Saturday, May 8, 2010

“The week's 10 best Personal Finance stories - Investors Business Daily” plus 2 more

“The week's 10 best Personal Finance stories - Investors Business Daily” plus 2 more

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

The week's 10 best Personal Finance stories - Investors Business Daily

Posted: 08 May 2010 05:00 AM PDT

In case you missed them, here are the top 10 Personal Finance stories from MarketWatch for the week of May 3-7:

What you should do about the market's selloff

The stock market's gyrations over the past few days look a lot like the turmoil seen in 2008 and early 2009, and no one wants to suffer that again.See Jonathan Burton's Life Savings.

Changing economy poses challenges for job seekers

A surprisingly strong April jobs report points to a labor market on the mend, but for 15.3 million unemployed Americans it will take a long time yet to overcome the steep job losses resulting from the Great Recession and longer-term changes to the labor market.See story on changing economy poses challenges for job seekers.

Don't fall victim to a lying home seller

Buyers beware: In a tough real estate market, it's tempting for sellers to stretch the truth or lie by omission on their disclosures, and cover up minor -- but material -- problems with a home in order to close the deal. See Amy Hoak's Home Economics.

Some headache cures may make the pain worse

Got a headache? If so, Consumer Reports dares to ask whether you're accidentally causing yourself more pain by overtreating your symptoms with common pain relievers.See Vital Signs.

Workers should expect no privacy with office email

Securities and Exchange Commission workers whiled away the hours looking at porn on the Internet. A California police officer used his work-provided pager to send sexually explicit notes.See Careers.

Annuities may be coming to a retirement plan near you

Some folks want 'em. Some don't. That's the upshot of the 600-plus letters the U.S. Labor and Treasury Departments received in response to a request for information about including income annuities as a pay-out option for 401(k) plans. But there's clearly no consensus on what is certain to become a political hot potato.See Robert Powell.

Get comfortable with retirement investing

You're in your 50s. You've saved a little for retirement, but not nearly enough given all the college bills you have and the cost of everyday, not even extravagant, living. Should you swing for the fences or create a safety net?See Robert Powell's Your Portfolio.

The best investment money can buy: mutual-fund stocks

Maybe mutual-fund companies are right: The best thing you can do as an investor is put your money with them. Except rather than invest in their funds, the smartest decision over the past 25 years would have been to buy their stock.See Mutual Understanding.

A death sentence for your retirement savings

Many investors have become completely frozen by disappointment and circumstance. They're giving up on IRAs, 401(k)s and other tax-advantaged accounts. But doing nothing is no solution. See Chuck Jaffe.

How to tell whether your mutual fund is doing a good job

When mutual-fund investors think about who's responsible for the performance -- or underperformance -- of their shares, they usually tag the fund manager.See Mutual Understanding.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

We're flunking personal finance - Washington Post

Posted: 07 May 2010 11:02 PM PDT

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison surveyed K-12 educators, and, not surprisingly -- or at least it wasn't a shocker for me -- most instructors don't think they are suitably trained to teach their students the basics of personal finance. The study, "Teachers' Background & Capacity to Teach Personal Finance," was funded by the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE).

The teachers were asked to assess their instructional competency in six personal finance areas: income and careers; planning and money management; credit and debt; financial responsibility and decision-making; saving and investing; and risk management and insurance.

Less than 20 percent of the surveyed educators felt they were "very competent" in any of the six areas. No wonder: Barely one-third of them had taken a college course that included personal finance content, the researchers found.

"This study reinforces the need to incorporate personal money management topics into educational opportunities for teachers, whether in undergraduate or graduate curricula for students studying to become teachers, or as postgraduate or in-service courses or workshops," says Ted Beck, president and chief executive of NEFE. "We have an opportunity to dramatically affect the quality of K-12 financial education by providing teachers with the subject matter expertise they need throughout their careers."

Increasingly, states are pushing economic education. The number of states that require students to take a personal finance course, or instruction as part of an economics class, increased to 13 in 2009 from seven in 2007, according to the Council for Economic Education. Although states are setting up financial education guidelines, an overwhelming majority of teachers who participated in the NEFE survey said they didn't feel qualified to offer instruction at the level of the standard set by their states, the researchers said.

The survey is being used to show that if we teach the teachers, we have a better chance of educating our children about personal finance.

This is a worthy goal. It's vital that we teach children to be better stewards of their money. If we do, they will become better money managers as adults.

In fact, I agree with many financial literacy advocates that a core part of any curriculum for grades K-12 should include mandatory financial literacy classes. And you didn't misread that. I do mean from kindergarten to 12th grade. A 5-year-old who can beg for a Happy Meal at McDonald's and then whine and cry when he doesn't get one is more than ready to be schooled in the economics of eating out.

College students shouldn't be handed a degree without having taken personal finance classes -- and yes, they should take more than one. For example, graduates should know how to create a budget based on their expected salary.

Because of the recession, we have a keener understanding that many folks lack the decision making training to make good financial choices. We may not be able to teach people common sense, but we can do a better job of teaching basic money management, such as not spending more than 36 percent of your net monthly pay on housing.

"Teachers are pivotal to the success of financial education efforts," researchers Wendy L. Way and Karen Holden wrote in the NEFE report.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Harrods sold to Qatar Trust for $2.2 billion - MENAFN

Posted: 08 May 2010 09:53 AM PDT

Harrods sold for $2.2 billion to Qatar Holding

By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch

Last Update: 1:03 PM ET May 8, 2010

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Retail baron Mohamed Al Fayed has agreed to sell iconic London department store Harrods Ltd. to Qatar Holding for roughly $2.2 billion, according to statements on Saturday.

Both parties announced the transaction in separate statements, without releasing a purchase price. People familiar with the deal said Qatar Holding paid $2.2 billion, according to reports.

Qatar Holding, the investment arm of Qatar's royal family, becomes the fifth owner of Harrods after it first opened its doors in 1840.

Lazard International said Fayed, 77, father of Dodi Fayed, killed in the 1997 car crash that took the life of Princess Diana, served as chairman for 25 years.

"Mohamed Al Fayed has decided to retire and to spend more time with his children and grand-children," Lazard International Chairman Ken Costa said in a statement. "He has built Harrods into a unique luxury brand with worldwide recognition."

Fayed wished to ensure that the legacy and traditions that he has built up in Harrods would be continued, and that the team that he has built up would be encouraged to develop the foundations that he has laid, Costa said.

"Qatar Holding was specifically chosen by (Qatar) Trust as they had both the vision and financial capacity to support the long term successful growth of Harrods," Costa said. "Of paramount importance to Mohamed Al Fayed was to ensure that the Harrods staff would find in QH an owner who would be supportive of their efforts to maintain the traditions of Harrods."

Fayed will become the honorary chairman of Harrods.

Qatar Trust owns stakes in Canary Wharf estate in London, U.K. supermarket owner J Sainsbury PLC and brokerage and banking giant Barclays PLC. It's a large shareholder in the London Stock Exchange and Volkswagen AG.
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