TheStreet: Why Charter Schools Don't Mean Much for Your Child's Earning Power

By SIMON CONSTABLE Is getting your kids out of public school worth the hassle or the expense?

In many cases, no, if you expect the move to boost their future earnings, according to two recent studies. What does make a difference is whether your kids graduate high school.

So maybe save the dollars and/or the headache for worrying about major moves in the S&P 500 and the exchange-traded fund that tracks it, the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) .

Charter schools, which are publicly funded, but operate independently of some regulations, providing no earnings boost for either boys or girls later in life, the first of the studies found. Read more here.

Forbes: Told Ya! You're Going To Pay for ObamaCare's Failures

By SIMON CONSTABLE 

Last month, I forecast that one way or another U.S. residents would end up paying for the failures of the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare.

Now we have the proof that it is already coming to pass. Thursday the Washington Post revealed what’s going on. Read more here.

Bullseye Brief Podcast:Fed Indecision, Florida Jobs & Why Washing Machines Matter

By SIMON COSNTABLE

With the great Adam Johnson and friends. Listen here.

No.3 Magazine: A Future that Never Came

By SIMON CONSTABLE

New York-artist David Kramer says he's always felt like an outsider.  Read more here.

No.3 Magazine: Defining Pintography with Marlene Luce Tremblay

By SIMON CONSTABLE

French Canadian artist Marlene Luce Tremblay didn’t always work with bright colors. She started off taking black and white photos. “That was back in the 1980s using film to make portraits,” she says. 

That's not so much the case lately. Read more here.

U.S. News: How to Profit From the British Pound's Slump

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Just because President Barack Obama's threat to put Britain at the back of the line for new trade deals is fast becoming reality, it doesn't mean the U.K. is finished economically. 

Better still, there are plenty of ways for investors to make some money out of the current situation. Read more here.

Photo by Colin Watts on Unsplash

Forbes: How Obama's Brexit Snub Hurts American Business

By SIMON CONSTABLE

President Obama’s pledge to kick Britain to the back of the line for new trade deals is quickly becoming a reality, according to recent reports.

That may, or may not, have been a gesture to hurt Britain’s economy. But never mind, the reality is that the move it will hurt American businesses. That’s because it has put Yankee companies at the back of queue for British consumers; people who have a very healthy appetite for consuming goods and services. Here’s what you need to know:

Forbes: Win By Cheating? Maybe So

By SIMON CONSTABLE

All through our early lives we are presented with a multitude of rules, most of which say the equivalent of “don’t do this,” or “don’t do that.” Sometimes we hear the command to “work long and hard,” and only then shall we see success. You get the idea.

The problem is that most of us hang on to these rules long after they should have been relegated to the same place as quaint mementos of childhood such as having our mittens physically tied to our winter clothing.

Technology entrepreneur Brian Wong has tapped into this problem with his new book The Cheat Code: Going Off Script to Get More, Go Faster, and Shortcut Your Way to Success. It was published earlier this month by Crown Business.

He attempts to dispel the idea that rule-following is the way to proceed for maximum career progress. Read more here.

TheStreet: How America Is Regaining its Startup Mojo -- And Why it Matters

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Here's some more good news for the U.S. economy: The entrepreneurial bug is back.

"For the second year in a row, key measures of new business creation in the United States point upward," according to The 2016 Kaufmann Index of Startup Activity, published in August by the Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation. "Only two years ago, the Startup Activity Index was at its lowest point in the last 20 years." Read more here.

U.S. News: Today's Investors Are Somewhere Between Skeptical and Optimistic

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A cursory look across the financial news might convince all but the hardiest investors that a crash is imminent. 

Gurus earnestly warning investors to "ditch stocks now," or something similar, are daily fare across the business side of the media. So should you be frightened and follow suit?

No. In fact, quite the opposite. Read more here.

WOR Radio John Gambling Show: Talking Economics

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Talking economics with the awesome Frank Morano on the John Gambling Show

U.S. News: Brazil Set to Escape Its Economic Malaise

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Not all of the recent drama in Brazil was caused by U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, who got into trouble after claiming he was held up at gunpoint. Actually, for investors, the main spectacle in Latin America's largest economy was somewhere quite different: the government.

In late August, long after the athletes returned to their home countries, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff was impeached following a lengthy process.


The good news, unless you are Rouseff, is that the political commotion may augur in a period of economic reform that could move more rapidly than previously expected. Investors have already been betting on that, and there will likely be more gains ahead. Read more here.

Photo by Matheus Câmara da Silva on Unsplash

WSJ: Are Investors More or Less Willing to Take on Risk After a Big Money Loss?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

After a big financial loss, are people going to be more or less willing to take a big risk?


For years, two seemingly contradictory theories have come down on either side of that question. A new analysis, however, suggests that perhaps there is no contradiction after all. The right answer, this analysis suggests, is: It depends.


To back up, on one side of this debate has been the theory that a previous loss can lead to increased risk taking. “A person who hasn’t made peace with his losses is likely to accept gambles that would be unacceptable to him otherwise,” psychologist Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel laureate, and Amos Tversky wrote in a 1979 paper. Read more here.

