Thursday, May 31, 2012
Political Battle Heats Up As Wis. Recall Election Nears
Montana Bucks the Court
Montana uses an interesting argument to justify defiance of a Supreme Court decision: Because the state is particularly prone to political corruption, it should be trusted to constrict First Amendment protections of political speech.At issue is the court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which held, unremarkably, that Americans do not forfeit their First Amendment rights when they come together in corporate entities or labor unions to speak collectively. What do liberals consider the constitutional basis for saying otherwise?
Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/31/montana_bucks_the_court_281190.html
Square Foot Gardening 101 – Investing In Your Health
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/myownadvisor/CsCc/~3/suYLowfClZw/
Oil Dips Below $95 Amid China Growth Concerns, Greek Turmoil
Filed under: Energy, Market News
By ALEX KENNEDY, Associated PressSINGAPORE -- Oil prices fell below $95 a barrel Monday in Asia amid investor concern that China's economy, the world's second-largest, is slowing faster than previously expected.
Benchmark oil was down $1.33 to $94.80 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 95 cents to settle at $96.13 in New York on Friday.
Brent crude was down 86 cents at $111.40 per barrel in London.
Traders brushed off China's announcement Saturday that it plans to cut its bank reserve requirement by 0.5 percentage points. The move, the third reserve ratio cut since November, is designed to boost lending and spark economic growth.
However, investors are worried by signs that China's economy is faltering. The government said Friday that industrial production growth in April slowed and electricity output was little changed.
Investors are also eyeing political turmoil in Greece, where political parties have been unable to form a government after elections earlier this month.
Some analysts say the recent oil price slump -- crude is down more than 10% from earlier this month -- isn't being driven by global supply and demand fundamentals, but rather the old market adage about selling assets at the beginning of the summer months.
"There's little to the latest price action than the increasingly self-fulfilling prophecy of 'sell it in May and go away', with broader macroeconomic concerns used as a lightening rod," Barclays said in a report. "U.S. oil demand is improving while Asian demand remains robust."
In other energy trading, heating oil was steady at $2.96 per gallon and gasoline futures were little changed at $3.00 per gallon. Natural gas fell 1.6 cents at $2.49 per 1,000 cubic feet.
___
Follow Alex Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/alexkennedy_ap
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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/05/14/oil-dips-below-95-amid-china-growth-concerns-greek-turmoil/
May 2012 Stock Screening Results – Best Canadian Dividend Payers?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/myownadvisor/CsCc/~3/H_rNhiDCdFs/
Money can buy happiness
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- Be aware of putting money into depreciating assets
- Principles of saving money
- Money Tip – Know Your Spending
For Romney, The People May Trump The Money In Associating With The Donald
Tina Brown's Must Reads: The Queen's Jubilee
Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/31/153989635/tina-browns-must-reads-the-queens-jubilee?ft=1&f=1057
Why Dell Will Never Be Great Again
Filed under: Technology, Earnings, Dell, Stocks in the News
It's getting harder for Dell (DELL) to think outside of the box.
Shares of the PC maker opened sharply lower on Wednesday after posting disappointing financial results. For the fiscal quarter that ended earlier this month, earnings tumbled 33% on a 4% decline in revenue.
You don't need to dig deeper than that into Dell's income statement to know that sales are soft and margins are contracting.
It also doesn't help that Dell's outlook for the new quarter is equally uninspiring. By pointing out that results will be in line with "historical seasonal trends" in climbing 2% to 4% sequentially, Dell's saying that the first quarter wasn't a fluke.
"We need to execute better," Dell's CFO said about the report.
Oh, I think Dell's doing a pretty good job of executing itself.
The People Have Spoken
Some segments at Dell are showing signs of life, but the company can't escape the sharp 12% plunge in its consumer business.
This may be just a fifth of the company's business, but Dell has fallen a long way since the "you're getting a Dell, dude" ads were popular.
