Options strategies for your company stock
Employees today are required to make many critical decisions that have a material impact on their future. One of them is whether or not they should participate in their company’s stock purchase plan if offered. Stock purchase plans are known alternatively as ESOPs, Employee Stock Ownership Plans and ESPPs, Employee Stock Purchase Plans. One advantage […]
Junk bonds turn up the risk for retirees
In a “normal” interest rate environment, a retiree fortunate enough to have $1 million could get about $45,000 a year in income by investing in 10-yearTreasury bonds without risking principal if held to maturity. Yields have recently risen from historic lows, but in today’s low-rate world, an investor with $1 million can only get an […]
Awash in Liquidity, Part 2: The Long-Term Consequences of Falling Interest Rates
First published at Minyanville.com http://www.minyanville.com/business-news/the-economy/articles/Awash-in-Liquidity-Part-2-The/5/28/2014/id/55108 There are going to be unintended effects that we can’t yet discern, but there are some issues that we already know about. In the first installment of this two-part series (Awash in Liquidity, Part I: Why Interest Rates Are Falling), I discussed how the world has come to be knee-deep […]
Awash in Liquidity, Part I: Why Interest Rates Are Falling
First published at Minyanville.com http://www.minyanville.com/business-news/the-economy/articles/Awash-in-Liquidity-Part-I-Why/5/27/2014/id/55107 And why, in the short-term, increased market volatility will result. Despite a generally stronger economic outlook for the US economy, interest rates in May moved significantly lower, as if expectations were for an oncoming recession. This has confounded many macroeconomists. In this first installment of a two-part series, I will […]
Friedman Has Turned Over in His Grave; Do We Need Paul Volcker?
Milton Friedman must be quite happy that he isn’t alive today to witness the money printing by the major central banks, led by America’s Fed. He has probably turned over in his grave at least 3 times in the last 5 years (QE1, 2, and 3). In 1979 and 1980, when the Consumer Price Index […]
Is There a Social Agenda in Yellen’s Monetary Policy?
Recently released Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes (special strategy meeting) leaves me with the impression that there is not unanimity of thought among the participants that there is significant labor market slack. In many Fed districts, labor markets appear to be tight. Anecdotal evidence collected in these districts indicates that businesses are finding that […]