Follow the Moneymaker

August 27, 2008 – 8:54 pm

Often, it seems, bluster and hot air rule Wall Street. Companies announce share buybacks that they never complete. Chief executives wax rhapsodic about the glories of their companies while quietly selling shares on the side. And then there’s Tom Ward.

US house prices still falling but the ‘worst has passed’

August 27, 2008 – 8:53 pm

House prices in the United States are still falling at a record pace, and sales of new homes remain anaemic, according to the latest data.

Ministers to tell energy firms: ‘Use your profits to help poor’

August 27, 2008 – 8:53 pm

Energy companies could escape a windfall tax on their huge profits if they do more to help people struggling to pay their fuel bills.

Financial slowdown ‘to drag on’

August 27, 2008 – 8:52 pm

Mere mention of the word "stagflation" is enough to make economists
cower behind the sofa trembling.

Live Nation Rocks On

August 27, 2008 – 8:52 pm

In the old days, musicians launched a concert tour to promote a new album. That, of course, was before the days of MP3s and free music downloads, which have essentially eroded artists’ rights to their own recordings and the ability to make real money from them. Now, albums are the marketing tools of…

Searching for A Hot Investment? Try Your Mortgage.

August 27, 2008 – 8:51 pm

I know where to get a guaranteed 6 percent return on savings, with no brokerage commissions, bank fees or worries that the Feds are going to have to swoop in and take over the failed institution that has my money. I’m putting whatever extra cash I can find into paying off my mortgage early.

Shopping mall giants poised to do battle for Liberty

August 27, 2008 – 8:51 pm

Liberty International, the owner of Covent Garden in London, was once more the focus of takeover talk yesterday after two international shopping mall giants built significant stakes in the UK-listed property group.

Working Hard on Fun

August 27, 2008 – 8:50 pm

Lighten the long summer days at your J-O-B by picking up a copy of this month’s Color of Money Book Club selection, “The Levity Effect” (Wiley, $22.95) by Scott Christopher and Adrian Gostick.

Online and in Secure Hands

August 26, 2008 – 8:51 pm

Here are ways to keep your online transactions safe:

Changes at Fairholme Fund

August 26, 2008 – 8:51 pm

I recently received several phone calls from the Altman Group, a proxy solicitation firm, pleading for me to return my proxy card to vote on changes for the Fairholme fund. I read the proxy material and discovered that the board of directors was recommending sweeping changes to this highly…