They say that location has the most significant impact on the value of your home, but there are several additional factors that also play a key role in its final price. Maintaining your home is a relatively simple and affordable process that not only keeps it looking nicer, but often improves its function as well….
College towns offer a wealth of out-of-the-box investment opportunities. Large universities can help insulate local economies and housing markets from the recent boom-and-bust trends that other metro areas may suffer from. You might not want to become a landlord, but with the right management company you can reap all the benefits of college-town rentals with…
The country’s credit rating now teeters barely above junk status, amid growing fears it will sink still further after being shut out of international markets. The borrowing interest rates currently stand at the highest they’ve been since the euro’s inception, with the yield on Spain’s 10-year bonds shooting up to 6.86 percent. Last weekend, eurozone…
The predictions come as the trade evolves beyond its entrepreneurial, private roots to meet investor and regulator demands for greater transparency and more robust operations. A recent Citigroup survey predicted that hedge funds could lure $2trn in new money to investment vehicles long associated with mutual-fund companies and other institutional managers including “long-only” funds that…
When you work for a corporation, your retirement fund normally consists of a 401(k) plan administered by a third party provider. But what happens if you’re self-employed? A standard IRA is always an option, but it won’t give you the benefits of a corporate 401(k). In order to attain some of those benefits, self-employed individuals…
In an unexpected reversal of course, Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs director accused of insider trading, will not testify in his trial according to a letter to the presiding judge. The letter is in direct contradiction to a statement made on Friday afternoon by Gary Naftalis, Gupta’s lawyer, in which he said it would…
The Indian government decided to defer implementing GAAR for another year after a visit from the US Treasury Secretary in April. General Anti-Avoidance Rules were established to fight tax avoidance by enforcing the country’s tax regulations. The GAAR regulations were part of the proposed Direct Tax Code 2010 to deter sophisticated means of ducking income…
Fitch sliced its rating on government debt three notches from A to BBB, barely above junk status, blaming the enormous projected cost of cleaning up the country’s troubled banking sector, the deep recession and soaring national debt. The downgrade came after it emerged European officials were weighing up a bailout programme for Spain that would…
The social media giant was plagued with technical problems on its first day of trading, marring it’s highly anticipated stock offering last month. Computer glitches at the Nasdaq delayed the opening of trading by half an hour and kept some investors from buying shares in the morning, selling them later in the day, or even…
Drinks group Diageo is toasting its success in the Brazilian market through the acquisition of spirit brand Ypióca for $469m. The UK-based company who make Guinness, Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky and Smirnoff vodka has agreed to buy the brand of cachaça from the family-owned Ypióca Agro-industrial group, as it continues to expand in emerging markets….
