Blog

President Obama is visiting India, and the reflected spotlight shown on his travels is helping to illuminate trade ties between India and the US. Also reflected are the differences in two giant economies of Asia - India and China. For much of this decade, China's economic growth has been the over...

With the election over it seems that the consensus of the voters is that they would like a little less consensus, at least in Washington. With a new Congress and reshuffled majorities, I offer a little financial advice that most Americans already live by: Try to avoid spending money you don't...

Then you owe it to yourself to read this article from yesterday's New York Times: Money Woes Can Be Early Clue to Alzheimer's Maybe you see yourself, your parents, your in-laws, or someone else important to you reflected in the article. We see this situation regularly, and while it is always s...

Sometime after election day Tuesday Congress will re-convene and decide on income tax matters. Most of the buzz this year has been around ROTH IRA conversions. If tax cuts remain in place the opportunity to defer the income equally between 2011 and 2012 looks very appealing for many. If the Bush t...

President Obama signed the Small Business Jobs Act on September 27, 2010. The Act includes provisions to provide support to small businesses and incentives to help them grow and hire. The Act includes one provision which impacts retirement accounts. The new law authorizes 401(k), 403(b) and 457(...

"We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails." -Bertha Callaway, historian It is not for us to choose the times in which we get to invest. It is only for us to decide what to do with our investments in the time that we are given. Most of us have somewhere to be and standing still is t...

This morning's wire report that Northeast Utilities (NU) will acquire NSTAR (NST) for $4.3 billion in stock. Not familiar with NSTAR? People in Massachusetts call it Boston Edison or Commonwealth Electric, depending on where they live. A little like we still refer to RG&E, even though the parent-com...

The well known story of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice has title character Antonio borrowing money from Shylock. When Antonio cannot pay, Shylock is entitled to the terms of the loan: a pound of Antonio's flesh. Thus ensues a great drama.Today we are still living with the effects of our own gr...

Most people will pay the standard monthly Part B premium of $96.40 or $110.50 in 2010. Some people will pay a higher premium based on their modified adjusted gross income. Your monthly premium will be higher if you file an individual tax return and your annual income is more than $85,000, or if you...

In part one I promised a (brief) review of bond market facts, so here it is: Bonds are subject to two types of risk: default risk and interest rate risk. Default risk is simple: if the issuer of the bond cannot or will not pay - they default and the bondholder does not get the interest or principal...