Ask Jason

Citigroup Breakup!

2009-10-02T04:31:00.000+02:00

Is a Citigroup breakup just around the corner? Well it came one step closer a few months ago as Citigroup Inc agreed to get together with Morgan Stanley on its brokerage business. Citigroup’s Smith Barney brokerage firm will merge with Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division.

Lets see how far Citigroup goes before they announce their latest quarterly results in a couple of weeks. On October 22 Citigroup is expected to announce another bad quarter of losses.

Question: What Flooring Material is Most Eco-Friendly?

2009-10-02T04:28:00.002+02:00

Which flooring material is most eco friendly? Is it tile flooring, wood flooring, bamboo flooring, linoleum, or carpet? Well when it comes down to manufacturing, each of these products take a lot of natural resources to create and ship, but when it comes down to durability, there are some real winners. Natural materials like bamboo and tile will last a long time due to its durability while other materials like carpet and linoleum are more prevalent to wear and tear.

A Low Tech Life Saver

2009-10-02T04:27:00.000+02:00

Here’s an interesting fact that you may not be up on — what could the first technological solution to collision avoidance be? Well here is a hint — it was invented over 100 years ago! What could it be? The good old car horn, of course! I was reminded of this fact in an article from Slate magazine. The horn was on the first model T when it rolled off the assembly line and its been with us ever since. Low tech? Yes. Responsible for saving countless lives and people from injury? Absolutely! Let’s give a honk for the horn.

Question: Will Barcodes Be Used in the Future?

2009-10-02T04:24:00.002+02:00

Think about this one -- will barcodes exist in the future? I mean, barcodes have always been like a "futuristic" idea with barcode scanner machines scanning people's neck tattoos, cars and products. But I feel like barcodes will not be int he future. Instead, RFID will be the prevalent technology. The "barcodes" will be hidden as tiny RFID chips and they will be read wirelessly. No more barcodes in the future!

Imagine That Auto Show!

2009-10-02T04:23:00.000+02:00

With the North American Auto show in full force this week in Detroit, lets take a moment to think back to a simpler time in the American Auto Industry. Forget having to decide between GPS Navigation and AWD — can you believe there was a time when you couldn’t even pick your car color? No seriously — the Model T came in only one color between 1914 and 1925 - Black. Why’s that? High tech answer - black enamel paint back then dried a lot quicker than the rest and this meant efficiency on the production line. Pure genius. Here are some original specifications of the 1908 Model T:
• 4 cylindler, 4 cycle, 20 horsepower engine
• Artillery wood type wheels
• 10 gallon gas tank
• 1200 lbs weight
• Price $750 from the factory

Question: Will Old People Look Younger in the Future?

2009-10-02T04:20:00.002+02:00

Here's something that's crossed my mind before -- will all these wrinkle cream products out there actually make old people in the future look better an younger than old people from the past? I mean, the proof is in the pudding and the future. When people who have taken good care of their skin and used these products for 30 years hit old age, will they look better than "regular" old people?

The Worst January in Years! Is 2009 Over Yet?

2009-10-02T04:19:00.000+02:00

Remember back in January? The last week ended the worst January ever for the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500. For the month of January 2009, the Dow lost 8.8% and the S&P 500 lost 8.6%. The one bright spot? The Nasdaq didn’t do so bad — at least it wasn’t a record. The Nasdaq lost 6.4% in January, which was not the worst on record. The worst Nasdaq January was a 9.9% loss last year in January. Will anyone make any money in this market? All I can say is keep on buying securities and get your dollar cost average lower and lower. The future will one day be bright again and you will love all the low price stocks you bought.

Question: Will the Government Bring Affordable Health Insurance?

2009-10-02T04:15:00.002+02:00

Will the U.S. Government finally bring affordable health insurance with universal coverage to reality? Well I belief there will be some sort of reform this year but its not guaranteed that the reform will include universal coverage. There are many other aspects of health care reform which could be also useful including:

Tort Reform
Health Insurance tax credits
Preventing insurance companies from using pre-existing conditions
Putting a cap on medical expense growth

Question: What is the Wayback Machine?

2009-09-18T15:57:00.002+02:00

Think of the Wayback Machine as a digital time capsule where the web is archived over time and can be accessed for reference or for laughs. Created by the Internet Archive and maintained with content from Alexa Internet, this service allows users to see archived versions of web pages back through time. Check it out for yourself -- try out old versions of Amazon.com.

