The Best in Weekly Reads from around the blogosphere in Investing, Personal Finance and Blog Carnivals.

Investing

Nice, Safe Yields in Utility Stocks
25 Lazy Portfolios
The Dividend Aristocrats
My favorite White Collar Investigator on: Bidz.com

Personal Finance/Other

Know the difference between the Real Free Credit Report and the come-on
Deadbeat wants to hear that it's OK to walk away from a mortgage commitment
Pretty gutsy request to return severance overpayment
Truly Appalling Corporate Behavior against a growing business
Memo to Obama and Administration: We're not a Nation of Cowards

From My Network at EverydayFinance and Darwin’s Finance

Is Now a Good Time to Start Investing in Stocks? (I hope you followed the 2nd half)
Lowest Mortgage Refinance Rate Comparison by the Readers!
Gold ETN GOE up 421% in 1 Month - What Gives?
US Workers Have the Worst Severance Packages
3 52-Week High Stocks Worth a Look
GM - Not One to Say "I Told You So"
7% CD Yields Raising Eyebrows
Let's "Spread Those Mortgages" Around
Apple Covered Call Play Round 2: Capture Gain and Repeat
Money Back From Sirius for Putting up a Fight - Will It Matter

Carnivals:

Carnival of Personal Finance #193: YouTube Edition
Carnival of Everything Money
Festival of Frugality
Festival of Stocks



If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, you'll love my new blog,Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .

For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

I recently closed out my Apple covered call option (see this article on How Options Work: Puts and Calls) for a net gain of $600 in three months when factoring in a slight decline in shares over the time period.

The play started in Oct 2008 when I bought 100 shares of Apple and simultaneously sold a call option as outlined here. As much of the time value had dropped off the April expiry option and volatility was spiking during the recent market tumult, I closed out the position and entered a new one with a longer expiry.

Bought 100 shares APPLE (AAPL) at 94.6 = $9460

OutflowI sold a Call with April09 Expiry 110 strike for 11.30 = $1130 Inflow

Closed out Call (bought back) for $120 = $120 Outflow

==================================================

Purchase ($9460) - Current ($9050) = $410 loss on
shares

Option Inflow ($1130) - Outflow ($120) = $1010 gain on option

Net Gain of $600 in 3 months

Subsequently, I entered into a new call position by selling the Jan2010 $110 strike option for $1070. While it took a longer timeframe to capture the same option premium this time around since volatility has dropped off, if Apple shares zoom, I could always buy back the call and resell a higher strike. Or, I could always just accept the ~20% gain on shares with the ~12% gain for the premium, plus the $600 (7%) gain already captured last move for ~39% upside over a 15 month period.

By the looks of this video and various technical analysts I follow, today's move upward was simply a false rally and the market still has more to go on the downside. I'll take covered calls and income from options in a choppy market any day.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, you'll love my new blog,Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .

For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

Of all the ridiculous failed attempts to solve the current financial crisis, the latest attempt by the Obama administration to "spread that wealth around" by spreading mortgage payments from people who didn't play by the rules to people who did, this one's the worst. It really can't get much worse than this. Well, where there's a will, there's a way, and this sure is an administration full of big ideas and "hope". So, if you think they can no longer take from those who DO to give to those who DON'T, the answer is "Yes, We Can"!

Do not be Fooled by Promises and Statistics:

1. The only certainty is that every prediction and promise made related to how these various bailouts will turn out to be wrong. Examples: GM handout - told you so - they're back for more already, TARP Funds have already lost over 25%, and give this housing mess a few months to rear it's ugly head. Perhaps I'm wrong and we'll recoup all these (now trillions) of dollars, plus the interest on it, plus the loss we've already incurred, and actually turn a profit for the taxpayers. I doubt it, but I could be wrong as well.
2. The administration is putting numbers to how many households they're helping and how many foreclosures they're going to prevent. Millions. Right. Many of the these people that the administration is sending our tax dollars to never should have been homeowners and they shouldn't be in the future. They will not meet their financial obligations at a 0% interest rate, let alone a "modified principal" or whatever they're pushing.
3. I'm not going to cite statistics, but rather, based on my understanding of economics, history and human nature, it is my opinion that financial historians will look back on this policy as a complete failure and that many of the people who were subsidized by Joe Taxpayer will have either defaulted on their mortgages or required further modifications on their loans within the first few years.

