Financial Blog

Net Worth: $54.7 million

Where he got it:

Most of Edwards’ wealth comes from awards won as a medical malpractice and personal-injury attorney.

After his 2004 run for Vice President, he joined Fortress Investment Group, a $40 billion manager of hedge funds and private equity, as a part-time consultant - for an annual salary of $480,000 (plus profit sharing).

Edwards has since resigned, but Fortress has continued its generosity. Its employees have donated $190,000 in this election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The hedge fund industry is itself looking for continued generosity from the government: the ability of managers to pay taxes on carried interest - that is, profits on investments - as though they were capital gains (taxed at 15 percent) and not ordinary income (taxed at 35 percent).

But Edwards says they won’t get a break from him. He wants the loophole closed and says that would save taxpayers $12 billion.

Where it goes:

Edwards has $24 million - or about 40 percent - of his fortune in alternative investments, mostly Fortress-owned companies or pooled funds. In 2006 he even sold a $4 million stock portfolio he owned with his wife, Elizabeth, to put more into Fortress.

Investments in hedge funds and private equity, however, are risky and illiquid. Hedge fund investors usually have to agree to lock in for a specified number of years.

Such investments may also pay little or no current income - although Edwards in 2006 reaped about $2.1 million from them. The balance of the Edwards’ portfolios is in bonds issued by North Carolina counties.

How he could do better:

No more than 10 percent of the Edwards’ net worth should be in alternative investments, says planner Roth: “Fortress is $40 billion, but that’s a pretty small part of the $51 trillion global market to concentrate in.”

Roth also points out that such investments typically carry stiff management fees - 2 percent of assets and 20 percent of any gain. He suggests that Edwards pare his hedge fund holdings as soon as he can.

If he becomes President, he should put the money in index funds to avoid conflicts of interest.

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Net Worth: $34.9 million

Where she got it:

When Bill Clinton first ran for President in 1992, Hillary provided most of the couple’s income working for the Rose law firm in Little Rock; he earned only $35,000 a year as governor of Arkansas.

Although she takes in $165,200 a year as a senator, these days Bill is breadwinner-in-chief. His presidential pension is $201,000 a year, and he grabbed a $12 million advance for his 2001 memoir, “My Life.” (Her “Living History” won an advance of $8 million and $7 million in royalties.)

But it’s been Bill’s great gift for gab that has really feathered the Clintons’ nest. He earned an astounding $41 million speaking to groups and corporations in the first six years since he left office. Standard fee: $150,000. The fact that he may be married to the next President can only burnish his star power.

Where it goes:

Until May 2007, the Clintons had cash and a blind trust. When Hillary launched her campaign, however, she (and Mitt Romney) had to “unblind” the trust to comply with Executive Branch rules, so the contents became public. The Clintons’ money was spread among 190 mostly large-cap stocks from A (Abbott Labs) to Y (Yahoo) with a sprinkling of New York State and U.S. bonds.

Jason Mirsky of RiskMetrics assessed the portfolio as aggressive but not foolish. A Black Monday event, he says, would have lost the Clintons about 16.5 percent of their portfolio’s value.

Anxious about potential conflicts, the Clintons sold everything but the U.S. bonds. Allan Roth of Wealth Logic estimates the move cost $500,000 to $1.8 million in taxes. “They have done their fair share to shrink the budget deficit,” he says.

How she could do better:

The Clintons’ cash hoard leaves them exposed to inflation, says Roth. Federal and state taxes put them in the 40 percent bracket, so the after-tax net on a 5 percent yield would be only 3 percent.

The Clintons should invest half their money in the stock market, using broad index funds to avoid conflicts of interest. If they set up a new blind trust, they should confine themselves to 30 to 50 securities.

“With the old portfolio,” says Mirsky, “they had a lot of fragmented positions that didn’t do much but add to their transaction costs.”
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I’ve just come across some interesting information about all candidates. Their financial state might be interesting to the majority of Americans. I’ll post the information in separate posts for your convenience. It’ll be interesting for me to see your comments.

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Central bank will propose rules on Tuesday to protect mortgage borrowers from banks and brokers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — People taking out home mortgages may gain new protections soon against shady lending practices as the Federal Reserve seeks to back even the riskiest borrowers, already hit hardest by the housing and credit crunches.

Rules expected to be proposed Tuesday would apply to loans made by all types of lenders, including banks and brokers. The plan from the Fed, which has regulatory powers over the nation’s financial system, could be finalized next year. The effective date would be know then.

