Enron chief accountant expected to plead guilty - report - Forbes.com

Well you knew someone would talk (first mover advantage--LOL)..From Forbes:Enron chief accountant expected to plead guilty - report - Forbes.com: "he former chief accountant at Enron Corp is expected to plead guilty to one or more criminal charges related to the collapse of the energy company, the Wall Street Journal reported.In its online edition, the newspaper cited sources familiar with the

Text book prices too high? Hope is either here or coming soon!

Just had another of those "The World is Flat" moments. I started working on my syllabi for the spring semester today and while cleaning off my desk I found an advertisement for FreeLoadPress. Have you heard of them? It is a very cool idea. I have not used their books, but am very tempted.The basic idea is that they offer text books for free or next to free in return for sponsorship. For

USATODAY.com - More funds lower fees after scandal in 2003

YEAH!!! Fees and expenses eat away large portions of your "nest egg" over the long haul, so every cut is a good thing!

USATODAY.com - More funds lower fees after scandal in 2003: "Fund-tracker Lipper says 2,830 funds reduced their management fees in 2004, compared with 622 that did so in 2003.

Those fee reductions were not one-time cuts but contractual agreements with the funds' investment

USATODAY.com - Pension funds pin target on CEO pay

USATODAY.com - Pension funds pin target on CEO pay: "Runaway CEO pay, a longtime pet peeve of shareholder activists and corporate governance experts, is about to take center stage in Washington, D.C.At least that's the hope of 10 pension funds from the USA, Canada and Europe. In a confidential letter sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 30, representatives of the funds, which

What's the Return on Education? - New York Times

Want to include education in the "market portfolio"? It is not as easy as you would hope!

What's the Return on Education? - New York Times: "Economists have tried for decades to quantify the impact of education. They still don't have all the answers, but their work can shed some light on what Americans are getting for their investment."

Thought provoking article!

Taking a View: Corporate Speculation, Governance and Compensation by Christopher Geczy, Bernadette Minton, Catherine Schrand

SSRN-Taking a View: Corporate Speculation, Governance and CompensationYou know the standard class spiel:"... identify your core business exposure, then find ways to hedge it by taking a derivatives position that moves in the opposite direction. In this way derivatives are not bets on market movements, but as an insurance policy against things outside the firm's control (i.e. macro risk factors."

Dilbert Comic Strip Archive - Dilbert.com - The Official Dilbert Website by Scott Adams - Dilbert, Dogbert and Coworkers!

Yesterday's Dilbert comic strip acknowledges the importance of incentives and brings up the question of whether we should rewrite underwater options.

Which just happens to be a topic we will be covering this Friday in class.

The Bonds That Fight the Monster Called Inflation - New York Times

Another interesting article NY Times article that is useful for introductory investment (or money and banking) classes.The Bonds That Fight the Monster Called Inflation - New York Times: "The I Bonds offer a two-part interest-rate mechanism. The first is a fixed rate for the life of the bond. That rate is now 1 percent, applying to all I Bonds issued in the six months that started Nov. 1. The

Giving Yourself a Tax Cut on Investments - New York Times

The NY Times has several good tips on lowering tax bite on your investments. Giving Yourself a Tax Cut on Investments - New York Times: For instance:"Every year in late November or December, mutual funds distribute to their shareholders the gains they realized by selling stocks that year."and"So-called tax-efficient funds, which manage money with taxes in mind, are also considered a relatively

USATODAY.com - 'Consensus estimate' may be from one analyst

USA Today ran an interesting look at analyst coverage. Many stocks have a surprisingly small analyst following.

USATODAY.com - 'Consensus estimate' may be from one analyst: "Currently, more than half the 8,416 public companies have no analyst coverage, says Ashwani Kaul, chief spokesman for Reuters Estimates. An additional 7% of publicly traded companies are covered by just one analyst.

Most

Wow has it been a while

I don't know whether to beg forgiveness or put up a white flag. It has so long. This semester has been very hard: much traveling, classes every day, plus helping to plan a large trip to the Gulf for the spring. But the semester is winding down, tonight's hotel has wireless internet, and I have had more than my share of planning for now, so I will turn my attention to finance. :)