The American Dream - Says Who?

Much of this mess in the loosening of standards at Fannie/Freddie and the misaligned incentives and risk-taking that occurred were propagated by the myth that EVERY American should be a homeowner. I'll tell you, I'm a homeowner, and I love it. I cherish my life and the notion of owning something that's mine. But, the reality is that it's a lot of work, it costs a lot of money, it's required significant discipline to stay current on my financial obligations while reacting to the various unforeseen financial crises that inevitably arise and I too, was a renter before I owned a house. The reality is, it's OK to rent - really. For some people, this is the better option. It's affordable, there's less risk and responsibility involved, it's easier to move for new jobs, it's just a different lifestyle.

Don't take it from me though -this is my favorite rant I've seen on this miserable distribution of financial burden from working Americans to disingenuous risk-takers, speculators and irresponsible behavior that is the new reality.

Rick Santelli Rant

After already recognizing that my kids will never qualify for the same college grants and loans that other less affluent families will, I've been putting money into my childrens' 529 and ESA plans since they were born instead of spending it. Now, I will have to start putting more money aside to pay for my fellow Americans' subsidized mortgages because I played by the rules and they didn't. Inevitably, these debts will have to be repaid and we all know that means tax increases for people with middle and high income jobs. That means you and I.

Let's face it, these when my children are old enough to understand the true implications of what we've done, the wonderous opportunities that we squandered as the world's sole financial and military superpower and the untenable burden we've placed on them, I will be truly ashamed of my generation: the Debt Generation.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, you'll love my new blog,Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .



For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

CD yields at 7% and higher, more than double the national average, are enough to raise eyebrows anywhere. This weekend, I read this Business Week article with interest and had my own commentary and skeptical opinion ready to post, but the SEC beat me to it. The timing is impeccable. Following the Bernie Madoff scandal, if the SEC failed to act on the numerous red flags and recent press focus on Stanford Financial, they would have lost what little credibility they still had. So, this week, the SEC announced that it was seizing assets in the US and going after Allen Stanford (no affiliation with the university - they previously had to sue to prevent him from attempting to feign some sort of affiliation).

Red Flags Galore

In retrospect, pundits always look back and say, "You should have seen it coming" and sometimes they are overzealous in their assertions. Madoff was a prior head of Nasdaq and he was using "sophisticated" options to hedge market perturbations after all, right? But Stanford's firm had red flags galore. To name a few:

• Rather than FDIC coverage, Stanford claimed to have "privately purchased insurance that covers its CD investors". Hmmm; sounds worse than a credit default swap with a defunct monoline insurer on the other end.
• The financials are audited by a tiny local firm, not a legitimate larger firm.
• Board is primarily composed of insiders including friends and family
• Some disgruntled employees quit or wee pushed out when they questioned the firm's business and high commissions. In one case, Stanford actually won a settlement against the employee and took back his signing bonus! These complaints didn't draw SEC scrutiny?

At its most basic level though, the mere notion of a business model that claimed to be able to deliver 7% CD returns to investors because of "tax benefits" is ludicrous. An investment that paid 0% in taxes each year could not achieve risk-free returns of 7% in a zero percent environment coupled with a half-off sale on equities and commodities around the world. Besides selling short, there was no asset class capable of such returns, especially with no volatility to ensure a risk-free return.

Allen Stanford Political Contributions

Interested in which of your favorite politicians received contributions from Stanford? This ABCNews article highlights that the majority of his contributions went to Democrats, but he did share the wealth with both aisles. It's also alleged that he may have been involved in money laundering for a Mexican Drug cartel. This is probably just the beginning.

