“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” — Warren Buffett Putting his finger on this difference between price and value in stock investing is essentially what made… Read More

Many successful investors will be in for a shock during upcoming tax seasons. There is nothing worse than having a banner year in the financial markets, then having to give a large portion of it to Uncle Sam in the form of taxes. Frankly, I’m concerned that the pain is going to be worse for winning investors who have failed to prepare themselves for the new era of higher tax rates.#-ad_banner-# Here’s what the new tax laws… Read More

Many successful investors will be in for a shock during upcoming tax seasons. There is nothing worse than having a banner year in the financial markets, then having to give a large portion of it to Uncle Sam in the form of taxes. Frankly, I’m concerned that the pain is going to be worse for winning investors who have failed to prepare themselves for the new era of higher tax rates.#-ad_banner-# Here’s what the new tax laws mean to you If you are in the top tax bracket, meaning you earn more than $400,000 (or $450,000 for married couples), then your marginal tax rate will jump to 39.6% and the rate on long-term capital gains and dividend interest will increase five percentage points to 20% for the 2013 tax year. A new 3.8% tax related to the Affordable Care Act (more commonly known as “… Read More

If you haven’t taken advantage of the lowest mortgage rates in history, then you probably don’t want to wait any longer. According to two economists at the New York Federal Reserve, there’s no reason to expect that rates will go any lower under the current Federal Reserve policy.#-ad_banner-# Furthermore, they say, even if the Federal Reserve were to implement significant changes in an attempt to drive rates lower, there’s no guarantee the rates would respond. For reasons they are unable to explain, the… Read More

If you haven’t taken advantage of the lowest mortgage rates in history, then you probably don’t want to wait any longer. According to two economists at the New York Federal Reserve, there’s no reason to expect that rates will go any lower under the current Federal Reserve policy.#-ad_banner-# Furthermore, they say, even if the Federal Reserve were to implement significant changes in an attempt to drive rates lower, there’s no guarantee the rates would respond. For reasons they are unable to explain, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate has hit a floor near the 3.5% range we’ve seen for the past several months. So what is your average homeowner to do? In short, stop waiting for sub-3% rates and call your mortgage broker today. Refinancing your mortgage may be the one “no-brainer” investing move for 2013. Even if you refinanced in the last few years, rates have fallen so far that… Read More

Wednesday was a big day for the tech sector, as all eyes were on bellwether Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and its fiscal first-quarter earnings.#-ad_banner-# About 40 minutes after the closing bell,… Read More

Wednesday was a big day for the tech sector, as all eyes were on bellwether Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and its fiscal first-quarter earnings.#-ad_banner-# About 40 minutes after the closing bell, the market heard what Apple had to say, and the reaction wasn’t very good. The stock plunged more than 10% in after-hours trading as the company’s… Read More

Wednesday was a big day for the tech sector, as all eyes were on bellwether Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and its fiscal first-quarter earnings.#-ad_banner-# About 40 minutes after the closing bell, the market heard what Apple had to say, and the reaction wasn’t very good. The stock plunged more than 10% in after-hours trading as the company’s revenue fell short of expectations, as did sales of iPads and iPhones. The rotten reaction to the Apple numbers stood in stark contrast to the stellar numbers from two other tech giants, one “old school” and one “new school.”  Representing the old school is International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), and the new school rep is Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). Both of these companies saw their share price surge Wednesday, as the market reacted positively to their strong earnings reports. In the case of IBM, we saw the Dow component’s shares spike 4.4% on heavy… Read More

One of the best investments in the 21st century has been professional sports teams. In 2000, there were 114 major sports teams in the United States and none of them have declined in value during the past 12 years. Only two teams, the National… Read More

In June of last year, I penned an optimistic commentary suggesting the king of the fast food chains, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), was a solid buy. This came despite the 11% pullback leading up to that… Read More

There is a growing and profitable trend happening in the United States. Many investors are unaware it is even happening. If you read Carla Pasternak’s recent article (found here), then you know exactly what I’m talking about.   While everyone seems to be talking about the rebound in single-family housing,… Read More

Most people thought it might never happen, much less happen in five short years. The housing sector is back in the United States. After going through its darkest hour, people are buying houses again and investors are making money from dividends and capital gains. Read More