Gold hit record highs Friday, as February COMEX futures punched through $900 intraday before finally settling near $898. Gold bugs swarmed around the media outlets making sure they got quoted as the first—the very first—to call this takeout of the old record price, set in 1980...
This week, Kevin Matras looks at sales growth and increasing profit margins—a powerful combination for big returns. Learn more, and get 3 new stock picks.
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This week, Kevin Matras looks at sales growth and increasing profit margins—a powerful combination for big returns. Learn more, and get 3 new stock picks.
Read More
Academics have long scorned actively managed mutual funds. Instead of spending money on managers who attempt to beat the market (however that is defined),...
With credit markets jittery and the economy on the lip of recession (or in recession, depending upon whom you ask), real estate funds have plummeted....
Competing fiercely for the attention of investors, fund companies have brought out a wave of specialized offerings. Many of the choices which include...
Are you charging enough? That's hard to say. These days, discounting runs rampant in the financial-advisory industry: Firms allow giant haircuts on commissions,...
Financial stocks have understandably led the market down during the recent credit-related correction. But the group has also recently led in another area:...
Economist Paul Zane Pilzer considers himself to be an environmentalist. But he is not your average greenie. Indeed, Pilzer is something of an icononclast:...
If you work for one of the major wirehouses, you're in pain. If you're a commission-based rep, business is slow. And if you are a fee-based rep, your...
Bear markets are shrinking. According to Leuthold Weeden Institutional Research, in a typical post-WWII bear market, the S&P 500 declined 30 percent over...
Fidelity Investments is paying big bucks ($3.75 million) in fines for, among other things, playing with little people. Thirteen Fido employees accepted...
Efforts to make corporate bonds more appealing to retail investors have reached a crossroads, and their ultimate success or failure now depends in large...
If there’s one thing to be learned from “all weather” investment strategies such as muni laddering, it’s this: there is such a thing as too conservative....
Are closed-end fund preferred-auction securities safe? We consider CFPs to be the conservative's conservative security. Defaults are even rarer than failed...
Wall Streets Bull and How to Bear It
"There are two requirements for success in Wall Street. One, you have to think correctly; and secondly, you have to think independently." - Benjamin Graham. "Wall Street's Bull and How to Bear It" was written to encourage a strong commitment between investment advisors and their clients. The book identifies a unified set of core beliefs that advisors and their clients should share....