Related Articles:
SuperFund Review - Are the Returns Too “Super” to be True?
Beware the Bait and Switch SmackDown: High Savings Rates, Free Trades and Credit Cards
UFirst Money Merge Account Shaves Years off your Mortgage...And Defies Logic!

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, you'll love my new blog,Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .

For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

It's not that I like to revel in the demise of an American icon, but politicians have got to face up the reality that most of America already has, which is the GM model is untenable and we must allow it to fail and restructure under more sustainable terms. In my article in December, Congress Should Allow GM to Fail: Here's Why, I laid out the rationale for why this is a lost cause and how a structured Debtor in Possession transaction that would minimize the net pain to incurred as a result of this unfortunate ordeal for everyone from workers to taxpayers.

$30 Billion in Total Aid Requested Today

GM came back today seeking an additional $13.4 Billion in new aid on top of the $16.6 Billion they already received with the promise of closing 5 more plants and laying off 47,000 additional workers. Some other key points:

• Claims to be able to return to profitability in two years and fully repay its loans by 2017.


• Claims the UAW reached a tentative deal with GM, Chrysler and Ford (I'll believe it when I see it if the union accepts significant concessions)


• GM claims bankruptcy would end up costing the government much more, to the tune of $100 Billion


• Considering selling or terminating the Hummer, Saturn, Pontiac and Saab brands

The current model is simply unsustainable as evidenced by GM's latest request for another handout today. I have to admit when I'm wrong though. I had predicted that by Summer, GM would be back with their hands out...turns out they're back and it's not even Spring yet.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, you'll love my new blog,Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .

For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

It certainly is a "stockpicker's market" as the pundits like to say since the tried and true indexing and buy and hold methodologies have pummeled investors over the past year. It's therefore instructive to consider which stocks are making new highs naturally. By naturally, I mean, it's not an inverse ETF and it's not a buyout that was just announced. These are stocks that are rising in this insidious environment through organic growth, P/E expansion, "rumored" buyouts or otherwise...with more room to run.

AeroVironment, Inc. (AVAV) - I had highlighted this one in August in a similar post on new highs and from there, it's continue to run up 25% vs. a loss of 36% for the S&P. Some Highlights:

• Manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems up on news that it has received a $4.6 million federal grant to develop a next-generation small unmanned aircraft system
• Also in the wind turbine business, which is trendy at the moment (albeit, wind shares off their recent rally highs)
• Financials looks nice; healthy year over year top and bottom line growth based on cursory review of income statement

• 1 Year Return - Up 74% vs. 39% Loss for S&P500

Brinks Home Security Holdings Inc. (CFL) - This is one of those stocks that is everyone looks back at and says, "Oh yeah, of course it should do well in a severe recession". Crime is up. Fear is up (the press loves to push negative and shocking stories of both financial ruin and personal danger and I question how much of the current economic sentiment could be attributed to the evening news). Amidst stories of home invasions and thievery, Americans are signing on to new security monitoring services rather rapidly.

• Brinks installs, services, and monitors security alarm systems for residential and commercial properties in North America.
• Its primary customers include residents of single-family homes.
• Note: Next Earnings call is this Wednesday Feb. 18
• The IPO occurred in the fall in a train wreck of an environment. Subsequently, the stock tanked, but YTD it's been quite strong. It's likely that institutional investors are starting to pick it up and with few other places to invest for growth, it may continue to run.

• YTD gain is 10% vs. a loss of 9% for the S&P500

American Italian Pasta Co. (AIPC) - Yes, I'm recommending you check out a pasta stock. With a doubling stock price since November, it's worth taking a look. Shoppers are going pasta in a big way and this is the biggest player out there. It's unlikely Americans are going to reverse course on a dime and dump pasta now that the fear is ingrained in the consumer's mind. High end eating out is dead and pasta is in.

• North American pasta play - also into organic
• Recent share jump on earnings beat.

