by P.J. DiNuzzo June 21, 2014 Fewer Stocks, Missed Opportunities Investment pundits and gurus have been pouring over an interesting chart, reproduced here, that was published last year in the Financial Analysts Journal. The chart shows that, despite the recent high returns for stocks, investors, in aggregate, actually held only 37% of their portfolios in […]
by P.J. DiNuzzo June 24, 2014 How to Afford Retirement What are the factors that you find in those fortunate people who are on track to funding an affordable retirement, vs. those who are not? An ongoing study by a mutual fund organization, drawing on data from 4,100 working adults age 18 to 65, found […]
by P.J. DiNuzzo June 26, 2014 Food Price Crisis? If you've visited the grocery store this year, you know that food prices have been going up alarmingly in recent months–and, in many cases, the price increases actually started years ago. Bacon prices (average $5.55 a pound) have risen 53% over the last four years, joining […]
by P.J. DiNuzzo June 28, 2014 How Safe Are Our Jobs? Researchers at Oxford University have recently released a report ("The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerization") which ranked 702 occupations based on their vulnerability to being replaced by increasingly powerful, increasingly inexpensive computer technology. They posited that computers can be more productive […]
by P.J. DiNuzzo July 3, 2014 First-Half Report Card: Modest Gains, Murky Outlook It's hard to describe single-digit first half returns as a raging bull market, but it's also hard to feel too negative about a six month period when the S&P 500 recorded 22 record highs and virtually everything in your portfolio–including bonds–rose in […]
by P.J. DiNuzzo July 15, 2014 Making Sense of Employment Statistics We are deluged with numbers like how many jobs were created this month and last month, or the ever-fluctuating number of jobless claims, or number of people who may or may not have stopped looking for work. The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics […]
by P.J. DiNuzzo July 17, 2014 Don’t Fear the Correction At of the end of June, the Standard & Poors 500 index has completed 32 full months without a correction of 10% or more. We are living in a remarkably long bull market; the average time span without a full-blown correction is just 18 months. […]
by P.J. DiNuzzo July 19, 2014 The Surprising Benefits of Sleep Are you and the other members of your family getting enough sleep? How do you know? One of the best articles on healthy sleep can be found here: http://jamesclear.com/better-sleep?hvid=4efDS ; it describes a study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Washington […]
by P.J. DiNuzzo July 22, 2014 The Gas Price Stimulus Iraq is one of the world’s largest oil producers, so when the ISIS militants rolled in from Syria and took over Iraq’s largest oil refinery, global oil traders and gas companies braced for a sharp spike in prices. Consumers expected to see higher prices at […]
by P.J. DiNuzzo July 24, 2014 Where the Best Jobs Are What are the best college majors for students who want a lucrative career and low unemployment in their field? Recently, the Kiplinger magazine ranked the top ten (you can find the slideshow here: http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/business/T012-S001-10-best-college-majors-for-a-lucrative-career/index.html ), starting with “Pharmacy and “Pharmaceutical Sciences,” where starting salaries average […]
