Forbes: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Gov. Rick Perry

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Guess who had lunch at the Yale Club Wednesday? Texas Governor Rick Perry. Here’s what you need to know.

1. Texas Governor Rick Perry was at the Yale Club in New York City Wednesday speaking at a launch meeting of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. Also at the meeting were CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, The Heritage Foundation’s Steve Moore, and former NYC mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis.

Kudlow and Moore, along with economist Art Laffer, are founding members of the Cmte. which is meant to “end America’s growth slump and restore faith in the American Dream,” according to a written statement about the group. Read more here.

TheStreet: 10 Reasons to Love the Oil Price Drop

By SIMON CONSTABLE

New York (TheStreet) -- Don't let tumbling oil prices darken your outlook on stocks or the economy. Yes, U.S. crude prices have dropped into an official bear market, down around 20% since the beginning of June, which will undoubtedly hurt the oil industry and companies like Exxon Mobil and BP. 

But there are a number of benefits from the decline. Here are 10 of them: Read more here.

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TheStreet:10 Secrets to Kickstarter Success (It's Not About Facebook)

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Crowdfunding website Kickstarter and similar ventures have opened up a world of possibilities to struggling creative types in need of cash. That said, the odds are still against you when you launch a campaign.  

Here are 10 things you should know that may help tilt the odds in your favor: 

1. -- Facebook won't save your project. Don't rely on the fact that you have gazillions of Facebook  (FB) friends.

Read more here.

TheStreet: 'Twilight' Was Right: Vampire Trading Can Make You Rich

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- If the daily grind of Wall Street is getting you down, maybe it's time to trade like a vampire. 

How so? As any trick-or-treater knows, vampires sleep all day and work all night. To embrace that on Wall Street, you'll need to wait for the closing bell before entering the markets. It could be a most profitable way to play stocks that get a lot of attention like Apple (AAPL), Tesla (TSLA), Facebook (FB), and Twitter (TWTR).

Read more here.

Forbes: What HR Really Means

By SIMON CONSTABLE

I haven’t always been a journalist. For years I cut my business teeth in strategic Human Resources. It’s still surprising how many people hold major misconceptions about the field. Those misunderstandings are just as likely in giant corporations (such as Microsoft, Apple, or Google) or a smaller one.

Let me help set you straight.

1. “WE HAVE GREAT HEALTH INSURANCE”

When HR says: we have a great healthcare insurance. That may be true, at least on paper. Read more here.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

OZY: How EL Nino Will Cause a Financial Storm

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Kid weather is back and acting up with a force unlike what many investors are seeing out of Puerto Rico, Greece or even China. The “little kid” or “Christ child” — aka El Niño — could cool economic growth and stoke inflation around the globe in the months to come.

Yes, El Niño comes around every three to five years and lasts only about a year as ocean temperatures off the equatorial west coast of South America rise. But temperature increases of 4 to 6 degrees above normal can, and do, whip up potentially dangerous weather patterns, such as droughts and killer floods, which then hit homes, businesses and industries. The latest El Niño is slated by some observers to rival the one in 1997–98 as the biggest ever — one that killed an estimated 2,100 globally with a force roughly equivalent to 1 million Hiroshima bombs. It left $33 billion in property damages in its wake. “This could be a big one,” warns a recent report from Brown Brothers Harriman, a financial firm.

Read more here.

Forbes: 'Money Is Like Sex,' And 24 Other Thought-Provoking Money Quotes

By SIMON CONSTABLE

On this scorching New York summer morning it’s worth remembering that not all words of money wisdom come from today’s  business heros, like Yahoo!’s Marissa Mayer, or Microsoft's Bill Gates or even Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Some come from writers, comedians, or ancient philosophers. With that in mind, I have compiled a list of 25 thought provoking quotes on money that I found intriguing. For your convenience I included where I got the information (indirect sources in parentheses.) I hope you find these quotes as stimulating as I do. Enjoy: 

“Money is like sex. It seems much more important if you don’t have any.” – Charles Bukowski (The Hip Pocket Guide to Offbeat Wisdom.)

“It’s like muck, not good except to be spread.” — Francis Bacon (It’s Only Money by Peter Pugh)

Read more here. 

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TheStreet: Higher Taxes Aren't Stubbing Out Teen Smoking Anymore

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Apparently it takes a lot to keep Altria's Marlboro Man down or even Reynolds American's  Joe Camel.