• YTD up 39% vs. 9% loss for the S&P500

If you're looking for other contrarian plays and shelter from the storm, consider this list of 37 high-yield megacaps. Conversely, if you feel investors will tire of storing funds at no interest in Treasuries, consider Shorting Treasuries or diving into high yield muni bonds.




If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, you'll love my new blog,Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .

For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

I can always count on my Sirius Satellite experience to present me with newfound trials and tribulations followed by a ridiculous customer service experience and then capped off with a net neutral settlement. As highlighted recently, my hard fought battle for a refund from Sirius for a software upgrade and associated shipping costs came out successfully.

The latest fiasco involved another outage of service, this time for my antenna. After some troubleshooting, it became evident that the antenna had malfunctioned and I thought that given the litany of problems I've had with the service since signing on, a reasonable corporation hemorrhaging money would be well served in keeping its customers happy - WRONG.

I called up and requested a replacement antenna. Their immediate answer was that their policy was that they don't replace them, I'd have to pay for it.

I then requested to speak to a supervisor since I knew I wasn't getting anywhere with the front line blocker.

Upon speaking to the supervisor, he started off the same way. I said,

"Listen, Feel My Pain..."

"1) When I initially bought my S50, it malfunctioned immediately and your reps claimed they were out of new units to ship out and I'd have to just wait it out. Meanwhile, you were still pushing the same unit through your channels in Best Buy and other outlets. Your priorities were evidently solely to sign up new business, but not to service your existing customers. 2) Next, when you merged with XM, you updated your satellite feed and my unit no longer worked. The software upgrade you claimed I could do online did not work. With no help from Sirius, I found an obscure internet thread citing how I could send it in to Sirius to have you do the upgrade if it didn't work. 3) Essentially, what I'm asking for is a replacement of a replacement unit since each thing you ship me is defective! 4) Finally, whenever I call your customer service, my calls are disconnected while I'm waiting to talk to a person. This is horrendous! I just bought a new car with XM installed and you think I'm going to sign up for the service with this type of customer experience?"

He tentatively countered that there was nothing he could do for me since their policy didn't allow for replacement of antennas, but I think I had struck a nerve.

Now, for some innovation.

I said, "That's fine. I don't care where the funds come from. I know you CAN credit my account for the months of service I've been inconvenienced. Simply give me three months credit on my bill and we'll call it even".

He relented. The 3 months off covered the cost of the $29 antenna. With a bit of aggravation nonetheless.

In the end though, Sirius may end up in bankruptcy - which may occur as soon as this week, will it matter?

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, you'll love my new blog,Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .



For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

Although the Stimulus Bill isn't "official" yet, based on information relayed by key committees in the House and Senate, it comes in at $790 Billion. Key Points are cited here, additional housing fix under consideration and my commentary below.

Tax Credit:

• $400 per working person/$800 per working couple
• 75K/150K income limit for full benefit; tops out at 100K/200K
• This will come in the form of extra income on your pay stub over 26 weeks as opposed to a one time check or a refund at tax time next year. Each stimulus is different!

Note: This is per working person...so while my wife and I file jointly and are under 200K, we will only get $400 relief because she is home and I'm the only one working. However, I'm slightly confused by this statement: The credit would also be refundable, which means that even very low-income families who don't make enough to owe income tax would be able to claim it. So, if I understand, a family who doesn't even pay enough taxes to earn a credit somehow get a credit, but while I make enough to easily earn credit back on the full $800, I get $400 back. It doesn't seem like a credit so much - how can you credit something back that was never paid? Regardless, they need it more than I do. I feel like I don't deserve this $400 - not that I'm rich...but I wasn't expecting it in my budget and it is further bankrupting the next generation of children. Perhaps I'll use it for a charitable contribution to a few of my favorite charities.

$250 One Time Payment for retirees, the disabled and others who don't work

AMT relief for middle/high income families for another year (when are they going to fix this for good or at least index it to inflation? It's completely rudimentary, yet never gets across the finish line)

Deduction for Car Buyers:

• If purchased in 2009, can deduct state and local sales taxes.
• Income limit is 125K single/250K couple.

