Month: November 2008
Below are all the posts archived for the month.
Interesting Reads this Week – 29th Nov
in Opinion
Here are some interesting articles that I came across during the week. 1. Grocery Shopping in New Delhi: This is a hilarious account of grocery shopping in New Delhi; narrated by an American lady, which, appeared in the Get Rich Slowly blog. 2. Credit Default Swaps, Herald of Doom (for beginners): An interesting and fairly
Continue reading
Diversification with respect to asset prices
in Opinion
Diversification is often thought of, in terms of asset classes and age groups. You will normally hear that the weight of equities in your portfolios should decline, as your age increases. So while it is fine for a thirty year old to have 70% equities, a 50 year old is much better off with only
Continue reading
What is quantitative easing?
in Articles
Quantitative easing refers to the actions by Central Banks that create liquidity in the economy by printing money. This is usually used by central banks after they fail to inject liquidity in the economy by lowering interest rates. Bank of Japan used this quite a bit to fight deflation and now the Fed seems to
Continue reading
Debt Securitization
in Articles
A lot of the current financial crisis has been attributed to the securitization of debt. This means that debt that is ordinarily illiquid has been converted into a trade-able security and then sold off in the open markets. In order to sell a security; there should always be an underlying asset that generates income or
Continue reading
Why is Deflation bad?
in Articles
With the Japanese economy contracting for two consecutive quarters, the focus of many economists has shifted to Deflation. Why does deflation worry economists so much and what are the consequenses of deflation? Deflation is a broad based decline in the general price level of goods and services. This decline is both sustained, and constant. A
Continue reading
Interesting reads this week – Nov 23
in Opinion
There have been quite a few interesting articles that I read this week. I am listing out a few here. Inspiration and Passion and Whatnot: A post about passion and inspiration from the creator of Dilbert – Scott Adams. In this post Adams says that “When I had a full-time job, before Dilbert, I awoke
Continue reading
Warren Buffet’s hamburger example
in Opinion
One of the most classic Buffet analogies is the hamburger example. In his example Buffet says that everyone who eats hamburgers will be happy if hamburger prices were to go down for the next five years. However, investors will not be happy if stock prices were to go down for the next five years, even
Continue reading
Russia’s tax cuts
in Opinion
Russia is the first country to announce tax cuts to combat the current financial crisis. While several countries have announced bail-out packages, no one has announced a tax cut yet. Russia has announced a cut in corporate taxes though, and not personal income taxes. The Corporate Income Tax has been slashed by 4%. It will
Continue reading
Can you take a loan on a Simple IRA?
in Articles
The short answer to this is no, you can’t take a loan on your Simple IRA. There are several restrictions on the Simple IRA and one such restriction is that you can’t take a loan against it. Taking a loan against something that protects your retirement such as the Simple IRA is not a good
Continue reading
Why does the Fed Reserve cut interest rates?
in Articles
The Fed Reserve cuts interest rates to provide more money supply in the economy and stimulate consumer spending. The Fed usually fiddles around with two interest rates, which in turn impact all other consumer interest rates. Federal Funds Rate: The Federal Funds Rate is the rate that is used to ultimately determine the rate of
Continue reading