China’s GDP growth is projected by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to be 9.9% this year, making it by far the fastest-growing economy in the world. Although Chinese “A” shares, shares of mainland China-cased companies, are generally… Read More

#-ad_banner-# I think it’s the most boring business I’ve ever researched. That’s what you want if you’re looking for a stock to hold no matter what. It pays dividends like clockwork. They’ve increased for 39 years straight — that goes back to when Nixon was in office. Read More

[Editor’s Note: On Wednesday, Andy Obermueller, editor of Game-Changing Stocks, gave his take on the resignation of David Sokol, one of the frontrunners to replace Warren Buffett at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway. Now, it looks like Ajit Jain, Buffett’s insurance man extrordinaire, may be “the man.” Funny enough, StreetAuthority’s… Read More

David Sokol, considered by many to be the leading candidate to replace Warren Buffett as the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A, BRK-B), has resigned. His stated reason was to build up a business to leave to his family. The real reason, it seems, is that Sokol took a major position in Lubrizol before Berkshire bought it at a substantial premium in a $9 billion deal. The bottom line is that these transactions always become known, and Sokol, who’s arguably one of the most capable executives in the world, got out in front of the bullet… Read More

David Sokol, considered by many to be the leading candidate to replace Warren Buffett as the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A, BRK-B), has resigned. His stated reason was to build up a business to leave to his family. The real reason, it seems, is that Sokol took a major position in Lubrizol before Berkshire bought it at a substantial premium in a $9 billion deal. The bottom line is that these transactions always become known, and Sokol, who’s arguably one of the most capable executives in the world, got out in front of the bullet and left before he had to. Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are more than one man’s name and that of a large company — they are a platinum-coated brand that implies the absolute highest ethical and business standards. Berkshire, despite its gargantuan, multi-billion dollar market cap, is still a handshake company. Buffett has the cash to make the world turn with a phone call, sure, but his cache is more than that. The world trusts him. He’s known for being a straight-shooter. Sokol’s actions, which Buffett thinks are legal to the letter of the law, would still… Read More

I counted twice, just to be sure… $41,161.63. That’s the amount in “daily paychecks” — more commonly known as dividends — I received from my investment portfolio in 2010. That total comes to $112.77 for each day of the year. Cash. Read More

After a pair of stopgap funding measures, Washington is getting ready to play hardball on the government budget. Both sides have drawn clear lines in the sand, and April 8 looms as the day when government buildings could be officially locked, government employees told to stay home and all non-essential services could grind to a halt. Whether the shutdown lasts a few days or a few weeks, your portfolio will feel the impact. And you need to start preparing now…   Too many uncertainties Investors crave certainty. Yet this is an especially murky time. Key questions need… Read More

After a pair of stopgap funding measures, Washington is getting ready to play hardball on the government budget. Both sides have drawn clear lines in the sand, and April 8 looms as the day when government buildings could be officially locked, government employees told to stay home and all non-essential services could grind to a halt. Whether the shutdown lasts a few days or a few weeks, your portfolio will feel the impact. And you need to start preparing now…   Too many uncertainties Investors crave certainty. Yet this is an especially murky time. Key questions need to be asked. Will Japan’s economy go into recession as its government tackles the economic effect of the current crisis? How will the Middle East play out (and what will happen to oil prices)? Will more European economies need a bailout? How will the U.S. markets handle the end of the Federal Reserve’s second round of quantitative easing (QE2)? [I also wrote earlier about how investors’ record levels of borrowing on margin could bring the market crashing down…] The market has climbed a “wall of worry” in recent quarters, but the wall keeps getting… Read More

Given enough time, the small caps from any industry are apt to outperform their large caps siblings. The problem is, investors tend to gravitate toward the larger and more familiar names, while the worthy, off-the-radar small caps tend to be overlooked. The idea applies within the banking… Read More

Success breeds confidence. When it comes to investing, that’s not always a good thing. Some investors see a rising portfolio and start to figure out ways to keep their returns moving higher. The simplest way to magnify returns is to borrow money from a broker and re-invest those funds, a practice known as “investing on margin.” Yet, when investors have started to buy more and more stocks on margin, they often set the stage for cascading declines in the stock market as margin calls beget yet more selling. That’s why you should be… Read More

Success breeds confidence. When it comes to investing, that’s not always a good thing. Some investors see a rising portfolio and start to figure out ways to keep their returns moving higher. The simplest way to magnify returns is to borrow money from a broker and re-invest those funds, a practice known as “investing on margin.” Yet, when investors have started to buy more and more stocks on margin, they often set the stage for cascading declines in the stock market as margin calls beget yet more selling. That’s why you should be concerned that investing on margin is back in vogue, whether you are doing it yourself or not. #-ad_banner-#A lesson not learned On March 9, 2000, the Nasdaq index moved up above 5,000 for the first-time ever as investors put increasing amounts of money into scorching tech stocks. Part of that was fueled by a then-record $275 billion in funds that investors had borrowed from their brokers. Many of these investors were leveraged to the hilt, right up to the maximum allowable borrowing limit of 50% of a portfolio.   That high level of… Read More

Less than a year ago, China unveiled what it considered to be a younger and stronger statue of a bull to rival the one sitting on Wall Street in New York. The fact that it is also larger shows China’s ambition. With an… Read More

It’s going to touch everything. It will make a difference in what we eat, where we travel, how we heat and cool our homes, even how much we save and spend. Actually, these sorts of changes are already taking place. But over the next… Read More