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3 Important Estate Planning Questions

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Retirement - lonely person
Getty ImagesYour spouse should know where to find all of your estate and personal documents should you die unexpectedly.
By Scott Holsopple

Remember the famous line from Ben Franklin about death and taxes? "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Since tax day has come and gone this year, this is the perfect time to deal with the other sure thing.

Estate planning isn't exactly my idea of fun, but it's absolutely necessary. Just like you're planning for retirement, you need to plan for the inevitable. Some of this stuff might require the use of a lawyer or financial planner for a one-time estate planning session, but you could also find one of the many websites where you can purchase some legal documents and/or consult with an attorney at a lower rate.

But then there are a few important questions many of us don't think about. They're the often overlooked issues of estate planning that could make all the difference for your relatives and heirs after you die. When you're putting a plan in place to help protect your loved ones, be sure to ask yourself:

1. How well does my spouse know our financial adviser? If you're the one in charge of dealing with your family's finances, it's possible your spouse hasn't even met your financial adviser. Or, they may have met for five minutes to catch some signatures early on in the client-adviser relationship. Consequently, if you're the first one to die, your spouse would be reliant on someone they barely know during an extremely difficult time. Since your financial adviser is likely involved with everything from your brokerage account investments to life insurance to individual retirement accounts -- and possibly more -- this is someone your spouse should get to know.

If your answer to this question is "Not very well," make an appointment for a financial review and bring your spouse along. Ask your adviser to walk through your complete financial picture so that everyone, including your spouse, can establish a good level of comfort.

2. Does my spouse know where all our accounts are located and how to access them? The surviving spouse will need to access money immediately to cover funeral expenses. There may also be hospital bills, and, of course, all of the normal expenses that come with everyday life. Your spouse won't have time to search high and low trying to figure out where the accounts are located or how they can access money. If you can't answer "yes" to this question, you need to make sure your loved ones know where to find this information so as to avoid unnecessary confusion later.

Walk through all of your financial accounts with your spouse so he or she comfortably understands how to withdraw funds as needed. It's also helpful to leave a few lists in a safe but easily accessible place:
  • A password list for all your online accounts and memberships.
  • A list of all your accounts and memberships - both online and offline - along with any necessary instructions.
  • A list of your estate planning documents and their location.
  • A list of all lawyers, financial planners, accountants and others who helped you create an estate plan, including contact information.
3. Are our wills and beneficiary designations up-to-date? It's possible this question reminded you of some changes you haven't yet had a chance to make. Those adjustments aside, life events such as births, deaths, marriages, divorces and job changes could mean you'll need to update your will and account beneficiaries.

When it comes to passing wealth, don't assume your will is enough. Plenty of assets might not be covered by your will. Check to be sure beneficiary designations are correct on:
  • Retirement plan accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs.
  • Life insurance.
  • Annuities.
  • Taxable Investment accounts: Taxable investment accounts generally allow owners to select a transfer on death, or TOD, designation, which specifies who will receive the assets and generally allows the account to bypass probate court. This is technically separate from a beneficiary because it's treated differently by the Internal Revenue Service.
You might not like thinking about it, but there's no way around it. No one lives forever. Our mortality might be out of our control, but you can take charge of the situation by putting a plan in place to help protect your loved ones. This list of questions may not be all-inclusive, but they're a good start toward making sure your finances isn't just one more thing for your spouse to stress out over in a time of grief.

The author of this article is not an attorney and nothing in herein should be construed as legal advice. Contact a qualified attorney to discuss the laws in your state relating to inheritance, asset transfers, and any other matters discussed in this article.

Scott Holsopple is the president of Smart401k, offering easy-to-use, cost-effective 401(k) advice and solutions for the everyday investor. His advice has been featured on various news outlets, including Fox Business, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

 

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As Target Upgrades Credit Cards, It May Stand Alone

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Don't expect other stores to follow Target's lead
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
By Krystina Gustafson | @KrystinaGustafs

Target took an active step in trying to reassure shoppers that their information would be safe when making purchases at its stores, by saying it would upgrade its store-branded cards with Mastercard's (MA) chip-and-PIN technology starting early next year.

But don't expect other retailers to immediately follow suit.

Though experts said Target's move is a step in the right direction, the fact that its cards are issued by Target (TGT) puts it in a unique position to be able to expedite these security measures for its shoppers, according to Brian Riley, research director with CEB TowerGroup.

What's more, since it fell victim to a very public data breach, the discounter has more incentive to act with extreme caution.

"I think Target's in a position where they're trying to look at everything as quickly as they can," Riley said.

Target on Tuesday said that it will enable its entire REDcard portfolio, which includes Target-branded credit and debit cards, to include the new chip-and-PIN technology beginning in early 2015. The system is said to be safer than what is currently used for U.S. credit cards, as the chip makes the card harder to counterfeit, while the PIN combats against fraud when cards are lost or stolen.

Although the discounter's consumer credit card portfolio was sold to TD Bank last year, the company said in a release that it "will maintain the current deep integration between its financial services operations and its retail operations." This gives Target more leverage when it comes to the processes behind its store-branded cards, Riley said.

Because only a few retailers have the same sort of leverage -- Nordstrom (JWN) and Talbots are two companies on the short list of big-name retailers that have an affiliated bank -- it puts them in a unique position.

But there's another reason Riley doesn't expect other retailers to follow Target's lead: The fact that there is so much change under way involving new technologies in the payment category.

"In fact, if they do, I think it's a little bit premature," he said.

Riley would, however, see more reason for a quick reaction from stores that also underwent recent breaches, he said. Neiman Marcus and Michaels Stores also recently reported data breaches, but neither responded to requests for comment as to whether they will expedite their move to chip-and-PIN technology. Michaels doesn't offer its own store-branded credit card.

Walmart (WMT) said all of its U.S. stores will be able to accept EMV cards before the end of the year. That's because its point-of-sale machines are already compatible with the technology, so there is no material cost for the retailer.

Banks and retailers are facing an October 2015 deadline when they need to be compliant with EMV technology -- a global set of standards for secure payments that uses a different set of digital data for every transaction. After that date, the liability of counterfeit card transaction will fall on either the card's issuing bank or the retailer, depending on who does not meet the set standards.

But the cost of switching over to EMV technology will be costly for retailers. Ramesh Siromani, a partner in the financial institutions practice at global management consultant A.T. Kearney, said upgrading point-of-sale terminals to read the chips could cost anywhere between $300 and $600 per terminal, which adds up when accounting for retailers with hundreds -- even thousands -- of stores.

Target said its plan to switch its REDcard portfolio, which includes more than 20 million cards used at nearly 1,800 stores, over to chip-and-PIN technology will cost $100 million.

Industrywide, Mallory Duncan, senior vice president and general counsel of The National Retail Federation, said it will cost retailers between $25 billion and $30 billion to switch over to chip-and-PIN technology, mainly because of the cost associated with upgrading sales terminals.

He said the most significant piece of Target's announcement is that it will be including the PIN requirement with its security upgrades. He said this is the fastest, most effective step the industry can take in helping to reduce fraud, as it's a less costly undertaking and still protects consumers.