A lot of this is simply the handiwork of the public migrating to "good enough" computing devices. Folks don't need to fire up their desktops whenever they want to fire off an email, surf the Web, or stream video. Smartphones and tablets will do the trick, and those are two categories that are growing at a time when PC sales have been stagnant.
Dell was slow to embrace the netbook craze two years ago, and it's just out of touch when it comes to mobile devices and tablet computers.
The company's trying, but it's just not the same kind of force that it is in business-facing computers.
A Laggard Among Laggards
Dell isn't making the most of a bad situation. It's actually losing market share to rival Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and market darling Apple (AAPL), and it's not as if things are going so well at HP given the tens of thousands of layoffs that are looming there.
Investors knew that Dell was going to disappoint when industry tracker Gartner rolled out its latest quarterly read of PC sales in this country a few weeks ago.
Gartner estimates that 15.5 million PCs shipped during the quarter, a 3.5% decline from the first three months of last year. Worldwide PC shipments did inch 1.9% higher, but it seems as if Dell hasn't been invited to that turnaround party.
Let's take a closer look at the market share changes over the past year in this country.
| | 2012 Q1 Mkt. Share | 2011 Q1 Mkt. Share | Unit Growth |
| HP | 29.0% | 26.2% | 6.6% |
| Dell | 22.3% | 22.3% | (3.6%) |
| Apple | 10.6% | 9.8% | 3.8% |
| Acer | 9.1% | 11.9% | (25.9%) |
| Toshiba | 8.7% | 10.4% | (19.2%) |
Yes, Dell is still in full possession of its silver medal. It's not hurting as badly as laptop-centric Acer and Toshiba. Even Apple posted a 1% decline in MacBook revenue in its latest quarter.
However, something's just not right at Dell.
The Turning Point
A dozen years ago, Dell was hailed as a model worth following. Leading companies in different industries would tour the Dell campus to see how it nailed the direct-selling business that began all the way back to Michael Dell assembling desktops in his University of Texas dorm room.
Even as Asian companies emerged with manufacturing cost advantages, Dell stood strong.
However, in a move to improve its expenses, Dell opened a call center in Bangalore in 2001. Dell went on to expand its tech support outsourcing with other call centers in India, and that's when customers began complaining. Whether the knocks of scripted responses or communication difficulties were fair, Dell was no longer perceived as an American role model.
Dell temporarily retreated out of India a couple of years later, but the costs of handling all of its tech support closer to home proved to be unwieldy. It was also around this time that Dell dumped Ben "Steve the Dell Dude" Curtis after he was arrested for attempting to buy pot in New York City.
Nothing seems to have gone Dell's way since.
Dell's Bells
Dell was able to achieve some savings through cost cuts a couple of years ago, but there's only so much more expense shaving that Dell can do now.
Following HP into making model-widening acquisitions and taking a page out of the IBM (IBM) playbook by throwing its hat into the ring of high-margin business services are just temporary solutions. Dell has a problem, and it's in the box.
Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz does not own shares in any of the stocks in this article. The Motley Fool owns shares of International Business Machines and Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Dell and Apple, and creating a bull call spread position in Apple.
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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/05/24/why-dell-will-never-be-great-again/
For Romney, The People May Trump The Money In Associating With The Donald
Is Aubrey McClendon Suddenly the World's Most Generous CEO?
Filed under: Energy, People, Market News
Hounded by his shareholders, excoriated by analysts, and now under investigation by both the IRS and the SEC, Chesapeake Energy (CHK) CEO Aubrey McClendon caved in to the pressure Tuesday and announced he's resigning as company chairman. On top of that, he's agreeing to end his participation in Chesapeake's "Founder Well Participation Program" 18 months early "without compensation."These are the headlines this week. Now here's the real story.
As CEO and also chairman of both Chesapeake's board of directors and its employee compensation and benefits committee (hint: CEOs are "employees" too), McClendon wore three hats simultaneously -- and possessed great power to determine the size of his own paycheck. One benefit he secured for himself was a spot in the FWPP, which permitted him to purchase 2.5% shares of all the wells Chesapeake drilled in any given year.
