Long Bonds and Zero Coupons
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Think of bonds as loans -- and perhaps consider investing in some.
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Double-digit yields are elusive, but can be had by long-term investors.
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Many cards haven't been lowering rates for their customers.
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Q A friend gave me an article you had written about personal finance. You used a schoolteacher as an example, showing how we can make bad choices in our attempt to save money. I have been using a manager for about 10 years, but I now know he is probably not a good choice since he has front-load investing and ...
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Your assumptions about building a long-term growth portfolio that requires no maintenance could be costing you money.
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No-fuss ways to expand your portfolio's horizons.
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What's a simple old-fashioned bond investor to do? Yields remain stubbornly skimpy everywhere you look in the market for interest-bearing securities. The going rate on 10-year Treasury notes, at a bit more than 4.5 percent, languishes far below its average of 6.3 percent over the past 20 years.
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THE REGION Bond fees lowered to woo customers
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Irregular hors d'ouevres, scheduling mishaps, and the stockbroker's eternal dilemma.
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Sometimes the simplest investing strategies are also the best. One example is investing in companies that have announced they are buying back their own stock.
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Even bonds can lose money -- sometimes lots of it.
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I don't understand the popularity of debit cards ( "The debit dilemma," Feb. 4 ). We use only credit cards and enjoy the float. We pay them off monthly and incur no interest charges. We carry cards that have high interest and no fixed fees. Where is the downside?
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Is this deal picture-perfect for investors?
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Forget instant gratification. Buybacks are worth the wait.
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Did you see Alan Greenspan on 60 Minutes tonight?  What a revelation, one of the most powerful political and economic forces, but until now, basically silent. There were so many interesting things in the interview, but one of them left me with an urgent action item. Lesley Stahl, the interviewer, asked what currency he got the advance on his book in? He said it didn't matter, because he could convert to whatever currency he wanted, begging the question. She pressed, and he volunteered that the best choice is to be diversified. Which of course is a conclusion every money manager would reach on their own, it's just like stocks and bonds, you never want to have all your eggs in one basket, the best strategy is to be diversified.  I've wanted to be diversified in currency for quite some time, but have found it's not so easy. I have an investment account and a checking account, both are in US dollars, and neither offers the option of anything other than that. I just spent a couple of hours with Google trying to figure out where I could open an account that would allow me to keep cash in euros, yen, yuan, dollars (Canadian, US, Australian or New Zealand), pounds, or... ? I found that I could become a currency trader, which is absolutely not what I want. What I'd like is something like a mutual fund for currency. Or failing that, a certificate of deposit that allowed me to specify what currency it would be in.  So I thought I'd ask the smartest people I know, the readers of this blog. Do you keep your savings in more than one currency? Is there an online bank that does this well, one that a US citizen can use (that is, it sends 1099's to the IRS). Any ideas would be much appreciated.
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Martha and the Vandellas recorded A 1965 Motown classic that began: "Nowhere to run to, baby/Nowhere to hide." With the stock and bond markets not going much of anywhere, you may despair of finding any good liquid investment for your cash. Of course, you can tie up your money for long periods with hedge funds and their ilk, hoping for decent returns. But there are some good alternatives, particularly in the energy sector. In this issue, fellow columnist Richard Lehmann discusses royalty trusts, which focus on oil and gas extraction (see p. 206).
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THE REGION Fidelity Investments said it is cutting the cost of its online bond trades for retail investors. The firm cut fees by 50 percent for online fixed-income trades to retail investors buying or selling bonds. For example, US Treasuries will now cost 50 cents to trade, per bond; government agencies and Treasury Strips, $1; municipal bonds $1.50; corporate bonds ...