By switching over to PINs, and postponing or eliminating the change to chips, the move toward more secure payments would only cost retailers about $4 billion, Duncan said.

"What you want to do is fix the weakest link first, and the weakest link is the signature," Duncan said. "[Target is] leading the charge to fix the weakest link ... it's the banks that have to follow suit."

Still, the new technology isn't perfect. Many point out that the new point-of-sale terminals only secure in-store transactions, leaving online sales vulnerable. Jason Oxman, CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association, also pointed out that the Target breach affected the retailer's systems that stored card data, so EMV technology would not have stopped it.

Target has been working to restore the confidence of shoppers, who stopped spending -- and, in some cases, visiting its stores altogether -- following the data breach that affected up to 110 million shoppers.

Last month, a report from Kantar Retail found that only 33 percent of U.S. households shopped at a Target or SuperTarget in January. That was the retailer's lowest level of shopper penetration in the past three years.

The pullback in foot traffic was also reflected in the retailer's fourth-quarter earnings report. The company said its domestic comparable-store sales fell 2.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, and were affected by "meaningfully softer results" following the Dec. 19 news of the data breach.

However, CEO Gregg Steinhafel also said in the release that he was "encouraged that sales trends have improved in recent weeks."

Recent data from YouGov's BrandIndex also indicate that consumers are slowly forgiving the discounter. According to the firm, Target's consumer perception currently stands at 15, after plummeting as low as -35 in wake of the breach. Though the company is still only about halfway back to its pre-breach score of 26, YouGov said it is only several points below what they consider a recovery.

Scores range from 100 to -100 and are calculated by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A score of zero means that a company has received equal positive and negative feedback from respondents. The index interviews 4,300 people each weekday to draw its conclusions.

 

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Job Market Likely Saw a Boost in April as Winter Gloom Faded

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U.S. Economy's Spring Thaw Could Boost April Hiring
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER

WASHINGTON -- Signs that the U.S. economy is emerging from a deep winter freeze have raised hopes that hiring accelerated in April.

Economists are mostly bullish. They forecast that the economy gained 210,000 jobs in April, according to a survey by FactSet, and that the unemployment rate slipped to 6.6 percent from 6.7 percent.

The government will release the April employment report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday.

If economists' forecasts are accurate, April will have produced the largest burst of hiring since November. That would show that the economy is producing consistently solid job growth. Job gains totaled 197,000 in February and 192,000 in March.

The steady pace of hiring has encouraged more Americans to start looking for work. That's a hopeful sign that they think their prospects for finding a job have improved. In the first three months of this year, about 1.3 million people began looking for jobs, and most have found them.

Last year, by contrast, the number of people either working or looking for work shrank by roughly 500,000.

Most of the job gains in March were in low-paying industries, a pattern than has been consistent for most of the nearly 5-year old recovery. Temporary help agencies, for example, added 28,500 jobs, hotels and restaurants 33,100 and retailers 21,300.

Recent economic reports have pointed to faster economic growth after a dismal start to the year, slowed by a brutal winter.

Consumers are ramping up spending, businesses are ordering more goods and manufacturers are expanding. The strengthening numbers show that harsh snowstorms and frigid cold in January and February were largely to blame for the economy's scant growth at the start of the year.

The economy barely expanded from January through March, eking out an annual growth rate of just 0.1 percent, down from a 2.6 percent rate in the final three months of 2013. Americans spent more last quarter on utilities and health care, but their spending on goods barely rose. Businesses also reduced spending, and exports fell.

One drag on the economy appears to be the faltering housing recovery. Home building and renovation declined in the January-March quarter, slowing growth for a second straight quarter.

Builders started work on fewer homes in March than they did a year earlier. Sales and construction may rebound later this year, but economists don't expect housing to contribute much if at all to growth.

Still, other data indicate that the economy was already rebounding in March and probably improved further in April. Auto sales jumped 8.5 percent in April compared with the same month a year ago, the best April sales increase in nine years.

Consumers spent more at furniture stores and other retail chains. Overall consumer spending soared 0.9 percent in March, the government said Thursday, the most in 4½ years.

Economists watch consumer spending closely because it makes up about 70 percent of economic activity.

Spending is up partly because Americans earned a bit more, and confidence has improved from the bleak winter months. Incomes rose 0.5 percent in March, the government said, the most since August.

Consumer confidence has nearly returned to pre-recession levels, according to two surveys by the Conference Board and the University of Michigan.

Also Thursday, a private survey showed that manufacturing activity accelerated in April for a third straight month. Measures of export orders and hiring rose, and new orders increased at a healthy pace.

Businesses are also investing more in machinery and equipment after cutting back in those areas in January and December. Business orders for manufactured goods jumped in March, the government said last week.

All told, the positive news has led most economists to forecast a strong rebound in economic growth -- to a 3.5 percent annual rate in the current April-June quarter. And growth should reach nearly 3 percent for the full year, up from 1.9 percent in 2013, they expect.

Even the slumping housing market has reported some good news this week. Signed contracts to buy existing homes rose in March for the first time in nine months. That holds out the hope of higher sales in the months ahead.

And construction spending ticked up in March, fueled partly by more home and apartment-building.

 

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Middle-Class Lives Hand to Mouth, but It's Not All Bad News

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Family shopping in grocery warehouse
Ed Honowitz/Getty Images
By Christina Scotti

Thirty-eight million American households, which is roughly one-third of all U.S. families, live hand to mouth, according to a new report. But a majority of them are not technically considered poor -- and in many cases, have made good investments.

New research from the Brookings Institute shows that roughly 25 of the 38 million Americans living paycheck to paycheck have a median income of $41,000, which is in line with the national median income of $43,000.

"Many households are saving," explains Greg Kaplan, an assistant professor of Economics at Princeton University and co-author of the study. "They are just not saving in liquid forms, and the data shows that's not necessarily bad because illiquid investments are generally better investments."

These illiquid assets, which Kaplan says are mostly homes and retirement accounts, make it hard for people to access any of their value. So, especially in a tough labor market, that cash cushion is not readily available for many.

The data also finds that often times for this group, the living-paycheck-to-paycheck situation is not permanent. That distinguishes these Americans from the estimated 12 million considered "poor Americans living hand-to-mouth" with income about half of their counterparts' at $21,000.

"The study suggests that this is not a label stamped on their head," says Kaplan. "It's a phase for the households, happening once or during periods of time."

This group, coined the "wealthy-hand-to-mouth," has substantial investments and is generally older, with a peak age of 40. The poor -hand-to-mouth" pool is most frequently younger with little or no assets. On top of living paycheck-to-paycheck, both groups have "large marginal propensities to consume out of small income changes -- a key determinant of the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy," the report says.

That means, they respond to stimulus policies much the same way as those with no assets, spending all of their extra disposable income almost immediately.

This huge group of Americans, which Kaplan points out has been around in similar numbers since the 1980s but have not been looked at closely, redefines the image most might have of those living hand-to-mouth.

"Often times, people are impulsive, and so it may be a good thing to put your money [into a house or a retirement account]. There are the unlucky few where it isn't a good idea, but most times it is," says Kaplan. "Living paycheck to paycheck isn't exclusive to the poorer pool of people but it is, in fact, creeping into the middle class."

