Is it safe to invest in this unstable economy?

   Tough times, a bad economy, and a bleak outlook are seemingly good signs to stay away from investing...but is it really? Are there people succeeding in this bear market? The answer is yes. People are still making money in a poor market, but it isn't easy. 

   While some investors are pulling their money out and advising against investing, others are still throwing money at what they call a "prime market". Many big-name stocks have reached all time lows and appear to be bottomed out...or maybe not. That's what has investors worried; it isn't for sure...and nobody knows where the bottom truly is. Every recession seems to bring it's surprise bankruptcies and no one wants to be on the investment side of a bankruptcy. However, there are ways to make money in a recession, but it still has it's risks. Investing in a risky market requires research and knowledge of the investment. Throwing money at a stock in a bull market may not come back to bite an investor, but in a bear market in a recession...that's another story. It all boils down to knowledge research, and sometimes a bit of luck helps. On the flip side, some have merely switched investing from one market to the next. Many investors have left the stock market temporarily and have gone to real estate as an alternative. They are eating up low-priced, foreclosed homes and selling them cheap for a nice profit. There is always something to gain in a down market or economy if you can find it and take advantage of it.  

We recommend wikinvest.com to stock investors

     Wikinvest.com is a website I've been using for a little over six months now and I love it. Before I found wikinvest, every time I step away from the computer I have to re-login to my etrade account and I end up re-loging in about a dozen times a day...pretty monotonous. This is especially tricky if you have multiple investment accounts such as etrade and/or scottrade, ameritrade, etc. I understand the reason for the quick log-outs since it contains personal and financial records, but I want quick access. That is what wikinvest does for you. However, it is not a trading platform, and it requires minimal information. Wikinvest combines all of your accounts and charts the total growth. It provides the stats from "owned" stocks and "watched" stocks on the same page. The left hand column provides account(s) total value, market performance compared to your stocks' performance, and your portfolio's gainers and losers. Wikinvest emails you when your stocks open considerably up or down. It's user friendly interface seals the deal and we give Wikinvest an A+ overall. Click the link below to join now, for free:

  

>>>Go to wikinvest.com

Looking to buy a good tablet pc?

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE (pictures from cnet.com)

       The seemingly obvious answer to buying a tablet would be the iPad 2, but that is not necessarily true. Since the majority of the computer users in the US use PC's not Mac's, iPad's don't provide compatibility between PC's and the tablet's Apple based operating system. 

     We want to recommend a great tablet to all our viewers interested in buying a tablet PC: the Toshiba Thrive. The Thrive has a multitude of great specs that make it a stand out. choice First off, it's available in a 8Gb, 16Gb or 32Gb. The prices range from $419-$579 depending on the gigabyte size. The tablet runs on the Android  3.1 Honeycomb operating system with a 10.1" screen. It boasts a dual-core processor, 1GB DDR2 ram and NVIDIA GeForce Graphics. It also sports two cameras, one in the front and one in the back. What it lacks in its somewhat bulkiness, it makes up for in its ports. This tablet has expandability with an sd card slot, usb card slot and a mini usb card slot. It also has a full size HDMI port for Audio/Video to an HD TV. Overall, the Toshiba Thrive provides a smooth, responsive interface with tons of apps from the Android marketplace. Reviews of the tablet from sources such as cnet.com, costco.com and other sites have shown that most customers who purchased it are satisfied with the it overall. 

Buy one today from Amazon.com

Australian man wins a $500Million dollar suit against Microsoft

The beautiful mind of the Aussie who beat Microsoft 

August 10, 2011

 

Photo Left: Naz Mulla

The phone rang early, rousing Ric Richardson from a fitful sleep. As the sun rose over the northern NSW coast, he sat on his verandah and absorbed the news that a jury on the other side of the world had awarded him half a billion dollars. "I didn't really feel like celebrating," he remembers. "I just felt like breathing for a while."

Richardson is the Australian inventor who took on Microsoft and won. In April 2009, a United States court found the giant software corporation had used his technology without his knowledge or permission, and ordered Microsoft to pay compensation of $US388 million (then worth more than $530 million). The award was one of the highest in US patent history.

As it turned out, Richardson was right to keep the cork in the champagne bottle - the verdict was overturned five months later. But early this year, an appeals court upheld the original jury's decision that Microsoft had infringed his patent. He was vindicated, though still didn't feel like throwing a party. "I was just very relieved," he says.

article from wikinvest.com

Market Comeback?

     The stock market managed to recover somewhat  today after two straight days of heavy losses. However, we are not even close to being out of the woods. The economy still has much to be sorted out and lots of tough decisions have yet to be made. Investors are still squeamish, and they'll probably continue to be for a while. Some are saying that this is going to be 2008 all over again while others strongly disagree. On the other side of the coin, some found refuge during the huge stock market losses Thursday and Friday. An ETF (symbol: TZA) provided some, a large profit as the markets took heavy hits. TZA, the triple-leveraged small cap ETF (performing inversely to the Russell 2000), climbed high  providing a nice profit amidst the chaos of the US downgrade. Many are questioning whether the US markets will recover fully or whether this will have an indefinite lingering affect. The answer is simple...only time will tell.

S&P Downgrades US Credit Rating:

     The S&P downgraded the US sovereign credit rating late Friday and the US lost its perfect AAA status. Though the US came up with a deal to raise the debt ceiling so as not to hurt the US credit rating...well it happened anyway. This downgrade struck fear in the hearts of Chinese officials who have been purchasing most of the US's debt. China fears that the US is still in deep water and may possibly default on their debts. Chinese has also said that it may be reluctant to give more credit in the future.
      The long needed federal budget cuts may come a little too late for the government to save the free-falling economy, and the majority of the general public has no idea, or they just don't care because the consumer spending on credit cards is unchanged. The feds may be forced to cut back things such as  health-care, welfare and other federal entities. An example of a glaring government failure is the USPS, losing billions of dollars each year...with no changes in the pipeline. I'm so glad my tax dollars are being spent wisely. LOL. Also, the stock market had its 8th worst day in its history. Hey, Washington...stop padding your pockets with my tax dollars!

Chicagoland Teen's Incredible Talent!

      Dulce of Northwest Indiana, a young, talented teen girl gave us some of her artwork to show the public. These drawings are a just a few of her many Disney-esque creations. Dulce enjoys drawing in her spare time and wants to learn some animation. Great Job Dulce!

Federal Government set to cut budgets by $2trillion

Washington's Debt Solution Depicted Above

     Congress has come to an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, but with one stipulation. They have to stop the insane spending and cut the federal budgets...Washington, (FYI) just because you have checks does not mean you have money, and printing presses are not supposed to be a bailout machine for failure. 

     The new congressional committee will have their hands full as they reassess and begin cutting the budget. These budget cuts will affect a vast amount of Americans  in some way but long term  (in the next five-ten years) it could save our economy from total collapse. These cuts should have been made decades ago, but nobody thought we would ever get to this point financially. Trillions of dollars deeper in debt later, Washington finally wakes up...kind of, sort of.