A Wealth of Common Sense

NOVEMBER 19, 2023

The S&P 500 last hit a new all-time high on January 3, 2022. The market has been slowly but surely working its way back to new highs but we’ve been underwater for nearly two years now: The market is within spitting distance of new highs but stocks have gone nowhere for almost two years. We’re a little less than four years into the 2020s and half of those years have seen no new highs but there have already.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

Image source: Getty Images If you've had your eye on buying a house lately, you've likely felt the sting of opening the Zillow app and finding suboptimal homes for sale at suborbital prices. You can thank both the pandemic-fueled home-buying frenzy and soaring mortgage interest rates for the sticker shock. The average selling price for a home has jumped 27.7% over the past three years.

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Private Equity Info

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

The best indicator of a private equity firm’s interest in a specific industry is that they've already made a similar investment.

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Private Equity Insights

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Blackstone Inc. is the frontrunner to win a roughly $17bn portfolio of commercial-property loans from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s sale of Signature Bank debt, according to people familiar with the matter. Regulators seized the failed bank in March and have been marketing loans backed by retail, industrial, office and apartment buildings. FDIC officials are now in final discussions to declare Blackstone’s bid as bringing the lowest costs to the agency, some of the people said.

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PE Hub

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

BMI is a performing rights organization based in New York. The post New Mountain Capital to buy majority stake in Broadcast Music appeared first on PE Hub.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Image source: Getty Images Many people are in the habit of using payment platforms like Venmo for personal or small business use. These platforms make it easy for independent contractors and individuals to get paid. The IRS wants to crack down on third-party payment reporting and was initially planning to require these platforms to issue a 1099 form to anyone who received more than $600 in payments in 2023.

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The Big Picture

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

We spend way too much time trying to predict the future (especially this time of year). Rather than engage in futility, let’s look at the coincident indexes in all 50 states over the past 3 months, via the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (October 2023). Note: I have been occasionally eyeballing this map since 2008 , and it does a good job of showing the overall trend of the economy (on an obvious lag).

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Banks 141

PE Hub

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

The seller was CORE Industrial Partners. The post SK Capital completes J&K Ingredients buyout appeared first on PE Hub.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Shares of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) gave up 1.5% of their value on Tuesday, but are getting all those losses back -- and more -- on Wednesday morning, rising 2.1% through 10:45 a.m. ET. The e-commerce giant initially stumbled on reports that company founder Jeff Bezos had gifted some 1.6 million Amazon shares (worth nearly $240 million) to charity, and might be preparing to sell between 8 million and 10 million more shares in the near future -- more than $1 billion in stock sales.

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A Wealth of Common Sense

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

I’ve been writing about how demographics are destiny in the housing market for nearly a decade (see here, here and here). This has mainly been from the perspective of millennials because that’s my demographic. Following the Great Financial Crisis, many pundits assumed millennials would never settle down, own a home or buy a car. They would simply live in a big city and eschew the typical path to the suburbs.

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Private Equity Insights

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Prima Assicurazioni, an insurance start-up backed by some of the world’s largest private equity firms, is seeking indicative offers this week to bring in a new minority investor and raise fresh cash, two people close to the matter told Reuters. A deal could value Prima Assicurazioni, which sells online motor and home insurance policies supplied by third parties, at around 1bn euros ($1.1bn), one of the people said.

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PE Hub

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

The business provides liquid meters, integrated load management metering systems and related digital services. The post OEP to carve-out TechnipFMC’s Measurement Solutions biz appeared first on PE Hub.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Once a rising star among Alibaba's (NYSE: BABA) diversified businesses, Alibaba Cloud has fallen from grace lately, with revenue growth coming to a halt. And just when investors hoped that a complete spin-off of Alibaba Cloud from the group would rekindle growth and unlock shareholder value, the parent company's recent decision to cancel the spin-off further confused investors.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

It's a little-known fact that Social Security benefits can end up being subject to income taxes. At the federal level, it doesn't even take that much income before at least a small portion of your benefits gets taxed, and there are some states that look to get into the revenue collection game with Social Security as well. However, as much as it might seem like a massive problem to live in a state that taxes Social Security benefits, it's often much less of a problem than you'd think.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

When Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) CEO Warren Buffett weighs in on stocks or the U.S. economy, investors tend to pay close attention. That's because the Oracle of Omaha has a phenomenal investment track record. Since becoming CEO in the mid-1960s, he's led his company's Class A shares to an annualized return of 19.8% (as of Dec. 31, 2022), which is double the 9.9% annualized total return, including dividends, generated by the benchmark S&P 500 over the same timeline.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

In Q3, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) sold $7 billion worth of public equity holdings , including its entire stake in United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS). Let's look at how meaningful the sale was to Berkshire, its exposure to the transportation industry, and whether you should follow Berkshire's lead and sell the dividend stock too. Image source: Getty Images.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Image source: Getty Images If you could win thousands of dollars for keeping your cash in the bank , would you save more? That's the question that credit unions and fintech firms alike are asking. And for many Americans, the answer appears to be a resounding "Yes!" Prize-linked savings accounts, which offer a cash lottery just for depositing your money, are on the rise.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

After some shuffling of its business in the last couple of years, small IoT (Internet of Things) chip stock Semtech (NASDAQ: SMTC) has fully completed a boom-to-bust cycle. After nearly doubling in value from 2020 to late 2021, Semtech stock is now down more than 80% from those late 2021 all-time-highs and remains near multi-decade lows. Management is predicting sales to remain relatively stable in the next quarter, but profit margins to dip further as global economic worry mounts.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Healthcare tends to be a major expense for seniors. And paying for it without stress often hinges on having the right Medicare coverage in place. If you're not so happy with your current Medicare coverage, you're in luck. Right now, the program's annual open enrollment period is underway. During this time, you can switch from one Part D drug plan to another or swap an existing Medicare Advantage plan for a new one that may offer better benefits or be more cost-effective.

