Abby Joseph Cohen Track Record Accurate As A Broken Indicator Light

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indicator light

I fired off a quick post yesterday about the “news” that Goldman Sach’s Abby Joseph Cohen declared the recession over.  If you missed it, I made the point that an arrow pointing up painted on a wall had just as accurate of a track record as Ms. Cohen did over the past decade or so.  For some reason, Cohen has a set of groupies, or fan boys, or whatever that always like to remind people of when she was “right” and, of course, always forget about when she was wrong. The truth is that Abby Joseph Cohen has never been “right”.  If your answer to a yes/no question is always the same, you aren’t getting the questions right.  You are just happening upon the questions that were written with a yes answer.  That isn’t intelligence or ability, that’s statistics. Still, so as to avoid anyone showing up and (publicly, so far, it’s only messages) saying that I have forgotten about all the really great “calls” she has made, I offer the following factual data as proof that any upward pointing arrow would have made, and lost, investors just as much money as Abby Joseph Cohen over the last 10 years. …

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Abby Joseph Cohen at Goldman Sachs Declares Recession Over

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indicator light

You’ll forgive me if I don’t give a flying leap about whether or not Abby Joseph Cohen thinks the recession is over.  The Goldman Sachs perma-bull was famous for being “right” about the ever rising stock market of the 1990s.  Too bad she has never been right about a single declining stock market. Imagine you had a warning light that would light up red whenever the market was going to decline.  Imagine that light was broken and could never light up.  That light would be exactly as accurate as Abby Joseph Cohen has been since the 1990s. Compare the light to Cohen and you’ll find they have the exact same track record. Cohen Always Predicts Bull Markets The recession may actually be over.  In which case, her apologists will trot out this proclamation as another example of her being “right.”  Just keep in mind, the warning light is always making the same prediction.

Credit Card Company Tricks and How To Beat Them

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Citibank raised the interest rates for customers with high credit scores who had never missed a payment.  Virtually every credit card company opposed the very tame reforms recently passed into law by Congress.  The sad truth is that is isn’t a matter of if your credit card issuer will try something sneaky, it’s a matter of when, and how bad will it be. While there is always tension between a company that must turn a profit and consumers who want to get as much as possible for the lowest price, with most relationships between a business and consumer there is at least some degree of fairness.  Unfortunately, this is seldom the case for the relationship between credit card company and credit card user.  Instead, in this relationship, the credit card company works hard to hook a customer and then slowly tries to squeeze the maximum profit out of them.  Between absurd fees, sudden contract term changes, and just plain old subterfuge, your credit card company is out to get you if you stop paying attention. Top Credit Card Company Tricks – 0% APR Credit Card Offers While there are many areas the banks that issue credit cards are less than …

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Sell Banks Stocks or Buy Bank Stocks

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Ok, here it comes. After the government released the results of its stress tests, banks are scrambling to come up with ways to raise huge amounts.  It seems that the government money that was a much vaunted and absolutely necessary lifeline to banks has become tainted now that it comes with, horror of horror, strings on how the money can be spent.  As if the banks ever handed out a huge loan to anyone without some sort of control on the collateral. Be that as it may, banks want out of TARP and they want out now.  Even banks that would be much better off holding on to their TARP dollars are looking to buy back the government shares of preferred stock that they had to put up in order to their money.  Seems there is a feeling that the banks that do keep their TARP funds will be viewed as sickly or less stable than their counterparts who repay, regardless of the cost or wisdom of doing so. The only way for these banks to raise the kinds of dollars being thrown around is by selling off assets, which is fine if they are not part of the core …

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Is Refurbished or Remanufactured a Good Deal?

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Sometimes people ask me questions that aren’t exactly my area of specialty.  While saving money by buying a refurbished or remanufactured product is technically about spending and personal finance, there is a lot of information that goes into such a decision that I have no way of knowing any better than you. With that being said, there are some common issues and concerns to watch out for when purchasing refurbished or remanufactured goods. Is It Really A Good Price? The promise of refurbished goods, particularly electronics, is getting a “good as new” product for a much lower price.  The devil, of course, is in the details.  The major concerns fall into two categories. The first is whether or not the refurbished product really IS as good as new.  And the second, is in what way the service and support of the product will be different because it is refurbished. Many refurbished products come with a much shorter warranty than their new counterparts.  This begs the question, “If the product is as good as new, then why won’t you stand behind it with a warranty that is as good as the new one?” The answer is, of course, that refurbished is …

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Government Mortgage Help Programs Scams and Deceptive Marketing and Mailings

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It was with much fanfare last month that Congress and the Obama administration passed laws putting into effect government programs to help American homeowners with their mortgages.  Both The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, and The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were front page news all over the country. A lot of this publicity was due to the fact that Americans have started to perceive the government as helping out Wall Street and big banks more than they are helping ordinary taxpayers and homeowners who did nothing wrong during the housing bubble and subsequent market collapse and banking collapse. However, the same publicity also made it easier for scammers and dishonest marketers to take advantage of people’s hopes by pretending to have something to do with the government programs when, in fact, they are either outright scams to steal your money or steal your identity, or they are mortgage brokers or mortgage companies that have nothing to do with the government mortgage aid programs trying to insinuate that they are part of those programs.  Unfortunately, many people are falling victim to these con artists and their tricks. How To Protect Yourself From Scams, Thieves, and Con Artists Using Government Mortgage Aid …

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How To Pay Less Taxes Next Year

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Save more receipts.  That is how to pay less money on your taxes next year.  You wanted something more amazing didn’t you.  So do most people, which is why they buy books and magazines and secret kits and then pay the same amount of taxes as they did last year. This year try something different.  Just save more receipts.  When it comes time to file your taxes you won’t use any more lines on the tax forms for deductions, but you will be able to have higher numbers on the lines that you already use. A Smaller Tax Bill Wait ‘til next year.  The most often used phrase in sports may also be used by many taxpayers this week as the stress and shock of filing federal income taxes wears off.  Whether it was having to write the IRS a big check, or if it was seeing how your tax bill compared to others, or if it was just seeing the enormous number that you earned but never got to see thanks to paycheck withholding, it’s common to want to pay less taxes next year. Paying less taxes is a goal that most Americans have.  Yet, it is a goal …

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US Government Money Help

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Have you ever wondered what a website from the US Government about money and personal finances would look like?  Wonder no longer. The US Financial Literacy and Education Commission (what did that cost?) provides a basic financial resource for investing, saving, retirement planning, mortgages, and even starting a small business, all on mymoney.gov. I’m not saying anything on there is earth shaking knowledge that you probably didn’t know, but it is always nice to have an unbiased government resource to direct people to whether you are in finance or not.  There’s nothing scarier than sending your Grandma to a finance website and just hoping that there are no money scams on there waiting to ambush her. Check it out.