 

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CVS Caremark Quarterly Profit Jumps 18%

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Earns CVS
Matt Rourke/AP
By TOM MURPHY

CVS Caremark's first-quarter earnings jumped 18 percent as generic drugs and an acquisition helped the drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager weather rough winter storms.

The company runs the nation's second-largest drugstore chain, with many of its nearly 7,700 stores on the East Coast and in the Midwest, areas blasted by snow storms and sub-zero temperatures this past winter. CVS Caremark said that weather, plus a weaker flu season compared to last year, hurt sales at its established stores.

CEO Larry Merlo told analysts during a Friday conference call that the company normally doesn't blame the weather when it explains results, but it was making an exception.

"This quarter, the amount of extreme weather was so abnormal that, quite frankly, it's hard not to talk about it," he said.

CVS Caremark (CVS) also runs one of the biggest pharmacy benefits management operations, and that segment played a large role in its growth during the quarter. Sales from that unit, which runs prescription drug plans for employers and other clients, climbed more than 10 percent to top $20 billion in the quarter. It was helped in part by rising drug prices, as well as the company's acquisition of the drug infusion business Coram.

Growth in generic drug use also helped the company's bottom line, as it has done for several quarters now for CVS and other drugstores. Generics, which are cheaper than brand-name drugs, provide a wider margin between the cost for the pharmacy to purchase the drugs and the reimbursement it receives.

CVS earned $1.13 billion, or 95 cents a share, in the three months that ended March 31. That compares with earnings of $954 million, or 77 cents a share, in last year's quarter. Revenue climbed 6 percent to $32.69 billion.

Adjusted results totaled $1.02 a share. That was 2 cents shy of Wall Street expectations and a penny lower than what the company expected.

But CVS Caremark beat analyst projections for revenue of $32.3 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

The company also reaffirmed Friday a forecast it first made in December for 2014 adjusted earnings of between $4.36 and $4.50 a share. Analysts expect earnings of $4.47 a share.

CVS Caremark gained national attention in February after vowing to phase out tobacco products from its stores by October. CVS anticipates a $2 billion hit to its revenue because of the decision, but it doesn't expect the move to affect its earnings forecast.

The company, like other drugstore chains, has been raising its focus on health care by adding in-store clinics and seeking to work more with doctors and hospitals to manage patient care. Company leaders told analysts Friday that they don't expect the products they put in tobacco's shelf space to replace the lost revenue from cigarettes and cigars, but they do expect to gain health care business because of the move.

Company shares climbed 29 cents to $73.38 in midday trading, while broader indexes were largely flat.

 

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Money Minute: Microsoft Releases Bug Fix; Rent Is Too Darn High

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After a tense week of waiting by many computer users, Microsoft finally has a fix.

Many of us have been afraid to use Internet Explorer this week after a warning from Homeland Security, but now Microsoft (MSFT) is out with a fix for its Web browser. The company says most computers have automatic updates and the fix has been downloaded and installed without users having to do anything. Microsoft says the fix even applies to its outdated Windows XP software, which the company said it stopped supporting early last month. There are an estimated 300 million computers still using that platform.

The computer security firm FireEye (FEYE) says attacks against Internet Explorer have been aimed at government networks, as well as defense, finance and energy companies. It says the attacks seem to be coming from in or near China.

A growing number of people are spending way too much of their income on rent. According to RealtyTrac, many low income renters in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Miami spend as much as half of their income on rent. That's partly because rents have increased significantly in recent years, as fewer people buy their own homes -- while income has not kept pace with those rising costs. Many financial advisers say you should budget no more than 30 percent of income toward housing.

Here on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) fell 22 points yesterday, retreating from Wednesday's record high. But the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) rose 13 points, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) was virtually flat.

Finally, General Motors (GM) is back in bankruptcy court today. It wants the court to enforce a provision of its reorganization plan that would protect GM from class action lawsuits stemming from accidents that occurred before the plan took effect nearly five years ago. That would protect the company from suits stemming from the recall of 2.6 million cars this year due to defective ignition switches. But many potential plaintiffs object, saying the company committed fraud and should not be exempt from lawsuits.

-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.

 

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Spring Thaw Gives Labor Market Much-Needed Jump Start

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april jobs report
Jeri Clausing/AP
By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON -- U.S. job growth increased at its fastest pace in more than two years in April, suggesting a sharp rebound in economic activity early in the second quarter.

Nonfarm payrolls surged 288,000 last month, the Labor Department said Friday. That was the largest gain since January 2012 and beat Wall Street's expectations for an increase of 210,000. March and February data were revised to show 36,000 more jobs than previously reported.

"The economy really has strong underlying fundamentals supporting its growth. Temporary headwinds such as the bad weather can be certainly managed," said Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial in Troy, Michigan.

Still, the report did give some worrisome signals on the economy's health.

While the unemployment rate dived 0.4 percentage point to a 5½ year low of 6.3 percent, part of the decline was because hundreds of thousands of people left the labor force.

Overall, however, the data suggested the economy was gathering strength and led investors to pull forward their bets on when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates.

U.S. Treasury debt yields soared after the report, while the dollar jumped to session highs against the euro and the yen. U.S. stock prices rose marginally.

Bets on U.S. short-term interest rates suggested Wall Street is now pricing in a Fed rate hike in June 2015, based on CME FedWatch, which tracks rate hike expectations using its Fed funds futures contracts. Before the jobs data was released, the Fed was seen raising rates in July of that year.

The employment report joins other upbeat data such as consumer spending and industrial production in suggesting that sputtering growth in the first quarter was an aberration, weighed down by an unusually cold and disruptive winter.

The Fed on Wednesday shrugged off the dismal first quarter performance. The U.S. central bank, which announced further reductions to the amount of money it is pumping into the economy through monthly bond purchases, said indications were that "growth in economic activity has picked up recently."

Economists expect second-quarter growth to top a 3 percent pace.

Household Survey Mixed

While details of the bigger survey of employers were robust, the smaller and volatile household survey from which the unemployment rate is calculated was mixed, with household employment falling slightly.

The labor force also declined by 806,000 people.

"That is gargantuan decline," said Tom Porcelli, an economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.

The labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed and unemployed but looking for a job, fell 0.4 percentage point to 62.8 percent. That was the lowest level since last December.

Some of the 1.35 million people who lost their longer-term unemployment benefits at the end of last December may have dropped out of the labor force last month.

But a broad measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have stopped looking and those working only part time but who want more work, fell to a 20-year low of 12.3 percent in April. It was at 12.7 percent in March.

Employment gains in April were broad-based, with the private sector adding 273,000 jobs and government payrolls rising 15,000. Manufacturing employment increased 12,000 after rising by 7,000 in March.

Construction payrolls gained 32,000. That followed an increase of 17,000 jobs in March. The hiring trend could slow in the months ahead as residential construction loses some steam.

Average hourly earnings were flat in April. The length of the workweek held steady at 34.5 hours last month after bouncing back in March from its winter-depressed levels.

 

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Will China's Economy Really Surpass the U.S. This Year?

