US Finance World

Investors seem to have an insatiable appetite for fixed-income products these days. But which types of bonds offer the best deals?

High-Yield Bonds

Buy

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the bond world. A high-yield—or “junk”—bond is debt issued by a firm whose credit record isn’t the best, so it’s forced to pay a higher interest rate. Junk bond prices have soared 24% in the past year, but yields are close to 9%. Some pros are investing in “fallen angels”—firms making strides to regain an investment-grade rating. One such firm: Ford Motor (F). The automaker has been paying down debt, and its long-term bonds yield around 9%, says Elaine Stokes, comanager of the Loomis Sayles Bond fund, which owns Ford debt. These bonds might lose value if rates rise, she notes, but there’s a “solid story” behind them.

Mortgage-Backed Bonds

Sell

Millions of Americans are struggling to pay their mortgages. Yet bonds backed by residen

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Statistics show that Generation Y (born 1977-1997, also known as “Millennials”) has different expectations and values for their workplace than previous generations. As a small business owner and employer, you need to understand what motivates members of this generation in order to attract them to work for you. Whether you like it or not, Millennials are the future of your workplace.

Offer flexibility. While Millennials value high starting salaries and financial security, they also value flexibility in their work schedule and benefits. According to statistics, about 85% of Gen Y members want to spend 30-70% of their time working from home. In order to attract top talent from Generation Y, you need to look into what types of flexibility your company is able to provide.

Utilize technology and social media as a recruiting tool. Millennials grew up in the era of evolving technology, usually being the first ones to try out new tools. Sin

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Dividend Dollar asked recently what type of filing system I use to keep tracking of tax deductions. I have blogged on record keeping before when preparing your taxes. My essential point was that you do not have to unleash your inner librarian to be a good record keeper; planned chaos is ok as long as all your records of a certain type (credit card statements, bank statements etc.) are all kept in the same place and not all mixed into one.

I wanted to add a few addendum from my previous post.

Don’t rely on shoving everything in your wallet. Besides making your wallet unwieldy wide and heavy, many credit card slips are now printed on that slimy paper where the ink rubs off quickly. I noticed emptying out my wallet of old receipts that, in some cases, I could not longer even read the amount paid anymore on those slips.

Buy a letter tray with at least 3 trays (this is a slightly more organized filing system than my previous post) We started doing this at work since we were misplacing bills and/or receipts which often happens when you have a lot of people in an office and a lot of vendors. W

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Stocks sank deeper into the red in late trading Wednesday, as a decline in financial stocks more than offset a boost in oil prices and energy stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 48 points, or 0.5%, to 10807, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index shed six points to 1142 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped eight points to 2371.

Speculation that the Federal Reserve will take further steps to spur the economy has pushed the dollar lower in recent days. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, hit its lowest level in eight months Wednesday.

Investors remained focused on any possible Fed action, as a small handful of Fed officials delivered speeches throughout the day.

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Offered in the spirit of Jay Goltz’s “Top 10 Reasons for Entrepreneurial Success:”

1. Ex-partner’s “growth without profits” strategy.

2. Years of shoot-from-the-hip pricing, in absence of serious cost analysis.

3. A consistent belief that 10 percent more sales would solve all cash-flow problems.

4. My inability to say “no” equals spiraling labor costs.

5. Google’s mysterious page-rank algorithm punishes new Web sites.

6. One billion desperate Chinese peasants.

7. Greedy bankers who destroyed the economy for the rest of us.

8. Corrupt politicians who did everything they could to help the bankers.

9. Doctors, insurance companies, drug companies that can’t stop spending my money.

10. Two kids heading for overpriced colleges.

Of course, there are two sides to every story. So long as I’m making lists, here’s another one:

10 Reasons My Business Has Survived the Recession

1. Ex-partner’s investment

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