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Hyatt Paris Madeline is Not a Bad Way to Use Your Chase Points in Paris
On my most recent trip to Paris, I stayed at both of the Park Hyatt Vendôme and Hyatt Paris Madeline. I think that Hyatt points now represent the best value for hotel point redemptions in Paris, and perhaps in all of Europe. I am... Read →
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No Guardrails for the US Economy
At first, the market dipped, then rallied after China matched Trump’s $50 billion tariff threat. Now it is dipping at his latest salvo – $100 billion more. Traders are searching for some rationale for ignoring the very real... Read →
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Fed Hikes 25 Basis Points In Jay Powell’s First Meeting as Chairman
The Federal Reserve raised the Fed Funds rate by 25 bps to a target of 1.50% to 1.75% this afternoon. The move marks the sixth such move since the Fed began moving the Fed Funds rate from zero in December 2015, and was unanimous. While... Read →
What to Consider as Rates Rise: Fixed-Rate Mortgages vs. ARMs
Buying a home means more than just committing to raising a family or living out one’s golden years in a particular house. It usually comes with financial obligations in the form of a mortgage. It is therefore important to prepare for... Read →
I Bought a Long-Term CD and Rates Have Moved Higher, What Should I Do?
As interest rates have moved up on longer-term CDs, many have found themselves in a quandary over what to do about longer-term CDs that they may have purchased over the last couple of years and that are now yielding less than the going... Read →
The Return of the 6-Month CD
I am only in my forties, but I have been told by my seniors of an era of largely stable interest rates when 6-month CDs offered depositors the ability to earn a premium over savings or money market rates, without the burden of locking up... Read →
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Thank God for America’s High School Students
We have so little cause for optimism these days, constantly unnerved as we are by a seriously unstable President and a corrupt and compromised Congress. Our world, including our place in the hierarchy of nations today and the ever more... Read →
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Putin Fires Tillerson
News is just out that Rex Tillerson has been replaced by Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State. Of course, we had predicted Tillerson’s ouster for some time, and had indicated late in 2017 that Tillerson was waiting for his deferment... Read →
EverBank’s 3-Year Petrol Currency Marketsafe CD: A Different View on A Dirty Pool
We’ve written before, multiple times, about EverBank’s currency CD program. We addressed these products most recently here, having first addressed them here. The EverBank 3-Year Petrol Currency Marketsafe CD - like the... Read →
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When Not to Draw on Your Home Equity Line of Credit
For many years, we have written about appropriate and inappropriate reasons to have a home equity line of credit. In particular, home equity lines of credit can be used to consolidate more expensive debt (credit card, education loans,... Read →
Setting the Record Straight on Gary Cohn
Gary Cohn resigned on Wednesday as the Director of the National Economic Council and Chief Economic Advisor to Donald Trump. The media has been very generous to Cohn, writing about how principled he was to resign on the basis of a... Read →
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Banks and Credit Unions Should be Very Afraid if Checking Accounts Are on Amazon's Agenda
Checking accounts are already a loss leader for banks and credit unions. They aren’t a high margin product, but are offered to create a nexus to customers who may then interact with the institution in other higher margin deposit and... Read →
This Qualcomm Debacle Would Look Awful If It Happened In the Third World
Many who follow financial news have been aware that Qualcomm has been battling against a hostile takeover by Broadcom since last fall. Qualcomm is the wireless technology company whose stock seemed to multiply weekly in 1999, but has been... Read →
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With Jared Kushner in the White House, Americans Have No Need to Invest in Emerging Markets
Generally, emerging market investing gives American investors (or Western European investors) the opportunity to achieve higher returns on their investment in return for the increased risk associated with a system involving a certain... Read →
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