Last month in the Wall Street Journal, Burton Malkiel (the famous American economist behind A Random Walk Down Wall Street) recommended three courses of action investors could take to earn more on their investments. His op-ed was triggered by his growing concern for investors in U.S. Treasury bonds. As an indexer and champion of good asset allocation, he’s particularly alarmed at the safe part of investor portfolios — the part made up of cash and government bonds. He doesn’t believe yields on Treasury Bonds are going to keep pace with inflation for the next few years. If he’s right, you may need to re-think your bond allocation.
INFOGRAPHIC: Apple Q1 2012 Earnings By The Numbers
Well, it’s that time again. The time Apple ($AAPL), the granddaddy of all tech stocks, reports its quarterly earnings. Investors, analysts, pretty much everyone on the planet sits on the edge of their seats, eagerly awaiting results from the consumer electronics firm. To put Apple’s Q1 earnings into context, we dug around in the data a bit to help make sense of it all.
The Surprise Winner of CES 2012…Stock Brokers?
Every January the largest tech event of the year is held in Las Vegas – CES. The Consumer Electronics Show is THE place to showcase all things new in tech: the hottest phones, the latest processors, and the newest ways to connect your computer with your home. While there weren’t any blockbuster products at CES 2012, this year’s event set a record: 150,000 attendees and 3,100 vendors across 1.8 million square feet of exhibition. With companies spending millions on booths at CES, we wondered “was it worth it?”
We examined how our users traded some of the biggest and most exciting companies exhibiting at CES [1] to see whether or not there were any clear winners (and whether those big fancy booths paid off).
Top 10 Annoying Brokerage Fees of 2011 (and the brokerages that charged them)
Listen, I don’t begrudge the brokerage industry the right to make money. But there are some fees – like pesky bed bugs (ever live in NYC?) – that are so little yet so insidious that it forces you to cry foul. While you may not find these fees front and center on your monthly brokerage statement, they are there, nibbling away at your money — and sanity.
We rooted through 58 fee types across 56 brokerages and came up with a list of 10 fees that we felt most investors would say “seriously?” to if they found them on their monthly statement. After analyzing over $100,000,000 in fees we discovered which brokerages charged these annoying fees the most. Is your brokerage on the list?
The Differences Between a Broker vs. Investment Advisor
The financial industry is filled with thousands of people, each with different incentives, roles, and titles. It’s confusing trying to keep all these people straight – even for those in the industry. Understanding the differences between a broker and a registered investment advisor is important to your long term success as an investor.
