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Money isn't everything, at least to investors in money market funds. Yields are at all-time lows, and nearly a quarter of funds yield nothing at all.
The average money fund yielded an annualized 0.08% the week ended Aug. 4, the latest data from iMoneyNet, which tracks funds, show. At that rate, a $10,000 investment would return 15 cents a week.
Three-month Treasury bills, a typical money fund investment, yield 0.18%. Six-month T-bills yield 0.27%. And 90-day commercial paper, short-term IOUs issued by top-rated companies, yields about 0.34%.
The average money fund takes about 0.4 of a percentage point yearly for expenses, which means investors get little interest from the funds.
"They're taking more of the funds' yield to pay expenses than to pay investors," says Peter Crane, editor of newsletter Money Fund Intelligence.
The average money fund yielded an annualized 0.08% the week ended Aug. 4, the latest data from iMoneyNet, which tracks funds, show. At that rate, a $10,000 investment would return 15 cents a week.
Three-month Treasury bills, a typical money fund investment, yield 0.18%. Six-month T-bills yield 0.27%. And 90-day commercial paper, short-term IOUs issued by top-rated companies, yields about 0.34%.
The average money fund takes about 0.4 of a percentage point yearly for expenses, which means investors get little interest from the funds.
"They're taking more of the funds' yield to pay expenses than to pay investors," says Peter Crane, editor of newsletter Money Fund Intelligence.
- USA Today
President Barack Obama apparently has pulled the plug on "public option" government-run healthcare.
His remarks at the town hall meeting Tuesday in Portsmouth, N.H., echoed other Democrats' signals that any healthcare reform bill making its way out of Congress this fall will not include a taxpayer-subsidized insurance system – or at least, not one Democrats in Congress will admit to.
One major criticism has been that their taxpayer-subsidized rates would drive private insurance companies out of business – thereby clearing the way for a government-run, single-payer system.
Originally, Obama insisted that any reform legislation must include a government-sponsored insurance plan.
His remarks at the town hall meeting Tuesday in Portsmouth, N.H., echoed other Democrats' signals that any healthcare reform bill making its way out of Congress this fall will not include a taxpayer-subsidized insurance system – or at least, not one Democrats in Congress will admit to.
One major criticism has been that their taxpayer-subsidized rates would drive private insurance companies out of business – thereby clearing the way for a government-run, single-payer system.
Originally, Obama insisted that any reform legislation must include a government-sponsored insurance plan.
- Newsmax
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The Market's Beginning a Final Blastoff
By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud Wednesday, August 12, 2009 The Market's Beginning a Final Blastoff -
We're About to See a Massive Rally in the Dollar
By Tom Dyson Tuesday, August 11, 2009 We're About to See a Massive Rally in the Dollar -
My Real Objection to 'Paper' Gold
By Chris Weber Monday, August 10, 2009 My Real Objection to 'Paper' Gold -
The No. 1 Reason I Don't Trust This Market
By Tom Dyson Saturday, August 8, 2009 The No. 1 Reason I Don't Trust This Market -
Two Lessons I Learned in Pigeon Forge
By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud Friday, August 7, 2009 Two Lessons I Learned in Pigeon Forge
Be Smart With Your Money... Buy This Guy
By Dr. Steve SjuggerudThursday, August 13, 2009
Donald Trump is out...
Americans are in the midst of changing how they live... And it has happened in less than three years.
Conspicuous consumption is now out. Being "smart" with your money is in... And it may take a long time for conspicuous consumption to return.
Donald Trump is the poster boy for the excesses of three years ago. These days, he's struggling more than he'll admit, swallowed by debt.
For example, Trump won't pay the $40 million personal guarantee he owes on a Chicago condo project that isn't selling. His excuse? The financial crisis was an "act of God." I'm not kidding.
And just last month, his lawsuit against a writer was dismissed... Trump sued the author of the 2005 book Trump Nation, who said Trump's net worth was more like $200 million back then, not the billions Trump claimed. Who actually sues someone for that?
Meanwhile, Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man, is the poster child for "being smart" with your money. He still lives in the house in Omaha he bought over 40 years ago. And he drives a pickup truck.
Trump and Buffett have handled the crisis as you might expect. Trump is getting swallowed by it because of debt. And Buffett is reveling in it...
Around the same time Trump was claiming "an act of God" and avoiding his $40 million personal guarantee, Buffett did exactly what a great investor does... He had cash when nobody else did and he put it to work.
At the height of the crisis last year, Buffett spent billions propping up Goldman Sachs, and he got an absolutely ridiculous deal. (Part of the deal was stock warrants giving him the ability to buy $5 billion worth of Goldman stock at $115 a share. Today's price is $163 a share... That gives Buffett's investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway, a paper profit of more than $2 billion.)
I don't want to waste your time singing Buffett's praises. You already know he may be the greatest investor who ever lived. He's made a career of making distressed loans to big businesses for a high interest rate, plus an arm and a leg.
You know the basic story. I simply suggest buying shares of his company today...
I have just one "exhibit" for you that explains why now is a great time to buy: the price-to-book ratio of Berkshire Hathaway shares.
"Book value" is a very rough measure of the liquidation value of a company. Whenever the shares of the greatest money manager in the world trade near the liquidation value of his company, they're a buy.
