Protecting Financial and Tax Records Ahead of Hurricanes and Other Emergencies

A repost of a recent article in light of Hurricane Isaac.

Protecting My Financial Records in an Evacuation

Whether it is a Hurricane like Isaac, wildfire, an earthquake, a kitchen fire, or a burst water pipe, emergencies can hit anytime. While safe evacuation with my family will be my primary concern during such a time of emergency, here are some financial documents I keep in my evacuation kit, which I made using guidelines from www.ready.gov , the U.S. government site for emergency preparedness. Read more on what to take with you (and how) in the Yahoo Finance article Protecting My Financial Records in an Evacuation

Another useful article:

How I Am Preparing to Protect Financial and Tax Records Ahead of Hurricane Irene


Photo: sxc.hu

Will Marissa Mayer Redefine Work Life Balance and be the New Role Model for Working Moms?

Less than a month after The Atlantic Magazine published Anne-Marie Slaughter's controversial cover story "Why Women Still Can't Have It All,  Yahoo hired Marissa Mayer, a pr
egnant 37 year old, as its new CEO.

Mayer told Fortune magazine, "I like to stay in the rhythm of things... My maternity leave will be a few weeks long and I'll work throughout it."
Will she regret these words? Will the birth of her first child, a boy, slow her down from the 90 hour work weeks she is famous for thriving on?

Will she, like former Sara Lee Chairperson and CEO (and PepsiCo executive) Brenda Barnes regret working round the clock when her children w
ere growing up, and take a multi-year hiatus to spend the last few years before her kids leave the nest?

Or will she, like many other women executives with children, including Sheryl Sandberg, just keep marching on while normal working women like me wonder how they do it? Will Maris
sa Mayer debunk Anne-Marie Slaughter's premise?

Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Brenda Barnes are perhaps women I most identify and look up to, based on my own personal choice to stay at home with my kids and shape my work around their schedules. Another hotshot woman executive will perhaps not dramatically change how I feel about my children and my decision to stay/work at home for the time being. From my experience, I will not be comfortable delegating some of my child-rearing, as these leading women executives most certainly need to.

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Yet my grandmother was a working mother, and mom turned out OK! Goes to show how every woman is different, and each successful as a mother.

Suggested reading (my Yahoo Finance article): Finding Work Life Balance After Kids

Image: Freedigitalphotos.net

Mastercard Visa Credit Card Settlement: Why Retailers Should Not Surcharge Credit Card Purchases

On Friday, retailers finally won a settlement against Mastercard, Visa and banks issuing credit cards that allow them to impose a surcharge on credit card purchases. Merchants have been able to offer discounts for cash purchases so this surcharge is somewhat redundant. Five reasons why retailers should not impose a surcharge to consumers making credit card purchases.

I would refuse to pay extra for using a credit card for my purchases. Would you support a retailer who makes you pay for their swipe or interchange fees? Would you pay cash instead of credit cards?
Read more here...

5 Reasons You Should'nt Put Company Stock in Your 401(k) Retirement Savings Account

Employees who put a large percent of retirement savings in company stock fail to understand the risks. 5 reasons why I don't buy company stock in my 401(k) retirement account.

 

Read more here...

How I Scored First Class Airline Tickets for Less Than Coach

When the coach plane ticket is expensive and you have miles, should you buy a first class ticket, upgrade, or transfer miles? Read what got me cheaper than coach first class airline tickets.

Photo courtesy: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/719860

Best Places for Photographing New York City Skyline and One World Trade Center

Downtown NYC and 1 World Trade Ctr at night

Most tourists planning on visiting New York City, will include Ground Zero, the site of the former World Trade Center Twin Towers on their itinerary. Here are some easy one hour long side trips across the Hudson River to capture the famous downtown New York City skyline in all its glory, along with the new One World Trade Center, formerly known as Freedom Tower, towering above everything else. Just remember, each of these spots have 9/11 memorials, so be respectful of your surroundings. These neighborhoods lost several men and women in the World Trade Center collapse, and even ten years later, the skyline brings back memories of a horrific day for area residents.

