Evaluating Bank Services

                  

The media has been reporting that Americans are avoiding bank account fees, in order to save on transaction fees which banks have been imposing to offset costs that have arisen, thanks to added government regulations.

                       

And, the use of newly implemented financial instruments, such as pre-paid debit cards and small loans, entail fees that often are greater than those in the past charged by banks.

                       

Another instance of the public attempt to evaluate simple dollar and cents everyday financial options. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Signatures Collecting

                  

I would like to comment on autograph collections and manuscripts that show famous signatures.

                       

Content is a factor. Letters and manuscripts are worth more than signed photographs.

                       

And, apart from all-important rarity, originality is essential. You must be certain the signature is genuine, that it’s signed by the famous person and not a secretary, or underling or by a machine.

                       

In this regard, provenance is a factor. How did the signature come about and can the source be trusted for proof of being genuine? (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Price Tags to Assist Art Collecting?

                    

I have written extensively on the subject of original prints. Too many would-be art devotees have no clue of the value of art, or what may constitute value in art. They certainly have no idea that original art, by definition, can come in multiple copies.

                       

As a result, they buy their art by price tag. The more expensive the item, the higher the value the collector will impute to them. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Investing With a Yield Curve

One of the strategies sometimes suggested in the financial media is the “yield curve.” This has to do with the difference in yields of the different maturities of U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds.

                       

There is usually a normal difference in return, depending on years to maturity of the security. But this can change, depending on economic conditions and influences, including fiscal activity of the Treasury and monetary action by the Federal Reserve,

                       

But playing yield differences is a timing, short-term exercise which is tough enough for pros to succeed at. Especially with current Fed policy. It’s best that average investors forget about this strategy.(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

The Past AIG Panic

                     

Human error was instrumental in the financial meltdown of 2008/2009,and various bubbles that we have had in the past.

                       

In each case, there has been finger-pointing, usually by anti-business politicians and by bureaucrats whose immediate impulse is to blame big business and bankers; the usual scapegoats. That is their litany of criminalization.

                       

I have always blamed human error. Whether it be loose monetary policy of the Federal Reserve, in inflating currency, or inappropriate accounting rules for normal securities market situations, actions that hasten the ruin of investment liquidity.

                       

In the case of AIG, the value of its derivative insurance coverage was also being determined on the basis of fictitious existing market value. This time, not on possible claims in the future, at the maturing of company obligations, but at supposed current valuations.

                       

That produced a condition that induced premature bankruptcy, in a panic venue; a rush to judgment when cool heads and hands ought to have been the hallmarks of expertise. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Credit Default Swaps

                 

Just a few years ago CDS, or credit default swaps, were considered by some politicians to be the cause of the financial meltdown 0f 2008-09..

                       

Politicos conveniently forgot the real cause of the financial meltdown, which would have pointed to much of their past political activity. That financial debacle owed much more to Washington antics and influence than it did to Wall Street.

                       

Credit Default Swaps are needed in a burgeoning market by a number of industries, particularly big banks.(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)

Treasury TIPS and I-Bonds

                   

I have been saying for years; TIPS and I-Bonds are not a panacea to avoid inflation risks of the market place, one of many varieties of risk that beset the investor.

                       

You get the secure return that the U.S. Treasury provides and an inflation cover. But you can get risk mitigation with ordinary corporate bonds provided you use the wise principle of “duration” I describe in my writing, And with diversification, using low-cost mutual funds.

                       

Risk avoidance does not mean an avoidance of secure wealth accumulation over the years.(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)