Economic Edge » Contrarian Investing

How to Get $250K in Tax-Free Money Every 2 Years

EconEdge — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 18:37:11 +0000

Looking to keep more of your hard-earned money from the tax man? Well, you're going to love this tax exclusion.

How You Can Exclude up to $250,000 Tax-Free on the Sale of Your Primary Residence

How to Invest For High Returns & Avoid Losing Your Original Investment

EconEdge — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:43:51 +0000

This post is written in response to a reader's question. The reader asked…

How Can I Get the Highest Return While Minimizing Risk?

This is the $64 million dollar question—the holy grail of investing. Every investor seeks to maximize his return while minimizing risk (mainly the risk of losing his original investment, but also the risk of looking dumb by making unwise and foolish investments). Generally speaking, the higher the return, the higher the risk. "He who bears the risk reaps the reward." This is true in mortgage banking, small business, the financial markets, personal relationships, and many other areas of life.

Google Acquires YouTube for $1.65 billion

EconEdge — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 03:09:18 +0000

Just in—Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction. After the acquisition, YouTube will operate independently in order "to preserve its successful brand and passionate community." Press release was issued 5 hours ago.

Bilingual Babies: Mandarin Speaking Au Pairs from China in High Demand

EconEdge — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 01:49:11 +0000

Nannies and au pairs from China are in high demand lately, according to two articles published in The New York Times and Spiegel International. Wealthy and middle-class parents—seeking to give their children an economic edge—have hired live-in au pairs from China to teach their infant children Mandarin Chinese.

Shortage of nickel due to surging demand from China

EconEdge — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 17:00:06 +0000

According to Bloomberg News, a shortage of nickel drove prices to the highest level since at least 1987, and forced the London Metal Exchange to impose trading restrictions for the first time in a year.

Morgan Stanley to invest one billion dollars in Indian real estate

EconEdge — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 15:23:45 +0000

I heard this from Azam Meo's weekly real estate videocast, and researched it online to make sure it was accurate.

Morgan Stanley's property fund has committed to invest $1 billion in Indian real estate. According to Zain Fancy, head of Morgan Stanley real estate in the Asia-Pacific region, "India is one of the most attractive markets." Rising wages—and a rising middle class—are fueling a property and development boom in India (which is currently Asia's fourth largest economy).

Morningstar Will Pay $10 Million for Hedge Fund Database

EconEdge — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 23:59:31 +0000

Morningstar, the most well-known mutual fund ranking firm, aims to "bring transparency to hedge funds" in the same way they did for mutual funds. On Monday, Morningstar announced it will pay $10 million to buy the institutional hedge fund and separate account database division from InvestorForce Inc. According to Reuters, the all-cash deal will give Morningstar "access to the Altvest hedge fund database which will double the number of funds that the investment research firm already tracks."

Atlanta is home to fastest growing millionaire population

EconEdge — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 02:44:04 +0000

Atlanta is home to the fastest growing millionaire population in the United States, according to research firm Claritas.

The number of households in Atlanta with $1 million or more in investable assets (not including primary residence and consumable goods) will increase 68.8% through 2011, to more than 102,000 households. Nationwide, the millionaire population grew by 6.8% in 2005, according to the World Wealth Report from Merrill Lynch and Capgemini.

World millionaires hit 8.7 million, according to World Wealth Report

EconEdge — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 18:07:39 +0000

Every year, Merrill Lynch publishes its "World Wealth Report," which analyzes high net worth investors and their investing patterns. According to the wealth report, the number of people globally with more than 1 million dollars in net assets swelled by 6.5 percent in 2005 to a record 8.7 million.

U.S. Mint Issues 24-Carat Gold Coin

EconEdge — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 00:29:54 +0000

There's a new gold coin for investors and collectors, courtesy of the U.S. Mint.

On Monday, the U.S. Mint began offering 24-carat gold coins at a face value of $50. The coins depict an Indian chief on the front side, and a bison on the back side. According to Becky Bailey, a spokeswoman at the Mint, Buffalos are expected to be sold at gold's spot price plus a markup of about 12%. The New York Times reports that 300,000 of the proof version (a mirror-finish version for collectors) will be minted in 2006 and sold initially at a price of $875.

