| Hello Again to a Top-Notch Fund
Looking for a good small-company fund can be frustrating. The best tend to shut their doors rather than contend with more cash than they can invest easily. Chuck Akre, manager of FBR Small Cap, faced just such a situation in 2004. After a fabulous four-year run that produced annualized returns of 27%, the fund's assets had swelled to more than $1 billion. Saddled with $350 million in cash and no ready places to invest it, he put out the No Vacancy sign. Now that cash is down to about 8% of the fund's assets, FBR has reopened its doors, giving investors a rare second shot at a top-performing small-company fund. Among funds that invest mainly in fast-growing small companies, FBR ranked in the top 10% four times in the past six years, and it's a top performer over the past year. Over the past ten years to February 1, the fund (symbol FBRVX; 888-888-0025) returned 18% annualized, beating its peers by an average of ten percentage points per year.
Funding an IRA Rollover with a Fixed Index Annuity (FIA)
I was once asked why I would recommend putting a tax shelter inside of a tax shelter when I recommended a Fixed Index Annuity (FIA) for an IRA rollover. Here in brief is my reply. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), IRA stands for Individual Retirement Arrangement. An IRA is not an investment, but simply money that is treated differently tax wise, than other money. You can't buy a 401k and you can't buy an IRA. (Refer to section 408 of the Internal Revenue Code and IRS publication 590 for more information.) Find more information at the IRS web site www.irs.gov An IRA is much like an umbrella, and you can put just about anything under your umbrella that you want to. Stocks, Bonds, CDs, Annuities, Real Estate, a Stamp Collection, etc; etc. anything that you hope, in time, will appreciate in value.
India, UAE companies sign major real estate deals
NEW DELHI: Indian and United Arab Emirates firms signed major real estate deals on Monday worth more than $20 billion during a visit by the ruler of Dubai, including plans to build two massive townships in India.
Indias largest real estate developer DLF said it inked a $20 billion deal with UAEs Al Nakheel to build two townships in India, with an initial investment of five billion dollars each in the next three years.
We have signed a 50:50 joint venture with Al Nakheel to develop integrated townships, said a DLF executive, who asked not be named. The townships would be full-sized cities near the capital New Delhi and in western Maharashtra state, another company official said.
The executive, speaking on the sidelines of meetings with Indian business leaders by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, said the townships would cover 40,000 acres (16,200 hectares) of land, of which 70 per cent has already been bought.
401(k) loan can be easy, costly
Your 401(k) or 403(b) savings are meant for retirement. But if you're scraping together a down payment for a home or the old car is set to expire, you could borrow from your 401(k) for these short-term needs.
Most employers -- 85 percent, according to the Profit Sharing/401k Council of America, a non-profit association of companies and plan participants -- allow workers to take a 401(k) loan. Roughly a quarter of employees who are eligible to borrow take out a loan.
The main question is whether you should.
The pros
-The loans are convenient.
-There's no credit check. To apply, you often just submit a form online, and the funds are distributed within a week, sometimes in as little as three days, said David Wray, president of the council.
Home-based health support services for seniors for the first time
Kronus (Thailand) announced the launch of Kronus MobiCare, offering home-based health support services for seniors for the first time in Thailand. The regional joint venture, set up recently by individual investors from Malaysia and Thailand, is set to expand its services to other potential markets in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, later this year.
Kronus (Thailand) will next year invest US$15 million (Bt524 million) in pioneering a retirement community complex in Bangkok. The complex will have facilities such as a full-time doctor's station, clinic and exercise equipment, and offer seniors and retirees from around the world long-stay services with independent living in a relaxing and safe environment.
"The proportion of elderly people [65 and above] in Thailand has increased from only 6 per cent of the total population in 2000 to about 9 per cent currently.
Not in defense of Suze Orman
While I agree with BloggingStocks' Zac Bissonnette that Suze Orman certainly has a place in the financial advice world -- she is not equipped to advise the serious investor. Watching her show on CNBC on the weekends can be entertaining as the callers have unique and unusual problems. Ms. Orman is qualified to advise her callers and readers on insurance matters, home, life and auto. She is certainly qualified to advise her readers to not spend more than they make. Saving money is certainly an admirable quality of life. She has excellent insights into 401k plans and the various rules and regulations surrounding them. Her expertise on how to handle and retire credit card debt is legendary and hopefully many readers have followed her advise. But are you ever going to ask Suze Orman for a stock idea? Can she tell the difference between mutual fund portfolio managers and how they operate? Has she ever analyzed or discussed a company's balance sheet, free cash flow analysis or growth rate vs.
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