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China Economy
Eugene Hoshiko/AP
In 2007, legendary hedge fund manager Jim Rogers sold his beloved Manhattan townhouse, packed up his wife and 4-year-old daughter, and moved to China.

"This is China's century," Rogers said. "If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to China."

And according to the data in a new report by the World Bank's International Comparison Program, Rogers' prediction of Chinese economic dominance may come true this year -- which, as the Financial Times points out, is 5 years ahead of what was previously forecast.

The King Since 1872

Economists and statisticians have recognized for years the inevitability of the Chinese economy eventually eclipsing that of the U.S. -- the world leader since it overtook the United Kingdom in 1872 -- but the speed at which that shift appears to have accelerated is a surprise.

In 2005, the ICP numbers showed that China's economy was only about 43 percent of the size of the U.S. economy; by 2011 (the data year the report is based on), China's GDP had reached 86.9 percent of U.S. GDP.

By extrapolating those numbers and using the International Monetary Fund's growth estimates from 2011 to now -- 7.6 percent for the U.S. and 24 percent for China -- it would seem that China is in fact about to end the United States' 142-year reign as global economic potentate.

Or is it?

Though there is no denying that China experienced tremendous growth in the six years between the two ICP reports, the acceleration in the numbers may be more a consequence of the ICP's change in methodology than in actual growth.

After revising the way it determined purchasing power parity -- essentially the cost of day-to-day living -- the ICP concluded that larger developing countries, like China and India, have economies that are expanding faster than previously thought.

Many Questions and Asterisks

But even assuming that the new methodology is sound, there still are reasons to suspect that China may have a long way to go before it can cry "We're No. 1!" -- most importantly having to do with the accuracy of Chinese economic data.

China's numbers have long been questionable among economists, as China's National Bureau of Statistics has been accused -- either due to gross incompetence or outright deceit -- of double-counting various economic activities, such as factory production.

The Chinese admit this among themselves, as evidenced by a 2007 diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks, in which Li Keqiang, China's current premier and at the time a regional party head, stated that the figures used to determine China's GDP are "manmade" and "for reference only."

Further muddying the economic waters, the bureau itself, according the ICP report, "expressed reservations" about the study's methodology and "did not agree to publish the headline results for China." The report added "the NBS of China does not endorse these results as official statistics."

There is also a question about recent rates of economic growth. 2011 was a year in which the U.S. was still reeling from the 2008 financial crisis -- a black swan event in American history -- flattening GDP, which has only started to get back on track. Growth of China's GDP, on the other hand, has slowed significantly since 2011, coming in at 7.7 percent for 2013, the lowest level in 14 years.

Disagreements Abound

Given these facts, it's hard to find agreement with the ICP's conclusions about China's eminent economic dominance. Even Rogers has recently expressed concerns about the high levels of debt in companies and regional provinces in China being a drag on growth, though he sees those issues as minor in the grand scheme of things. As he put it in a recent interview with Business Insider:

"As the U.S. was rising to its power and glory during the 19th century, we had a horrible civil war, 15 depressions [Yes, with a D], few human rights, little rule of law, periodic massacres in the streets, etc., etc. yet we still became the most successful country in the 20th century. "China will have plenty of setbacks along the way as does every country, company, family, and individual that rises."

No man is an island, or even a peninsula, so I encourage your feedback in the comments below. And don't forget to pick up my book, "Trading: The Best of the Best -- Top Trading Tips for Our Time."

 

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Factory Orders Rise, Durable Goods Revised Upward

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Factory Orders
Stephen B. Morton/AP
By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON -- New orders for U.S. factory goods rose for a second straight month in March, suggesting strength in manufacturing and the broader economy at the end of the first quarter.

The Commerce Department said Friday new orders for manufactured goods increased 1.1 percent. February's orders were revised to show a 1.5 percent rise instead of the previously reported 1.6 percent gain.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new orders received by factories advancing 1.4 percent in March.

Orders excluding the volatile transportation category rose 0.6 percent after advancing 0.7 percent in February.

Manufacturing is pushing higher after a lull in the winter, but a surge in inventories in the second half of 2013 remains an obstacle to achieving a faster pace of factory activity.

A report Thursday showed a gauge of national factory activity rose in April for a third month. The Commerce Department report showed inventories increased only 0.1 percent in March, slowing from February's 0.7 percent increase.

In March factory orders rose across all categories. Unfilled orders rose 0.6 percent and shipments increased 0.3 percent.

The department also said orders for durable goods, manufactured products expected to last three years or more, increased 2.9 percent instead of the previously reported 2.6 percent rise.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, which is seen as a measure of business confidence and spending plans, increased 3.5 percent, the largest rise since January 2013, rather than the previously reported 2.2 percent.

 

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How to Find Live Entertainment for Less

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How to Find Live Entertainment For Less
WireImage/Getty ImagesArcade Fire in concert at the Starlight Theater last month in Kansas City, Mo.
By Stefanie O'Connell

Live entertainment is often dismissed as too expensive. A quick search of ticket prices for the latest Broadway show or major band or pop star tour coming through town shows why. But before resigning yourself to watching yet another series on Netflix (NFLX), consider some of these frugal alternatives and savings strategies.

Check the community calendar. From outdoor concert series in the summer to dramatic readings of Shakespeare at the local library, the amount of free and affordable live entertainment programming being offered by communities is fantastic. A quick web search of your town followed by the words "event calendar" is sure to yield a variety of results and options. Library and park websites, and of course, the local paper, are all great places to search.

Subscribe to your local entertainment venues. Rather than checking the website of your favorite live music club or stand up spot each week, get on their mailing list. Not only will you learn about all the latest acts coming through, but you'll likely get a members or insider's discount for a being a subscriber.

Get your entertainment included. Look for restaurants and bars that schedule live musicians and performers with no cover charge.

Check out the high school and colleges. High schools and colleges are great places to enjoy entertainment for less. A football game, for example, will run you a lot less than a ticket to see the pros. As for the arts; in addition to their own programming, which is often excellent, particularly at universities with notable programs, schools often host wonderful guest performers and speakers.

Ask for student or senior discounts. Always have ID on hand in case you qualify for a student or senior discount.

Check the deal sites. Deal sites like Groupon (GRPN) and Amazon Local (AMZN) have expanded nationwide and live entertainment is increasingly part of the discount offerings. Search your town in the deal databases to see what options are available near you.

Double check your Facebook. Social media events are the latest way of inviting people to concerts and shows. Check your events tab every so often to see what your friends and acquaintances are up to. Not only might you get some cheap entertainment, but you'll also be supporting a friend.

Find out the big venue policies. When the big shows and concerts come through town they probably play the same one or two theaters or arenas. Check the website of those venues and search for their discount policies. Examples of common discount offerings include standing room tickets, student rush tickets, general rush tickets and lottery tickets. Standing room tickets are typically sold the day of an event if it is already sold out and the venue has a designated space for standing room only spectators. These tickets are generally a fraction of the full price ticket. On Broadway, for example, a standing room ticket generally sells for around $30 to a show where the average ticket price is over $100.