Exchange Traded Notes Provide Another Option for Commodity Investors

EconEdge — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 23:11:40 +0000

You've heard of exchange traded funds (ETF's). But now, there's a new option…exchange traded notes. Investors can now purchase exchange traded notes, which function similarly to ETF's except they are debt securities backed only by the credit of the issuer. For commodity investors, the iPath Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index Total Return ETN may be worth considering.

How To Buy Gold

EconEdge — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 21:18:36 +0000

If you decide to buy gold, Gary North wrote a small article on how to do so. Reprinted below…

Easy Ways to Buy Gold

The first way is the best way: Own bullion gold coins. You should buy those coins that are produced by the country's mint in which you live. If you ever have to spend them into circulation, you want the coins to be recognized by those you want to buy something from.

Best Career With a Law Degree

EconEdge — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 01:58:18 +0000

More Q & A with Gary North. Careers in law and real estate….what to do with a law degree…

INVESTING

Age, 20; occupation: college student; residence: small town, East Georgia.

$10,000 to invest. Goal: law school. I am thinking about real estate law. I have zero
knowledge of finance.

Hedge Fund Law Changing? ECB says hedge funds are major risk

EconEdge — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 02:44:30 +0000

According to an article published in The Financial Times, the European Central Bank claims that hedge funds are a major risk to the stability of the financial markets. In a report published on Friday, the ECB said that the collapse of a single major fund or several smaller funds could trigger major disruptions in worldwide markets.

Chinese government inflating money supply at 18% a year

EconEdge — Wed, 24 May 2006 23:45:41 +0000

More Q & A with Gary North. Interestingly, North believes that there will be a recession in China shortly after the 2008 Olympic Games, due to the fact that the government is inflating the money supply at about 18% per year.

The Mindset of the Self-Made Rich

EconEdge — Tue, 23 May 2006 19:58:31 +0000

Good personal finance advice (from Gary North) about how to purchase cars wisely, handle expenses and make financial decisions.

THE MINDSET OF THE SELF-MADE RICH

What you read here, you can confirm by reading the book, "The Millionaire Mind."

George Soros Predicts a U.S. Recession in 2007

EconEdge — Thu, 04 May 2006 16:38:27 +0000

While speaking to an audience in Singapore in January, George Soros stated his belief that the U.S. is likely to experience a recession in 2007. The full text of the article can be found here: George Soros Predicts U.S. Economic Recession

Rising Bond Yields May Hurt Stocks

EconEdge — Thu, 04 May 2006 16:12:34 +0000

On Tuesday, the 10-year bond yield hit its highest level since May 2002. Could rising yields eventually hurt the U.S. stock market?

Allocated versus Unallocated Gold

EconEdge — Tue, 02 May 2006 21:55:00 +0000

A good (and very sarcastic) article from The Mogambo Guru (Richard Daughty) that explains the difference between allocated and unallocated gold. Originally published on December 13, 2005.

The entire article appears here: How and Why to Take Physical Possession of Gold

How to Teach Your Children about Money, Investing & Real Estate

EconEdge — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 23:17:16 +0000

Good advice from Gary North on how to teach your children about money management, investing and real estate.

Q & A With Gary North

Age: 70/76; occupation: retired GM; location: AZ & MI; assets: two homes worth $1M, $250K mortgages. $70K/yr current income (GM pension & Social Security). $100K savings.

Should we sell both properties, buy less extravagant, or keep lifestyle with only one house until end? Children want nothing.

Foreign Direct Investment, Inflation & Declining Dollar

EconEdge — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 17:27:41 +0000

From "Finster", a regular contributor to the Daily Reckoning Discussion Board…

A log chart of the foreign direct investment (FDI) over the past seven years, shows in grisly detail the decline and fall of the U.S. dollar. By this measure, the U.S. dollar has lost 13.8% of its value over the past two years, with prices increasing an overall 16.0% over that time frame.