McClendon's contract guaranteed him the right to continue investing in new wells at the aforementioned 2.5% level through the end of 2015. In order to placate shareholders, though, he's agreed to halt participation in June 2014. Is that important?
Chesapeake certainly wants us to think so. In the company's press release, Chesapeake's board points out not once, but twice, how very harsh its treatment of its CEO will be: "Mr. McClendon will receive no compensation of any kind in connection with the early termination of the FWPP."
What's more: "Mr. McClendon [has] a contractual right to participate and invest as a working interest owner (with up to a 2.5% working interest) in new wells ... [but] Mr. McClendon has agreed to forego such contractual right 18 months early without compensation."
Pretty generous of him -- except for two things. First, due to the low price of natural gas these days, Chesapeake is already cutting back on drilling new wells. It's entirely possible that even if the FWPP contract remained in force, there wouldn't be many new profitable wells to invest in anyway. And second, despite assuring investors that McClendon's out of the program -- twice! -- Chesapeake fails to explain exactly what this means. Are they asking him to repay and cancel the loans he's taken out to finance his investments? To forfeit his interest in the wells he's already invested in?
Cry him a river.
Motley Fool contributor Rich Smith holds no position in any company mentioned. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Chesapeake Energy.
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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/05/03/aubrey-mcclendon-worlds-most-generous-ceo/
Millionaire Corner Financial News, nPointPolitics - May 25, 2012
Lower PMI in Europe adds to Greek drama The Purchasing Managers Index, an index measuring broad economic activity, which was released on Thursday showed the weakest outcome for Europe since May 2009. Reuters reports that both Germany and France are caught up in the downturn. A survey released today, however, shows that German consumer confidence is at 5.7, the same level as at the beginning of May, according to the Associated Press. Germany’s economy grew at 0.5 percent in the first quarter. All of these indicators are plagued by the crisis occurring in Greece and the question of whether or not Greece will remain within the European Union. The Dow closed at 12558 on Thursday and Asian markets were flat. European markets are up on Friday.
To read the rest of the article and view the video please follow the link to nPointPolitics.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Clogged Ketchup No More With MIT's 'LiquiGlide'
Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/28/153883353/clogged-ketchup-no-more-with-mits-liquiglide?ft=1&f=1007
Ways To Save Money When Importing
Source: http://www.canadianpersonalfinance.com/ways-to-save-money-when-importing.html
Answering the Big Question - When Should I Retire?
When working on your retirement calculator, one of the most important decisions you must make can be a difficult one: when will you retire?
Other Factors to Consider
The above represent two very important factors that you must consider when deciding when to retire, but they are not the only ones. You must also consider such things as the amount of your earnings from retirement accounts that are separate from Social Security, what types of expenses you might have such as travel or hobbies, the current state of income taxes at the time of your retirement, and any kind of care or other expenses related to family members that you might need to plan for. Above all, it is important to sit down with your loved ones and a financial expert in order to help with this important decision.
Sunday Catch up
First off, this colitis is kicking my ass. My health sucks. The colitis itself is still not regulated. The side effects of the meds are strong - joint pain like nobody's business. I can barely walk or bend my knees sometimes. The final side effect is the absolute exhaustion. I talked to the specialist this week and she said this is mostly due to my body working so hard to try to fight this for the last 6 months. Between the physical problems and the changing of the meds and the dehydration, I'm just tired. I am a very very lucky girl. My admin is giving me a couple days each week to stay at home and rest. I still have to prepare for the sub teacher, but the days off will hopefully give me time to get my health balance back. I truly do realize how fortunate I am to be given this time. I didn't want to take full leave and abandon my babies for two months.
