Last night Becky and I had the pleasure of attending Babson’s Summer Reception in Newport. Hosted by Mary and Thomas Gilbane, Jr., it was an opportunity for the entire Babson community in Rhode Island to get together and speak with Babson’s new President Stephen Spinelli MBA ‘92. Spinelli as President makes this year for Babson—it’s 100th--even more special. As you may know, Babson has played a special role in our family with Becky’s dad Richard Young ’63 (a former trustee), brother Matthew Young ’92, Becky ’94, and me ’94 all graduates of the college. Seeing and hearing Spinelli … [Read more...]
Shouldn’t Your Money Be Treated Well?
If you choose to do business with a firm, shouldn't you be treated well? Fidelity has chosen to automatically sweep customers' cash into higher-yielding accounts, rather than stick it in low yielding bank accounts like most of the company's competitors. Advantages like this are why I do business with Fidelity. Earlier this month Fidelity explained its decision to offer its customers accounts that earn up to 47 times those of its competitors', writing: Customers Opening Brokerage & Retirement Accounts Automatically Directed to Higher Yielding Cash Options, While Retaining Choice … [Read more...]
America’s Workers Want Freedom. Why is Bernie Sanders Trying to Take it Away from Them?
In a stunning rout, autoworkers in Tennessee defeated a unionization push from the UAW. The heavily funded union bosses tried every trick in the book to scare workers into joining the union, but it wasn't enough. It turns out America's workers value their freedom. The National Right to Work Committee reports: Throughout their latest campaign, launched in early April, to secure monopoly-bargaining control over Volkswagen (VW) employees in Chattanooga, Tenn., United Auto Workers (UAW) union bosses enjoyed important structural advantages. Because they had ready access to a massive war chest … [Read more...]
Bernie Sanders’ Big Lie About Standing Up for Workers
Senator Bernie Sanders would have you believe he is a champion of workers' rights, but it turns out that's a big lie. The only thing Sanders seems interested in is the neverending flow of union political donations. Sanders has actually begun targeting workers' rights as part of his campaign, with a new barrage aimed at the right to work. If you're not familiar with right to work laws, they allow Americans to hold a job without having to pay to join a union they don't want to or pay for political speech they disagree with. This goes right to the heart of the First Amendment's assembly … [Read more...]
196,000 Millionaires Agree That This Is the Place to Keep Your 401(k)
At Fidelity, 196,000 401(k) accounts are worth at least $1 million. It turns out, I'm not the only one who likes working with Fidelity. In the past, I have written to you about my positive experience with Fidelity's services. You can read more about Fidelity here: Fidelity Investments: Why it’s #1 My Personal View on Fidelity Investments for You This Money Market Fund is Paying 47 Times More than its Competition Identity Fraud on the Rise: Here’s Fidelity’s Customer Protection Guarantee Now, Fox Business reports that the number of millionaires at Fidelity is rising. Ken Martin … [Read more...]
Can You Rely on the Experts to Protect Your Privacy?
Unfortunately, the short answer to my headline question is, no. You cannot rely on cybersecurity experts to protect your personal financial information, as evidenced by the numerous breaches of personal information at companies employing large staffs of such experts. Marriot, Equifax, J.P. Morgan, Yahoo (twice), and now Capital One, among many others, have all fallen prey to serious breaches of their customers' information. The Wall Street Journal reports of Capital One's recent breach: The cybersecurity unit—responsible for ensuring Capital One’s firewalls were properly configured and … [Read more...]
The Problem Plaguing California is About to Hit the Entire Country
In the Orange County Register, veteran California journalist and political analyst Dan Walters, examines the hard choice facing city officials in Sacramento, and state officials in California. The problem both governments have is their pensions. Despite problems with its pensions, Sacramento officials are already thinking up ways to spend money they haven't received from future taxes on things like "infrastructure, affordable housing, cultural amenities and incentives to attract new business," while ignoring the massive hole in the city's retirement funding. Walters writes: As they pore … [Read more...]
This is the Best Summer for Teenagers in Over 50 Years
The American summer unemployment rate for those between 16 and 24 is the lowest it has been since 1966. Sarah Chaney reports at The Wall Street Journal: In July, the largest percentage of young working Americans were in leisure-and-hospitality jobs, which includes restaurant work. A sizeable share of youth also worked in retail. Employers like fast-casual chain Mooyah, based in Plano, Texas, are eager to snatch up workers. Tony Darden, the franchised burger chain’s chief operating officer, said there are fewer teens filling out applications as they opt to pursue education and competitive … [Read more...]
You’re Seeing the Democratic Party’s Elimination of Excellence through Equality
You never know where you’ll find your next piece of intelligence. It’s like walking along a beach and coming across a well-worn piece of purple sea glass. It’s one of life’s little treasures. Inference reading—reading as much as you possibly can about anything and everything—is a lot like that. Which is how I found myself thinking about the direction of the Democratic Party and ‘democracy’ after reading one of my son’s summer reading books. In The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Uncle Screwtape works for the devil. In letters to his nephew Wormwood, he writes about turning … [Read more...]
The World Just Got Serious About Regulating Cryptocurrencies
For years anonymous crypto-currencies have been criminals' favorite method of hiding and laundering their money. That could all be about to end. Mike Orcutt explains at the MIT Technology Review that the Financial Action Task Force, a global standard-setting group, has put cryptocurrencies in its crosshairs. The group wants to clamp down on cryptocurrencies being used as a way to launder money. Orcutt reports: One of the biggest knocks against cryptocurrency has always been its status as a refuge for tech-savvy criminals. Even as some bigger players—particularly exchanges that handle many … [Read more...]