Question: Is Off-Shoring Dead?

2009-09-18T15:55:00.001+02:00

How much the world can change in just 5 years. Five years ago everyone was talking about off-shoring resources and inbound call center operations in India and China. Now, after the global recession, we see the trend reversing and mutating. Reversing in the sense that some jobs are going back home to whence they came. Mutating in the form that India and China are becoming less popular countries as opposed to newer developing countries like those in South East Asia. What a difference 5 little years make.

Question: What Does ALEXA Stand For?

2009-09-18T15:51:00.002+02:00

Alexa Internet was founded in 1996 as a way to improve internet searching by tracking web search behavior and using the results in improving search. The name Alexa originally stood for Address Lookup EXperts Authority. In 1999 (at the height of the Internet Bubble), Alexa was acquired by Amazon.com for about $250 million in Amazon stock. Now Alexa does a lot of stuff including tracking website popularity and offering SEO capabilities.

Question: What is A9?

2009-09-18T15:45:00.003+02:00

A9, as in A9.com, is a part of Amazon.com and is located out of Palo Alto, California. The company develops search engine technology and data center services. When you are running a company that depends on search as much as Amazon.com does, it only makes sense to have your own sophisticated search engine capabilities. That is what A9 does for the big A.Next time you are on the Amazon.com website, keep your eye out for the A9 symbol on the site.

Question: Will Joe Wilson Win Reelection?

2009-09-18T15:42:00.002+02:00

Do you know who Joe Wilson is? Surely you must after all the media coverage in the past week about the President's Address to Congress. Joe Wilson is a Republican politician from South Carolina. After shouting "You lie!" at President Obama during a nationality televised speech, Rep. Wilson has received over $1.5 million in campaign contributions for his reelection! Crazy? Well consider this -- his future challenger for his SC office has received just as much (and even more) for his election campaign.

Question: What Doesn't Qualify for CARS?

2009-08-16T15:28:00.002+02:00

CARS, better known as the Cash for Clunkers program, does not accept every vehicle, so don't expect to be able to sell motorhome if you don't want ti anymore. Here are the rules:

Vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date.
Only the purchase or 5 year minimum lease of new vehicles qualify.
Generally, trade-in vehicles must get a weighted combined average rating of 18 or fewer MPG (some very large pickup trucks and cargo vans have different requirements).
Trade-in vehicles must be registered and insured continuously for the full year preceding the trade-in.
Trade-in vehicles must be in driveable condition.
The program runs from July 1, 2009 until Nov 1, 2009 or when the funds are exhausted, whichever comes first.
The program requires the scrapping of the eligible trade-in vehicle and that the dealer disclose to the customer an estimate of the scrap value of the trade-in. The scrap value, however minimal, will be in addition to the rebate, and not in place of the rebate.
The new car bought under the plan must have a suggested retail price of no more than $45,000, and for passenger automobiles, the new vehicle must have a combined fuel economy value of at least 22 miles per gallon.

Question: What is the PEG Ratio of Financial Analysis?

2009-08-16T15:24:00.002+02:00

In the subject of financial accounting and stock valuation theory, PEG ratio stands for Price/Earnings to Growth ratio, that is, the PE ratio compared to the growth ratio. Why do this? Well high growth stocks usually have high PE ratios since their earnings are low but growing fast while their stock. The idea here is that by dividing the P/E ratio by the earnings growth rate, the resulting ratio is better for comparing companies with different growth rates.

Question: How Often Should You Shop for Insurance?

2009-08-16T15:22:00.002+02:00

I like to use 2 years as a rule of thumb for shopping for new insurance. But what types of insurance qualify for this rule? Sure you can get life insurance quotes online, but I don't recommend changing your life insurance so often. Actually this rule generally applies to property like car insurance, home insurance and personal property insurance. Other insurance like life insurance and health insurance should do be shopped around so often -- but only when there is a significant reason to do so.

Question: What is Earnings Yield?

2009-08-16T15:17:00.003+02:00

In the world of financial analysis and financial ratios, the Earnings yield is the quotient of earnings per share (EPS) divided by the share price. For all you non-math types, quotient means the result of a division operation. If the EPS dividend is $3 per share and the Share Price is $300, then the earnings yield is 1%. It is the reciprocal of the P/E ratio. To allow an easy comparison to other rates of return (like bond rates), the earnings yield is quoted as a percentage.