Microcaps & Exchange Traded Funds

EconEdge — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 18:01:29 +0000

According to a recent article in Entrepreneur magazine, micro-cap stocks (stocks with a market cap between $50 million and $500 million) increased 72.3 percent over the past five years.

In the past, if you wanted to track micro-cap stock performance, you had to buy micro-caps individually or buy an index fund that tracked the Russell 2000 (small-cap index). Now, however, there's a new Russell index…in addition to the Russell 3000, 2000, and 1000 indexes, there's The Russell Micro-cap Index.

Google Creates "Google Finance" to Compete with Yahoo

EconEdge — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 15:58:13 +0000

In an effort to compete with Yahoo Finance, Google has released its own version of a stock research tool called Google Finance.

Google Finance is currently in beta and provides news, stock charts, financial statements, ratios (P/E, P/S, beta, EPS), company summaries, and real-time stock quotes. Stock quotes from Yahoo Finance are delayed by about 15-20 minutes. Google Finance says "Real Time ECN," beneath its stock ticker, but I wonder if the quotes are really "real-time." I'll find out on Tuesday (markets are closed on Monday for Easter).

Oil $14 higher in 2010–China's demand for oil

EconEdge — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 02:52:48 +0000

According to the Congressional Budget Office, oil prices may be $14 higher in 2010, primarily due to China's demand for fuel. Might be a good time to buy oil futures, a commodity fund, or perhaps LEAP's on oil producers and oil refineries…? As the price of gas continues to rise, we should see more demand for hybrids and fuel-conserving vehicles.

Myth: Commodity Investing is Riskier than Stocks

EconEdge — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 15:17:12 +0000

According to a recent study conducted by professors from Yale and Wharton, commodities, as an asset-class, outperformed both stocks and bonds since 1959–and with lower volatility
when compared to stocks.

Less volatility and higher returns? Wow.

Hottest Real Estate Markets

EconEdge — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 22:19:05 +0000

According to Azam Meo, the hottest U.S. real estate market in 2005 was Mesa, AZ, which experienced a 42% increase in property values…in just one year.

In my previous job (inside sales), I talked to 15-18 different real estate investors (nationwide) on a daily basis. One of the best parts of the job was the information I learned from talking to these people. I "met" a guy who has developed an incredible system for managing rental properties, another investor who's focusing on condo conversions in the Tampa area, and another investor who's buying up land in the Southwest. Along the way, I've gained some interesting insights…

The Gold Standard Gets No Respect

EconEdge — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 03:58:24 +0000

A very good (and somewhat controversial) article by Chris Mayer. Originally published last year. Most finance/econ folks have strong views about deficit spending and the gold standard. Guess it's time to create some controversy…

Economic Indicators & U.S. Debt

EconEdge — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 20:35:57 +0000

Random economic thoughts for the day…

We are currently in a commodities bull market (driven, in a large part, by China's demand for raw materials, and the decline of the dollar). Witness the huge run-up in commodity prices over the past three years. This chart shows the increase of the Reuters CRB Commodity Index. Have a look at the sharp rise from 2003-2006.

Marketocracy Defies Conventional Wisdom

EconEdge — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 23:14:26 +0000

Conventional wisdom says you need a finance/economics degree from a "top school" and extensive money management experience before you can run a mutual fund. But, Marketocracy.com doesn't believe in conventional wisdom. (Good for them!)

Inverted Yield Curve: Recession Approaching?

EconEdge — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 22:25:39 +0000

The December 26th issue of Fortune magazine discussed the inverted yield curve that seems to be rapidly approaching. I cut out a page from the article in December, and meant to post it online. Currently, the yield curve is flat, and but if rates continue rising, it won't stay flat for long. More from Fortune magazine on why you should care about inverted yield curves…

Smart Money Leaving American Real Estate?

EconEdge — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 00:19:16 +0000

I've been a subscriber to Gary North's Reality Check since my senior year in college (via email). He is a prolific writer, multimillionaire, direct-response marketer, and staunchly conservative when it comes to finances. I have learned enormously by reading his advice and commentary.