Long before director J.J. Abrams made Star Trek cool again, I was a fan.#-ad_banner-# I’ve seen all of the movies — from the first ones with Captain Kirk and his crew to the ones with Captain Picard and the “Next Generation” cast all the way through the latest, younger, hipper version that currently dominates the box office. Some are campy fun. Some are thrill rides. Some, frankly, aren’t that great. And sometimes, I even learned something while watching. One of the things I learned while watching “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” — the last one with the original Enterprise… Read More

Long before director J.J. Abrams made Star Trek cool again, I was a fan.#-ad_banner-# I’ve seen all of the movies — from the first ones with Captain Kirk and his crew to the ones with Captain Picard and the “Next Generation” cast all the way through the latest, younger, hipper version that currently dominates the box office. Some are campy fun. Some are thrill rides. Some, frankly, aren’t that great. And sometimes, I even learned something while watching. One of the things I learned while watching “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” — the last one with the original Enterprise crew — is that the word “sabotage” comes from “sabot,” a French word for shoes or clogs. During the Industrial Revolution, protesting workers threw their wooden sabot into machines designed to replace them, intending to destroy the machines. (A Vulcan crew member — played by a pointy-eared Kim Cattrall, long before “Sex and the City” made her a star — shared this piece of wisdom.) Sabotage is often associated with subtle methods of destruction, although throwing shoes into a machine isn’t particularly subtle. Sabotage can even take place in your finances. You might even be perpetrating financial sabotage on your… Read More

Toothpaste. Toilet paper. Soap. Cereal. These products aren’t nearly as sexy as smartphones or social networks. But for the past few years, the stocks behind the companies that make and sell the boring items we consume every day have run like… Read More

In fits and starts, the U.S. economy appears to be gaining steam. Recent economic reports have been giving mixed signals — the consumer is feeling better while manufacturers retrench a bit — but on balance, the recent trends hint at… Read More

Real estate is one of the hottest investment stories on the Street. That’s because for the first time in six years, home prices logged an annual gain in 2012. That momentum has carried into 2013, with the S&P/Case Schiller House Price Index showing prices on the upswing. But while there is consensus that real estate is rebounding, how to profit is a different story. Read More

Real estate is one of the hottest investment stories on the Street. That’s because for the first time in six years, home prices logged an annual gain in 2012. That momentum has carried into 2013, with the S&P/Case Schiller House Price Index showing prices on the upswing. But while there is consensus that real estate is rebounding, how to profit is a different story. My colleague Carla Pasternak has covered a few of these, mentioning private-equity firms such as the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) as popular destinations because the group has been making huge investments in commercial and residential real estate. Homebuilders have also been popular, with industry leaders such as Lennar (NYSE: LEN) and Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) each up more than 50% in the past six months. [Related: Renter Nation: The Incredible Housing Story Nobody Is Talking About] Although these are great ways to cash in on the real-estate… Read More

I’ve never made a dime buying a stock. And neither, I’d be willing to bet, have most of you. The catch? Simply this: If there’s a profit to be had from the… Read More

When you’re trading stocks, options, bonds, commodities and other financial instruments, it’s important to get a handle on what the so-called smart money is doing. The giant footprint that professional money managers leave when they move en masse into or out of a particular asset class is quite often the precursor to bigger price movements in that sector. Now, there is perhaps no smarter money out there than the money that’s… Read More

When you’re trading stocks, options, bonds, commodities and other financial instruments, it’s important to get a handle on what the so-called smart money is doing. The giant footprint that professional money managers leave when they move en masse into or out of a particular asset class is quite often the precursor to bigger price movements in that sector. Now, there is perhaps no smarter money out there than the money that’s run by university endowments. These often multibillion-dollar endowment fund portfolios tend to be managed in a cautious way and rarely make drastic moves. When you see much of this segment of the smart money make a big move away from a certain asset class, you had better take notice.#-ad_banner-# So, when I read an article in the Financial Times that detailed the recent flight out of U.S. government debt by university endowments, it grabbed… Read More

