Forbes: Ten Ways To Start Your Way Financial Independence This July 4

By SIMON CONSTABLE

As you grab a hotdog or two this July 4 it’s worth remembering that true freedom requires financial independence. Only a few of us are born with enough resources to make that happen, but there are steps you can take to get closer to it.

Read more here.

TheStreet: What Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis Means for Muni Investors

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- While the financial world focused on the Greek debt drama, a problem with even bigger potential consequences has been brewing in the Caribbean.

Puerto Rico can't pay its $72 billion of debts, the governor of the island warned Sunday, just two days before a budget deal needs to be approved by the territory's legislature. It could affect U.S. investors such as mutual fund holders and hedge funds, in a much larger manner than events in Greece.  Read more here.

Photo by Ana Toledo on Unsplash

Forbes: How I'm Saving The Cost Of An Apple Watch Or Fitbit Device

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The wearable revolution will be happening without me, at least for now. Or put another way, I will not be getting an Apple Watch or a Fitbit device anytime soon. For the time being, I will rely on feline assistance.

Read more here.

TheStreet: Millennials Leading Charge Into Foreign Stocks and You Should Follow

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) Americans are increasingly investing in foreign stocks, and millennials are leading the way.

The generation born from 1980 to 2000, whose estimated population of 92 million makes it the biggest in U.S. history, consistently invested more in international stocks than any other age group from 2005 to 2011, according to a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The gains occurred despite rising appetites overall for foreign investments. Read more here.

Karina Albers, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

TheStreet: Why Chasing Stock Returns Could Cost You $1.9 Million

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Chasing stock returns could be far more harmful to your portfolio than you ever imagined.

You might find yourself as much as $1.9 million worse off than if you had left your investments alone, based just on the relatively modest idea of investing the maximum in a 401(k) plan.

Read more here.

Forbes: J.Crew Even More J.Screwed

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse for J.Crew, it did.

Earlier this week I posted a column asking a question: Is J.Crew actually becoming J. Screwed? Read more here.

But that was before one of the company’s executives reportedly hit a new low and dragged its image even further down. The New York Post reports:

Read more here.

TheStreet: Will 'Obamatrade' Kill Another 1 Million Factory Jobs?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Trans Pacific Partnership, or Obamatrade as it's known to opponents, might be bad news for America's beleaguered manufacturing workers. That is, if it ever gets approved. 

It's hard to come to any other conclusion after reading a recent working paper from the Federal Reserve that studied the effects of liberalizing trade with China in the past decade. The authors conclude that the U.S. lost 1 million factory jobs in just eight years through 2007. 

The Trans Pacific Partnership could mean more of the same. By far the likeliest outcome will be "another trade-related disaster for U.S. domestic manufacturing," says Alan Tonelson, an international trade and manufacturing expert with more than three decades in the field.

Read more here.