Question: Why Are Empty Houses Being Broken in to?

2009-08-10T04:26:00.002+02:00

With hundreds of thousands of homes vacant across the U.S., either from foreclosures, short sales, or newer-sold new developments, combined with a horrible economy, there has been a rise in the break and theft of building and raw materials. Thieves are breaking into homes and stealing everything that's not nailed down (well, actually that stuff too). From copper pipes and lighting fixtures to fireplace stones and hearths, empty homes are being broken into and ransacked for anything which can be re-used or re-sold. Are there homes in your neighborhood at risk?

Question: How Much is the U.S. Deficit Growing?

2009-08-10T04:21:00.002+02:00

Scary news out this weekend -- the U.S. federal deficit grew by $181 billion in the month of July! That's as much as the deficit grew in entire years of the Clinton administration. So just how much does the U.S. government owe creditors as this point? The officials at the government are projecting that the one year (2009) deficit to reach $1.8 trillion by the end of the fiscal year. That's 3 times+ more than the previous annual record of 455 billion.

Question: Why Buy Leads?

2009-07-27T03:24:00.002+02:00

Buying leads in business, whether they be new car interest leads or insurance marketing leads, is one way to jump start your sales business. There are many ways to generate new clients but buying leads is one of the easiest. It may not always work out as you planned, but it is a quick and dirty way to generate leads for your sales staff.

Question: What is the DJIA?

2009-07-27T03:19:00.002+02:00

DJIA stands for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Other names for it include just the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30, or the Dow. It is an index which weighs the relative performance of 30 stocks and its movement is widely held as a generally indicator to the health of the U.S. (and global) economy. Here is a list of DJIA stocks:

3M Co.
Alcoa Inc.
American Express Co.
AT&T Inc.
Bank of America Corp.
Boeing Co.
Caterpillar Inc.
Chevron Corp.
Cisco Systems Inc.
Coca-Cola Co.
E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.
Exxon Mobil Corp.
General Electric Co.
Hewlett-Packard Co.
Home Depot Inc.
Intel Corp.
International Business Machines Corp.
Johnson & Johnson
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Kraft Foods Inc. Cl A
McDonald's Corp.
Merck & Co. Inc.
Microsoft Corp.
Pfizer Inc.
Procter & Gamble Co.
Travelers Cos. Inc.
United Technologies Corp.
Verizon Communications Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Walt Disney Co.

Question: Why Keep an Older Car?

2009-07-17T06:09:00.004+02:00

Well it could be nostalgia. It could be for classic looks. But for me, keeping an older car and driving it till it falls apart is all about saving money. Without a car payment, you are literally driving for pennies a mile. Think of all the money you save -- it will be enough to pay for a new paint job, clear head lights and new dash kits well into the next decade. Even when it comes to gas mileage -- its usually cheaper to drive a less fuel efficient clunker than to pay $15000 for a new car just to get more gas mileage.

Question: What is Communication Management in Business?

2009-07-17T06:09:00.001+02:00

In Project Management, a Communication Management Plan is the document which describes how communication will take place during the project. It addresses the needs of the project in terms of communication and plans out how these needs will be met. It can include an org chart with contact information, a plan on which regular meetings will take place, and how changes to the plan will be communicated to the team and stakeholders.

Question: What is User-Generated Content?

2009-06-26T07:12:00.002+02:00

User-Generated Content is the term to refer to the method of creating content, usually on the Internet, by a volunteer group of people. The people can be preselected or anonymous and they can often delete, revise or rework other people's work. Think Wikipedia! But user generated content can take many other forms from the Lipofuze review you read on a blog to the book reviews you see at Amazon dot com. When you leave comments on this blog, its a form of UGC.

Question: Where Does Money Market Fund Money Go?

2009-06-12T04:49:00.001+02:00

A Money Market Fund is an bank account or investment account where in the cash is invested in very short term low risk securities. These are often short term bonds and overnight lending. Why the setup like this? Two reasons -- first, to guarantee the money will never go down in value. Second, to provide depositors a reason to keep their money in the bank. Getting something on your money is better than nothing and the 0.5% to 2% return on a money market fund is nothing to laugh at. The money in the fund is guaranteed by the bank as if it were a savings account. The money is used as the bank likes but its FDIC insured.