Higher taxes on cigarettes aren't helping stub out teen smoking like they once used to. Once again it's the so-called millennials, born between 1980 and 2000, who are bucking demographic trends and changing the way the world works.

Read more here.

Forbes: Top Signs Your Coworker Is An Empty Suit

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Is your coworker an empty suit? And how would you know if they were?

There is nothing wrong with dressing well for the office, but the problem comes when it’s all style and no substance. Expensive suits from Hugo Boss or Armani are no substitute for business acumen. Women and men are each just as guilty in this. Such people could be found in any company from the largest like Apple and Microsoft to small entrepreneurial offices. Nowhere is immune from this scourge, unless you work alone.

Here are some tell tale signs you are working with an empty suit.

Read more here.

TheStreet: U.S. Deals Reach $1.2 Trillion in 2015, and You Can Cash in on Them

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The business of companies gobbling each other up or merging is roaring.

It's not just good news for Wall Street's dealmakers at Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS), it's good news for stock market investors as well. Even better news: There are reasons to think the mergers and acquisitions trend will continue.

Deal volume among U.S. companies totaled approximately $1.2 trillion dollars this year through early July, according to the latest figures from Dealogic, which tracks the data. That's up 36% from the first seven months of last year, even though July isn't yet half over.

Read more here.

The Street: Why JPMorgan Is The Best Place For Analyst Recommendations

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Who do you call when you need a stock recommendation? If you want to make money, then the best bet may be JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

Why? It has the research department with the highest number of star analysts, and stars' recommendations produce bigger stock gains than the rest of the herd. Not far behind in the count is Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC).

On average, stars from all firms produce monthly average excess returns (or alpha) of up to 1.58%, according to a recent study. In the simplest terms, alpha is the amount of value added by an analyst relative to a benchmark such as the S&P 500.

Read more here.

WSJ: What Are Risk-Adjusted Returns?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

When you hear financial experts talk about risk-adjusted returns, what do they mean? It may sound complicated, but the concept is simple.

It means that when comparing investment returns like those from mutual funds, it can be misleading to just look at the headline figures. For instance, at first glance it might seem that a fund that gained 12% last year is better than one at 9%. In reality, it depends on how much risk was involved in generating those profits. The more risk, the less the returns are worth. Read more here.

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WSJ: Time For A Bond Fund Checkup

BY SIMON CONSTABLE

Given the expected rise in interest rates, does your portfolio still need a healthy allocation of bonds? Probably yes, according to the experts.

Many agree that the security and diversification bonds offer shouldn’t be spurned just because the direction of rates could be changing. But, depending on the investor, now may be a good time to adjust the size of that allocation and its contents, with regard to lengths of maturities and levels of risk.

“Fixed income is always a good foundation for a portfolio,” says Eddy Elfenbein, Washington, D.C., author of the Crossing Wall Street blog and newsletter. “Security and safety.… Each month and quarter there is a regular check from the coupons.” Read more here. 

Forbes: What Your Boss Really Means By "No One Is Getting A Raise."

By SIMON CONSTABLE

We are now half way through the calendar year, and for many that means mid-year performance reviews. Or even worse, for some with odd fiscal years, it can be time for talks about money.

Both inside and outside of those meetings what you have been told can be confusing. You need to understand what your boss really means, not just what is said. Believe me, I’ve spent enough time in corporate America, and enough time in human resource jobs, to know the difference. 

Let me take you through some of the more common half-truths, what they really mean, what it says about your boss, and what to do. Read more here.

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OZY: Greece and PR -- Relax or Freak Out?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Up, down and all around — global stock markets have been giving investors quite the ride this week. But is the financial world on the brink of another crash? Most people could be forgiven for thinking so given news about Greece missing a roughly $1.7 billion loan payment to the International Monetary Fund and Puerto Rico’s governor warning that the territory simply can’t repay $72 billion of debt. The feeling of impending collapse was only exacerbated when stocks in Europe and the U.S. tumbled on Monday, before bouncing back later in the week. Read more here.

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The Street: Retail Investors Fleeing U.S. Stocks Is a Buy Signal

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) Small investors are unloading U.S. stocks, which means you should do the opposite and buy. That's because retail investors are so bad at timing they are good, at least as a contrary indicator.

Over the last year investors have gone on a mutual fund selling spree, dumping more than $100 billion of domestic stock mutual funds.
Read more here.

New York Stock Exchange

Massimo Catarinella, CC BY-SA 3.0, 

via Wikimedia Commons