing their investments despite the plunge.
A few years back my cousin visited me while I was still in school. Since he had never been to Vegas, my roommate and I decided to take him there... as soon as he landed in Los Angeles. Hilarity ensued... and nothing was learned at all about retirement saving except how not to approach it.
As noted in a CNN article today, one way to gauge the market's reading of current conditions is by reading the bond yields. Twice I've taken a look at how you can use Treasury Inflation Protected Securities plotted with the Daily Treasury Yield Curve to get a glimpse at the market's inflation expectations (TIPS adjust their value due to CPI). Some other interesting ratios are presented, the treasury yield curve on its own, and the spread between junk bonds and government debt.
Ever made a mistake in investing? Yeah, I bet you have. I have too.
The reasons that investors make mistakes are numerous and hard to detail, but the Wall Street Journal took a really good shot at it today. Covering everything from the pain of selling at a loss to mental accounting, it's one of the best personal finance articles I've read in a long time. Oh, and I read a lot. Everyone has biases which make mistakes possible, the question is how can we recognize them and adapt? Read on...
Recently I received an out-of-the-blue request from Keith Morris, the editor of the new LifeTuner Chat Carnival and the Community Manager for LifeTuner, to write an article for the upcoming carnival on "Financial Lessons Learned the Hard Way". First off, I'd like to thank Keith for tossing an invite my way and having the optimism to think that I might have something interesting to contribute. I hope I can offer you some first person narrative which you enjoy enough to finish. That's the thing about introspective pieces... I wonder the utility my experiences have to you readers? Well, let's toss aside the deep commentary and cornucopia of supporting links for a second and do some old fashion writing. Who's with me?
In my previous article, I compared some of the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of "welfare". Near the end, […]
Unlike the swine flu, the personal finance bug is a relatively hard bug to get. Unfortunately (for them), far too many people avoid putting any thought into their future until that 'future' is right around the corner. Investing is a topic that comes up a lot when I talk with people. How you field open ended questions like "How do I invest in stocks?" is a make or break question in which you need to figure out before your trust is deserved. I've come up with a step by step method which I use to narrow my confidant's thoughts and distill their true intentions. Read on, then leave me comments on your style.