I have now completed my second week of WW. I am doing it at home, with my old materials. My first goal is to lose the 20 lbs I gained on the steroids. Then I can continue on the 'normal' weight loss journey. I thought long and hard about signing up again, either for meetings or for WW online. Both of course, cost $ and I would be forced to work with the new Points Plus program, which I haven't really had any success with. I figured there was no point wasting money right now on a program that I didn't have success with, when I have all the tools needed for the old program at home, for free. The catch is, will I stick with it. So far so good. I have lost 10 of the 20 steroid pounds in my 2 weeks and I really really want to have success with this. My mantra, this time, is quite blunt. Lose weight or die. Yup, that's where it is for me right now.
DS2 got his learner's licence this week so mother is back in the passenger seat teaching another child to drive. I don't know if my nerves can handle it. I thought DS1 was bad when we first started but oh lordy, DS2 needs a LOT of work. Good thing we have the summer coming soon so we can practice. His learner's cost me $25 for the year. He won't be eligible to take his driver's until April of next year when he turns 16.
My brother in law's brother passed away this week. A very quick heart attack. I didn't know him terribly well but seeing the sadness in my brother in law's soul, is hard. It was a reminder that life is very very fragile, and quite finite.
Our local MS walk was today. There were 20 of my family there walking for the cause. My parents didn't walk, nor did my sister. I wasn't able to and I hated that I was too weak and sore to walk. I have simply GOT to get better.
Source: http://shakingthemoneytree.blogspot.com/2012/05/sunday-catch-up.html
Preparing For A Greek Exit, In 3 Easy Steps
Ex-Rutgers Student Offers First 'Clear Apology' For Spying On Roommate
Would You Buy a $1,000 Stroller?
Week In Politics: Romney And Obama On Education
Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/25/153723295/week-in-politics-romney-and-obama-on-education?ft=1&f=1057
How to Pick a Veep: 8 Historical Criteria
When Mitt Romney chooses a running mate, it will be the first significant command decision the U.S. electorate sees him make. While few Americans will base their vote on it, the process of choosing a running mate is an act that helps define a candidate, stamps an administration, and often leaves its mark on history.Fourteen vice presidents have eventually become president, including eight who assumed office after the death of a chief executive, and a ninth -- Gerald Ford -- who assumed office after the resignation of a president. Four won election in their own right while serving as vice...
Target to Spend $1 Billion on Remodeling Stores, Testing Small Urban Shops
Filed under: Company News, Economy, Wal-Mart Stores, Target Corp, Costco, Retail
Target Corp. (TGT) plans to announce a $1 billion renovation program that will include revamping its existing stores, experimenting with smaller store openings in urban areas and expanding its presence abroad over the next decade.Continue reading Target to Spend $1 Billion on Remodeling Stores, Testing Small Urban Shops
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Backers See Huckabee Filling VP Niche
If Mitt Romney's most pressing consideration in selecting a running mate is to find someone who can expand his appeal among independents or a critical demographic that remains up for grabs, several candidates would likely fit the bill better than Mike Huckabee.But if the former Massachusetts governor instead concludes that his right flank is not as secure as it needs to be, Huckabee may be among his best options.The winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses remains one of the most popular and well-recognized conservatives nationwide, and his decision not to launch a second presidential run...
Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/05/29/backers_see_huckabee_filling_vp_niche.html
How Young Adults Can Still Thrive Financially
Source: http://www.boomerandecho.com/how-young-adults-can-still-thrive-financially/
Labor Board Member Accused Of Leaks Resigns
Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/27/153840969/labor-board-member-accused-of-leaks-resigns?ft=1&f=1014
News Analysis for the Investor on May 29,2012
Author(s):
Catherine McBreen
Greek markets soar on polls showing austerity party may win election
The Associated Press is reporting that four polls conducted over the weekend in Greece showed that the conservative New Democracy party, that supports the austerity measures agreed to with the rest of Europe, had a lead over the radical Syriza party. While the conservatives would fall short of a ruling majority, it is rumored they would form a coalition with the socialist PASOK party which also supports the austerity measures. Greek markets rebounded 6 percent from a 22 year low. Greece also poured $22.6 billion into its banks on Monday, according to CNBC. Asian markets are up on Tuesday while European markets are mixed. The Dow closed down 74 points on Friday closing at 12,454. US markets were closed Monday due to the Memorial Day holiday.
