Tips for Saving Money on Healthcare

 
by Matthew Miller
 
As the holidays and the end of the year rapidly approaches, Americans are already thinking of their New Year’s Resolution.  This year, in wake of the current recession, many are scrapping the standard losing weight or quit smoking resolutions in favor for one that would benefit them financially.  Some popular ideas are saving [...]

Tips for Christmas Shopping

By Lanlan Liang
After Thanksgiving break, Christmas is coming soon. Christmas is a time of not only family getting together but also sharing of Christmas gifts. However, Christmas shopping can be an expensive and stressful experience for many people. So, here are some tips that may help you save for holiday shopping.
First of all, make an organized shopping [...]

Global Economy Vs. Oil

In recent weeks oil prices have fallen tremendously.  In mid July prices peaked around 147 dollars a barrel and today the price of a barrel is around 60 percent lower.  Many expected OPEC to announce output cuts at the most recent meeting but this action has been put off. 
 
In order to respond to the [...]

Early Interpretations from Black Friday Sales: Jazelle Reed

    
     Although the results for Black Friday sales will not be released until early next week, the types of items with the highest sales indicate the current mentality of consumers. Thus far, flat-panel televisions, laptops, children’s toys, video games, practical housewares, and heavily discounted high-end clothing and accessories exhibited the highest sales according to local and national reports. [...]

Black Friday..Except the Black Symbolizes Death:By Ahmed Madry

 
 

 
I hate black Friday and I don’t even celebrate Christmas. Thankfully I do everything in my power to avoid the purchasing hysteria that represents black Friday, which is a nickname for the day after thanksgiving.  The day symbolizes the start of Christmas season, a season that becomes more of a ploy for consumers to spend [...]

No Guarantees in this Economy By: Scott Craft

You’ve spent the last three and a half years going to classes, staying late nights in the library, and practicing interviews—and for what?  To get a great job right as soon as we graduate and have a fulfilling career.  Well for many of us, that may not be a reality as soon as we graduate.  [...]

Bailouts, taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich??? By Branden Elmendorf

 
With more and more big companies looking for hand outs from the government to help them through these troubling times, even though it was their lack of foresight that put them in a worse position, what is happening to the poor?  Recent studies from Greenstein’s center have shown dramatic increases in the number of people [...]

Reading for the Next Class

Hey guys,
 
we are going to be covering life insurance and estate planning over the next week, so I need you to read these articles for the next class.  You may be quizzed on them, so if you chose to miss the class the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, you are still responsible for this reading (since [...]

Economic Crisis Affects Different Age Groups Differently by Zack Pien

For people of every age group the devastating losses in the stock market have hit portfolios hard.  One thing that is important to consider though is that depending on your age and your investment horizon you should probably be handling the economic crisis differently.  For people already in retirement this economic crisis has had devastating [...]

Production of Hybrids Stall with Low Cash Supply

 
By April Quigley
 
As the Fed continues to debate whether or not to provide automakers with the $25 million bailout, companies like GM, Chrysler, and Toyota are forced to delay the production of hybrid vehicles more and more.  With extremely low cash supplies, automakers can’t find the financing to develop these green cars.  Hybrids and other [...]

Google Finance, Getting cooler

 
For those of you interested in finance sites, Google is getting better. I have found that Yahoo Finance and CNN Money have been consistently good sources of financial information, specifically when it comes to stock prices and historical stock performance as well as press releases per company. I also have found that, while Google is [...]

Companies are Saving Cost by Outsourcing Computer Power and Technology -post By BMKRIGER

Companies are Saving Cost by Outsourcing Computer Power and Technology
To improve the bottom line, companies use financial expert advice on using “outsourcing” to become more efficient in computer technology spending:
As energy cost increase, the cost of hosting a data center is ever more materially affecting the balance sheets. The short shelf life of technology has [...]

Irrational exuberance redux (longterm: t-bills beat the market)

By Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:14 PM ET Nov 12, 2008
ANNANDALE, Va. (MarketWatch) — It was almost exactly a dozen years ago that Yale University finance professor Robert Shiller bent Alan Greenspan’s ear, prompting the Fed chairman to give his famous “irrational exuberance” speech.
Shiller and Greenspan both had to endure a lot of ridicule for [...]

From “milk money” to “beer money” Part 2 by Adam Parente

So, last week I spoke about how our milk money has turned into beer money.  This week I want to talk about ways to save money when out drinking.  We all know that club/bar hopping can be very expensive if done regularly, but the simple fact is, it doesnt have to be.  Making friends with [...]

