If you’re like me, you groan every time you see what passes for the “best CD rates” these days.
But maybe things aren’t as bad as we think.
Why?
Because inflation isn’t eating up the profits.
Let’s say you’ve put your savings into a 12-month certificate of deposit that’s paying a very nice 5.0% APY. (And who wouldn’t like [...]

Frontline, the well-regarded PBS documentary series, has released this fascinating interview with investment advisor Michael Bienes.
His firm, Avellino & Bienes, promised clients returns of 15% to 18% a year, and made good on that pledge by investing their money in Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
When Madoff regularly “earned” 20% with their clients’ money, [...]

“60 Minutes” goes behind the scenes with a team of FDIC agents taking over a failed bank on a surprise raid.

This is pretty cool…

Barry Ritholtz has an interesting article that takes a look at how financial markets fared during Bush’s presidency… For example, below is a chart of oil prices for the last few years.

The full article is chock full of interesting charts. Read the rest of the article here.

If you have been watching CNBC lately, you’ll notice that the US Dollar has been skyrocketing against every major currency except the Yen.
It seemed strange to me that the dollar would get stronger amidst a crumbling worldwide economy, bailouts left and right, and a 11 trillion national debt, so I did some research.
Possible Factors Behind [...]

Quicken Online is now 100% FREE for personal users.
Their online system allows you to manage all your bank accounts, credit cards, and even PayPal from a centralized location.
Instead of having to log into all your online savings accounts individually to track your balances, you just provide Quicken with your login details and it will [...]

Hat tip to The Big Picture for posting up this bit of Wednesday humor.
CEO –Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO– Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET — A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET — A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, [...]

Bankaholic reader Wendell posted a link to this article, which is a realistic, accurate, no-nonsense summary of the current state of the economy. This is MUST read. Here’s a snippet:
I will say it again: the last time we saw these economic indicators was 1977-1979. Do you remember 1979-1981? Let me remind you: falling [...]

I’m surprised mainstream media does not talk about CDS (credit default swaps). CDSs are what crippled insurance giant AIG, and I think you will hear about this issue a lot more in the next few months… and it could get A LOT worse.
Derivatives are THE Problem
Deteriorating home values themselves aren’t to blame for the [...]