Welcome to Happy Hour and the start of Memorial Day weekend. While you’re lounging around enjoying the three-day weekend, take a look at what I’ve been reading this week.
Divorce Over Facebook
It seems Facebook is great at destroying two things. First, its market value. Second, is marriages. A recent U.K. survey shows that Facebook has contributed to an increase in divorces. More than 30% of divorce filings have the word Facebook in it. Either, the openness of social networking has a dark side or people shouldn’t post everything about their lives on Facebook.
A Dumber Congress?
A lot can happen in 7 years. Just look at the U.S. Congress. A new study shows that today’s Congress speaks at a 10th grade level. Not bad, until you compare it to 2005 when Congress spoke at an 11th grade level. It also shows that newer members speak at a lower level than older members. Of course, this may not be a sign of a dumber Congress. It could simply be better communication skills. Or could it?
Last Call
- Facebook: Sowing the Wind, Reaping the Whirlwind – The post IPO era hasn’t been good for Facebook or it’s investors. But through all that, the IPO did bring with it several lessons we can learn.
- Should You Rollover Your Pension into an IRA? – Take the lump sum or monthly distributions? It’s an important question to ask when you retire with a pension plan.
- Rebalancing: Should You Bother? – covers some of the conflicts to rebalancing and just how often, if at all, we should rebalance our portfolio. Personally, i still believe annually is best.
- Sorkin’s Glass-Steagall Straw Man – There has a been a lot of rhetoric lately surrounding JP Morgan and whether the Volcker Rule or Glass-Steagall would have prevented it. Which ever side you fall on, the repeal of Glass-Steagall, which worked great for 50 years, played a big role in the bank collapse.
- Why Warren Buffett Is Buying Newspapers – The newspaper has been claimed as a dying business for years. Buffett doesn’t think so and he seems to have a good reason too. Small town local news sells.