Some venues will designate a limited number of seats to be sold at as student rush tickets. Student rush typically takes place when the box office opens on the day of the performance and requires a valid student ID. Depending on the venue's policy, each student can get one or two rush tickets at a steep discount.

General rush tickets follow the same structure as student rush, but rather than being limited to students, the tickets are available to anyone, on a first come, first serve basis. Again, you'll have to check the policy of your venue.

Similar to rush policies, some venues will designate a section of seats to be included in their lottery, which typically takes place a few hours before the show. Lottery tickets are priced similarly to standing room and rush seats, offering a great deal if you win.

All of these discount tactics are quite popular, and the more popular the show, the more people you can expect to show up. Be prepared to arrive early and wait in line. In the case of the lottery, have a back-up plan if the lottery falls through.

At the end of the day, live entertainment is largely accessible and can be affordable, if you know how and where to look.

Stefanie O'Connell is a New York City based actress and freelance writer. She chronicles her struggle to "live the dream" on a starving artists' budget at thebrokeandbeautifullife.com.

 

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Fed Study: Poor Falling Farther Behind Rest of U.S.

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Fed Study: Poor Falling Farther Behind Rest of U.S.
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By Ann Saphir

The rise in the number of Americans out of work for long periods of time has helped push U.S. income inequality to a 50-year high and has particularly hurt low-income households, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen has called the growing income gap between rich and poor "one of most disturbing trends facing the nation." She has also said she is especially concerned with the "devastating" effects of long-term unemployment.

The share of unemployed U.S. workers unable to find jobs after looking for six months or longer more than doubled to 45.3 percent as a result of the Great Recession.

A government report Friday showed a decline in the ranks of the long-term unemployed since that peak, but in April they still accounted for more than one-third of all unemployed.

Households in the bottom fifth are suffering the most from the situation, Minneapolis Fed monetary adviser Fabrizio Perri wrote in his analysis of income inequality posted on the bank's website Wednesday.

"The increase in inequality at the bottom seems tightly linked to the very large increase in long-term unemployment, which has depressed income for the bottom," Perri said.

Perri's study also showed that taxes and government programs such as unemployment insurance have narrowed some of the inequality gap but have benefited middle-income Americans more than the poor.

Overall, disposable income for all income levels has fallen over the past 15 years, the study found. But while the gap between the top 5 percent of households and that of middle-income household rose sharply in terms of pre-tax income, the gap in post-tax income has been fairly stable, the study found.

By contrast, the gap in disposable income between the bottom 20 percent and middle-income households widened after the recession, "and it is now as high as it has ever been over the past half century," Perri wrote. "This will be an important trend to monitor in coming years."

Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota has been trying to convince his fellow policymakers, including Yellen, of the need to keep rates lower for longer to get the jobless back to work faster.

Although on Wednesday he supported the Fed's decision to continue to dial down the central bank's massive bond-buying stimulus, Kocherlakota has said he still believes the central bank should do more to boost both employment and inflation.

The Minneapolis Fed published Perri's analysis as the lead essay in its 2013 annual report, which also includes a letter form Kocherlakota calling it a "dispassionate analysis" that will contribute to public policymaking.

 

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Yelp Can Still Rate Itself 4 Stars, Despite a Few Bad Reviews

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A growing number of merchants and customers are finding reasons to complain about Yelp (YELP), but its fan base is apparently growing even faster. The local rating review site operator posted another blowout quarterly report on Wednesday night.

Net revenue soared 66 percent to $76.4 million, just ahead of the $75.1 million that analysts were expecting. Yelp's still losing money, but its quarterly deficit was cut in half to 4 cents a share. Wall Street was expecting more red ink, and that's a good thing. This is only the second time over the past five quarters that Yelp has bested analyst bottom-line targets.

Yelp's rocking, despite the criticism over its alleged business practices.

Success Attracts Enemies

But it's critics didn't take a break to let Yelp enjoy those upbeat numbers. Just an hour after it reported quarterly results -- while it was halfway through its conference call, in fact -- a San Diego law firm issued a press release of its own. Johnson & Weaver, which calls itself a shareholder rights specialist, is launching an investigation into Yelp's practices. The goal is to verify if Yelp is requiring business customers to pay in order to suppress negative reviews.

The accusation isn't new, stemming from a recent Federal Trade Commission revelation that it has received more than 2,000 complaints from merchants. The gripes suggest that companies' refusal to become premium Yelp businesses accounts resulted in the site featuring negative reviews about them.

This isn't the first class action lawsuit trying to strike back at Yelp. A pair of suits tried to get off the ground a few weeks earlier.

Yelp denies the allegations, though it doesn't dispute that its premium members get a leg up on the competition. That's the nature of advertising. Companies bid for top slots on the leading search engines, so why can't a free review site let local businesses pay for better exposure?

Visitors and merchants continue to flock to Yelp in record numbers. There are now 57 million cumulative reviews on the site, 46 percent ahead of where it was a year earlier. Average monthly unique visitors are up 30 percent to 132 million. It's great to see reviews growing faster than usage. It's a testament to Yelp's stickiness and engagement among folks looking for a place to eat or a spa to check out.

Don't Bet Against the Networking Effect

Businesses can't ignore Yelp's growing captive audience, and that end of the equation is growing faster. The number of active local business accounts clocked in at 74,000 at the end of March, a 65 percent improvement over the past year.

That's called the networking effect. Customers go where the merchants are, and merchants -- in turn -- go to where the customers can be found. The reason that eBay (EBAY) became so popular as a marketplace even though there were plenty of free or nearly free alternatives is that it had the networking effect in its favor.

This doesn't mean that Yelp can ignore the rising dissent from a small number of local businesses. Yelp's model relies on users populating its website with content, and the last thing that it needs is for reviewers to turn on the site. After all, they aren't getting paid to write those comments. The more active and prolific reviewers do get invited to restaurant and bar openings and outings, but even they may question their loyalty if their words are being used to coerce merchants to pony up as sponsors.

At this point, the claims are limited to accusations, and Yelp has countered that its sales team doesn't have access to back-end administrative privileges. It has also beefed up its filtering system to weed out bogus reviews. For now, that's been more than enough to keep consumers coming and contributing.

Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends eBay and Yelp. The Motley Fool owns shares of eBay. Try any of our newsletter services free for 30 days.

 

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The 6 Best Things to Buy in May

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The weather is heating up, and so are deals on a variety of goods. Memorial Day also means a weekend of sales.

Meats for the Grill

Many grocery stores will have specials on grillable meats throughout May. "With consumers eager to enjoy a grilled dinner outdoors, so the demand and competitive price game begins for everyone's favorite meats," says Erin Chase, consumer shopping expert for Savings.com and founder of the Favado savings app. "From ribs to steaks to chicken breast and premade kebabs, consumers will be able to find great deals on the meats they love to grill." She says that condiments are also hot, so look for coupons and store discounts.

Mattresses

May is one of the best times to purchase mattresses. To save more money, check out Groupon or Living Social, which tend to have impressive offers on mattresses for local stores. You can stack these with in-store specials. Note that expensive mattress models are displayed in the front of the store, while cheaper options are often toward the back.

