Welcome to Happy Hour and the first week of financial literacy month. With that I bring you some of the more interesting topics of discussion I came across this week.
First Quarter Earnings Season
The market has had a great first quarter of the year so far. The S&P 500 is up about 11% for 2012. That’s a nice annual return for only three months. It might be ahead of itself as we’ve seen some sell off this week. But news has been almost nonexistent and I believe too many people are waiting for an unwarranted repeat of last year.
With earnings season kicking off April 10, it’s a good time for a portfolio review. Listen to the conference calls as the earnings reports are released. Keep an eye on revised revenue and profit numbers too. We want to see upward revisions and positive outlooks on the year. If a majority of the earnings beat analyst expectations we can expect the market to move higher from here. Don’t be sold by a few good or bad reports early on. There’s still 9 months left on the year and an election to mess with the markets.
Google Glasses
It’s like a product of a sci-fi flick, Google announced the testing of Project Glass that allows for hands free mobile. And phone free mobile too. You’ll just have to check the video out. Continue Reading…
I was surprised to see the new Google Play feature at the top of the Google home page this week. I hadn’t heard about a release date. But I knew it would happen eventually, just not this quickly. So why all the fuss? Well, it’s definitely a new place to shop for all things digital, but it may offer an interesting investment opportunity.
The popularity of the Roth IRA has brought a myriad of questions about which IRA is best for retirement savings. The answer is, it depends. Yet, for some reason the Roth IRA keeps popping up as the single best retirement account for everyone’s money. It’s simply not true. Yes, it’s a great way to save for retirement. But only for the percentage that meet certain tax conditions. For everyone else it’s just a tax paying vehicle, costing you money.
The first-time home buyer credit provided tax help to anyone who was eligible. The bad news is, it may have to be repaid. Depending on the circumstances, it could even be a lump sum amount due at the tax deadline.