Yearly Archives

318 Articles

Miscellaneous

Having trouble saving money? You’re supposed to!

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The unemployment rate is low… so that must mean people are earning money and saving money, right? Wrong. One in three Americas has less than $5,000 saved for retirement, and the average person is saving less than 3% of disposable personal income!

 

You’re workin’ hard… and you have no problem earning money, no problem spending money, but a serious problem saving money. But don’t worry – it’s not your fault. When given equal opportunities to earn or save, our brains do not prioritize saving. We all have an anti-saving bias that keeps us from saving money.

 

But you’re not a lost cause… because you can learn to change your mindset and start saving! Rather than imagining your future self-saving money, think about how saving money today will benefit your tomorrow. It’s not easy – but it is so worth it.

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Blue Chip

Elon Musk will pay Tesla’s fine out-of-pocket!

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Elon Musk is a standup guy… because he plans to right his wrongs by purchasing $20 million of Tesla stock with his own money to cover the penalty for his tweets. The CEO agreed to pay $20 million to settle a federal lawsuit stemming from tweets about taking the company private. As part of the agreement, Musk also must vacate his potion as chairman of the company.

 

This is unusual… but really, that is what we have come to expect from Elon Musk. It is rare for an executive to buy shares of their own company with their own money, to say the least. Musk will purchase the shares directly from Tesla (rather than the open market) so that the money will go to the company.

 

The company hasn’t said… that Musk is paying the fine with his purchase – but we’ll say it – he is paying the fine with his own money. The investment is relatively small, increasing Musk’s stake by 0.2% – but hey, it’s a nice gesture.

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Mid caps

Sears CEO Eddie Lampert the next Warren Buffett??

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Once a financial genius… Sears CEO Eddie Lampert purchased Sears back in 2005 through a merger with Kmart. However, not many people would use the term ‘financial genius’ for Lampert anymore – except maybe Lampert himself. The man once hailed as the “next Warren Buffett” has run Sears straight into the poor house.

 

Lampert made basically nothing… for being the CEO of Sears. The Sears CEO took a salary of $1 per year and received the rest of his compensation in entirely worthless company stock. Lampert’s hedge fund also made huge loans to the company, and believe it or not, Sears owes Lampert at least $1.3 billion.

 

And he didn’t make friends… because Lampert played the ‘absentee CEO’ roll to a T by running the company from South Florida. However, now, Lampert may be able to purchase the Kenmore brand through Sears bankruptcy auction (something he has always wanted). And he’s not done yet – Lampert could still sell Kenmore appliances, rent stores to other retailers (that are still in business) or develop the company’s real estate for alternative use.

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International

The rideshare BEAST of the Middle East

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The Uber of the Middle East… is called Careem and the company just got a big financial boost. Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal just invested $200 million in the Dubai-based rideshare company. And now, Careem is currently valued at over $2 billion, up from $886 million in 2017.

 

The timing is odd… because Saudi Arabia’s network of business and global tech investments has come under scrutiny after the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was last seen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and Turkish officials believe he was murdered inside the consulate.

 

Murder mystery aside… Careem operates in over 120 cities in the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and Pakistan. The company is viewed as a “new and promising” technology in the Middle East, and investors continue to pile money into the company for that reason. Will we be calling for a ‘Careem’ soon??

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Blue Chip

Good news for at least one airline

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High oil prices and lousy weather… were no problem for Delta Air Lines. Much to everyone’s delight, the airline overcame these obstacles by hiking fares. And, somehow, the company managed to sell more seats on its plane in the third quarter.

 

But can you blame them… because airline fuel cost the airline $655 million more compared to the same quarter last year. Fuel prices were up 37% and to add to that, Hurricane Florence cost the company another $30 million. Despite these obstacles, Delta’s profit was up $127 million for the quarter.

 

The details on how they did it… passengers paid an average of 4% more to fly per mile. The increase alone gave sales an $892 million bump which more than covered the fuel costs. Delta is the first airline to report its third-quarter earnings, and the result is a good one for investors (but not so much for passengers).

