Conventional wisdom is that stocks outperform bonds. That’s wrong. Fact: Investors who buck conventional wisdom and buy bonds are more likely to see better results than investors who focus solely on equities. Don’t let anyone tell you that bonds are staid, stodgy or that they’ll… Read More

Investing even modest sums over time can build affluence. But don’t put the cart before the horse. You’re not ready to build wealth until you understand your overall financial situation and take several key steps to make sure you build on a sound foundation. 1. Get an… Read More

It happens every quarter, and it’s beginning to grate on me. While every other company is gauged by earnings, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) is measured by a different standard than the rest of the financial world. Read More

Banks need a break, right? After all the bailouts, I thought so, too. Until this morning. As it turns out, banks may be eating some bad loans, but they’re raking in cash from other sources. The Financial Times reported that banks will charge customers more than $38.5… Read More

When it comes to mutual funds, you could be looking for love in all the wrong places according to the renowned bond fund manager, Bill Gross. In his August 2009 Investment Outlook, Gross compared his own industry to Madame Rue, the gold-toothed gypsy in… Read More

We all know that Congress is only too happy to “invest” our money. But how are they when it comes to managing their own? Not so great, as it turns out. A review of the personal financial disclosures filed by members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives gives some insight into just how bad these politicians are at managing money. The table below shows the 15 most popular stocks held by members of Congress, with the number of owners to the right: If $1,000 had been invested in… Read More

We all know that Congress is only too happy to “invest” our money. But how are they when it comes to managing their own? Not so great, as it turns out. A review of the personal financial disclosures filed by members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives gives some insight into just how bad these politicians are at managing money. The table below shows the 15 most popular stocks held by members of Congress, with the number of owners to the right: If $1,000 had been invested in each of the 15 most popular stocks held by Congress on Jan. 1, 2008, the entire portfolio would be worth $10,148 today, a loss of -32.3%. This exceeds the total loss of the S&P 500 index, which has fallen -31.7% in the same period. In fact, only one of the companies, IBM, has shown a positive return, though nine companies posted smaller losses than the benchmark, losses that could have been made smaller still with reinvested dividends. As you… Read More

We all know that Congress is only too happy to “invest” our money. But how are they when it comes to managing their own? Not so great, as it turns out. A review of the personal financial disclosures filed by members of the… Read More

Wall Street bets on companies by buying their stock. It bets against them by shorting their shares. A short seller borrows shares, sells them and waits for the price to go down. When it does, the shares are repurchased at a… Read More

Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, once described his strategy as “buying dollars for 50 cents.” He would have loved this market. Graham had several tricks to determine whether a company was undervalued. One of them was assessing its book value, a figure… Read More

Talk about a rough ride: The nation’s nine major airlines lost -$671 million in the second quarter. We’ve all heard plenty of talk about how no one is flying anymore. Maybe it feels that way, but the airlines are still bringing in plenty of revenue. The total top line for… Read More