Patio Furniture

You've probably noticed patio furniture at your favorite retailers for several months. That's because retailers know people shop in advance for the summer entertaining. Now that the surge of patio furniture purchases has lulled, retailers have begun marking down prices, explains Meghan Heffernan, also a consumer shopping expert for Savings.com. Heffernan says to expect "a steep increase in prices until the end of summer." Buy now while you still have a good selection.

Bug Spray, Sunscreen

This time of year, bugs are a-plenty and the sun's rays are powerful. As a result, retailers can count on you buying these items consistently. Coupons (either electronic or from the newspaper) can save you money on both bug repellants and sunscreens. "With the bugs emerging and the sun gaining in stretch, stores everywhere are competing for your bug spray and sunscreen dollars," notes Chase. "It's time to stock up on your favorite brand of repellent and protection for your skin, and be sure to purchase enough to last you through Labor Day weekend."

Kitchen Accessories and Cookware

"After a long winter break recovering from the holidays, spring is often when we see people start entertaining again," says Heffernan. "Home ware companies will be offering special reductions on kitchen accessories and cookware." Thanks to these slashed prices, now's a great time to buy kitchen necessities -- including cutlery, dishes, linens, electronics and more -- for the recent grads or newlyweds in your life.

Used Cars

"As the volume of car sales goes up in summer months, car retailers increase the number of price drops per vehicle," says Heffernan. "This trend starts in May and will peak in July." An excellent way to get a quality used car is to shop previously leased vehicles. These are typically no more than 4 years old but are significantly cheaper than their new counterparts. Additionally, because leased vehicles must be maintained with utmost diligence -- and because mileage is restricted -- you know these cars have been taken care of.

 

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Week's Winners/Losers: A Check-In Uptick; A Twitter Let-Down

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From a door-to-door selling icon stocking up on blush after a disappointing quarter to several hotel chains checking in with strong occupancy trends, here's a rundown of the week's smartest moves and biggest blunders in the business world.

Hotels -- Winners

Hoteliers were apparently hopping during the first quarter. Despite the iffy weather and the equally iffy economy, the leading chains reporting this week posted surprisingly robust activity.

Revenue per available room is a key metric because it tracks occupancy levels as well as prevailing overnight rates. The industry's doing well when RevPAR is positive, and that's just what we saw with this week's reports. Choice Hotels (CHH), Marriott (MAR), and Hyatt (H) clocked in with RevPAR increases of 5.6 percent, 6.3 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively.

Twitter (TWTR) -- Loser

Shares of Twitter hit an all-time low this week after the company posted disappointing user growth. Sure, the "all-time low" remark needs to be accompanied by the caveat that Twitter has only been trading publicly for less than six months. It's still a grim milestone for last year's most anticipated debutante.

Twitter's revenue growth was fine, propelled by the recent success of its monetization initiatives. Its outlook was upbeat. However, the one thing that haunted investors this week was that Twitter had just 14 million more unique monthly visitors than it had a quarter earlier. That kind of sequential uptick would've impressed at most companies, but Twitter trades at a juicy premium to the market. #Letdown.

J.C. Penney (JCP) -- Winner

The struggling department store operator isn't out of the woods just yet, but at least one supplier is offering up encouraging insight. PVH (PVH) was presenting at an investor conference in Miami earlier in the week when its CEO offered up an encouraging perspective.

"The Penney's business is running on or ahead of plan and given what their sales trends are," said CEO Manny Chirico, "we think that's a grand slam home run."

That's a big deal since PVH is the company behind Calvin Klein, Izod, Tommy Hilfiger and other fashionable apparel brands. He also pointed out that Izod products have been selling well since being incorporated into the "store in a store" model at J.C. Penney.

Avon Products (AVP) -- Loser

Remember "Avon calling"? Now, it's more like Avon falling. The seller of beauty and housewares through a fleet of commission-based reps had a dreadful quarter. Sales fell 11 percent to $2.2 billion for the period, and Avon's adjusted profit of 12 cents a share fell well short of the 21 cents a share that analysts were targeting and the 26 cents a share that it posted a year earlier.

Avon's been struggling as its model of door-to-door sales reps has faded into obsolescence in its home country. Avon was hoping to emphasize overseas markets where the model is still somewhat relevant, but sales fell in way too many key countries.

Skullcandy (SKUL) -- Winner

Skullcandy investors liked what they heard this week, and they didn't need to listen via the company's signature headphones. Skullcandy posted a deficit, but the 12 cents a share in red ink was better than the 17 cents a share that Wall Street was targeting.

The future will get even better. Skullcandy's guidance for the entire year -- forecasting earnings per share between 16 cents and 20 cents -- is comfortably ahead of the 13 cents a share that analysts were expecting.

Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Hyatt Hotels and Twitter. Try any of our newsletter services free for 30 days.

 

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After Market: Ukraine Strikes Back, Investors Duck for Cover

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Escalating violence in Ukraine and a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin made investors wary heading into the weekend. That news Friday overshadowed a surprisingly strong report showing the economy created more jobs in April than it had in any month in more than two years.

On balance, though, the declines were small. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) fell 46 points less than 0.3 percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) and the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) each lost around 0.1 percent -- 2 points and 3 points, respectively.

Merck (MRK) was one of the big losers among the blue chips, down 2½ percent after stopping a clinical trial of a drug to treat ovarian cancer because it failed to live up to expectations.

Merck's partner in the research, Endocyte (ECYT), got clobbered. It lost 62 percent of its value on the news.

Staying with pharmaceuticals, Pfizer (PFE) lost more than 1 percent on word that Its sweetened, $106 billion offer for AstraZeneca (AZN) had been rejected. The British drug maker said the bid "substantially" undervalues the company.

Biotechs also had rough day. Gilead (GILD) and Regeneron (REGN) both lost about 2 percent, and Pharmacyclics (PCYC) dropped 7½ percent.

As for earnings, Wynn Resorts (WYNN) was a big winner. The stock gained 7 percent today and it's now up more than 60 percent over the past year. The company posted strong revenue from its casino operations in Macau.

Carpet maker Mohawk Industries (MHK) gained 6 percent as net topped expectations.

And Nutrisystems (NTRI) rose 8 percent, and the stock has nearly doubled in price from a year ago despite some weakness lately. It's been a good week for weight loss companies. Weight Watchers (WTW) surged on strong earnings Thursday.

On the downside:

  • Chevron (CVX), the nation's second largest oil company, edged lower as earnings and production fell.
  • LinkedIn (LNKD) slid 8 percent. It swung to a loss in the latest quarter from a profit a year ago.
  • Expedia (EXPE) dropped 3½ percent despite beating expectations and reporting a big jump in bookings.
  • Kraft Foods (KRFT) fell 1 percent.
  • And Madison Square Garden (MSG) lost 6½ percent.


What to Watch Monday:

  • The Institute for Supply Management releases its service sector index for April at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
These major companies are due to report quarterly financial results:
  • American International Group (AIG)
  • Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
  • Orbitz Worldwide (OWW)
  • Pfizer (PFE)
  • Sysco (SYY)
  • Tenet Healthcare (THC)
  • Tyson Foods (TSN)
-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.

 

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Should You Trust Third-Party Travel Booking Sites?

