Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK) recent announcement that it was buying railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) also included a provision for a 50-to-1 stock split of B shares so that smaller shareholders of BNI would be able to be converted to Berkshire shares and avoid capital gains. Warren Buffett has been trying to avoid ...

Click here to read complete article.

Photo: Simon Blackley A guy walks into a mechanic and asks for a tune-up. “Looks like your car needs a lot of work,” says the mechanic. “After a quick inspection, I estimate about $1000 worth of services.” It may sound like a joke, but car owners are often hit with an unhappy diagnosis like this. Many of us ...

Click here to read complete article.

If you need to borrow money, apply here [application_form] Sometimes it makes good sense to borrow money Too often, your paycheck is spent the minute you get it. You pay a few bills, make a trip to the grocery store, and fill the tank with gas. Fortunately or not, your kid mows the lawn just like ...

Click here to read complete article.

The Credit CARD Act of 2009 instructed the Federal Reserve to enact new regulations for gift cards. I have a love/hate relationship with gift cards; they’re convenient gifts to give when you know the recipient is a fan of a certain store. Unfortunately, the past few years have seen restrictions added to gift cards which ...

Click here to read complete article.

Over at Bogleheads there was an interesting thread which explored how finance professor Moshe Milevsky has been pushing the concept of human capital as an additional variable to the traditional ideas of net worth, portfolio construction, and asset allocation. These are explored in this this trade magazine article for financial advisors, this draft ...

Click here to read complete article.