Again, a bit annoyed by this one, but I understand they're trying to spur auto sales. Just a few months back, we were doing our part to be "patriotic" and inject some cash into the economy by buying a new car. Well, really, we were forced into to it due to a third kid on the way that wouldn't fit in our existing vehicles. So, I got a great deal by by utilizing some Neat Car Negotiation Tactics, but I just missed several hundred dollars back on this tax writeoff (couldn't they make it retroactive? Silly question).

Home Buyer Tax Credit:

• First Time Home Buyers Only - Must purchase in 2009
• $8000 Credit - not required to pay back like prior requirements
• Income caps are 75K/150K

College Help

• Could get credit up to $2500, up from current $1800 under the American Opportunity Tax Credit
• Increases in the maximum Pell Grant by $500 to $5,350 in 2009 and $5,550 in 2010

- Also, various benefits for jobless and food stamps

- Separately, the Obama administration is considering a program to subsidize mortgage payments for homeowners that fail an affordability test.

This one really gets me: Because we put 20% down, lived within our means and pay our mortgage on time, we continue to pay as we're obligated. By the government subsidizing these loans for people that gambled on real estate they couldn't afford and lost, the goverment (make no mistake, this means you and I) are now going to fund their mistakes.

I predict that the majority of these same people (of course, there were unfortunate exceptions, people that were misled, etc.) will even default on their subsequent reworked loans and we'll be back here again.

What this market needs is Finality.

Common Theme

If you notice a common theme here, it's that each bill that comes through presents new goodies and cash back to various recipients and makes one wonder "Why did I just buy that car" or "Why should I buy a house" if something better is coming next? I'm hesitant to refinance because the government may finally realize that without artificially low interest rates (like the 3.99% Toll Brothers is offering) for everyone, housing is just not going to recover.

With this course charted, I'm waiting to see if the Government Restriction on Layoffs in the Private sector picks up any steam. I don't know what's next. Whatever they do, it's not going to make everyone happy, especially me. In the grand scheme of things, there's going to need to be some serious sacrifice when this is all over, because we've certainly bitten off more than our future workers and citizens can chew.

Related Articles:
Layoffs: You May Be Next - Tips to Avoid, Prepare and React
A Wakeup Call is in Store Following Obama's Historic Inauguration
Congress Should Allow GM to Fail: Here's Why
Bailout's Done: Now it's Time to Assess BLAME
POLL: Vote For The Dumbest Provision in the Bailout Bill
Is this a Bailout? Depends What Definition you Use



If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, you'll love my new blog,Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .

For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

Souces: CNN.com, MarketWatch

I've recently come across (or been taken by) various bait and switch gimmicks that are worth sharing. In this wretched economy especially, with customer acquisition costs what they are, you're likely going to see more and more of this, as long term reputation and blogosphere ire takes a back seat to near term results and staying afloat.

High Yield Savings Account: 4%...NOT

Last month, I moved a decent amount of money that I've had in a money market account over to DollarSavingsDirect since they were offering a 4% interest rate. This was the highest savings rate I could find in the country, it was simple to do via the internet, there was a high enough degree of legitimacy as part of Emigrant bank and FDIC insurance and I didn't really see any downside. While minor in the grand scheme of things, the downside is that they subsequently dropped their rate to 3.2% within a month. While this is still among the best rates in the industry in a zero Fed Funds rate environment, it's still rather disappointing to see such a rapid drop in the interest rate a month after they had their 4% ads plastered all over the internet. At least ING let us off easy and HSBC tends to hold their rates steady.

Update #1 - Lowered to 3.0%

Update #2 - Lowered to 2.65%

Update #3 - Lowered to 2.5% (as of 3/5/09).

Update #4 - Lowered to 2.25% (as of 3/9/09).

Update #5 - Lowered to 2.05% (as of 3/31/09).

Looks like a weekly trend!

