Two things happened you should know about: food got cheap and work got easy. Sounds simple when put like that, but it was enough to change the world. Consider a personal example… On my family’s farm in Kansas, my grandfather’s wheat crop was considered… Read More

Editor’s Note: This story replaces an earlier article we published about the new banking reserve requirements. The original article was based on inaccurate information, which led to mistaken conclusions about the effect of the new regulations on earnings at the major banks. Wall Street cheered… Read More

Super-investor Warren Buffett has made a big bet on Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), adding more... Read More

Super-investor Warren Buffett has made a big bet on Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), adding more than 17.4 million shares to the portfolio of his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B).... Read More

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is a $300 billion company trading at nearly 12 times earnings. Has this... Read More

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is a $300 billion company trading at nearly 12 times earnings. Has this super major oil company reached a peak valuation — or should these shares be an immediate addition... Read More

Warren Buffett and his geeky, bridge-playing sidekick Bill Gates have talked 40 billionaires, including some of the business world’s marquee names, into giving half their fortunes to charity.   It’s an interesting scenario: If the avuncular Buffett showed up at your house and asked you to donate half… Read More

Pharmacies, labs, billing agencies and insurers all say business is down from the same period a year ago. Recent earnings reports show Americans are seeking less medical care. The reason is twofold. The most obvious is that unemployment remains high, at… Read More

What a roller coaster. On Friday the markets drop about -3%. As of the close today, most of that has been made back. I know investors are wondering what they should do.  In most cases, I think the answer is “nothing.” As Warren Buffett said, “I buy on the assumption… Read More

If you read my article from late last week, you know about my family farm in Kansas. And you’ll also remember that I work out of the StreetAuthority offices in Austin, Texas. So what do those two places have to do with today’s investment idea? One word:… Read More

With the market oscillating between down and flat for the year, an old friend of mine, Tom, asked the other day why I was so chipper about the market. He had just received his 401(k) statement and was very disappointed. “I’m up,” I told him. “I’m way… Read More

I apologize for the brevity of today’s article, but I have a long drive ahead of me. Most of you probably think I’m just a research fanatic that locks himself in the office for hours on end… well, you’re right. But fact is, I grew up on… Read More