The Fed is considering:

• barring lenders from penalizing subprime borrowers - those with spotty credit or low incomes - who pay their loans off early.
• forcing lenders to make sure that borrowers, especially subprime borrowers, set aside money to pay for taxes and insurance.
• restricting loans that do not require proof of a borrower’s income.
• examining lenders’ failure, in some cases, to consider a borrower’s ability to repay a home loan.
• improving financial disclosure so people better understand the terms and conditions of their mortgages and get this information when it is most useful.
• curtailing abuses in mortgage advertising.

“We have an obligation to prevent fraud and abusive lending,” the Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, said earlier this year. “At the same time, we must tread carefully so as not to suppress responsible lending or eliminate refinancing opportunities for subprime borrowers.”

The issue has taken on heightened importance given the meltdown in the housing and credit markets that has led to record numbers of home foreclosures. The crisis has raised the odds that the economy might fall into a recession, roiled Wall Street and has given Democrats and Republicans much fodder to blame each other.

On prepayment penalties, consumer advocates say these deter homeowners from refinancing on more favorable terms. Those penalties can be hard on borrowers who want to get out of adjustable-rate mortgages that reset from a low introductory rate to a much higher one they have trouble paying off.

Mortgage industry representatives say prepayment penalties ensure that lenders receive a minimum return if loans are paid off early. They also say people with mortgages that include such penalties often get a benefit of lower upfront costs or lower interest rates.

Of the nearly 3 million subprime adjustable-rate loans surveyed by the Mortgage Bankers Association from July through September, a record 4.72 percent entered the foreclosure process during those months. At the same time, a record 18.81 percent of the subprime adjustable-rate loans were past due.

When home values weakened, borrowers were left with loans balances that eclipsed the value of their homes. They also were clobbered when their loans reset with much higher interest rates.

As for the idea of setting aside money to cover taxes and insurance, consumer groups worry that subprime borrowers do know about these expenses or might not be able to budget for them. These groups also have raised concerns about lenders quoting subprime borrowers monthly payments that do not include taxes and insurance costs.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has some problems with mandating escrow accounts - where those costs specifically are set aside each month - for borrowers. The association does support efforts to make sure borrowers have the appropriate information about their obligations to pay taxes and insurance.

The Fed says loans to subprime borrowers typically do not include such an account, while loans to people with better credit and lower risk to the lender usually do.

The central bank also says that lenders sometime will make a loan without documenting or verifying a borrower’s income. Lenders may charge higher rates for such loans, the Fed says.

Mortgage lenders say these loans are appropriate for many borrowers, including those who are self-employed and cannot easily document their income. Consumer groups say many borrowers who could document their income are not aware they are getting a loan at a higher interest rate. These loans are sometimes called “liar’s loans” because critics believe they can be used to perpetrate fraud.

Majority Democrats in Congress have been vocal in urging the Fed to act against abusive practices.

Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and other House Democrats said in a recent letter to the Fed that tougher rules are overdue and “needed to help eliminate the kinds of predatory lending practices that exacerbated the current subprime lending crisis.”

The House has passed legislation that would put into law some of the same actions the Fed is considering. A similar bill is pending in the Senate. Supporters are heartened the Fed is moving ahead because they think the Fed might be able to finalize action before Congress does.

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Higher gasoline prices bring big jump in overall prices, larger rise in core prices than forecast.

Prices paid by consumers rose faster in November, lifted by a spike in the price of gasoline, as the government’s key inflation measure came in higher than Wall Street forecasts.

The Consumer Price Index, the key measure of inflation on the retail level, rose 0.8 percent in the month, up from the 0.3 percent rise in October. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a 0.6 percent rise in overall prices.

It was the biggest jump in prices since September 2005, when gasoline prices surged higher in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. There was a similar impact of higher gasoline prices this time.

The report showed overall energy prices up 5.7 percent, with gasoline up 9.3 percent. In addition food prices, another recent driver of inflation, were up 0.3 percent.
The Fed’s tightrope act

The so-called core CPI was up 0.3 percent, even though that more closely watched measure strips out the volatile food and energy prices. Economists had forecast a 0.2 percent rise, which was the same increase posted in October. Among the core items seeing prices jump was clothing, where prices jumped 0.8 percent, and medical care, which rose 0.4 percent. It was the largest one-month jump in apparel prices in more than nine years.

Housing also posted a 0.4 percent increase despite widespread reports on home value declines because the report does not measure owner-occupied home prices to estimate this cost. Instead it uses a formula based upon rents.

