Starting at age 70 1/2, Traditional IRA account holders are required by law to withdraw a portion of assets each year as a distribution. It’s important to note that in most cases RMDs only apply to traditional IRAs, not their Roth IRA counterparts. These required minimum distributions (RMDs) must start by April 1st of the […]
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) There has been much discussion and news lately about a new breakthrough in therapy for people with hepatitis C (HCV). This is a relatively recent development and its ramifications represent a major breakthrough for human health as well as a significant investment opportunity. First identified in the early 1980s, HCV is […]
What is an Option? Options are very complicated financial instruments that can be used in a portfolio in many different ways. Options are not for everyone, but when used by an educated investor they can actually reduce risk in your portfolio. Before using options you must understand how they work, what the risks are, and […]
This week was full of economic data releases as well as some comments about the economy from the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke. To start the week, we had existing and new home sales fall well short of the 5 million annual run rate that was estimated. The July 2010 sales came in at a […]
Economic reports due out this week include new and existing housing starts, durable goods orders, and the revised estimate to Q2 2010 GDP. Housing sales will show about a 12% drop from June 2010 as the housing credits are now fully out of the system and natural market forces are coming back into play. The […]
As an avid home-brewer and beer drinker I wanted to share a few articles and some insight into the craft beer industry. Historically, the beer industry has been labeled recession proof because people drink when they have money and they drink more when they don’t. This time appears to be a little different as the […]
As a follow-up to my post from a couple of weeks ago I want to update you on Q2 2010 S&P 500 earnings season. As you can see in the chart below, the sales and income growth are consistent with what we saw in my earlier post. Sales growth is a healthy 9.14% and earnings […]