Can A Family Of Four Survive On A Middle Class Income In America Today?
When I was growing up, $50,000 sounded like a gigantic mountain of money to me. And it was actually a very significant amount of money in those days. But in 2010 it just does not go that far. Today, the median household income in the United States for a year is approximately $50,000. About half of all American households make more than that, and about half of all American households make less than that.
No Secret to Gold Investing. Just Accumulate.
Alas, I don’t have $5,000 to invest in this terrific opportunity to make a quick $50 million, as likewise there are no Secret Investment Plans (SIP), although I have spent a lifetime looking for one.
America is Losing Her Way
Danny has done very well for himself, but only because he has done very well for his clients. Making money is all his clients really care about. But how he makes money is all that any of the rest of us really cares about.
One key to being a million-dollar producer? Dumping smaller clients, survey finds
It may ruin a friendship. It may smack of snobbery. It’ll probably come across as cruel, insensitive and heartless. But financial advisers who truly want to build their practices need to dump many of their small clients.
The Morning Morsel- Ireland: No Four Leaf Clovers
My “Europe is still in the third inning” theory may be getting validated a little more this morning as Irish banks continue to face challenges.
What to Expect for Future Potash Prices
One of the main ingredients in fertilizer, Potash helps plants resist disease, thereby improving crop yields. Now, some investors think it can revitalize their portfolios…
Hedge Fund Expenses: They’re Not Cheap
But first, let’s dispel a myth. One of the reasons commonly given for not investing in hedge funds is that they’re high risk. That’s not necessarily true.
A Fan of Upward -Sloping Trendlines
If you’re a fundamentalist, then you can make a strong argument based on the economic picture that there’s another leg down, perhaps down 35-30% from current levels back to the 750-800 range (one bear prognosticator predicted on Bloomberg a 5000 target for the Dow by 2012).
Help! My Debt Snowball Is Melting!
Those of you with children may have noticed that they’re expensive. There are a thousand articles out there on how to keep the cost of having children to a minimum.
Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Moving Business Online as Foot Traffic Declines
U.S. retailers this year geared up for the annual back-to-school shopping season, the parents and children didn’t fill the streets and shopping malls – they stayed inside, and online, cruising for bargains on the Internet.
Advice From Top Notch Stock Traders
Trying to pinpoint the BEST advice is like asking how much is too much money – everybody has a different answer and none of them are necessarily wrong.
High Volume Resistance Plagues Precious Metals, Oil & S&P 500
Last week was a relatively strong week for stocks and commodities. Although the S&P500 closed slightly lower on the week the price action Friday was strong.
Ethanol On The Rise: New Life For Refiners?
Summer’s winding down and with it, demand for gasoline. Wholesale unleaded gasoline blendstock prices have dipped 7 percent since the end of June, as inventories have risen to five-month highs.
Major U.S. bank cutting fees on checking accounts
Citigroup Inc. will halve the minimum balance on checking accounts with the highest level of service, in a push to get more customers to use the bank for their primary accounts.
The Climate Change Movement Falls On Hard Times
A year ago giddy environmentalists were on top of the world. The greenest president in American history had the largest congressional majority of any president since Lyndon Johnson;
FTSE Rallies Despite Weaker Manufacturing Data
September produced a nasty surprise for stockmarket bears; with good economic news out-scoring the negatives equity indices broke the recent trend lower.
Welcome To the (Tech) Jungle: Cisco’s Reaching Up to Skype?
Merger mania is definitely back in the Tech sector. HP (HPQ) and Dell (DELL) are still seriously locking horns over 3PAR (as of this writing.) Intel’s (INTC) acquiring Infineon’s wireless business for about $1.4 billion in cash, less than two weeks after saying it would buy McAfee.
Winners And Losers
The sad truth is that as work has become a global commodity, middle class American workers have been placed in direct competition with the cheapest labor in the world.
Commercial property real deal, better bet than Treasuries, metric shows
U.S. commercial real estate yields are near the highest level relative to Treasury bonds on record, a signal to some investors it’s time to buy property.
A stock that shrugged off the last recession …
There’s no telling whether this fall will hold another drubbing for U.S. shares. But either way, I want you to know that you don’t have to abandon stocks altogether even in the worst of times.
Government Defaults and Inflation Are the Norm, Not the Exception
The past 15 years have certainly been exciting for investors. During the second half of the 1990s we experienced one of the largest stock market bubbles of all times … and its bursting.
