A broker who embezzled from his clients to fund his gambling addiction will be allowed to avoid the pokie and play poker instead. [More]
investing
Fed Votes To Buy Up Treasuries, Keep Mortgage Rates Low
By 8.10.10
The Fed voted Tuesday to reinvest expiring mortgage-backed securities by putting the money into longer-term Treasuries. That, and the decision to keep rates at 0 to 1/4 percent, should keep mortgage rates low. Here’s the full statement following their coffee klatsch: [More]
Stocks Rise, Betting Feds Will Vote To Buy More Mortgages And Treasuries
By 8.9.10
Markets edged upwards Monday, betting that the Federal Reserve will vote tomorrow to inject more money into the system by buying up more mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries. [More]
Oops, You Didn't Buy A House, You Bought Its Worthless 2nd Mortgage, And Now It's In Foreclosure
By 8.2.10
A couple thought they were snagging a $97,606 foreclosure fixer upper at a courthouse sale, only to find out months later they had actually bought its worthless second mortgage. The original was in arrears, and now the house would be sold at another courthouse auction. [More]
Goldman Might Settle All SEC Probes With One Lump Sum
By 7.15.10
To avoid a costly and extended legal process and staunch further image degradation, Goldman Sachs is talking to the SEC about tying up their big probe and all their little probes in a little bow. [More]
VIDEO: Unusual Selloff 30 Min Ahead Of Crash?
By 5.10.10
Might there be more to last week’s crash than a “fat fingered” trade, or someone mistakenly entering a “billion” instead of a “million?” An online stock trader has a video showing an unusual spike in trading volume, followed by a very quick sell-off, by funds at large investment firms BlackRock and Vanguard and some other funds 30 to 15 minutes before the big crash. Prescience? Watch the video, check the logs, and decide for yourself. [More]
Dow Jumps 400 On Euro Stimulus Loan News
By 5.10.10
Got whiplash? US and global indexes jumped on Monday, responding to news of a $1trillion European loan package to staunch their debt crisis. The rally reinstated the gains erased by a panicked sell-off driven by concerns that Greece’s debt crisis would infect other markets. [More]
31 Steps To Unlocking Cash In Your Life
By 3.26.10
With just a few hours work, you could unlock hundreds of dollars. It’s called a financial tuneup, and if you set aside some time to tackle some of those nagging to-dos, and wrassle with some customer service departments, you could end up with serious coin in your pocket. To get you started, NYT Your Money’s Ron Lieber has put together a killer interactive 31-point interactive checklist. He shows you how to save money, and how much money you can save. [More]
Warren Buffett Rocks Hard In GEICO Internal Video
By 3.23.10
Financial rock star Warren Buffett is now a real rock star. He makes a cameo appearance in this internal GEICO company video looking for all the world like Axl Rose, doing his best old man rendering of a power ballad. The video was produced for GEICO’s annual employee meeting and uses real GEICO associates from across the country. It’s not the first one he’s been in either. Other ones feature him as a DJ and a hobo. [More]
Some Madoff Victims May Have To Give Money Back
By 3.1.10
Some of Madoff’s investors took money out of the scheme — not knowing it was a scheme. Now it seems those people might be out of luck — and will have to pay the money back, says Reuters. [More]
Kiefer Sutherland Roped Into $869k Bovine Ponzi Scheme
By 1.27.10
Actor Kiefer Sutherland has lost $869,000 to a con-man who roped him into a bum cow investing scheme. Shyster Michael Wayne Carr had a plan to buy cows in Mexico and sell them in the US for a profit, but allegedly never bought the cows and sold cows that weren’t his. [More]
How To Make Sure Your Marriage Isn't Costing You Money
By 1.6.10
Liz Davidson at Forbes has an article about ways you and your spouse can fine-tune spending and investment patterns so that your marriage isn’t a financial drain. It’s easy enough to compare financial health before marriage (although lots of couples don’t do it, she notes), but even if your net income increases, your net worth could flatline or drop: [More]
Gift Idea: A Book About Money
By 12.8.09
Books on managing your money better are an especially apt holiday gift this year. If you need some ideas, Vanguard recommends these 16 books. Mastering your personal finances, the gift that keeps on giving. [More]
Guy Who Made More Than $7 Billion Off Madoff Found At Bottom Of Pool
By 10.26.09
Jeffry Picower, the only Madoff investor to wind up on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans, was found dead at the bottom of his pool Sunday, says the AP. He is accused of making more than $7 billion off of Madoff’s ponzi scheme.
Either Have The Temerity To Hold Stocks Or Get Out Of The Market
By 8.9.09
One of the first studies of the recent market splat found that the investors most likely to be crushed thought they were investing for the long haul, only to be forced into cashing out at the worst possible time. According to the study, cleverly titled “When Everyone Runs for the Exit,” there are only two good ways to react to a liquidity crisis: hold onto your portfolio and trust that it will recover, or fold immediately to limit your losses.
Be Your Own Financial Regulator
By 6.26.09
Any sort of federal agency to protect consumers from abuse from the financial industry is months, or possibly years, away, notes Linda Stern of Reuters. That’s why you shouldn’t depend on such an agency to protect you in the meantime. In fact, you can take her advice and use it no matter what happens at the federal level.
Daddy, Is The Recession Over Yet? Handy Chart Holds The Answer
By 6.26.09
When are we going to pull out of the recession? The Kiplinger Recovery Index thinks it can tell you, using a sophisticated system of red and green colored boxes and checkmarks and X’s.