The core CPI is now up 2.3 percent in the last 12 months, up from a 2.2 percent 12-month gain in the previous report. The Federal Reserve is generally believed to want to see core prices rise 1 to 2 percent a year, so an increase outside of its so-called comfort zone would seem to reduce the chance that the Fed will make further rate cuts soon.

The Fed has cut rates at its last three meetings, citing the risk of an economic slowdown created by problems in the housing and credit markets. But the last cut on Tuesday was a quarter percentage point, when many investors were expecting a half-point cut, and stocks went into a sharp decline after that announcement. U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Friday on the latest inflation reading.

The chance of another quarter-percentage point interest rate cut in January, as predicted by the fed funds futures, fell to 84 percent after the CPI report, from 100 percent before the report.

“No wonder Feddies cite inflation risks,” said economist Robert Brusca, citing the statement the central bank released when it trimmed interest rates Tuesday. “Still the economy is weak so we’ll see what they do.”

Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics for Moody’s Economy.com, said he believes the price jump in Friday’s report is not something the Fed needs to worry about, given the the impact volatile oil prices had.

“I don’t expect to see much pass through to core CPI,” he said. “With economy remaining soft, I don’t think we have to worry about businesses raising prices much.”

But Rich Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research, said there is much more growth and underlying core inflation than has been assumed by many economists. He said many companies in consumer products, food and air travel have been announcing price increases due to a combination of higher costs and continuing high demand for their product.

“All those price hike announcements we saw in the last three, six or nine months are now coming home to roost,” he said. “These reports are not coming in on softer side, they’re all coming out much stronger than expectations. Consumers are continuing to spend money. It should diminish the chance of a recession, not increase it.”

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Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced the winners of Top Safety Pick award for 2008.

This award is given to vehicles that protect people’s lives best of all. Front and side impacts are especially dangerous to human lives; more than 85% of all lethal crashes were of such a kind. Rear-end crashes are not so dangerous to our lives but they are meaningful to our health and insurance companies. More than 60% of all insurance injury claims report strains of all kinds and concussion of the brain.

All winners of the award are proved to help in avoiding crashes. They are equipped with equipped with ESC, which helps drivers to control the vehicle even in extreme conditions. When a driver predicts possible impact he tries to avoid it instinctively; ESC prevents a car from spinning out during these emergency maneuvers. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety calculated that there would be 10.000 fatal crashes less each year if all vehicles were equipped with ESC.

It is very important to drive a car, equipped with latest safety systems. This is more important for the USA as SUVs are traditionally popular in this country and they have higher chances of roll over during a crash. So it is almost obligatory to have SUV equipped with ESC.

Car manufacturers have been working for a long period of time in order to safe people’s lives. Besides, they save the money of insurers helping to avoid crashes and our money as we pay less for the insurance.

In future Insurance rates will be notably decreased for the owners of “safe” vehicles present in the list below.

The list of winners:

Large cars:
Audi A6
Ford Taurus with optional electronic stability control
Mercury Sable with optional electronic stability control
Volvo S80

Midsize cars:
Audi A3, A4
Honda Accord
Saab 9-3
Subaru Legacy with optional electronic stability control

Midsize convertibles:
Saab 9-3
Volvo C70

Small cars:
Subaru Impreza with optional electronic stability control

Minivans:
Honda Odyssey
Hyundai Entourage
Kia Sedona

Midsize SUVs:
Acura MDX, RDX
BMW X3, X5
Ford Edge, Taurus X
Honda Pilot
Hyundai Santa Fe
Hyundai Veracruz built after August 2007
Lincoln MKX
Mercedes M class
Saturn VUE built after December 2007
Subaru Tribeca
Toyota Highlander
Volvo XC90

Small SUVs:
Honda CR-V, Element
Subaru Forester with optional electronic stability control

Large pickup:
Toyota Tundra

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The National Association of Realtors reported that its pending home sale index rose to 87.2 in October from a revised reading of 86.7 in September. This is a good sign but that is not enough to make a sigh of relief. Most realtors still believe that home sales will decline in 2008. A year ago home sales index was up more than 19% and this situation makes people worry.

Mike Larson, a real estate analyst for independent research firm Weiss Research said: “Things aren’t getting much worse, but they’re not getting much better either”.
In August, many lenders had to slam the brakes on home loans due to problems in the market for mortgage-backed securities. Then pending home sales index hit a record low of 85.5. With all these bad factors that effect world economics, people may use some benefits of such a situation. Mortgage rates are near a 30 year minimum, so it could be a good idea to buy a house now.
For example, 30 year fixed mortgage is 5.76% now and 15 year fixed mortgage is only 5.33%

Any problem has it benefits, isn’t it?

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