Vaun

Nintendo: The Wii Bubble Has Burst

Each generation of video game systems is generally about 4 years apart. We're what, 3 years in? Why buy a Wii when a new system is due. As a gamer I must also mention that Wii has a separate (but overlapping) customer base from xbox/ps3.

Market: Spooked Today, But Panic Attack Is Likely Temporary

@ April

You're not confused, there's just significant conflicting opinions. You can spend all day reading opinions and not end up any better for it.

Cut down the chorus to a few that you consider to be clearly intelligent. Preferably ones that respond well to questions and challenges to their thinking. Try to get people on both sides of the bear/bull aisle. If you ever find a complete idiot, follow them too. At times they can be your best indicator.

In the end though, it's up to you. If you're young and don't have the time or interest, just buy an index fund. If you're quick to make decisions or impulsive, do the same. If you're older make sure you have an appropriate amount of bonds to balance out another pull back.

Are ETNs Genuinely 'Safe'?

See RAW (assuming the ticker still works)

A ‘Conn’ that’s Good for You

Have you ever actually gone into a Conn's?

Q309 Progress Report

A note on taxes: You pay international taxes on international equities even if they are in a tax advantaged account. These can range significantly - see IRS Publication 901. In a taxable account you would get a foreign tax credit. (Thus, if you can, keep international equities in a taxable account and domestic in tax advantaged)

www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pd...

Will the U.K. Enter the Eurozone?

So you're saying that it's harder to meet the conflicting needs of 16 countries than of the 50 states in the US? The Euro will survive.

How Apple's Market Share Will Propel Stock to $500, Part 1

On another note: Apple bases its marketing off of attacking the generic "PC". There are numerous companies that manufacture PCs so it isn't really a balanced comparison. Let's face it - there are a lot more varieties of PCs out there and a lot of them are designed on a budget. Of course the cheap ones will be buggy. Anyone who has bought a PC knows that some brands are not worth buying. As for the virus comment - do you really think your Mac is immune? There are simply less since they are such a small portion of the market.

What this comes down to is Microsoft licenses all their software and Mac doesn't. Ever heard of BetaMax? (Superior product, but lost to VHS due to licensing.) How about McDonald's? Do they have the best burger? No, but they make a lot of them cheaply.

How Apple's Market Share Will Propel Stock to $500, Part 1

The 91% figure sounds quite unreasonable... working link please.

The Greatest Depression Is Coming

There's a lot of good discussion here, but almost nothing on what actually matters - what do we do?

(New thread perhaps...? Skimming this one took a good 20min)

Pocket Change Portfolio Update: September 2009

You really shouldn't consider income from your online endeavors as part of your portfolio (at least not yet). The online portfolio would only be an asset if it didn't require constant work from you. Otherwise it is a job that generates income - not an income generating asset (like your stocks and bonds).

(Yes, I'm being nit-picky, but this is fresh in my mind since I finally got around to reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and the author drills income/expense/asset/l... into your head)

Pension Apprehension

The article from the Times is horribly misinformed and playing on people's irrational fear and ignorance.

The Trouble with 401ks and Bond ETFs

"People have no money for retirement because the banks bleed us dry. We work in a debt system. "

The bank doesn't force people to spend more money than they have. With online banking there's no excuse for not knowing how much you have in your account at any given time.

Taxes: How to Maximize Dividend Stock Earnings

Minor caveat: you are consistent in the article with mentioning this is the case for a Roth, but you might want to put it on the chart since with a Traditional you would pay income tax on the withdrawals whether it came from cap gains or dividends.

On Vanilla Products

Ex: Simplicity on credit cards

Schwab has a credit card that is 2% back on everything deposited into your brokerage monthly. The only complication is that you have to have a schwab brokerage account.

Compare that to my Chase card which used to pay 3% back on the top 3 categories you spend in (up to $600) and 1% cash back on everything else which you could redeem in increments of $50 by check or statement credit. $200 in rewards could be exchanged for a $250 check. Figuring out the exact % cash back isn't exactly easy unless you only used that card for a few bills so that all of it would be 3% back. A further level of complexity is added if you use it to shop online via their rewards program. It also increased to the top 5 categories if you kept a checking account with them - but still only $600 in those categories combined.

(Now Chase picks the categories so it's far less enticing... they also took away the 25% bonus for saving up $200 in rewards)

Unintended Sector Weightings

love that tool