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Travelers who use third-party booking sites to make airline reservations may think they're getting a deal. But if they ever need to cancel or modify the reservation, rebook when a flight is cancelled, or deal with any glitches that are even a little bit unusual, they're liable to find a fix time-consuming and costly. Consider these stories:

  • Jennifer Dombrowski booked a vacation to Egypt through Expedia.com. Shortly before the trip, they were notified that her husband, active duty in the Air Force, was being deployed to Afghanistan. "I contacted Expedia multiple times and talked to everyone from the customer service call center up to emailing executive level management about changing the dates on our tickets," she said. "Expedia kept pushing me to the airline, Alitalia, saying they could not help. Alitalia also would not change the dates, and we lost over $1,000 for the tickets." Dombrowksi booked with Expedia again a year later, only to arrive at the airport and discover her reservation had been cancelled.
  • Philip J. Ross, co-founder of Iberian Traveler and Maribel's Guides, says he had clients who booked through a third-party site, only to learn upon arriving at the airport that their reservations had vanished. "They ended up having to paid full fare at the airport and fly business class. It took months for them to get their money back from Expedia, and than only happened because one of them was the daughter of a prominent congressman from Hawaii."
  • Jacquie Whitt of Adios Adventure Travel was stranded when traveling on American Airlines with tickets booked through Cheapo Air. While taking a group of high school students to Peru, the group was held up when one student with a hyphenated name had a misprint between his ticket and his passport. The American agents wouldn't let him fly. "We spent over two hours struggling and never did connect with anyone at Cheapo Air who could help us," she said, remembering the frustration clearly. "It was a simple mistake that would have been fixed right away if we had booked directly with the airline." Ultimately, the American agent allowed the student to fly, but as a result of the experience, Whitt says, "I do not buy tickets on third-party sites anymore."
Even aggregators like Kayak.com and Momondo aren't safe bets, as they can redirect clients to small, international travel agents that operate without regulatory oversight. Marion Goldberg, the former U.S. representative for Momondo and current principal of GoldbergOnTravel, said aggregators and online travel agencies should be merely a starting point.

"Most airlines offer their best deals directly through their websites and don't publish them anywhere else. So start a search on a site like Momondo, and then go down the rabbit hole through the different small agencies. But when it comes to booking, it should always be done through the airline itself," she said. "If you must use a third-party site to book, only use an online travel agency if it's based in Canada or the U.S. Otherwise, it might not be regulated, and if you run into problems, you don't have any recourse."

"We no longer recommend our clients book any reservations through third-party websites," Ross said, "simply because of the fact that what they are selling may not actually be there."

 

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Your Paranoia Means Big Business for This Company

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BJDF1E Social security card surrounded by barbed wire. Barbed; Wire; Identity; Theft; In; Studio; Information; No; People; Studi
Alamy
There's never been a better time than now to be in the business of catering to folks worried about someone swiping their identities. Between the data security breach at Target (TGT) during the holidays, which exposed millions of shoppers to potential transaction info theft, to the more recent Heartbleed exploit, with its serious ramifications, consumers are painful aware that they can never be too careful.

It's against this backdrop that LifeLock (LOCK) posted robust growth in its latest quarter on Wednesday afternoon. Revenue climbed 31 percent to $107.6 million, well above the guidance it had offered up in February, calling for $105 million to $106 million in revenue. LifeLock's bottom line wasn't as impressive, serving up an adjusted loss of 1 cent a share, but that deficit was better than the loss it was forecasting back in February.

More importantly, customers keep on coming. LifeLock closed out the quarter with 3.22 million subscribers, paying an average of $10.81 a month for the service that monitors a member's identity for potential violations. LifeLock has experienced sequential growth in revenue and subscribers for what is now 36 consecutive quarters.

Picking the Lock

LifeLock doesn't prevent all instances of identity theft. As a monitoring platform, its role is to provide early detection of breaches that can be addressed before things get worse. When incidents do happen, LifeLock is there with a recovery team and an insurance policy to cover losses that can't be recouped.

There will be probably never be a service that can cut your identity theft risk to anywhere near zero, and that's true of LifeLock as well as rival Intersections' (INTX) Identity Guard platform. However, that hasn't stopped negative critiques and lawsuits accusing it of being incomplete.

LifeLock can only blame itself. Its original ads featured CEO Todd Davis boldly revealing his Social Security number as a way of demonstrating how strong his faith was in his product. The ads may have led some to believe that LifeLock provided ironclad protection -- in fact, the marketing stunt resulted in numerous cases of data thieves swiping Davis' identity.

The Data is in the Details

LifeLock went public at $9 a share two years ago, and the stock has gone on to beat the market since then. It wasn't a winner right away, spending most of its first few months of trading below its IPO price. It didn't break into the double digits until February of last year. However, after so many quarters of sequential growth, a skeptical market came around to embrace LifeLock.

It's not just that its subscriber tally is going up. Folks are paying more for protection. The $10.81 a month average is 10 percent higher than it was a year ago, largely the result of more subscribers upgrading or signing up to the newer LifeLock Ultimate plan, where customers pay $25 a month for enhanced monitoring protection.

It's not perfect. It's not cheap. But it is attracting customers. LifeLock is pointing out that the first quarter was its second-most successful quarter in terms of gross new members in the company's history.

LifeLock is also raising its outlook for all of 2014 after the better than expected start to the year. It sees $460 million to $468 million in revenue, up from February's forecast calling for $455 million to $465 million in revenue. Despite the small loss during the first quarter LifeLock expects adjusted earnings per share to clock in 44 cents to 48 cents, just above its earlier range of 42 cents to 47 cents. LifeLock's adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow ranges are also moving higher since initiating coverage in February.

LifeLock shares may not be a great value on an adjusted earnings basis, but there is something to be said about a company that has had a run of nine years in a row where revenue and subscriber count kept consistently inching higher every three months.

It's a shame that we live in a time when ID theft monitoring is a growing service, but someone outside of the hacker ought to profit from it.

Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz owns shares of LifeLock. The Motley Fool recommends LifeLock. Try any of our newsletter services free for 30 days. ​

 

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How You Can Avoid Rising ATM Fees

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Getty ImagesThree of the nations largest banks have hiked their out-of-network ATM fees by 50 cents in the past six months.
By Simon Zhen

Rising ATM fees are making it more expensive for consumers who regularly use an out-of-network ATM to withdraw cash. The trend may be the push that some consumers need to find a better checking account or bank.

In the past six months, three of the nation's largest banks -- Bank of America (BAC), Citibank (C) and SunTrust Bank (STI) -- have each hiked their out-of-network ATM fee from $2 to $2.50. At the top 10 U.S. banks, the average out-of-network ATM fee is $2.45, up from $2.25 in November. Then, don't forget that ATM operator also has the right to slap on a surcharge, usually around $3 to $5.

If ATM fees are becoming a costly expense for you, here are some ways to avoid them:

Find your bank's ATMs on your smartphone. The biggest reason we resort to using an out-of-network ATM is because ATM machines from our banks are nowhere to be found when we're in a rush. In many cases, your bank's ATM could just be around the corner, but you're in a hurry, so you don't care to check. Instead, you're willing to get hit with the ATM cash withdrawal fee, plus any ATM surcharge.

