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Home Ownership: Do You Have The Courage To Buy Into This Housing Market?
Almost half of all American adults no longer believe that home ownership is a realistic way to build wealth.
That’s according to Gail Cunningham of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, quoted in Barron’s this week.
Given that home ownership is a cornerstone in almost every wealth-building plan, this is astonishing. Even if the days of selling a house for an enormous profit are over, building equity in a home beats the pants off paying rent.
Of course, home ownership is not always better than renting, but in most cases, it still is. And even if home prices are flat, building a little bit…
2Jul2009 | Smart Profits Report | 0 comments | ContinuedManagement Strategies in a Jobless Recovery
You’re a manager for a mid-sized U.S. company that’s been forced to slash its work force because of the global financial crisis. And you’ve just received a new assignment: You’re to take over a key department that was hit harder than most by the layoffs.
Morale and productivity have plummeted. Your mandate: Fix it.
It’s one of those assignments that can either be a career-maker - or a career-ender. You want to make sure it’s the former, not the latter, and need to make all the right moves.
What do you do?
In an economy in which the unemployment rate just hit a 25-year…
2Jul2009 | Money Morning | 0 comments | ContinuedUnderstanding Leveraged ETFs
You’ve probably heard about leveraged ETFs: Funds designed to deliver twice or even three times the return of their benchmarks.
Just last week, ProShares launched the first triple-leveraged ETFs tied to the S&P 500 index. ProShares UltraPro S&P 500 (UPRO) is a 3x ETF for bulls, while ProShares UltraPro Bear S&P 500 (SPXU) is a 3x leveraged inverse ETF.
What a deal! Wouldn’t it be great to double or triple your gains? Far be it from me to throw water on the party, but I have to tell you it’s not quite so simple.
Yes, leveraged ETFs can be very useful in some circumstances. But before…
2Jul2009 | Money and Markets | 0 comments | ContinuedChina and India Manufacturing Ramp Up
While the rest of the world shows signs of life and inches closer toward economic recovery, China appears to be ahead of the curve.
China’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) inched only slightly upward in June to 53.2 from 53.1 the month before, but demonstrated its resilience as it recorded its fourth consecutive month of growth. The news prompted China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index to rise above 3,000 points for the first time in more than a year and reflected the nation’s massive $585 billion stimulus efforts that began in November.
“China’s recovery is gathering further momentum,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Lu Ting told…
2Jul2009 | Money Morning | 0 comments | ContinuedNeed An Income Investment? Keep Dumping General Electric (GE) and Buy This Stock Instead
Back in January, I advised you to dump everyone’s sweetheart dividend stock, General Electric (NYSE: GE) in favor of TEPPCO Partners (NYSE: TPP).
Many balked at the idea. But the results don’t lie…
Year-to-date, General Electric is the worst-performing stock in the Dow, down 22.3%. Meanwhile, TEPPCO is up 69%, including dividends.
(If any of you took me up on my income investment recommendation, e-mail us and let us know how you did at comments@investmentu.com.)
Of course, part of the move higher for TEPPCO can be attributed to news that Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) is buying the company, as I predicted.
For those of you that purchased the…
2Jul2009 | Investment U | 0 comments | ContinuedMarket Update: Boeing (BA), Ford Motor (F), Toyota Motor (TM), American International Group (AIG)
Airbus Parent Wins Saudi Security Contract; Automakers Post Losses; Private Sector Payrolls Shrink by 473,000; Gannett to Lay Off at Least 1,000; Pending Home Sales Rise, Mortgages Fall; Gold Breaks $940 Barrier; SEC Approves “Say-on-Pay” Rules; AIG Shares Drop After Split
- Pan-European aerospace and defense giant EADS NV - the parent company of Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) nemesis Airbus SAS - yesterday (Wednesday) announced that Saudi Arabia has selected it as the winner of a $2.8 billion border-security contract. The contract calls for EADS to install security checkpoints and radar systems along 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) of Saudi Arabian borders over the next five years,…
Post Layoff: Seven Ways to Get Back on Your Feet
You’ve been given the task of heading an organization that’s just suffered a layoff. Setting organizational goals is important. But it’s also important to manage yourself. Here are some key tips to remember about managing yourself - even as you help others navigate a very tough time:
- Go for the Goal: Managers know how important it is to have clear, measurable and attainable goals for their organization - but they sometimes forget to do the same for themselves. Establish personal goals that will feed into your objectives for the organization. Make sure to write them down (some experts say goals don’t…
George Soros on the Global Rebound
Billionaire investor George Soros thinks the worst of the global financial crisis is behind us.
In a June 20 interview with Polish television, the Hungarian-born Soros acknowledged that this has been the most serious crisis he’s seen in his lifetime, but said, “Definitely, the worst is behind us.”
For those that like to interpret “Soros-speak,” that’s as powerful a sign as any that one of the world’s most successful investors is “going long.”
But is he wrong?
On one hand, the World Bank is busy roiling the markets with recently updated figures that project a 2.9% decline in global economic activity this year. Then there are…
1Jul2009 | Money Morning | 0 comments | ContinuedHealth Care Reform: Five Ways to Profit With Biotech Stocks & Bond Funds
There are a number of health care reform plans on the drawing boards right now, and they all seem to come with mind-numbing sticker shock. The administration’s new plan and Senator Kennedy’s plan are both estimated to cost $1 trillion over 10 years.
I’ll believe that when I see it. When was the last time the government completed any project on budget?
And I’m not the only one with doubts.
Health Systems Innovations, a health care consultant that has worked with private health insurers, estimates that Senator Kennedy’s bill would cost $4 trillion over 10 years.
Ouch…
Should a health care plan be passed that…
1Jul2009 | Investment U | 0 comments | Continued
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