While ING is offering 2.2% for less than $100,000, HSBC is offering 2.45% with a $1 minimum deposit, so that gets my endorsement for now.

Free Stock Trades...NOT

After considering moving my assets over to Zecco.com for the free trades, they ended up changing their policy to now require either 25 trades per month (at $4.50 each) OR maintain $25,000 in your account in order to get 10 free trades per month. This is still actually a pretty good deal, especially if you have over $25,000 in your account. However, if you're going to have to pay $4.50 per trade, given the superior execution and reviews on TradeKing, for $4.95 per trade, you might as well go that route. TradeKing was #1 in customer service from Smart Money, got top billing from Barron's, etc. I'll pay the extra 45 cents per trade to ensure I get the best execution and customer service. Here's a snapshot of their pricing superiority over the other major discount brokers:

Again, if you do have the 25K minimum, you can still get those Free Trades at Zecco.com, but that's not what a lot of people with less money initially signed up for.

Credit Card Slap in the Face

Chase is adding an annual fee to holders of the card who either signed on to a low promotional rate, card holders with large balances for over 2 years, or if they've made "little progress" in paying off their balance. Not only are these new terms rather nebulous, but aren't these the LAST people you should ethically be hitting with an annual fee? Now that they can't switch due to problematic credit, you kick them while they're down?

Beat them at their own game - Cash Back Rewards - Tax Free!

I'm just directing readers to the full galaxy of ALL Cash-Back Cards so you can compare for yourselves - this index has several: CreditCards.com- Cash Back Credit Cards

As you know, I'm all about reaping in all the cash-back rewards I can from these card companies. While I only advocate signing on for rewards cards if you intend on paying off the balance each and every month, it's been great for me. I love the Discover® Open Road Card OR you can get a $50 Cash Back Bonus with the Discover® More Card since they have the highest cash back around at 5% for certain categories like Gas and other popular categories...plus, they were rated #1 by Consumer Reports.

Do you have any Bait And Switch Stories to
Share?

photo credit

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, you'll love my new blog,Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .

For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

In branching out of my traditional stock and ETF investing into asset classes I used to ignore, like high yield muni ETFs and shorting Treasuries, I can't help but consider corporate bonds these days. While the economy has been in a shambles, some of the companies with compelling yield to maturities (YTM) are clearly nowhere near the dire straights that the Financials or the big three autos find themselves in and they have much more slack to mitigate worsening conditions than the "extreme high yield bonds" that are being offered by some of these companies on government-induced life support. While there are several offerings exceeding 10%, many of them are in these shunned sectors, so I've included for your consideration 3 fairly large corporations that while struggling, don't appear to exhibit a significant solvency risk, even under moderately worsening conditions.

• Dow Chemical (DOW) - 10.7% YTM (2029). CUSIP 260543BJ1. While the botched deal with Kuwait hasn't helped Dow's prospects for closing the acquisition of Rohm & Haas, this in no way impedes Dow's ability to remain a going concern. Heck, before they went insolvent, there's plenty of dividend slashing they could undertake first with that 15% payout at today's share price.
• International Paper (IP) - 10.7% YTM (2018). CUSIP 460146CA9. International Paper is in much the same boat as many other multinational industrials; struggling from the current economic malaise, yet carrying an enormous dividend from which to cut prior to collapse. It's currently yielding 13% and it is widely believed it will have to slash it's dividend, but no talk of insolvency here.
• Alcoa (AA) - 10.2% YTM (2012). CUSIP 013817AF8. Alcoa, the Aluminum giant is similarly suffering from the global economic slowdown. With an 8% dividend payout, plenty of cash going out right now that could be shored up if more difficulties are encountered.

Note that while several of these outfits have several bond offerings, I've selected one in particular at random. Feel free to check for more that may have different yields/maturities. CUSIP is the descriptor you'd want to use with your broker for that particular company.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, check out my other blog, Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .

For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

I set this page up in an effort to share the best articles in Investing, Personal Finance and Other of Everyday Finance based on the following criteria.

