What if there was a way to reap high returns in the market…while positively affecting the lives of millions of people? Don’t get me wrong. I work for one of the top financial publishers in the country. And our job is to make our customers money. That’s the bottom line. #-ad_banner-#But is it possible to make money and make a difference?  As investors, we place our money and our trust in companies. Shouldn’t we also have some pride or belief… Read More

What if there was a way to reap high returns in the market…while positively affecting the lives of millions of people? Don’t get me wrong. I work for one of the top financial publishers in the country. And our job is to make our customers money. That’s the bottom line. #-ad_banner-#But is it possible to make money and make a difference?  As investors, we place our money and our trust in companies. Shouldn’t we also have some pride or belief in what that business does?  Warren Buffett has been saying for years that you should only buy “companies you understand.” I think you could also add “companies you respect.”  During a recent interview with Forbes magazine, John Mackey, the co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFM), was asked how companies can make a profit and give back to the community. This was his reply: “Businesses can do both by practicing conscious capitalism [and] always being grounded in its “credo”: That… Read More

Everyone knows fashion retailing is a cyclical business. The better the economy is, the more consumers spend. Conversely, when the economy is weak, people tend to stay at home and keep their purse strings tied tight. As a result, when it looks an… Read More

Everyone knows fashion retailing is a cyclical business. The better the economy is, the more consumers spend. Conversely, when the economy is weak, people tend to stay at home and keep their purse strings tied tight. As a result, when it looks an economic rough patch is on the horizon, investors steer clear of retailers that sell anything but the basic necessities of life. After all, looking good isn’t quite as important during tough times. But there’s just one problem with that strategy: Sometimes that mindset doesn’t quite work to investors’ advantage. Right… Read More

Everyone knows fashion retailing is a cyclical business. The better the economy is, the more consumers spend. Conversely, when the economy is weak, people tend to stay at home and keep their purse strings tied tight. As a result, when it looks an economic rough patch is on the horizon, investors steer clear of retailers that sell anything but the basic necessities of life. After all, looking good isn’t quite as important during tough times. But there’s just one problem with that strategy: Sometimes that mindset doesn’t quite work to investors’ advantage. Right now, for example, there’s one retailer that’s managed to grow its top and bottom line for years now, no matter what kind of economic environment. Better yet, the stock has shrugging off bear markets on its way to becoming one of top-performing stocks for the past 10 years, rising more than 650%. And the next several years don’t look like they’re going to be any different. Amazing stats The Buckle (NYSE: BKE) is… Read More

If you have young children, you may be familiar with the educational toy company, LeapFrog Enterprises (NYSE: LF). The small-cap, California-based firm designs and develops technology-based learning tools to help kids tackle reading and writing.#-ad_banner-# As the mother of 17-month old little boy, I’d have to say his LeapFrog toys… Read More

If you have young children, you may be familiar with the educational toy company, LeapFrog Enterprises (NYSE: LF). The small-cap, California-based firm designs and develops technology-based learning tools to help kids tackle reading and writing.#-ad_banner-# As the mother of 17-month old little boy, I’d have to say his LeapFrog toys are my favorite of the bunch. They’re robust, interactive and educational. But, best of all, they’re fun — even for me. LeapFrog’s flagship educational product is the LeapPad2. This is an interactive tablet, like the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad, but designed specifically for kids, aged 3 to 9. It retails… Read More

If you have young children, you may be familiar with the educational toy company, LeapFrog Enterprises (NYSE: LF). The small-cap, California-based firm designs and develops technology-based learning tools to help kids tackle reading and writing.#-ad_banner-# As the mother of 17-month old little boy, I’d have to say his LeapFrog toys are my favorite of the bunch. They’re robust, interactive and educational. But, best of all, they’re fun — even for me. LeapFrog’s flagship educational product is the LeapPad2. This is an interactive tablet, like the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad, but designed specifically for kids, aged 3 to 9. It retails for around $100. It lets kids play fun, educational games, run apps and even take pictures. In the United Kingdom, the LeapPad2 was the hottest selling toy in December. Although it hasn’t quite caught on as much in North America, it’s still very popular. In fact, during the holidays, retailers, like Toys “R” Us and Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) only allowed customers to purchase two LeapPads at a time to keep up inventory supply, due to such strong demand. And, with exciting, new products expected to be released in April 2013, the outlook for LeapFrog… Read More

During the past 10 years, the best hedge funds have consistently produced market-beating returns, driving huge capital inflows into the industry and making hedge funds one of the hottest… Read More

In the 1980s, there was a famous rap music anthem titled, “Don’t Believe the Hype.” Well, I borrowed that admonition frequently last year when the overblown hype over the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) IPO reached a fever pitch. Nearly every… Read More

In the 1980s, there was a famous rap music anthem titled, “Don’t Believe the Hype.” Well, I borrowed that admonition frequently last year when the overblown hype over the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) IPO reached a fever pitch. Nearly every retail investor I knew wanted to own Facebook stock, and it became a symbol of the groupthink mentality that’s so often infects Wall Street and… Read More

In the 1980s, there was a famous rap music anthem titled, “Don’t Believe the Hype.” Well, I borrowed that admonition frequently last year when the overblown hype over the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) IPO reached a fever pitch. Nearly every retail investor I knew wanted to own Facebook stock, and it became a symbol of the groupthink mentality that’s so often infects Wall Street and Main Street.#-ad_banner-# The hype got so bad, that in May 2012, I actually had a friend ask me if they should borrow money on his home so that he could buy Facebook shares. Sadly, many people (thankfully not my friend) recklessly scrambled to buy Facebook shares immediately following the stock’s public debut, and many of those investors are still sitting on a losing position. I won’t go into the epic fails on the part of… Read More

Carla Pasternak, editor of Street Authority’s High-Yield Investing, calls it “the most dramatic turnaround in U.S. history.” And millions of people across the country are reaping its benefits, increasing their net… Read More

When CERN released the World Wide Web in 1991, few thought it would amount to much. In fact, noted Author and Astronomer Clifford Stoll proclaimed in a Newsweek article that it was just a passing fad and would never catch on.  That was just before tech… Read More