Spain seeks to calm banking turmoil
Spain’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has asked the European Union for funds to clean up its banks and to more actively support fiscally frail governments to bring down the rates of Spain’s bonds. The Wall Street Journal believes that the Prime Minister is hoping the European Central Bank will begin buying Spanish bonds, a tactic it took in the past to help strengthen European banks earlier in the year. The Spanish government was forced to bail out its largest bank, Bankia, on Friday.
Pakistan will seek additional funds from International Monetary Fund
Pakistan says it will be unable to meet the more than $4 billion payment to the IMF coming due the fiscal year beginning on July 1, according to theWall Street Journal. The IMF ended a three year $11 billion program with Pakistan last year after disbursing only $8 billion because Pakistan failed to reduce its budget deficit. The US is highly critical of Pakistan because it refuses to tax the wealthy or government employees. Its tax to GDP ratio is 9 percent, the lowest in the world, and multiple sectors, such as agriculture are exempt. Growth in the economy has slowed due to a decrease in foreign investment.
Unemployment benefits due to end for many
More than 100,00 people out of work longer than a year in six states and Washington, DC will lose their unemployment checks this summer. According to USA Today, this means the total cutoff of benefits will affect 500,000 individuals. The portion of the jobless receiving benefits recently fell to less than 50 percent. The cutoff of benefits will cause many to take jobs that they are overqualified for or will leave the work force. This will cause the unemployment rate to drop but maybe not for the right reasons.
Catalogs continue to thrive
More than 12.5 billion catalogs were mailed to homes in the US last year, according to the Direct Marketing Association. USA Today reports that 89.6 million Americans bought an item from a catalog last year. Catalogs are considered a marketing tool that lead consumers to the online channel. Stores such as J.Crew, which began as a mail order business, still mails out over 40 million catalogs per year despite the fact that it has 300 stores. The Direct Marketing Association believes that more retailers will be adding catalogs rather than dropping them.
No one likes the Euro…but everyone wants to stay
In a survey of five eurozone countries, including Greece, respondents agreed that the euro was not a good thing but they did not want to return to their old currencies. According to CNBC, the poll indicated that 52 percent of Italians preferred the euro and 71 percent of Greeks felt similarly. The poll was conducted by Pew Research Center and included Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Greece. Germany was the most admired country and its leader, Angela Merkel, the most respected.
Source: http://www.millionairecorner.com/article/news-analysis-investor-may-292012
Watch Out, Apple: The Kindle Fire Is Getting Bigger
Filed under: Technology, Research In Motion, Apple, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble
Size isn't everything when it comes to tablets, but Amazon.com (AMZN) is apparently hoping to make that point moot.
DigiTimes -- the Taiwanese tech publication that's a hotbed of supplier rumors -- is reporting that Amazon plans to supersize its Kindle Fire soon.
The 7-inch model that has attracted millions of buyers with its entry-level $199 price isn't going away anytime soon. Sources simply tell DigiTimes that a second Kindle Fire tablet -- this one with a 10.1-inch screen -- may hit the market as soon as the third quarter.
In other words, the tablet wars are about to get even more interesting.
Tailoring the Tablets
An earlier rumor had Amazon working on an 8.9-inch version of the Kindle Fire that it introduced in November. That move wouldn't have made a lot of sense. Apple's (AAPL) iPad is a 9.7-inch tablet. If Amazon felt that it was losing sales to the iPad because the original Kindle Fire is too small, making it less small isn't the ideal solution.
Going slightly bigger is a smarter call, giving Amazon the flexibility to price its bigger tablet in the $299 neighborhood -- a price point that would still be very competitive with the iPad.