• Most Traffic
• Most Comments
• Most Controversial
• Most Influential
• Most Important (imo)

Please take a look at the best of what I have to offer and then consider following via:

• Subscribe to this feed
• Visiting my new blog, Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .
• Or, for Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

Investing Top Ten

1. THE BEST MUTUAL FUND - Still outperforming as of today!
2. ETFs Leveraged to the Hilt in 3X Return ETFs are Here! The Long and Short of It.
3. Learn about various Options Strategies in Google Credit Spread Expired for easy $750...Next? ... Apple Covered Call Revisited: Same Share Price at $95, but I'm Up $600 and Selling High Priced Options in a Volatile Market
4. Learn how to Trade/Hedge your Actual Home Price Deterioration.
5. 37 High Yield Mega-cap Stocks at my other blog.
6. Don't Fall for the Hype of these Funds getting media attention: SuperFund and the fabled Sequoia.
7. Biotech Seasonality that outperforms the major indices like clockwork!
8. 401K Allocation in America: Analysis and Recommendations
9. A little-known way to exploit virtually guaranteed IPO day pops of 15-30% in Mutual Thrift Conversions.
10. Check out this low correlation, great risk/benefit scenario in Is Now the Time to Short US Treasuries?

Personal Finance Top Ten

1. $1200 per year in Tax-Free Cash Back Credit Card Rewards each Year for Life!
2. Sharing the Best of the Whole Blogosphere in The Best Posts in 2008 from Around the Blogosphere
3. For College Students: 10 Tips for College Freshmen: Financial Advice to Live By
4. Buying a New Car - Strategies and Findings
5. Surprise! Is an Interest Only Mortgage really that risky? In short, NO.
6. Why Your FICO Score Matters and What to Do About It
7. A Must-Do for anyone with a television: How I Saved $250/Year for Life with Comcast
8. Hedge your own gas prices with Generating Income and Hedging by Selling Puts on Oil or Intrade Events Futures - Better than Stock Trading!
9. Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone to Save Money Daily
10. Make sure to check out my Series on Top Money Savings Tips!

Commentary/Reviews/Criticism/Warnings Top Ten

1. An Obama Wake-Up Call is in order!
2. Reflecting on my MBA completion in I finished my MBA! Now What?
3. Generation Debt: Our Children will Hate Us
4. Congress Should Allow GM to Fail: Here's Why
5. Repricing Employee Stock Options: Ridiculous
6. Gotta Love This One: $300,000 Per Year and I'm Struggling...WHHAAAHHH.
7. Beware! UFirst Money Merge Account Shaves Years off your Mortgage...And Defies Logic!
8. A harsh critique of Shop To Earn, followed by Legal Threats from their Attorney.
9. While I don't lose sleep over the loss of 7-Figure Salaries on Wall Street, I find Caps on Wall Street Compensation - Dumb and Ineffective.
10. Any prospective college student will want to check out Top 10 Places to Work for New Grads in 2008.

So, if you enjoyed any of these, you can:

• Subscribe to this feed
• Visit my new blog, Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .
• Or Follow my Twitter Updates.

The Obama administration's attempt to limit executive compensation on Wall Street has little utility or benefit, aside from the punitive aspect that Americans so desire. Don't get me wrong, I'm not losing sleep over the prospect of these poor guys skimping by on $500K per year - my god, they may have to send their children to public school like the rest of us...but the notion of the government trying to impose limits on salaries on Wall Street is all wrong. It just diverts attention from the true issue, which is the complete mismanagement and misappropriation of Billions upon Billions of dollars tinkering around with the system.

Impractical and Ill-Conceived

First of all, the same clowns that continue to find ways around regulation, legislation and good old common sense will of course find a way around the compensation limits. Already today, we see that Goldman Sachs intends on paying back the money it just borrowed from the TARP. Why? I wonder if self-interest and all this bonus talk has anything to do with it. Next, they'll devise deferred compensation, out of the money stock options to the hilt, swap from "executive" to "consultants" and use other exotic instruments/mechanisms that don't violate the latest iteration of political pandering. These guys are going to get paid...and we're wasting time trying to impose punitive sanctions that are toothless in all reality.

