TheStreet: Obamacare Actually Isn't All That Affordable -- Unless You're Broke

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It's time for the Affordable Care Act to join a long list of oxymorons. Why? Because rather like "military intelligence," "cat proof," "government organization," and "simple calculus," the law better known as Obamacare turns out to be an inherent contradiction. For a sizeable part of the population, anyway.

The ACA is just not affordable to a big chunk of those it was most meant to serve: The previously uninsured. In fact, many are worse off than before, according to a new study. That fact could also unravel part of the program's foundation, which could be a problem for healthcare insurers. 

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TheStreet: Why You'll Actually Be Richer When the Dollar is Worth Less

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The great thing about pain is that the moment it stops, you feel better. And the agony the strong dollarinflicted on stocks -- and consequently, your portfolio -- may soon be over.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against major world currencies, surged 22% from July 2014 through mid-March, according to data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. It stalled then, however, and has moved in a mostly sideways range since.

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TheStreet: 3 Reasons to Be Bullish on the U.S. Economy -- And 3 More Not to Be

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The state of the U.S. economy is almost Dickensian: It's the best of times and the worst of times. There are reasons to be bullish as well as reasons to be bearish.

First, the good news:

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OZY: The Fed And The Cost Of Your New Home

By SIMON CONSTABLE

For weeks we held our breath — at least those of us a little on the nerdy side did. And even if we weren’t quite so engrossed with the economy, we knew that the Federal Reserve’s decision on whether to raise interest rates was kind of important. After all, it hadn’t happened since Barry Bonds (remember him?) was still a big star.

Yep, economists, bankers and stockbrokers were in suspense over the Fed’s next step — and last week, we learned it was sitting pat. But if you’re about to click to another story, figuring this is a Wall Street type of thing, affecting only high finance, let us inform you that the news hits you right in the comfort of your own living room — namely, by impacting how much it’ll cost you to borrow money.

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WSJ: Financial Adviser or Financial Planner?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

What can you expect from a financial adviser? Is it different from what you’ll get from a financial planner?When it comes to financial advice, labels can be deceiving.

Some advisers might offer as much guidance as some planners—and in some cases both might provide less help than those titles imply. The important thing for investors is to look beyond the labels to see exactly what they are being offered. Read more here.

WSJ: Everybody Knows Men Take More Investing Risks Than Women. Is It True?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The conventional wisdom is that when it comes to investing, women take fewer risks than men. Julie Nelson, professor of economics at University of Massachusetts in Boston, says the conventional wisdom is wrong. 

Ms. Nelson recently published peer-reviewed research that concludes not only that the appetite of men and women for financial risk is largely the same, but that much of the earlier data suggesting there were such differences has been misinterpreted. Read more here.

Forbes: How the Fed Lost Its Cred.

By Simon Constable

The Federal Reserve bottled out Thursday when it decided not to raise the short term cost of borrowing money. It’s unfortunate, because the lack of action now removes any semblance of a fig leaf it could hide behind and still claim credibility.

“Clearly, the FED does not even think it knows what it is doing,” writes Woody Dorsey of Market Semiotics. That seems to sum it up in a nutshell. But let me breakdown some of the details of exactly  how the century old institution became a joke.

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