It's still easy to be skeptical. A tablet, after all, can be too big. If it's too bulky -- awkward to move around or just uncomfortable to hold -- it's going to be a problem.
Ignoring Steve Jobs
Apple surely didn't arrive at 9.7 inches by accident, and Steve Jobs used to mock smaller tablets as "tweeners" because they were too big to be a smartphone but too small to be a functional tablet.
Consumers don't necessarily agree. Amazon hasn't had a problem selling its Kindle Fire tablets, though the company has yet to reveal the actual number of units sold beyond CEO Jeff Bezos pointing out that "millions" were sold over the holidays.
Clearly there's a market for the 7-inch tablets that fit comfortably in a small pocketbook and perhaps even rather large cargo pockets. Barnes & Noble's (BKS) Nook Tablet and Research In Motion's (RIMM) PlayBook are also 7-inch devices.
However, at a time when it seems as if Apple may be going for a bigger screen for its next iPhone -- possibly testing Jobs' own "tweener" definition -- it's worth noting that Amazon also isn't afraid to grow its Kindle Fire business.
Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz does not own shares in any stocks in this article. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com and Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Apple and Amazon.com. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended writing puts on Barnes & Noble and creating a bull call spread position in Apple.
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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/05/22/watch-out-apple-the-kindle-fire-is-getting-bigger/
A Moment That Forever Changed A Soldier's Outlook
Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/27/153812450/a-moment-that-forever-changed-a-soldiers-outlook?ft=1&f=1057
How much would you pay for unlimited first-class travel in Canada?
Is This Man the World's Worst CEO -- or Just the Greediest?
Filed under: Energy, Market News
You've got to hand it to Chesapeake Energy's (CHK) CEO. Whatever else you say about the man, Aubrey McClendon is no slave to public opinion. He does what he wants, no matter how sleazy it sounds, no matter what other people think about it -- and no matter how much money it costs him ... or his company's shareholders.The latest big news is the transaction McClendon engaged in to try to grab for himself a bigger slice of his company's profits. You see, Chesapeake gives its CEO the right to buy a 2.5% interest in the gas and oil wells the company owns. Oil wells don't come cheap, though, so to take advantage of the offer, McClendon borrowed big -- as much as $1.1 billion, according to reports -- and pledged his ownership interests in the wells as collateral.
McClendon says this is all kosher, that there's no conflict of interest involved. But in fact, there is.
As the boss at Chesapeake, McClendon has the power to decide whether wells will be drilled, and how many wells to drill. He's done a lot of drilling, by the way, and put Chesapeake in hock to the tune of $10.5 billion to do it. If he hadn't run the company into so much debt, of course, there would be fewer wells for him to invest in personally.
Is that a conflict? Sure smells like it.
This is not the first time that McClendon has mixed business with, well, personal business. In 2008, McClendon gambled big on the chance that his company's bets in natural gas would pay off. He took out margin loans from his brokers to fund the purchase of millions of shares of Chesapeake stock. When the stock market tanked, though, and the value of those shares fell, he was forced to liquidate about 90% of his entire stake to cover his losses -- accelerating the downward trajectory of Chesapeake shares for him and everyone else who invested in the company. This mistake cost McClendon a reported $2 billion in stock losses.
As for his shareholders, after a peak-to-trough loss of nearly 75% in share price, McClendon's shenanigans have cost shareholders $31 billion in market cap ... and counting.
Motley Fool contributor Rich Smith holds no position in any company mentioned. Click here to see his holdings and a short bio. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Chesapeake Energy.
Income Inequality and Financial Engineers
Related Posts:
- Retirement Income Planning: Where Will Your Retirement Income Come From?
- Preparing for a One-Income Household
- Is There Really Such Thing As Passive Income?
