GM's Marketing Ploy a Success!

Ah...summer. Hot, humid days, outdoor cookouts, swimming pools and...new cars? If you've been watching TV lately, you may have noticed car commercials that offer a great rate on their models: you get the same discount that the employees do. Its a creative tactic and apparently its working. GM has increased their sales 41% last month. Chrysler and Ford have followed suit (even after Ford initially declined to copycat. I guess the numbers that GM put up convinced Ford to change its strategy) . Apparently feeling like an employee of a major car company is what the American public wanted? These are some serious discounts: A Ford Explorer normally goes for $32,895 but with the dicount it costs $28,739 (still too rich for my blood). Read the articles here and here.

Google: What an amazing company!

"If only I'd bought," you might think to yourself. Well, that's what I'm thinking. Google just keeps going up and this article from the Economist might have an explanation as to why this company's stock keeps rocketing higher. Right now, Google is worth over $80 billion dollars. More than Yahoo!, Ebay, Amazon, or even "brick and mortar" companies like Time Warner. And as long as the price keeps going up, and as the article alludes to, more and more innovations are made public, Google will be valued higher and higher.

Summer Sunshine: What the FDA doesn't want you to know

John Stossel wrote a great article here about Mexoryl, a sunblock ingredient that helps block UVA rays. Most of the world uses this ingredient, coupled with others to effectively block out all harmful effects of sunlight. But the FDA has refused to approve it. It has even refused to explain why it isn't approving it for public use. So Americans can just get more wrinkly, I guess.

Everything an MBA should know

QuickMBA is a great site that allows anyone to see the typical topics and subjects that are covered in major MBA programs across the country. What it does is break the classes out into what is expected of the students to know after they have paid thousands of dollars for the class and taken the tests. If you don't want to make that kind of comittment, I suggest you check it out and even bookmark the site.

A friend of mine from my most recent MBA class directed me to this site when we realized the teacher wasn't actually going to teach us anything. I used the site to peruse the subject matter and it helped with getting a grasp on the material, as well as figure out what we should have been learning.

Cashtalk will add the site to the list of links on the right side. Make sure you look at it and if you have any questions about the topics, I've almost got my MBA, so feel free to ask!

A Comprehensive Survey of the Worldwide Housing Market

The Economist, two weeks ago, published a fairly comprehensive survey of the world housing market. They believe that for the most part the "bubble" has peaked. What I find staggering is the amount of equity they estimate could be affected (in the trillions). They say that this is the largest "bubble" in history and is being caused by low interest rates, distrust of stocks as an investment tool (and therefore people tend to look at houses as an investment rather than a place to live) and the use of second-mortgages or home equity loans to fuel consumer spending.

This is one of the better written historical and predictive surveys I've seen on the topic. If you haven't really understood the implications about all the talk around the housing bubble, this would be a good place to catch up, as well as read about potential future scenarios. Check it out and let us know what you think. (I've posted the article in the comments section).

A Wake Up Call from the Fool

Ah, retirement. For most of us, it seems to be a long way off, for others it is right around the corner. Some of us think about it and plan for it (as we should) and others just hope the dice land with favorable numbers.

The Motley Fool has an article with some pretty surprising numbers about how many people in the US are not planning for retirement, even though they have access to 401(k) plans or IRAs. The article points out that you will need $1 million dollars by the time you are ready to retire, in order to cover your living costs and other expensive needs (medical coverage, anyone?).

I contribute the maximum amount to my 403(b) (I work for a non-profit company) and am preparing to invest additional after-tax money in a Roth IRA. My goal is to have around $1.5 million by the time I retire in order to take care of myself and my family (selfish reasons) and to be less of a burden on society (unselfish reasons). I hope the rest of you are just as "foolish."