Weekly Round Up – November 08, 2013

Before we get to the good reads!

Check out this beastly resource on what’s the deal with extra income, and let me know what you think.

A Few Good Reads

Here are a few of my favorite reads from the past week.

1. Don’t Sweat Margin Debt:

One data point that has found a home among the bearish community is the total amount of New York Stock Exchange margin debt. It is at record highs, and this supposedly means the end of the bull market is nigh.

The cyclical bull that began in March 2009 may be getting long in the tooth, but margin debt is not what is likely to do it in any time soon. Margin debt has been one source of fuel that drives equity prices higher. Open this article

2. College Debt Could Delay Retirement for Young Grads:

Saving for retirement is probably the last thing debt-burdened college grads want to think about, but unfortunately they may have to start sooner than they think. According to a new study, many Millennials may not be able to retire comfortably until age 73 due to their college debt. Essentially, the problem is that while students are paying off their debt in their 20s and 30s, they will have little, if anything, left to contribute to a retirement fund. When young people wait to save money, their investments have less time to appreciate, which adds up to a significant sum over the years. Open this article

3. Debt Deflation and the Illusion of Wealth:

Listening to our friends in the financial media, one is tempted to think that skillful investors are somehow able to dodge the flaming asteroids of inflation as they fall to earth. See the last few minutes of the latest David Twohy film “Riddick” starring Vin Diesel for the visuals. Should Katee Sackhoff be the next Fed Chairman?

The idea of an object falling from space as a metaphor for inflation may surprise some readers of Zero Hedge, but our friend Marc Faber likes to remind us there are many ways to lose money — or really wealth — from inflation. Chief among them are asset bubbles instigated by the monetary emissions of reckless central bankers who pretend, at least, to believe that they can solve problems like unemployment by merely debasing our beloved fiat currency. Open this article

4. Rising Corporate Debt May Be Reaching Dangerous Levels:

Corporate debt is rising to potentially dangerous levels in Europe and some emerging markets, according to a new global banking group study.

While many firms across the globe have used years of low-interest borrowing from central banks to bolster their balance sheets, some companies have gone deeper in debt in the hopes of tiding their finances over until better times. Others have borrowed against growth prospects. Open this article

5. IVAs hit three-year high as borrowers struggle with debt:

The number of people struggling with debts and entering into individual voluntary arrangements with their creditors has risen to a three-year high, providing fresh evidence that the rising cost of living is placing a severe strain on many households.

Insolvency experts said England and Wales were seeing a “boom” in IVAs, which allow struggling borrowers to restructure their debts and are a less drastic option than bankruptcy, after official statistics showed these had reached their second highest level in the past decade. Open this article