Source: http://canadianfinanceblog.com/income-inequality-and-financial-engineers/
Monday, May 28, 2012
As Investors Fawn Over Facebook, Poll Finds User Distrust, Apathy
Filed under: Investing, Facebook
By CNBC's Kayla Tausche and Jesse Bergman(Associated Press contributed to this post)
Facebook's initial public offering will be the largest and perhaps the most highly anticipated Internet deal in history.
Faced with great expectations, however, Facebook is staring down some potentially unnerving obstacles when it comes to key areas of monetization and growth: public distrust and display advertising apathy.
More than half (57 percent) of Facebook users polled said they never click on ads or other sponsored content when they use the site, according to a new AP-CNBC poll. Another 26 percent said they hardly ever engage in such activity. Only 4 percent of users say they often click on ads - results that are only slightly better than the 2-3 percent clickthrough rate some experts consider the benchmark for effective banner ads.
While the company makes money, in part, simply by displaying sponsored content, user clicks are a critical part of an advertiser's calculus when gauging the effectiveness of those ads and how much they're willing to pay for them. In the first quarter, Facebook generated 82 percent of its $1.06 billion in revenue from advertising sales. In the company's online IPO pitch to retail investors, Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman said the company is working to make ads "more relevant, more social, and more engaging" as it looks to grow.
While Facebook has been able to decrease its reliance on sponsored content (down from 98 percent of sales in 2009), the hopes of expanding the company's e-commerce footprint also faces public resistance, the poll showed. A majority of participants (54 percent) said they wouldn't feel safe using the platform for financial transactions such as purchasing goods or services; only 8 percent said they would feel extremely or very safe in doing so.
While Facebook currently has a limited market for real goods and services (most financial transactions are done for virtual goods and games), analysts cite e-commerce as an extremely lucrative, and untapped, market for the platform - one that could be vital for the company's future growth.
- For complete poll results, click here
The youngest respondents (age 35 and under) were most likely to say Facebook would be a good investment (59 percent said yes), followed by baby boomers and Generation X-ers (55 percent and roughly 50 percent, respectively), followed by seniors (only 39 percent).
As for Mark Zuckerberg, the wunderkind CEO who turned 28 on Monday inspires somewhat tepid confidence as a leader, with only 18 percent of respondents saying they were extremely or very confident in his ability to run a large publicly traded company like Facebook. Yet pinning down a specific reason was difficult for respondents, who neither cited his age, temperament, nor reputation as significantly affecting those abilities.
Facebook users have consistently cast a wary and suspicious eye on the platform: 59 percent of respondents said that they had little to no trust in Facebook to keep their information private. Yet despite those ongoing concerns, the number of users (and their engagement) continues to increase. Facebook has grown to 901 million monthly active users worldwide, with personal computer users spending six to seven hours per month on the site (compared to just 3 minutes for Google+ users), according to recent data from ComScore.
For its part, the company has taken steps to combat certain user concerns, particularly on the issue of privacy. Last week, the site disclosed additional information about how it captures and utilizes data from users.
Charting a future course may prove more difficult than meets the eye for the company, according to the poll, and navigating that landscape under the daily pressures of a public company could prove even more difficult.
The AP-CNBC poll was conducted from May 3 through May 7, with a sample size of 1,004 participants ages 18 and over. The margin of error for the poll is +/- 3.9 percentage points.
The Facebook IPO is expected to price Thursday night, and the stock will start trading Friday.
Related Stories
- Americans Unsure of Zuckerberg Post-IPO
- Zuckerberg Persona Paradox
- Facebook IPO? Active Stock Jocks Say No
- Facebook's Challenge: Getting Users to Click on Ads
More Americans Putting The 'Dream' On Hold
Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/28/153701476/more-americans-putting-the-dream-on-hold?ft=1&f=1003
Answering the Big Question - When Should I Retire?
When working on your retirement calculator, one of the most important decisions you must make can be a difficult one: when will you retire?
