News

2007

August

16

• Keep safe distance from bankrupt stocks. Some investors see the troubles in the mortgage and real estate industries as an opportunity to go bargain-hunting for depressed but basically solid stocks. And then there are those who buy stock in companies that…

• Seniors head south to Mexican nursing homes. After Jean Douglas turned 70, she realized she couldn't take care of herself anymore. Her knees were giving out, and winters in Bandon, Ore., were getting harder to bear alone. Douglas was shocked by the…

15

• Scholarship scam warning. College costs are staggering. According to the College Board, the average annual cost (tuition, fees, room, and board) of attending a four-year public college is nearly $13,000. For private schools, the average cost is more…

• Nokia cellphone batteries could overheat. Nokia Corp. warned Tuesday that as many as 46 million batteries used in some of its cellphones could be faulty and pose a risk of overheating. The advisory applies to lithium-ion batteries manufactured by Matsushita…

• Forms to explain adjustable rate mortgages. Federal bank regulators on Tuesday published a set of forms designed to give borrowers a better understanding of mortgages that can adjust to dramatically higher monthly payments. With mortgage defaults rising, consumer advocates say many…

14

• Good old FHA loans make a comeback. The collapse of the subprime mortgage business has revived interest in federally backed Federal Housing Administration loans among low-income and first-time home buyers who have been shut out of the mortgage market. After a three-year…

13

• Hedge funds' pack mentality affects markets. On Wall Street, there is a rage against the machine. The managers of these funds are the products of the trading desks of the big investment banks, like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, both of…

• Small investors seen as safer in stock slide. The wild swings in the stock market over the last few weeks have reawakened memories of the technology crash of 2000 in which many small investors lost their savings. But this time around, market experts…

• Milk prices rising to record highs. It's cheaper than oil and, barring a global mad cow crisis, we'll probably never run out of it. But milk has one thing in common with oil: It's trading at record highs. Reasons include growing…

12

• Payday loan traps. Aziza Gary grew increasingly uncomfortable. Here she was, a lending specialist for a credit union in Baltimore, advising a member to steer clear of payday loans. Gary knew these loans were a bad deal from…

• Students need credit card lessons. The credit card is fast becoming as much a staple of college life as backpacks and schoolbooks. While the plastic may seem harmless enough (sometimes you just want the free T-shirt offered when you apply),…

• Retirement plans based on age of death are risky. Inflexibility can be deadly to a portfolio. Setting up a retirement income plan based on a single age of death - whether it is average life expectancy or some other number - is one of…

11

• Housing micro booms defy the downturn. Although real estate sales and prices are flat or down in dozens of metropolitan areas, micro-markets within them are performing differently, with prices and sales up over last year and plenty of buyers still wanting…

• Counselors give life to housing dreams. Akilah S. Owens spoke in a measured cadence about the importance of homeownership. Establishing stakeholders in black communities would build wealth, the housing counselor told potential buyers gathered in a conference room in Southeast Washington.…

09

• Seniors tap equity with reverse mortgages. Even in the midst of a housing recession, one segment of the mortgage market has been booming: reverse mortgages, which provide a line of credit or monthly payments to seniors 62 or older, using an…

• Switching jobs and your retirement account. Summer is often a time of transition. Many employees switch jobs during the summer and many wonder: Should I let the money I've accumulated in my company retirement plan stay in the old plan? One…

• High schoolers test well in basic economics. Sixty percent of high school seniors know that lower tax revenue and higher spending increase the national debt, and about half can tell you that the cost of imported goods would probably decrease without trade…

• Remittances to Mexico slow down. A new national survey of Latino immigrants suggests that recently adopted state and local laws aimed at making life more difficult for illegal immigrants have slowed the growth in the flow of money sent to…

07

• Congress looks to limit sale of SSNs. Congress will soon restrict the sale of Social Security numbers, a legal practice that many believe is a major source of fraud. Lawmakers have increasingly blamed the rising number of identity theft cases on the…

06

• Home loans are harder to get. Wake-up call! If you're ready to buy or refinance a home, the turmoil on Wall Street may be further hurting your chances of getting a loan. In a huge sell-off Friday, investors reacted to a…