When you’re trading stocks, options, bonds, commodities and other financial instruments, it’s important to get a handle on what the so-called smart money is doing. The giant footprint that professional money managers leave when they move en masse into or out of a particular asset class is quite often the precursor to bigger price movements in that sector. Now, there is perhaps no smarter money out there than the money that’s… Read More

When you’re trading stocks, options, bonds, commodities and other financial instruments, it’s important to get a handle on what the so-called smart money is doing. The giant footprint that professional money managers leave when they move en masse into or out of a particular asset class is quite often the precursor to bigger price movements in that sector. Now, there is perhaps no smarter money out there than the money that’s run by university endowments. These often multibillion-dollar endowment fund portfolios tend to be managed in a cautious way and rarely make drastic moves. When you see much of this segment of the smart money make a big move away from a certain asset class, you had better take notice.#-ad_banner-# So, when I read an article in the Financial Times that detailed the recent flight out of U.S. government debt by university endowments, it grabbed… Read More

When you’re trading stocks, options, bonds, commodities and other financial instruments, it’s important to get a handle on what the so-called smart money is doing. The giant footprint that professional money managers leave when they move en masse into or out of a particular asset class is quite often the precursor to bigger price movements in that sector. Now, there is perhaps no smarter money out there than the money that’s… Read More

When you’re trading stocks, options, bonds, commodities and other financial instruments, it’s important to get a handle on what the so-called smart money is doing. The giant footprint that professional money managers leave when they move en masse into or out of a particular asset class is quite often the precursor to bigger price movements in that sector. Now, there is perhaps no smarter money out there than the money that’s run by university endowments. These often multibillion-dollar endowment fund portfolios tend to be managed in a cautious way and rarely make drastic moves. When you see much of this segment of the smart money make a big move away from a certain asset class, you had better take notice.#-ad_banner-# So, when I read an article in the Financial Times that detailed the recent flight out of U.S. government debt by university endowments, it grabbed… Read More

When you’re trading stocks, options, bonds, commodities and other financial instruments, it’s important to get a handle on what the so-called smart money is doing. The giant footprint that professional money managers leave when they move en masse into or out of a particular asset class is quite often the precursor to bigger price movements in that sector. Now, there is perhaps no smarter money out there than the money that’s… Read More

When you’re trading stocks, options, bonds, commodities and other financial instruments, it’s important to get a handle on what the so-called smart money is doing. The giant footprint that professional money managers leave when they move en masse into or out of a particular asset class is quite often the precursor to bigger price movements in that sector. Now, there is perhaps no smarter money out there than the money that’s run by university endowments. These often multibillion-dollar endowment fund portfolios tend to be managed in a cautious way and rarely make drastic moves. When you see much of this segment of the smart money make a big move away from a certain asset class, you had better take notice.#-ad_banner-# So, when I read an article in the Financial Times that detailed the recent flight out of U.S. government debt by university endowments, it grabbed… Read More

When you’re trading stocks, options, bonds, commodities and other financial instruments, it’s important to get a handle on what the so-called smart money is doing. The giant footprint that professional money managers leave when they move en masse into or out of a particular asset class is quite often the precursor to bigger price movements in that sector. Now, there is perhaps no smarter money out there than the money that’s… Read More

When you’re trading stocks, options, bonds, commodities and other financial instruments, it’s important to get a handle on what the so-called smart money is doing. The giant footprint that professional money managers leave when they move en masse into or out of a particular asset class is quite often the precursor to bigger price movements in that sector. Now, there is perhaps no smarter money out there than the money that’s run by university endowments. These often multibillion-dollar endowment fund portfolios tend to be managed in a cautious way and rarely make drastic moves. When you see much of this segment of the smart money make a big move away from a certain asset class, you had better take notice.#-ad_banner-# So, when I read an article in the Financial Times that detailed the recent flight out of U.S. government debt by university endowments, it grabbed… Read More