Other Factors to Consider
The above represent two very important factors that you must consider when deciding when to retire, but they are not the only ones. You must also consider such things as the amount of your earnings from retirement accounts that are separate from Social Security, what types of expenses you might have such as travel or hobbies, the current state of income taxes at the time of your retirement, and any kind of care or other expenses related to family members that you might need to plan for. Above all, it is important to sit down with your loved ones and a financial expert in order to help with this important decision.
May 2012 Stock Screening Results – Best Canadian Dividend Payers?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/myownadvisor/CsCc/~3/H_rNhiDCdFs/
Why People Do Bad Things
Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/17/150815268/why-people-do-bad-things?ft=1&f=127413671
Are ETFs Really Necessary? Pros and Cons of the Investment Craze
Everywhere you look, new exchange-traded funds are popping up. Many people think they're a must-have for a successful portfolio. But even though investors have poured more than $1 trillion into ETFs, the question remains: Do you really need them?
ETFs have come a long way in the past 20 years. With 1993's debut of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), investors got their first chance to buy and sell shares of an index fund on the open market throughout the trading day. Slowly but surely, new ETFs that tracked other popular market indexes, including the Dow Jones Industrials (^DJI) and the Nasdaq 100, gained the interest of investors.
For most of those early ETFs, though, intraday trading was the real innovation. Mutual funds already tracked many of those indexes, giving investors alternatives to mirror their returns. But mutual funds only let you buy and sell once per day, and you were stuck with the closing price even if you placed your order early in the day.
In recent years, the number of ETFs on the market has exploded higher, with well over 1,000 funds available to investors. Now, ETFs track not just the best-known indexes, but also small niche markets that many typical investors may never have even heard of.
The Pros and Cons of ETFs
If you invest for the long haul, the daily trading aspects of ETFs aren't really important. Low costs, on the other hand, make ETFs great bargains for fee-conscious investors. Some discount brokers even offer ETFs to their customers without any commission, giving you much greater access to the vehicles and making them more viable for investors who take a little money out of each paycheck to invest.
Unfortunately, the fee realm is where many new ETFs fall short. You might think that tracking smaller parts of the market would reduce fees, because the ETF would have fewer stocks to buy and sell than those tracking broader market indexes. But in reality, the opposite is often true. Many niche ETFs charge fees that can be 10 times or more what you'll pay for a vanilla S&P 500 ETF.
Still, focused ETFs can give you exactly the exposure you want in a way that's difficult to find elsewhere, even with traditional mutual funds. That's why so many investors use them, especially in up-and-coming investment types like emerging-market stocks and bonds, as well as commodities and other alternative assets.
Pitfalls for the Unwary
You have to be careful with ETFs, though, as their simplicity can be misleading. One of the worst problems with some ETFs is when they fail to track the returns investors expect.
For instance, high-octane leveraged ETFs promise to give you amped-up exposure to a particular market, so if a market benchmark goes up a certain amount in a given day, the ETF might go up two or three times that much. But because those ETFs are keyed to daily returns, they usually don't provide those double- or triple-sized returns over longer periods of time. In fact, in some cases pairs of leveraged ETFs designed to provide opposite daily returns both produce losses for long-term shareholders.
Another set of investments to watch out for are commodity ETFs that use futures contracts. Especially in the oil and natural-gas realm, conditions in the futures markets make it impossible for the ETFs to track long-term changes in spot prices. That can wipe out your gains in a rising market and make your losses even worse when commodity prices fall.
You could put together a perfectly solid portfolio without ever investing in a single ETF, as you can put together on your own a combination of individual stocks and traditional mutual funds that reflects the portfolio of almost any stock ETF you could buy. That said, though, if you're choosy about sticking with only low-cost ETFs that beat their alternatives, then having ETFs in your portfolio can be a smart move.
Motley Fool contributor Dan Caplinger uses regular mutual funds and ETFs in harmony. He doesn't own any of the ones mentioned here. You can follow him on Twitter here. The Motley Fool has sold shares of SPDR S&P 500 short.