They traded almost this low in 1992, and it was good for a near 100% gain in just a year. It happened in 2000 and was good for a 50% gain in just a year.
We're here again... and the shares are even cheaper this time around. So last month, in my newsletter True Wealth, I recommended buying some Berkshire Hathaway. Since the shares are around $100,000 each (Buffett has never done a stock split), I suggest you consider the "B" shares, which trade around $3,333 per share. They're basically an "A" share divided by 30.
There's another nifty way to "backdoor" into a good stake in Berkshire – at a 20%+ discount! The Boulder Total Return Fund (BTF) holds approximately 40% of its assets in Berkshire Hathaway. The rest of its portfolio is similarly high quality. Check it out at www.boulderfunds.net.
Trump is out, Buffett is in. Conspicuous consumption is out, being smart with your money is in. Buffett is the best at it. And his stock is really cheap. Consider "buying Buffett" today...
Good investing,
Steve
Americans are in the midst of changing how they live... And it has happened in less than three years.
Conspicuous consumption is now out. Being "smart" with your money is in... And it may take a long time for conspicuous consumption to return.
Donald Trump is the poster boy for the excesses of three years ago. These days, he's struggling more than he'll admit, swallowed by debt.
For example, Trump won't pay the $40 million personal guarantee he owes on a Chicago condo project that isn't selling. His excuse? The financial crisis was an "act of God." I'm not kidding.
And just last month, his lawsuit against a writer was dismissed... Trump sued the author of the 2005 book Trump Nation, who said Trump's net worth was more like $200 million back then, not the billions Trump claimed. Who actually sues someone for that?
Meanwhile, Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man, is the poster child for "being smart" with your money. He still lives in the house in Omaha he bought over 40 years ago. And he drives a pickup truck.
Trump and Buffett have handled the crisis as you might expect. Trump is getting swallowed by it because of debt. And Buffett is reveling in it...
Around the same time Trump was claiming "an act of God" and avoiding his $40 million personal guarantee, Buffett did exactly what a great investor does... He had cash when nobody else did and he put it to work.
At the height of the crisis last year, Buffett spent billions propping up Goldman Sachs, and he got an absolutely ridiculous deal. (Part of the deal was stock warrants giving him the ability to buy $5 billion worth of Goldman stock at $115 a share. Today's price is $163 a share... That gives Buffett's investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway, a paper profit of more than $2 billion.)
I don't want to waste your time singing Buffett's praises. You already know he may be the greatest investor who ever lived. He's made a career of making distressed loans to big businesses for a high interest rate, plus an arm and a leg.
You know the basic story. I simply suggest buying shares of his company today...
I have just one "exhibit" for you that explains why now is a great time to buy: the price-to-book ratio of Berkshire Hathaway shares.
Berkshire's price-to-book value |
 |
"Book value" is a very rough measure of the liquidation value of a company. Whenever the shares of the greatest money manager in the world trade near the liquidation value of his company, they're a buy.
They traded almost this low in 1992, and it was good for a near 100% gain in just a year. It happened in 2000 and was good for a 50% gain in just a year.
We're here again... and the shares are even cheaper this time around. So last month, in my newsletter True Wealth, I recommended buying some Berkshire Hathaway. Since the shares are around $100,000 each (Buffett has never done a stock split), I suggest you consider the "B" shares, which trade around $3,333 per share. They're basically an "A" share divided by 30.
There's another nifty way to "backdoor" into a good stake in Berkshire – at a 20%+ discount! The Boulder Total Return Fund (BTF) holds approximately 40% of its assets in Berkshire Hathaway. The rest of its portfolio is similarly high quality. Check it out at www.boulderfunds.net.
Trump is out, Buffett is in. Conspicuous consumption is out, being smart with your money is in. Buffett is the best at it. And his stock is really cheap. Consider "buying Buffett" today...
Good investing,
Steve
THE MARKET ALWAYS LEADS THE NEWS
The past five month's trading in Intel (INTC) is a study in the old trader's mantra "the market leads the news, not the other way around."
Back in the dark days of February, we began writing about the strength in Intel shares as a sign that things were getting "less bad" in the world. Intel is the world's dominant computer chip maker... so its share price action is a read on the health of tech spending... which is a reading on the health of the economy in today's age.
We continually updated you on how Intel was rising and rising... which would precede the "things are getting less bad" stories in the newspapers.
As Intel's action early this year "predicted," financial headlines are full of positive stories now. Let this be a lesson to anyone who believes they can make money trading after news is released: You cannot. You can only lose money trading that way. As Intel has proved once again, the market always leads the news. Never the other way around.
Back in the dark days of February, we began writing about the strength in Intel shares as a sign that things were getting "less bad" in the world. Intel is the world's dominant computer chip maker... so its share price action is a read on the health of tech spending... which is a reading on the health of the economy in today's age.
We continually updated you on how Intel was rising and rising... which would precede the "things are getting less bad" stories in the newspapers.
As Intel's action early this year "predicted," financial headlines are full of positive stories now. Let this be a lesson to anyone who believes they can make money trading after news is released: You cannot. You can only lose money trading that way. As Intel has proved once again, the market always leads the news. Never the other way around.