Forbes: 'Mantra' Your Way To Success

By SIMON CONSTABLE

 was once asked to consult to a large hospital where the head of nursing wanted to shake things up. Or at least that’s what she said. It quickly became clear that she wanted change, but didn’t want to do anything different. Whenever I suggested something different, it was immediately shot down, with “that’s not how we do things.” Needless to say the project didn’t go well for me.

Doing something different is hard for most people because it makes them uncomfortable. The same is true for me. That’s why it’s so hard, which bring me to a new book that may help some of us change our lives: Habit Changers: 81 Game-Changing Mantras to Mindfully Realize Your Goals by M.J. Ryan. It was published last month by Crown Business. Read more here.

Forbes Video: What Are the Biggest Wine Investing Mistakes?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If you are tired of investing in the same old standard of stocks and bonds, then you need to get educated.

For instance, should you buy cases of rare wine? It might be worth considering. But if you do so then you should avoid some of the more common missteps.

For instance, where should you store your wine? Or what happens when there is a natural disaster?

To get the skinny on the matter I spoke with wine expert and author of “How to Drink Like a Billionaire,” Mark Oldman, who elaborates on some of the things he maybe should have thought twice about. He talks with me in this video.

Photo by photo nic on Unsplash

Forbes Video: Is It Over For Gold?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Gold prices have been sliding recently, partially reversing the gains made over the last year.

The big question for many investors is whether the move means that the bull run is over? This is not a trivial question. Gold suffered a two-decade bear market from 1980 through 2000 where prices sank from $850 a troy ounce to a low of less than $300. The decade before that, 1970 to 1980 saw tremendous gains, from a low of $35 up to the then all-time high of $850.

So there it is; is the recent pullback a blip, or is it the harbinger of something bigger. Charlie Bilello, Director of Research at Pension Partners, explains his thoughts in this video.

U.S. News: 6 Ways Anyone Can Save Money

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Some people will tell you that saving money is just a waste of time, and that you'd be better off just earning more cash. But the truth for many is that pennies saved are worth far more than pennies earned.

For instance, in New York City, figure on your earned dollar being worth as little as 60 cents once you've paid city, state and federal taxes.

With that in mind here are some ways to put money back in your pocket, gathered from some of the world's top financial markets experts. Read more here.

Outside On The Street: Does More Money Mean More Adventure?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Jon Levy, author of The 2 AM Principal explains why traveling while strapped for cash might be just the thing that the doctor ordered.

Outside On The Street: Has the Fed Checked Into a Roach Motel?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Charlie Bilello, Director of Research at Pension Partners, explains his thoughts 

By U.S. Government [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Outside On The Street: Would You Drink Like A Billionaire If You Could?

BY SIMON CONSTABLE

How do the rich choose their wine? It's a great question, even if neither wine expert Mark Oldman, nor I, would dare to ask billionaire Peter Thiel.

Still, Oldman has lots to say about the matter of wine. And despite the open bottle down on Wall Street, we didn't get arrested.

Photo by Terry Vlisidis on Unsplash

WSJ: How a Blogger Started His Own ETF

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Like a Broadway critic deciding to write a play, a blogger who complained about fund fees decided to start an exchange-traded fund. He discovered that keeping expenses low isn’t as easy as it seems.

Eddy Elfenbein decided last year to launch a fund based on the stock picks from his more than decade-old Crossing Wall Street blog, written from Washington, D.C. Mr. Elfenbein recommends 20 stocks on his buy list and then sticks with them through the next 12 months. Each year, he changes just five of the holdings for the next year. Read more here.

WSJ: What Is ‘Tracking Error’ in Oil Funds?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Fund investors wanting to bet on a rebound in the oil market need to watch out for something called “tracking error.”

The issue is simple: Do the price changes in the fund you purchase closely track the changes in the commodity you are betting on? In the case of oil, those two things aren’t in sync, at least for two of the biggest exchange-traded products that offer exposure to the oil market. Read more here.

Oil Rig

Photo by Josh Redd on Unsplash

U.S. News: 7 Ways to Avoid Financial Stress Over the Holidays

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The holiday season will be upon us before we know it. With it will come the anxieties of a period that is typically associated with excess. When it gets to January you don’t want to be burdened with debts. And while you might not be able to remove all the stresses, you can do something about money worries. Here are some tips on how you can stay solvent and still enjoy the season:

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