U.S. News: 9 Things to Know About Investing in a Mutual Fund

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Once in a while, the markets deliver a timely reminder that not all investments are created equal. We just got one – and right in time for the holidays. 

Third Avenue Management's Focused Credit Fund recently announced it would stop investors from cashing in their holdings. The reason was to facilitate the orderly liquidation of the fund's holdings of speculative-grade fixed income securities, also known as junk bonds. To do otherwise would have meant a fire sale. 

Should investors have been surprised that they couldn't get their money when they wanted it? Maybe, maybe not. It is rather unusual for a mutual fund to do such a thing. That said, investors need to do their research before committing their hard-earned funds to any mutual fund. 

Read more here.

Barron's: Commodities’ Big Hurdle: The Strong Greenback

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The strength of the dollar will give no reprieve next year to already pummeled commodities markets.

Any rallies for crude oil, steel, coal, copper, and other base metals will be muted as the buck heads higher against most major currencies in 2016. It will do so because, while the U.S. economy isn’t exactly strong, it’s in a lot better shape than other key economies.

All major commodities are priced in greenbacks. So when the dollar strengthens, their prices fall if nothing else has changed. Put another way, if the dollar rallies 10%, then it buys 10% more materials than it did previously. As the U.S. dollar climbed 9.9% over the past year against a trade-weighted index of major currencies, prices of diesel fuel, natural gas, and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil slid 40%, 39%, and 34%, respectively. Read more here.

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Forbes: How To Be The Worst Boss Possible -- Part 7

By SIMON CONSTABLE 
The Horse’s Behind

Episode seven of a continuing series, which outlines how you too can be an appalling manager. Read part six here.

Last week I received an email from someone I work with now and then. The sender said that he and his friends had some personal experience of “worst bosses.”

I’m always curious to hear about others’ experiences, so we arranged to chat on the phone. The conversation was to be on condition of anonymity.

When we spoke I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I quickly learned that the man and his buddies had been subjected to a whole level of abuse that was beyond what most bosses could imagine. 

Read more here.

U.S. News: Will 2016 Be a Good Year for Stocks?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Will 2016 be good for stocks? It's more than likely the market will do well, if you believe the so-called "presidential stock cycle" theory will continue to hold. But that's the rub – because while history shows the odds will be in your favor if you follow it, it doesn't always work.

Since 1946, the stock market has risen 76 percent of the time in the final year of a president's four-year term, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index rallying 6.1 percent on average, according to an analysis provided by S&P Capital IQ to U.S. News & World Report. Read more here.

TheStreet: 5 Gifts Almost as Good as Cash -- And Way More Thoughtful

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It's that holiday time again, when many of us rush out at the proverbial last minute to buy gifts for friends and family. 

Or we opt for a simpler alternative that involves no crowded stores or long checkout lines: Cash.

Unfortunately, that doesn't go over well with everyone: Cash gifts have been criticized as showing a lack of both imagination and care. Money-themed gifts, however, are a different matter: Here are five that will suit budgets from small to large. Read more here.

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Forbes: Bukowski's 'On Cats'

By SIMON CONSTABLE

I’ve long held that real men love cats. Why? Because real men don’t need to own a butch dog to prove their masculinity. Because real men know that cats are as choosy as they are. Because real men appreciate that cats are all born engineers who will assist you by quickly highlighting the many structural short comings in your home. The fact that author Charles Bukowski loved them also only helps solidify my view.

Ecco just published a compilation of Bukowski’s poems and other writings titled On Cats. It is edited by Abel Debritto who also put together On Writing, which I reviewed earlier this year.

Read more here.

WSJ: Socially Responsible Gifts Are Great—Primarily for the Givers

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Those shopping for socially responsible gifts this holiday season, be forewarned: A recent study suggests they have the potential to disappoint.

The reason, succinctly put: A fair-trade fruitcake is still just a fruitcake.

In fact, socially responsible gifts are appreciated much more by the givers than the receivers, concluded the authors of a study recently published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Read more here.

Photo by Photo Boards on Unsplash