The biggest problem I have with all of this TARP, Bailout, Legislation on the fly stuff is that the markets (housing included) cannot, and will not bottom out and correct until there is a decent level of assurance that the Fed, Treasury and legislators will stop tinkering with everything. Heck, note how many job losses the TARP has actually accelerated by lending money to companies to gobble up others with money they wouldn't have had otherwise! When our leaders finally say, "Enough is enough", and stop throwing money at these issues, we'll see a bottom (which will be painful to be clear), but then we'll see a gradual recovery.


The Law of Unintended Consequences

What do they think all these executives making millions of dollars per year are going to do if they can make this idea stick? You don't think they'll just flock to hedge funds, private equity and other banks that aren't bound by this silly notion of executive pay caps? Let me get this straight, the banks that were deemed too big to fail...too important...that the Fed gave them TARP funds - we're now going to send every employee that has half an idea of how to run a bank scurrying after a more lucrative pay package elsewhere? Meanwhile, they can't recruit anyone - who would go work for a bank that's teetering on failure and can't pay market rate? You're now effectively further crippling the same institutions that you just deemed critically important. It's the law of unintended consequences which time and time again, our government fails to consider. Reelection and sound bits take precedent over reality and long term implications of silly legislation.

On one hand, I don't have much sympathy for the buffoons that reaped massive bonuses year after year by incurring unparalleled risk which was bound to manifest itself in a massive collapse...but come on, we're going to have guys bouncing a basketball or Lindsay Lohan making an order of magnitude more than the leaders of the most important, powerful and influential financial institutions in the world? While I'm as annoyed as the next guy about how we got here and the shameless greed that continues to perpetrate the board rooms, we've got to get real and focus on the matter at hand. Executive compensation has always been high and that's not the reason we're in this predicament. Wait, perhaps I'll mention the legislators that forced the easing of lending restrictions to allow "everyone to have a house", but no, this Wall Street compensation makes for a better sound bite!

So, where do you stand on this? Will capping executive
pay have it's intended impact and help solve this mess?

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

...And if you enjoy Everyday Finance, you'll love my new blog,Darwin's Finance: Financial Evolution .

For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.

As indicated in my call to action to bloggers to submit their single best post from 2008, last week, I published the culmination of several articles from Personal Finance and Investing bloggers at Darwin's Finance. To share some of the goodies, here are the top 5 (or 6), but make sure to visit Darwin's Finance to find the other 40 or so:

Darwin’s Choice - Top 5 of 2008

The Dividend Guy shows us three simple things an investor can do to improve their performance in the stock market - to the tune of better than 99% of investors.

Money Ning presents 50 Ways to Budget Travel and Save Money on Vacations.

Free From Broke presents: Never Mind an Economic Stimulus Package - Save Yourself!

Steadfast Finances presents an intriguing look at a chart from a 3rd person point of view and asks you to ponder whether this looks like a bubble or not.

Lazy Man and Money presents a massively commented (1400+!) post on Monavie and how his wife was recruited to sell snake oil!

Money Blue Book’s take on MonaVie as well here.

(OK, 6 - A top choice tie must go to two similarly insightful and gutsy articles exposing a Multi-Level Marketing outfit, which can both save readers the frustration and embarrassment of being taken by an MLM, as well as subject the blogger to legal threats and more, as I learned last year all too well.)

And Mine as Well!

Last, but hopefully not least, from my Everyday Finance blog, this article generated much ire, consternation and frustration from Multi-levelers who stood to benefit from selling unnecessary mortgage payment acceleration software (but hopefully saved some readers some money) in: UFirst Money Merge Account Shaves Years off your Mortgage…And Defies Logic!

The Other 40 Best Articles of 2008 here!

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to Subscribe to this feed .

For Trading Updates and Post Alerts in Real Time, Follow my Twitter Updates.