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.