October 2008

Optioning Apple (AAPL) Calls

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This is the second in a series of posts about Tony Parker’s option trades based on his prediction that the market has bottomed. His previous trade on QQQQ (Nasdaq Index) calls was quite profitable in a short period of time, but with volatility falling the return to risk ratio from buying options on indexes is [...]

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Teaching Kids about Stocks and Investing

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One of the things that confront many adults today is a lack of experience with how stock markets work or which stocks to invest in. In a number of cases this can be attributed to not being exposed to the stock market and equity investing at an early age. Think about computers and our senior [...]

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Your Financial Future Under Obama

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>The number one issue for most voters is the Economy and which presidential candidate is best suited to get the nation out of the current economic slump. So based on a recent weekend WSJ article and research from various sources, here is a comparison of the key financial reforms proposed under both candidates and which [...]

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Health Care Plans: 10 Tips on Choosing the Right Option

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It’s that time of the year again when your choice of health care insurance plans comes to the fore – Open Enrollment (OE). During OE you can change your health care coverage and flexible spending allowances for the year ahead without penalty or a qualifying”life-event”. With health insurance premiums on the rise (8% this year), [...]

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Home Price Declines Catching up Globally

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I wrote a while back on how the US was leading home price declines earlier this year. Looks like the world has caught up to this unfortunate trend and pushed the relative US declines to the middle of the pack. As the most recent IMF economic report shows, the US median home prices declined by [...]

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Reflections on the Week

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What a crazy week in the stock market. Fear and panic seems to have gripped markets all over the world and for regular investors like you and me, it is an emotional roller coaster as we watch our (paper) net worth evaporate in front of us. Following Warren Buffet’s advice of “being greedy when others [...]

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America’s Income and Wealth Inequality

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Another great graphic from the Economist looking at income distribution across the world’s 30 OECD nations. America has by far the widest income distribution. The average American income is around $33,000 with the top 10% (or decile) of earners having an average $87,257 of disposable income, while those in the bottom decile have $5,819, among [...]

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InBev and Anheuser-Busch (BUD) Options – Arbitrage Profits from the Credit Squeeze

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The difficulty in closing funding for some recently concluded corporate takeovers has presented an arbitrage profit opportunity for investors willing to take some risk. In particular I refer to the $52 billion mega takeover of U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch (Ticker : BUD), the company that is famous for Budweiser Beer, by Belgian brewer InBev. Both are [...]

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US Dollar Rising and Outlook

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Despite global economic woes, one positive aspect for main street America has been the relatively rapid rise of the US dollar in the last 3 months. The dollar index (DXY), a measure of the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, has strengthened by over 20% in this time. However, the question is [...]

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>Is Citibank Going Bust by Offering a 3.5% APY!

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>I recently saw an offer for a high yield savings account by Citibank paying 3.5%. Readers of this site will know I have written a number of posts reviewing high yields savings accounts, which are probably the only investment vehicles offering non-negative rates of return in current market conditions. My preferred choices, based on facts [...]

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