However, with easy access to the Internet through smartphones, it would be wise to search for nearby ATMs. Many mobile banking applications feature a locator tool that will help you find an ATM based on your GPS location.

Remember to use affiliated ATM networks. There are financial institutions -- usually community banks and credit unions -- that partner with other financial companies to expand ATM availability without imposing surcharges. For instance, some smaller banks and online banks work with the Allpoint or STAR ATM networks to provide more surcharge-free access to ATMs. Some credit unions also partner with the CO-OP ATM network, which doesn't impose surcharges for members of partnered credit unions.

Additionally, financial institutions may work with retailers to place branded ATMs within their stores. For instance, Chase (JPM) has ATMs in Duane Reade and CVS/pharmacy (CVS) stores, while Citibank has ATMs in 7-Eleven convenience stores.

Get debit card cash back. When swiped at certain types of retailers, usually grocery stores, gas stations and convenience stores, your debit card can be used to get cash from a store clerk when you make a purchase.

For example, you can buy a candy bar for $1 and ask for $20 in cash back. The cashier will charge $21 to your debit card and will give you $20 in cash plus your purchase. There is no fee to use this cash back option. (Keep in mind the store may restrict how much cash back you can pull out, and you are subject to your card's daily debit card purchase limits.)

In the end, this method is likely to cost less than paying an out-of-network ATM fee.

Find a no-ATM-fee checking account. One big move to minimize out-of-network ATM fees may be to look for a new checking account that doesn't charge any ATM fees. Most brick-and-mortar banks are unable to waive ATM fees because the fees go toward the operational costs of their ATM networks.

No-ATM-fee checking accounts are more common at online banks and brokerages. Ally Bank and Schwab Bank, for example, have free checking accounts that offer unlimited ATM fee reimbursements.

If you are thinking about opening a new checking account, remember that you don't necessarily have to ditch your old one. Since there is no monthly fee, you can just designate your no-ATM-fee checking account for out-of-network ATM cash withdrawals.

Switch to a better big bank. When you notice you're paying too much in out-of-network ATM fees, it may not be because you are using a big bank that charges such fees. It may be because you aren't using the right big bank with the most convenient ATM network located near you.

Switching from one big bank to another big bank with more accessible ATMs could help mitigate hefty ATM fees.

Be sure to take notice of bank branches and ATMs near places you visit frequently such as your workplace, grocery stores and restaurants.

 

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Best of DailyFinance: The Week in Review (April 28 - May 4, 2014)

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This week, we covered reasons why you should secure your smartphone, the pig virus that's threatening the U.S. pork industry and tips on how to teach children about money and these stories were among our most-shared posts of the week. If you missed these stories, catch up on them below. You can also check out our other hot stories of the week.

1. Why You Should Do More to Secure Your Smartphone
2. Killer Virus Spreads Through U.S. Hog Belt; Pork Prices Soar
3. 3 Everyday Events That Can Teach Your Kids About Money
4. Asian Disease Forces Jumbo Price Hike for Shrimp in USA
5. Social Security Returns to Snail Mail for Some Statements
6. So Long to America's Middle Class
7. 5 Tasks to Help You Start to Rebound Financially Post-Divorce
8. Time to Bury These Myths About Credit
9. Pending Home Sales Jump, End Losing Streak
10. In Toyota Restructuring, California's Loss Is Texas' Gain

 

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Intel Corporation Could Be Making a Huge Strategic Error

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Intel , the world's largest semiconductor company by revenue, has faced significant difficulty gaining material traction in the smartphone and tablet processor market. While the company plans to get the proverbial ball rolling on tablets this year with a goal to ship 40 million units during 2014, smartphones remain elusive as the company has yet to offer an integrated apps processor and leading-edge modem solution.

Intel's SoFIA stop-gap
At its 2013 Investor Meeting, Intel announced that it would be launching a product family known as SoFIA. The first instantiation, coming in late 2014 likely for low-end handsets launching in early 2015, is known as SoFIA 3G, which features two Intel-designed processor cores coupled with a 3G modem built on TSMC 28-nanometer process. In early 2015 (likely Q1), Intel will launch a quad-core version of this part with an integrated LTE modem.

These parts should remedy Intel's biggest weakness in the handset market: lack of integrated comms. While high-end phones can support the increased bill-of-materials associated with less-integrated applications processors, the low end is exceptionally cost sensitive as the competition is fierce and the barriers to entry low. A difference of $5-$10 on the bill of materials for a phone that sells for under $200 is material, and in this segment of the market, additional performance isn't as important as keeping costs down. Intel's SoFIA products integrate comms and connectivity, keeping platform costs very low.


Intel needs to move this internally ASAP
Intel's plans have always called for the successor to the original TSMC-built SoFIA product to be built internally on Intel's 14-nanometer process. This should give roughly two generations' worth of area scaling, higher performance transistors, all coupled with what is likely a higher-performance design. At Intel's Investor Meeting, CEO Brian Krzanich indicated that by the end of 2015, the 14-nanometer SoFIA would come to market (likely for Mobile World Congress 2016 device launches).

However, on the most recent call, Mr. Krzanich had the following to say with respect to this next-generation, internally built SoFIA:

We'll bring that in on our 14-nanometer process either late 2015 or early 2016. We're still battling back and forth on how fast we can bring it in and what impacts that has. 14-nanometer is the technology there.

If Intel brings that product to market in late 2015, then the product could make it for device launches in the Mobile World Congress 2016 time frame. However, if the chip is launched at Mobile World Congress 2016, then it won't appear in devices until about mid-2016. This would significantly dull any competitive edge Intel may have had with this product, although it would still be quite competitive for the entry/value segments at which it is targeted when it is finally released. 

It's not just about competitive edge
While moving SoFIA internally as quickly as possible gets Intel a better cost structure and better performance, the real problem here is that TSMC will not only profit from products built by Intel's direct chip design competitors, but it will profit from Intel's own chip sales. Helping TSMC profit is the last thing Intel wants, so the sooner TSMC stops getting Intel's wafer orders, the better it will be for Intel, especially as Intel will be able to drive gross margins up by driving factory utilization up. The low cost smartphone market is a very high-volume market, and it is exactly these kinds of volumes Intel should be aggressively targeting for its own factories.

Foolish bottom line
At the end of the day, Intel needs to get a big chunk of that mobile chip goodness not only to bolster its own business results, but to keep as much ammo out of the hands of the rest of its competitors as possible. In just a few short years, Qualcomm has gone from a phone chip vendor to a leading semiconductor powerhouse that is now TSMC's largest customer.

The time for baby steps and half-efforts is over. Intel needs to build leadership mobile parts on its own manufacturing processes within Intel's factories, and it needs to do so as quickly as possible. Intel can still be a major player in the mobile silicon market, but that window of opportunity shrinks each and every day as its competitors continue to advance their technology and designs at breakneck speeds.

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The article Intel Corporation Could Be Making a Huge Strategic Error originally appeared on Fool.com.

Ashraf Eassa owns shares of Intel. The Motley Fool recommends Intel. The Motley Fool owns shares of Intel and Qualcomm. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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