New 1 World Trade Center
The new 1 World Trade Center, the tallest building in New York City as of April 30, 2012, will complete construction in 2014. Over 100 floors of the total 104 floors are now complete, and the building now stands at 1,271 feet above the ground. When complete, the building is expected to be 1,776 feet tall, including its 408 foot roof-top needle. It is no surprise that the Freedom Tower, or One World Trade Center building is clearly visible from as far north as the George Washington Bridge.

Public Transportation
The World Trade Center area is well served by public transportation, both PATH subway train and NY Waterway Ferry Service. The PATH train accepts Metrocards and runs frequently. NY Waterway fare is $6 from the downtown ferry stops to NJ and operates on a schedule.

Read on to find the best places tourists can take public transportation to capture amazing views of the World Trade Center and downtown New York City, and return back to Ground Zero in under an hour. Located in the gold coast of New Jersey, each viewing spot is extremely safe, easily accessible by public transportation, less than 20 minutes from New York City and offers amazing, panoramic views of Manhattan, especially downtown New York City and the World Trade Center. Although these spots lend to excellent photography opportunities all day and year round, the best time to go is late afternoon, when the setting sun casts beautiful, dramatic reflections on the glass buildings and stay until sundown, when the skyline lights up.

Space shuttle Enterprise passes 1 World Trade Ctr

Exchange Place, Jersey City, NJ

Take the NY Waterway Ferry from the World Financial Center to Paulus Hook. Alternatively, you can take the PATH train from World Trade Center to Newport, and get off at Exchange Place, which is the first stop. The pier at Exchange Place, a massive deck built from sturdy Trex material, offers panoramic views of New York City, from the George Washington Bridge to the Statue of Liberty. Situated directly across the World Financial Center, it offers the most dramatic, close up view of downtown Manhattan, with One World Trade Center towering over the skyline. There is a small 9/11 WTC memorial on Exchange Place.

Newport, Jersey City, NJ


Downtown from Exchange Place c2006

 Ferry service from downtown NYC is no longer offered to Newport, NJ but tourists can take the PATH train and get off at the last stop, Newport Pavonia, and walk to the waterfront, which is a couple of minutes away. You will pass a Starbucks and Komegashi Japanese restaurant to your right. Although the area consists of several highrise buildings behind a gate, the waterfront walkway is in fact open to the public. On your way to the waterfront, pause at the small, yet poignant 9/11 WTC memorial, which provides a straight view to the former World Trade Center twin towers.

Pier A or Pier C Park, Hoboken, NJ
Downtown Hoboken is serviced both by NY Waterway ferry as well as PATH train. Pier A Park, located on Sinatra Drive between First and Second Street offers a lush Great Lawn with panoramic views of New York City, from the Statue to Liberty to the George Washington Bridge. A glass memorial for 9/11 victims, oriented toward the former World Trade Center is expected to be built on Pier A Park, Hoboken. Walking north on the Sinatra Drive waterfront pathway will bring you to the brand new Pier C park, a kidney shaped $25 million marvel that is built above the Hudson River. The views of New York City, including downtown and World Trade Center are out of the world.

Protecting Financial Records in an Evacuation

Whether it is a wildfire, an earthquake, a kitchen fire, or a burst water pipe, emergencies can hit anytime. While safe evacuation with the family should be anyone's primary concern during an emergency, which financial records should you take?

Read more here...

After Facebook's First Quarterly Earnings, Focus Shifts to Lockup Expiration

Facebook reported its first quarter as a public company on July 26.

It is not just Facebook which saw high volume trading after posting its first earnings results. All IPOs can see the stock swing by a large percentage on certain key dates. Post IPO, here are some key dates investors should mark on their calendars.