John Batchelor Show: Peter Thiel, Economics

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Recent appearance on the John Batchelor Show discussing Peter Thiel, investing, economics.

TheStreet: How Wells Fargo Scam May Shake the Wheels Off the Banking Industry

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A spectacular scam in which employees of Wells Fargo  (WFC)  opened unauthorized customer accounts in order to earn bigger bonuses may shake the wheels off not only the bank's legendary stagecoach, but the entire industry.

The fate of the 160-year-old company itself is of only secondary interest to me, however. Many other businesses have weathered comparable scandals and bounced back relatively painlessly.

The real problem is that the malfeasance at the bank may lead to the entire industry being relegated further into a minor economic role. Read more here.

Forbes Video: Is A Market Crash Imminent?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

When stocks fail to pull back in quite a while, then investors should start to get worried about whether the gains are sustainable.

In the rawest terms, the question is this: Are we headed for a crash? Will be see a repeat of 1987 when stocks plunged around the world in minutes? Will we see a slower slide like that after the tech bubble of the late 1990s? You get the idea.

Watch, listen, and learn in this video.

TheStreet: Below Zero -- The Negative Interest Rates Campaign You May Have Missed

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If you think your bank savings earn a measly return now, just wait: It could get even worse.

A coordinated campaign to make negative interest rates a reality in America just got launched -- at least, it looks that way. (See other stories in the Below Zero series for a thorough explanation of negative interest rates and the implications.) Read more here.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Forbes: How To Succeed Like Moby

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It might be hard to imagine Moby as anything other than an uber-famous artist, musician, and DJ. But once upon a time he lived in a disused factory in Connecticut, paying the guards $50 a month to look the other way. In the big scheme of things, that wasn’t so long ago — 1989.

That’s basically where Moby’s recently published book, Poreclain, starts. It then moves location to New York in the early 1990s, a time and place with which I am well acquainted. But that’s not why this book caught my eye. Read more here.

By Uncensored Interview (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes Video: Are Investors Too Sleepy?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

With many things in life, when we get complacent we tend to mess up. The same is true for investors.

Currently, there hasn’t been a major pullback in the markets for a while. The turmoil following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, and the slide in the first few weeks of the year, now both look like distant memories. Yet despite that general lack of volatility, attitudes towards stocks haven’t become ultra cautious.

Edward Dempsey chief investment officer at Pension Partners, explains his thoughts on the matter in this video.

U.S. News: Signs Point to a Stronger Economy

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If you are confused over the economy, then you likely aren't the only one.

In late August we got two pieces of seemingly contradictory economic news. One was weak and the other pointed to strength. Here's what they both mean, and why the economy is actually picking up.

On the one hand, the government trimmed its estimate of second GDP quarter growth to a paltry 1.1 percent, according to the latest data. That's weak by any standard and because it was the period from April through June, it was also hard to blame the winter weather, which itself has become something of an annual excuse lately.

On the other hand, the Federal Reserve has indicated it is moving closer to that point where it may raise the cost of borrowing money. Why? Because the economy is showing strength.
So which is it, strong or weak? Read more here.

Photo by John Gibbons on Unsplash

WSJ: Fundamental vs. Technical Stock Analysts

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Wall Street is chock-full of traders trying to figure out how stocks and bonds will move in the future because they know if they get it right, there are riches to be made.

These investors generally fall into two camps in terms of the methods they use to analyze markets: fundamental analysts and technical analysts. Traditionally, their methods haven’t overlapped, though they now seem to be converging. Read more here.

WSJ: Where Foreign Markets Could Be Headed

By SIMON CONSTABLE

U.S. markets are holding on to modest gains this year after a lackluster 2015, with the S&P 500 up 6.2% through August.

But fund investors might have fared better with overseas exposure, depending on the region.

Here is a look at the performance of some international markets this year and where they may be headed. Read more here.

Top 10 Safe Topics for Journos Covering Peter Thiel

Top 10 list of topics journalists can safely write about Peter Thiel without risking a fate worse than Gawker's Nick Denton:

1. Peter Thiel is awesome
2. Err, that's it.
3. ...
4. .
5. .
6. .
7. .
8. .
9. .
10. .

By David Orban from Italy (Peter Thiel) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

John Batchelor Show: Apple/E.U., ObamaCare, Investing

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Recent appearance on the John Batchelor Show discussing Apple/E.U., Investing, and ObamaCare.

 

TheStreet: Naked Gas Protests Make no Sense

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Forbes Video: Why Foreign Markets Matter To Investors

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Yes, you probably  should you worry about what happens in Beijing or Berlin or Belize. The rest of the world matters to America.

Watch, listen, and learn here.

Forbes: Apple Tax Brawl -- Just Another Nail In The E.U. Coffin

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The European Union may have just signed its own death warrant.

Worse still, it appears that the bungling bureaucrats of Brussels, where the E.U. is headquartered, are oblivious to what they’ve likely set in motion. Read more here.

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash