Novel Investor
  • Home
  • About
  • Invest with Me
  • Resources
  • Happy Hour: An Apple Falls And Facebook Graphs

    January 25, 2013

    ·

    Jon

    Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.

    An Apple Falls

    Everything’s working out just as I predicted. Apple, the biggest headline grab ever, missed on sales numbers. I’m not surprised really. I’ve been negative on the stock since before it achieved #1 market cap status. Which was about the time euphoria drove the stock to record heights. Calls for $1,000/share and $1 trillion market cap, was the rage. Everyone wanted to own Apple.

    Now the pundits are calling for change. Seems good ‘ole Tim Cook isn’t really worth that big bonus he was given last year. The stock was driven by new product sales. Funny, I don’t remember any new products introduced in 2012. I saw a smaller iPad and the typical minor annual upgrades. Cook’s excuse was supply problems (the area he specializes). There were two potential bright spots: Continue Reading…


  • How To Save More Money Now

    January 22, 2013

    ·

    Jon

    Save More MoneyWe just ended the biggest instant gratification decade of our lives. Every financial borrowing tool was built to feed our immediate wants, if we paid for it later. Literally.

    Excessive credit card use was an obvious offender. But the best was no money down mortgages. Who needs to save with zero down loans. But that period didn’t end well, for good reason.

    Saving money is the foundation of a successful financial plan. The hard part is knowing where to begin. That is why most people need a plan to save more money.

    So let’s get rid of the confusion, keep things simple, and get started now. Because once you’re started, saving money only gets easier.

    Saving Confusion

    Saving money has very different and distinct meanings. Continue Reading…


  • Happy Hour: Outsourcing And A Debt Ceiling Hiatus

    January 18, 2013

    ·

    Jon

    Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.

    Smart Outsourcing

    This is the most intelligent thing I came across this week. Apparently, a Verizon developer outsourced his own job to a Chinese consulting firm. That in itself isn’t brilliant. He did it for a fraction of what he was paid. Instead of coming into work and working. He sat in his office and watched cat videos, shopped online, trolled Facebook and went home. It’s not the most exciting way to spend the day but hey…bonus points for thinking outside the box.

    It doesn’t say if the developer still has a job, but it’s safe to say he uncovered a glaring amount of excessive costs. The first being his job. I doubt he’s the only overpaid employee. If you walk into your boss’ office declaring a way to save 80% on payroll costs, I guarantee they will sit up and listen.  The guy probably deserves a promotion for this. Continue Reading…


  • TurboTax Review: Tax Prep Made Easy

    January 17, 2013

    ·

    Jon

    TurboTaxTurboTax is one of the most popular online tax preparation and filing services around. During tax season, it’s nice to use great tax software that makes finishing your return as quick and painless as possible.

    I’ve used TurboTax to do my tax returns for over a decade now. Back when the only option was to buy the software in a store, I was using it.  That was before the internet, by the way. Of course now, TurboTax offers online tax software and makes those dreaded tax returns that much easier to finish and file quickly. But how does it stack up against the competition?

    With TurboTax, you’ll find a range of products that fit the easiest tax return to the more complicated ones.
    Continue Reading…


  • Fiscal Cliff Tax Changes That Impact Your Return

    January 15, 2013

    ·

    Jon

    Fiscal Cliff Tax ChangesThe last-minute fiscal cliff deal made several changes to the tax code. Most of the new tax law focuses on the 2013 tax brackets and tax credits and deductions going forward. One key area of concern were tax policies that expired at the end of 2011 but hadn’t been renewed for the 2012 tax year.

    The American Taxpayer Relief Act retroactively restores many of those tax credits and deductions for the 2012 tax year.  In turn, it could affect your tax return due this April.  Hopefully, in a good way. It’s just too bad it took Congress until January 1st to fix the code. As I point out below, it’s caused a delay to the tax season that will affect many taxpayers. Continue Reading…


  • Happy Hour: $1 Trillion Coin And Treasury Signatures

    January 11, 2013

    ·

    Jon

    Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour!  Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.

    $1 Trillion Platinum Coin

    The argument for a $1 Trillion Coin picked up steam this week now that the focus is squarely on the debt ceiling issue.  Just when you think the political system is starting to look better, it hits a new low.  Instead of dealing with the current debt ceiling issue, they’re dreaming up legal loopholes to avoid the discussion entirely.  It’s a coin version of talk to the hand.

    If you remember the market reaction to the debt ceiling debate in 2011, you have an idea what could happen in late February, early March.  Not surprising the 2011 debacle is when this whole coin idea first surfaced.  It certainly won’t inspire confidence in the markets.  The fact the coin is being seriously discussed shows just how ugly the debate will get.  Of course, if our politicians are too inept to realize any of this, I say mint the thing. Continue Reading…


Previous Page
1 … 199 200 201 202 203 … 232
Next Page

Join the library.

Access over 1,100 research papers, writings, transcripts, and more from the brightest minds in finance.

Learn More

Learning

  • Investor Library
  • Book Notes
  • Investor Quotes

Return Quilts

  • Asset Class Returns
  • S&P Sector Returns
  • International Stock Market Returns
  • Emerging Markets Returns
  • Historical Returns Data

Connect

  • Bluesky
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feed
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact

© Novel Investor · All Rights Reserved · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Disclaimer