How Barack Obama Made His Fortune

Business Insider gives a nice summary of how Barack Obama became wealthy.  With a net worth estimated to be between $3-11 million, he's not Mitt Romney wealthy, but the Obama's have still done VERY well.  The short story is President Obama has made most of his fortune from sales of books he's written.  Book sales were very good before running for president, but sky-rocketed during his win in 2008.  

I was interested to also learn where the Obama's invest their money.  While the majority of the Obama wealth is invested in US Treasury bonds, a significant portion is invested in Vanguard Mutual Funds.  I too have most of my assets invested with Vanguard Funds or ETFs, and recommend that most people do the same. 

You are likely 89% better off than you were 4 years ago

We are less than 2 months away from the election and we will all ask ourselves, "are we better off than we were 4 years ago?"  I can give you one statistic that answers that question with a firm "yes."  The US stock market, as measured by the total return of the S&P 500 Index, is up an astounding 89.0% from 1/20/2009 (Obama's inauguration date) through 8/31/2012.  If you have any money in a 401(k) or IRA or any other investments, you are likely MUCH better off than in 2008. 

I've personally saved a lot of money on underwear the past 4 years as well.  In 2008, whether it was bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers, AIG, or GM, freezing of the credit markets, or simple money market funds breaking the buck, at least one headline per week made me poop my pants.  Is everything perfect in the government and the economy?  Certainly not.  But, we've come a long way baby!

Finance Clippings: SEC says stock picking should be left to the pros

Finance Clippings: SEC says stock picking should be left to the pros: A rather humorous take on a recent SEC study on "retail investors" - that's you and me (in academic finance they - we - are called "noise tr...

Finance Clippings: NC Pension Fund and Facebook.

Finance Clippings: NC Pension Fund and Facebook.: Unfortunately the State of NC bought a load of Facebook stock at the IPO.  I have no idea why - it seemed to me and to many others that this...