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Accounting 246

The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been in red-hot form on the stock market in 2023. Shares of the semiconductor giant have more than tripled so far with eye-popping gains of 237%, which has taken its market cap well beyond the $1 trillion mark. Nvidia currently has a market cap of $1.2 trillion, up from just over $350 billion at the beginning of the year. This massive surge is a result of the terrific acceleration in the company's growth recently thanks to its dominant position in the artificial intelli

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

For the average American, Social Security will be a vital income source during retirement. More than 20 years of annual surveys from national pollster Gallup show that no fewer than 80% of respondents in a given year have relied on their Social Security benefits as a "major" or "minor" source of income. It's a pretty similar story for future generations of retirees.

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Accounting 246

The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

If you have a high income, you may feel the new $23,000 limit on 401(k) contributions and $7,000 limit on IRAs in 2024 isn't enough. Well, you may be in luck. A little-known hack could allow you to save up to $46,000 more in a tax-advantaged retirement account in 2024. It's called the mega backdoor Roth. Read on to learn how you can access this colossal retirement option and what it can do to supercharge your savings.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

Many investors have lost interest in Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) since the pandemic faded, and I doubt many consider it a worthwhile artificial intelligence (AI) stock today. But Cathie Wood's Ark Invest remains very bullish. The firm has 4.6% of its invested assets in Zoom, and the stock is the sixth-largest holding across its portfolio of innovation-focused index funds.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

There's no shortage of investing strategies to build wealth on Wall Street. However, few have been as successful as buying and holding high-quality dividend stocks. The beauty of income stocks is that they're time-tested and almost universally profitable on a recurring basis. These are businesses that have proven to investors that they have the tools and intangibles to successfully navigate choppy waters.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Cryptocurrencies have surged over the past decade, with the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum , the two most successful digital currencies, soaring 67,000% and 13,000%, respectively. However, investors have cooled on crypto in recent years, discouraged by its tendency to rise or fall in the blink of an eye. The biggest advantage of cryptocurrency is its decentralized nature, making it far easier to exchange and trade between countries than traditional currencies.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

The holidays are officially upon us. If you're anything like me, that usually means spending more money than usual. After all that spending, if you have some extra cash left over, I've got three stocks that could be valuable additions to portfolios. As a disclaimer, I am in a wealth accumulation phase of my investing life. This means that I have a greater appetite for risk in pursuit of portfolio growth, and I don't focus as much on less risky assets like bonds or value stocks that are better fo

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

You've certainly heard its praises. Indeed, the 401(k) retirement account has been hailed as a game-changer since its inception over 40 years ago, establishing an effective means of saving for retirement once pension plans were no longer up to the task. Such employer-sponsored plans aren't necessarily your best first choice for building a retirement fund, however.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) has been a leader in the hydrogen energy business for years, but it hasn't gotten nearly the attention of some of its more vocal rivals. Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) , in particular, was a market darling at a time when Bloom could barely get investors' attention. That has changed recently as Bloom Energy slowly but surely grows revenue and gets closer to profitability.

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Investors Companies Returns Investing 246

The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

The cybersecurity industry is quickly growing in both importance and value as businesses face advanced threats in an increasingly online planet. Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is one of the world's leading providers of protection. In a recent presentation to investors, Palo Alto said financially motivated ransomware attacks are up 37% this year compared to 2022.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

The stock market has been in turnaround mode in 2023 after the severe beating it took last year, on account of rising inflation and the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes to control it, and this is evident from the 18% jump in the S&P 500 index. Some market watchers believe that the S&P 500 is in a bull market phase now (others contend a bull market doesn't start until the S&P 500 also hits a new all-time high).

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

The cryptocurrency commonly known as Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP) is down by more than 10% over the last week. Trading at $0.58 per token, XRP also stands far below the short-lived peaks near $2 in 2021 and $3 in 2018. So Ripple's crypto winter is still in full force, despite positive developments in the cryptocurrency's long-running courtroom drama and a general thawing of the broader crypto market's chill.

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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Banks Prospects Assets 246

The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) posted its latest earnings report on Nov. 20. For the third quarter of fiscal 2024, which ended on Oct. 31, the video conferencing company's revenue rose 3% year over year to $1.14 billion and exceeded analysts' expectations by $20 million. Its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) grew 21% to $1.29 and cleared the consensus forecast by $0.21.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Agriculture and construction equipment maker Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) reported its fiscal 2023 fourth-quarter results Wednesday morning, and the stock plunged. As of 11:40 a.m. ET, it was down by about 5%, making it one of the leading losers in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index for the session. Notably, the company handily beat earnings estimates for the quarter, which ended Oct. 29.

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Investors Companies Returns Investing 246

The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Millions of seniors today collect a monthly benefit from Social Security. And without those benefits, a lot of older Americans would no doubt be plunged into poverty in the absence of having savings. It's for this reason that it's so important to file for Social Security strategically. The filing age you land on will help determine how much monthly income you get from Social Security on a lifetime basis.

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