In the News Archives - Page 3 of 5

St. Louis Tried to Give Away the Arch To Keep the Rams

The City of St. Louis dodged a major bullet in recent months as Rams Owner Stan Kroenke opted to move his team to Los Angeles. City leaders were perplexed as to why the billionaire declined when St. Louis tried to give away the Arch. They also promised him power over local tax rates, giving the man the power to charge local taxpayers whatever he liked to increase his net worth. The city also suggested laying off half of its police force if the extra money involved would sway the benevolent Rams owner. Obviously, I am joking a little. However, the truth is not as far from what I wrote as you would think. Continue reading “St. Louis Tried to Give Away the Arch To Keep the Rams”

New Jersey Bonds Are Like Chris Christie at a Trump Rally

Fake. Duplicitous. Phony. Surreal appearance underlying the dark truth of the willingness to take advantage of anyone in its way. I could be talking about Chris Christie’s support of Donald Trump. Unfortunately, I’m not. If you take a look at trading levels, there are a lot of individual investors out there that could lose their shirt when New Jersey bonds default. I’ve written two pieces on the coming disaster of New Jersey’s finances, here and here. Sometime in the next 10 years, the state will have no money to pay its bills. The scary part is, the bond market is completely ignoring it. There are people today paying premium dollars for bonds that could be close to worthless in 10 years. The rating agencies and other institutional investors are wrong because there has never been a looming financial crisis quite like this before. Here’s the evidence. Continue reading “New Jersey Bonds Are Like Chris Christie at a Trump Rally”

Should Millennials Be Playing the Oil Speculation Game?

Reader in San Francisco: I have seen two articles about younger investors playing the oil speculation game, specifically on UWTI and DWTI (leveraged oil ETNs). I’ll have to admit, its a pretty interesting consideration for the Robinhood slush account. How bad are these leveraged products and what is the decaying nature of them? Continue reading “Should Millennials Be Playing the Oil Speculation Game?”

Billionaire Is the New Four Letter Word In American Politics

When Bernie Sanders talks about ‘the billionaire class,’ he speaks in a similar tone that an actor in an R rated movie would say the F word. He has clearly hit a nerve in American politics and is performing shockingly well in the polls. Wages have not risen with productivity, and the wealth gains among the working class pale in comparison to those of the top 1%. America’s top 25 hedge fund managers make more money than all the kindergarten teachers in America. Mitt Romney’s tax rate is not even 15%, and Warren Buffet pays less in taxes than his secretary. For all these reasons, we should tax the rich at confiscatory levels and put their heads on figurative pikes right? Billionaire is the new four letter word, but it shouldn’t be. Here’s why. Continue reading “Billionaire Is the New Four Letter Word In American Politics”

Why College Is So Expensive

The brand new, $75 million student union expansion project at my alma mater, University of Florida

Bernie Sanders wants to make college free, and who wouldn’t? College is so expensive today. It leaves generations of students saddled with mountains of debt. I contend that Sanders proposal to make college affordable would have the opposite effect, driving costs up for the taxpayer. To see why, we will look at higher education spending over the past 40 plus years. During this time, the cost to attend college more than tripled, using constant 2015 dollars. I will use my experience at a large public flagship state university from 2008-2012 to provide anecdotal evidence as to why college costs are exploding in addition to cold hard facts. Continue reading “Why College Is So Expensive”

Hillary Is Influenced By Her Paid Speeches

I’m not in the tank for Bernie or Hillary. I would describe myself as a Republican leaning Libertarian. That said, I love following political races and enjoyed the Democratic debate this past Thursday. One of the most contentious moments was when Hillary accused Bernie of attack by insinuation, saying that he is calling her ‘bought.’ For those that don’t follow politics, the issue is whether Hillary is influenced by her paid speeches. She has made millions of dollars from these engagements since leaving office. Let’s take a look at why Sanders has been able to make this such a big issue in the Democratic race for President and how lessons from this can apply to your everyday life. Continue reading “Hillary Is Influenced By Her Paid Speeches”

Seven Months Ago I Predicted a Tech Stock Crash, How Did I Do?

Back on June 30 in “How Tech Workers Can Get Ready For a Coming Crash“, I predicted that a tech stock crash was coming. My rationale was based on the huge size of many of the largest tech companies relative to their earnings. I profiled 11 household names and looked at how they were trading relative to their earnings. I took particular care to warn that many of these big tech names were losing money and could collapse in value. Let’s see how I did. Continue reading “Seven Months Ago I Predicted a Tech Stock Crash, How Did I Do?”

Why the Iowa Caucuses Made Me Love the Roth IRA

How about those Iowa Caucus results? Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton ended up in a virtual tie, and the top three Republicans finished within a few percent of one another. Looking at the entrance polls on CNN last night, I had a random financial thought and realized I really needed to share it with you. Last night’s Iowa causes just made me love the Roth IRA. Here’s why. Continue reading “Why the Iowa Caucuses Made Me Love the Roth IRA”

Trump and Bernie Would Destroy the US Economy

A lot of you out there are ‘feeling the Bern.’ Others, including future Hall of Fame QB Tom Brady, want to ‘make America great again.’ There is just one problem. Trump and Bernie would destroy the US economy, and I have the numbers to prove it. If you like either man, you’ll see a lot you don’t like. Read to the end though to see I’m bipartisan in my prediction of economic doom with either one of these two men in the Oval Office. Continue reading “Trump and Bernie Would Destroy the US Economy”

New Jersey Will Have a $10 Billion Hole In Its Budget In 10 Years

My goal here at Millennial Moola is to bring readers financial articles they won’t get anywhere else. While this site’s target audience is millennials, I’ll write about anything if I deem it relevant to the financial health of Americans in general. It’s for that reason I want this week to be focused on the failing financial health of the state of New Jersey. While New Jersey is the worst actor, there will be smaller crises like this one all over the nation over the coming years because of the failure of politicians to make the payments for the benefits they’ve promised to public employees. I estimate that New Jersey will have a $10 Billion hole in its budget by 2026, with no way to pay it besides drastically increases taxes, cutting public retiree benefits, or defaulting on its billions of dollars in municipal debt. Continue reading “New Jersey Will Have a $10 Billion Hole In Its Budget In 10 Years”