Archive for 2009
« Previous EntriesTurning Home ‘Buyers’ Into Renters
Friday, November 6th, 2009Fannie Mae is becoming a landlord…
Fannie Mae will allow homeowners facing foreclosure to stay in their homes and rent them for as long as a year, as part of the government’s latest effort to help troubled borrowers, while keeping more foreclosed properties from hitting the housing market.
The “Deed for Lease” Program lets borrowers who don’t [...]
A Little Friday Fun For You…
Friday, November 6th, 2009Back in August, my wife and I went to see Chris Isaak in concert. It was awesome! If you get the chance to see Chris in concert, GO! Anyway, below is a live video of my favorite song from his newest CD, “Mr. Lucky.” Enjoy…
Schwab is Introducing ETFs That Trade Commission-Free
Thursday, November 5th, 2009Charles Schwab recently announced that they were getting into the exchange-traded funds game by introducing several new Schwab-branded ETFs. I have listed the new ETFs below, along with their expense ratio and the description as provided by Schwab. What makes these particular ETFs interesting is that they will trade commission-free to Schwab clients. [...]
How to Use the RATE Function in Excel
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009Yesterday I used the RATE function in Excel for a post. A reader asked me if I could explain the RATE function. This post will attempt to do that.
First off, you use the RATE function when you want to calculate what rate of return would be required to meet a certain goal, based [...]
Liz Pulliam Weston – Debt: And you think you’ve got it bad?
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009Interesting article by Liz Pulliam Weston over on MoneyCentral titled, Debt: And you think you’ve got it bad? The article compares the United States’ bankruptcy system to other systems around the world. People in the U.S. have it made in comparison. For instance, check out the Islamic system:
You also can get loans [...]
Reader Question on How to Determine How Your Investments Are Doing
Monday, November 2nd, 2009The following comment was left on this post from last week:
Have a question:
What reasonable standards should investors use to measure how well or poorly that they are doing?
I’m sure that an answer would include “it depends” but if so, depends on what?
We are about 10% under our 12.31.07 balances and we are pleased but how [...]
Companies Are Stockpiling Cash
Monday, November 2nd, 2009Interesting article in this morning’s WSJ about how companies are stockpiling cash:
In the second quarter, the 500 largest nonfinancial U.S. firms, by total assets, held about $994 billion in cash and short-term investments, or 9.8% of their assets, according a Wall Street Journal analysis of corporate filings. That is up from $846 billion, or 7.9% [...]
Be Sure and Check Out This Week’s Carnival of Personal Finance
Thursday, October 29th, 2009This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance was hosted at MoneyCrashers.com. Please stop by and check it out.
Another Interesting Look at S&P 500 Index Returns
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Take a look at the graphic below, which shows the percentage of months that were up and down for the S&P 500 Index going back to 1926 based on the month of the year:
For example, looking at the month of January….
There were 84 January months in my sample. Of those 84 months, 36.9% of [...]
October Looks to be the First Negative Return Month Since February
Thursday, October 29th, 2009As of yesterday’s close, the S&P 500 Index’s total return for October is -1.26%. If that number holds through tomorrow, it will break the seven-month streak of positive returns for the index.
Why was October a down month?
I can think of a few reasons:
1. Profit-taking. It seems to happen after we have a [...]