While the secondary stock market is largely a free market where demand and supply for stock create a market price, initial public offerings (IPO) are different. After the initial price and size of the offering are set by the underwriting syndicate managing the IPO, there are several legitimate methods that brokerage firms underwriting the IPO use to restrict additional supply of shares, which would be a drag on the stock price. Oftentimes, after these restrictions are lifted, the stock price takes a step down. As a result, IPO investors should mark these key post IPO dates on their calendars, when an IPO stock's price could face downward pressure.

Quiet Period (Securities Analysts)

"Quiet period" refers to the 40 days after the IPO during which an underwriting firm participating in an offering cannot publish or distribute research reports about the issuer. These rules are set by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, and the SEC, although the FINRA has been proposing a shorter time frame.

In plain words, after the IPO, securities analysts belonging to the underwriting syndicate (top firms that brought the IPO to market), are forbidden from writing about the company. Other analysts, typically smaller firms who did not get a piece of the underwriting action, can publish research. However, since only the underwriting analysts (who came across the "Chinese Wall") were part of the roadshow process, they have significantly more detailed insight into the IPO company. After the quiet period, these analysts can in effect "speak their minds," as they are no longer part of the sales syndicate, and their independence is restored. A research initiation with a "sell" rating from an underwriter's analyst could mean bad news from the stock's perspective.

The exception to this 40 day quiet period rule is the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act that requires FINRA and the SEC to eliminate these restrictions with respect to smaller Emerging Growth Companies (EGC).

First Quarterly Earnings Announcement and 10-Q Filing (Issuer)
During the IPO roadshow process, major institutional investors are shown hundreds of slideshow presentations, some of which contain forward looking statements like 3 or 5 year growth projections. However, by law, issuers and underwriters cannot hand out any of this information in writing. Such projections are also missing from pre-IPO registration statements ("red herrings"). As a result, for most investors, the first public discussion for the IPO issuer is the earnings release. According to SEC rules, each company must file their quarterly earnings release and 10-Q report of unaudited company filings within 40 days of the company's fiscal quarter end. The company's first earnings release and earnings conference call are extremely important to establish expectations of the company's future growth. If the stock is expensive, or the outlook disappoints, research analysts can cut their ratings and investors may bail on the stock, causing the price to decrease.

Flipping Rule (Institutional Investors) According to FINRA, "flipping" is the practice of selling new issues into the secondary market at a profit within 30 days following the offering date. Because these sales create downward pressure on the secondary market trading price, underwriters and IPO selling group members typically discourage such sales. Under most syndicate selling agreements, a managing underwriter is permitted to impose a "penalty bid" on syndicate members to reclaim the selling concession for allocations that were flipped. After 30 days, investors who were allocated shares during the IPO are free to sell if they choose, without impacting their participation in future IPOs. This also creates a downward pressure on the stock.

Lockup expiration for insider sales Most IPOs features a lock up provision which prevents insiders, including employees or venture capitalists who held pre-IPO shares, from selling them soon after the IPO. In most cases, it lasts 180 days. Some states even require lockup agreements under their "blue-sky" laws. Although the term is not mandated by the SEC, securities laws require a company using a lockup to disclose the terms in its registration documents, including its prospectus.

The final prospectus, as well as proxy documents, list the number of restricted shares held by the company's insiders. These shares essentially create an overhang, because they mean additional supply of shares, which typically causes the stock price to go down, especially if the valuation is premium. As a result, IPO shares often see a dip if there is a flurry of insider selling after the lockup expiration.

Disclaimer: The above is for information only and does not constitute legal or investment advice. Author is a former stock research associate who has participated in the IPO process on behalf of her former employer.

Financial Planning in Your Twenties

So you just graduated from college and got a job. Now what?
The twenties are a perfect age to start planning a solid financial future.
How completing education, building a good credit history, buying a home and saving for retirement can help you set off on the right track for building long-term wealth.

 

Read more here...

 

10 Ways to Save Up To 50% on Restaurants

Admit it. You like eating out. You hate cooking. You also hate paying that large check that comes with eating out. You want to save while eating out.
Here are 10 ways you can save while eating out at restaurants.

Read more here


Photo courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net