GDP: What It Means, Why You Should Care
This morning, the government will release the first estimate of third-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This morning, I joined WCBS-TV to explain what GDP means and why you should care. [video=479444]
College Prices Up (Again)
The College Board's report on college pricing is out and it's a doozy! The average cost of tuition, room and board at private schools is $36,993 this year and the average for in-state students at four-year public schools is $16,140 this year. If you're keeping score, the cost of going to a public co...
Weekly Jobless Claims: Better Than Expected, Hold The Party
The Labor Department reported that weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fell by 21,000 to 434,000 in the week ended Oct. 23, the lowest since early July. Additionally, the total number of people receiving unemployment insurance dropped to a two-year low; the number of people receiving extended payment...
Did Treasury Hide $40B In AIG Losses?
Maybe Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner should have been in the financial services industry after all. According to SIGTARP Inspector Neil Barofsky, it looks like Geithner & Co at Treasury played fast and loose with accounting rules when tallying up AIG losses, amounting to $40 billion! Fro...
Credit Score: Facts and Fiction
Think paying your bills on time is all that you need for a rosy credit score? This morning I discussed credit score basics--and a couple of myths--with CBS3. [video=478305]
Confidence and Housing: Incumbents Shake
Economic reports this week should make incumbents shake. Confidence remains mired at around 50 (during good economic times the number is above 90), and while housing and stock prices have recovered from the lows, they are both well below pre-recession levels. I discussed these trends and the impl...
Home Sales Up: Here's What Buyers Should Do
The National Association of Realtors said September existing-home sales increased 10 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.53 million from August. The NAR said that "a housing recovery is taking place," which may be true, but if you are in the market for a home, relax--there's plenty o...
The 99ers: 5 Sobering Lessons
Watch this segment from last night's 60 Minutes and you may feel pretty blue. Scott Pelley captures the angst and desperation that long-term unemployed feel as the Great Recession and so-so recovery drag on. What struck me was Pelley's line that many of the 99-ers are "too young to retire and too...
Retirement: New Ideas For An Old Topic
This was a great episode of "Ask The Experts". Clearly the concept of retirement has changed since the Great Recession, but our guest, Ken Dychtwald from Age Wave, contends that the nation's demographic shift was already changing our "golden years." We cover second careers, living arrangements, l...
Money Survey: Men vs. Women
On a light news Friday, I had a fun discussion on WCBS-TV about a recent survey that shows (yet again) that men and women are very different when it comes to their views about money. While there were some areas of agreement between the sexes, there were some surprising results. [video=477529]
5 Most-Stolen Used Cars
During the recession and recovery, Americans have turned to the more affordable used car market. But before you make that purchase, you may be surprised to learn which models are targets for thieves. (Hint: Murphy Brown was still on the air when some of these cars rolled out of the show rooms!) Chec...
Retirement: Put Your Broker To Work!
For the millions of Americans who work with stock brokers, financial advisors, life insurance salesmen or CPAs who provide more than just tax-prep, it's time to put your professional to work!I thought about this after meeting this lovely southern belle at the Museum of Natural History. She was worri...
Should You Be A More Aggressive Investor?
We may not be in a full-fledged bull market, but investors are a lot better off today then in the spring of 2009, when stocks plunged to bear market lows. Since we're human beings, of course only after the stock market rises, do I find people who ask about getting more aggressive with their portfoli...
White House Punts On Foreclosures
Some might find solace in Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' recent remarks about foreclosuregate--I don't. Here's what he said: As institutions are determining their next steps in addressing these [foreclosure] issues, we remain committed to holding accountable any bank that has violated the law. In ad...
Housing Starts Up: Should You Buy Or Rent?
This morning, the Census Bureau reported that housing starts were up 0.3 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 610,000. The news follows yesterday's report that homebuilder confidence rose to the highest level in four months in October, but still remains at a historically low ...