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Fang

What to do about these crazy tech stocks…

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You may want to… part ways with the popular Facebook stock sooner than later. The company has been scrambling, and spending, to fix its past privacy and security mistakes which are coming at the expense of growth. Additionally, most tech stocks have shown vulnerability lately as interest rates continue to rise.

 

For nine long years… tech has been leading the charge for the broader market. Investors have been throwing money at companies that make little or no profit. But if we can’t blindly throw money at tech stocks, what do we do now!?

 

Maybe consider a new strategy… such as investing in value stocks that pay dividends. Many investors have been taking this approach and investing in health care, consumer staples, and utilities – things we can’t live without. However, this isn’t to say that tech stocks are through – they may very well be your best bet – but maybe have a backup plan. Or calm the hell down and buy-and-hold your stocks like a good little investor.

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Blue Chip

eBay is taking Amazon to court!

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If you can’t beat ‘em… you should sue ‘em. eBay is filing a lawsuit against Amazon alleging that the company fraudulently led high-value sellers away by using an internal messaging system called M2M. eBay also stated the Amazon is “unwilling to fairly compete for third-party seller business.” In a nutshell, Amazon is [allegedly] a big cheater!!

 

Here’s how they got caught… eBay monitors its messaging system for unauthorized use. However, eBay only caught Amazon a few weeks ago when a seller informed the company about the Amazon reps. From there, eBay discovered messages from a “large number” of Amazon representatives.

 

eBay also emphasized… that their company is a “pure open marketplace” that doesn’t compete against its sellers. Amazon can’t claim the same thing because they make their own products that compete directly with other sellers; but something is making customers switch over to the dark side. Maybe it’s the two-day shipping?

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Miscellaneous

Is it possible that MoviePass lied about finances???

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We haven’t heard from these guys… in quite a while. And by “these guys” we mean MoviePass, of course. The New York attorney general is investigating the parent company, Helios and Matheson, of MoviePass for possibly having misled investors about company finances.

 

If they were misleading us… they weren’t doing a good job because all we can recall is MoviePass constantly almost running out of money. The company had outages due to cash shortages and continued to see its stock price drop.

 

A far cry from… last October when MoviePass was trading for $39 per share! Today, the stock is trading at 2 cents per share after a 250 to 1 reverse split. Stockholders have also filed two federal class-action complaints against Helios and Matheson stating that the company made “materially false or misleading” statements. Looks like another company is ready to bite the dust..

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Blue Chip

A GREAT day for the stock market – here’s what happened

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Corporate America to the rescue… the Dow closed up 2.2% on Tuesday on the back of big corporate profits from some of the most prominent companies. Yesterday represents the best day for the Dow since March. And, quick to forgive, investors were back on the Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix bandwagon after dropping the stocks like a hot potato last week!

 

Last week took an L…, but today we bounce back (after last week’s mini-crash). Last week, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all had their worst week since March (yes, the same month the market had its best day). However, despite the solid rebound, all three indexes are down for the month.

 

Yesterday’s issues… are slightly better today. Treasury rates have gone from 3.25% to 3.15% which has calmed investors down a bit. Remember – treasury rates move in the opposite direction of stock prices. Let’s hope the bull keeps charging forward!

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Hustlin'

This just in: It’s time to ask your boss for a raise.

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Unemployment is low… so low that it is at its lowest level in close to 50 years! And now, finally, American workers are seeing a pay increase (not me, of course, but hopefully some of you are benefitting). Weekly wages are up 3.3% in the third quarter which actually beats the 2.6% inflation increase over the same period.

 

The Labor Department… decides this figure (3.3%) by surveying people based on full-time wage and salary workers weekly earnings. This is good news because we have seen the job market improve, but not the wages people are making at those jobs. However, rather than pay raises, we have seen companies offer other benefits (that are easier to take away when things go south) like paid sick leave and improved healthcare.

 

Wages are up, and unemployment is down… so who do we credit for this fantastic turnaround? Actually, no need to ask, because Donald Trump was quick to point the finger at his favorite person – Donald Trump. And shortly after these results were released the president tweeted, “Incredible number just out, 7,036,000 job openings. Astonishing – it’s all working!”

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