Power Point Presentations for Chapter 8 & 9 – FIN 378

http://boycewatkins.com/tremania/ch09.ppt
http://boycewatkins.com/tremania/ch08.ppt

EU Heading into Recession

By Sofiya Avramova
The European engine of economic growth – Germany gave first signs of recession coming to Euro zone. The German economic indicators sharply fell for the third-quarter, conforming to global economic slow down. The country’s gross domestic product fell by 0.5% between May and September 2008. The future looks bleak for 15 EU [...]

Gas Prices and the Recession by Adam Kirsch

The summer of $4 gas seems so far away now. At the end of this week, the national average price for a gallon of gas was little more than $2. In less than five months, gas prices have dropped 48% from their highest level ever, to a level not seen in more than two [...]

Solutions for the problems in Chapters 8 and 9

Chapter 8 solutions
Chapter 9 solutions

New Mortgage Plan

The new mortgage plan under the bush administration hopes to stabilize the real estate market but does not provide direct financial support to at-risk homeowners from the government. The new plan focuses on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which was taken over by the federal government in September.
In order to be eligible for help under [...]

Fans Wanted: Nets Offer Free Tickets, Job Fair to Unemployed Fans by Beau Buchmann

NBA teams have had a lot of crazy promotions over the years, but this one seems to be a page out of Jackie Moon’s playbook. The New Jersey Nets have made 300 game tickets available for unemployed fans for each of five select home games during the 2008-2009 season.

With the unemployment rate at 6.5% – [...]

The best time to buy a home

By: Josh Goodman

According to statistics, the housing market is still falling and it is down 16% in August since a year ago.  Foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies has been rising.  Nobody knows when the prices will start to rise andhow fast it will go.  Now is the time to buy a house after researching the market.  [...]

Formula 1: Standard engines by 2010! by Akshat Agarwal

In a bid to reduce the costs, the FIA have announced that they will open the tenders for a supplier of the standard engine. They will also develop the specifications and diagrams that current teams must follow if they choose to build their own engines.
The art of making an engine is a crucial key to [...]

NFL Retirees Win Settlement by Beau Buchmann

A federal jury ruled the NFL Players’ Association (NFLPA) owes $28.1 million to a group of retired NFL players whose images were not properly marketed. The ruling was based on the NFLPA’s exclusion of retired players from royalties earned on lucrative marketing deals with Electronics Arts, specifically on Madden NFL.

Anyone who has played Madden in [...]

From Milk Money to Beer Money by Adam Parente

I started thinking about this topic after calculating how much money I was spending on alcohol at the local bars.  To my surprise, my spending habits on alcohol were quite substantial, even considering all the local bartenders who are close friends or family.
Just like when you were in elementary school and your parents would give [...]

Starbucks restructuring efforts eat into its profits

By Sofiya Avramova
Starbucks’ plan to shut down poorly performing outlets leads to loss of profits for the fourth-quarter. Estimated costs of restructuring totaled $105m worldwide. The alternative or complementary argument to loss of profits also lies in 8% decline in same-store sales from the previous year. Starbucks cost-cutting plan included closing of 600 outlets [...]

WHAT IS INSTORE IN 2009?

By Pavitra

2008, so far has been a historic year in terms of Presidential elections and all the financial issues USA and also the entire world has faced.
There are a lot of questions regarding the situation in 2009. Will it be any better or are in store for something worse than this?  A group of market [...]

AIG Defends Yet Another Resort Outing by Jeff Kryger

 
The same day the US government restructed its bailout agreement to give over $150 billion dollars in aid to AIG insurance, the company hosted a sales meeting seminar at a luxury resort in Phoenix, Arizona to the tune of over $343,000. Much of it was used for spa treatments and executive suites. This is the latest in [...]

Where will your job be in 2009?

By April Quigley

With the current unemployment rate predicted at 6.5%, the direct correlation between layoffs and a recession has become clear.  Unfortunately, we have not yet seen the worst of it.  By the end of 2009, unemployment rates are expected to max out at around 7-8% – something the nation hasn’t seen in nearly two [...]

US Tax law, is there an easier way – by Branden Elmendorf

YES! A Flat Tax is one of the simplest tax systems, and is gaining some ground in the US.  The current US Tax Code is over 9 millions words, and provides a plethora of loopholes for individuals who know how to read the code, or people that can pay someone to read it for them.  [...]

Professional Initials

By: Charles Thomas
Many students who graduate with majors in finance dream of one day have huge salaries and many extra initials after their name. However, simply doing a little background research on what obtaining those initials may require is enough to deter the grand majority of the financial professional-hopeful population. Two of the most well [...]