If you have funds to invest, you may just hand them over to your financial planner or wealth manager and say, “Just make sure my money is diversified.” But then she puts that into hundreds of stocks, some of which may represent companies with practices you don’t love. Have you looked at what specific stocks you’re in? When your money goes into those, you support those companies. Maybe some of those are companies that are known for using unfair labor practices, or polluting the environment, or ignoring countless sexual harassment allegations on the part of their employees. You can give your financial planner parameters so that she does not put your money in the stocks of certain unethical companies.
Singles spend more than their married friends, earning a higher income with fewer responsibilities.
(Smart Money) — Faced with sluggish consumer spending, some online retailers have taken a new approach to “the customer is always right.” They’re letting shoppers dictate which items make it into the inventory, and even which go on sale. Read More…
(Smart Money) — So much for the new era of frugality. Consumers opted to save more money in the middle of the Great Recession, but during the past few months, they’ve started to reopen their wallets, albeit slowly, to buy clothing, Caribbean cruises and nearly everything in between. “People who have a job are spending,” says […]
(New York Times) — Toyota said Wednesday it roared to a net profit of 190.4 billion yen, or $2.2. billion, in the April-June quarter, as sales in emerging markets and aggressive cost-cutting offset a strong Japanese currency and the lingering effects of recalls on North American and European sales. Read More…
(Businessweek) — MasterCard Inc., the world’s second- biggest payments network, posted a 31 percent increase in second-quarter profit that exceeded most Wall Street estimates as more consumers paid with plastic. Net income rose to $458 million, or $3.49 per diluted share, compared with $349.1 million, or $2.67, a year earlier, the Purchase, New York-based company said […]