Despite tax benefits and a generation of strenuous marketing efforts, over half of U.S. households do not have Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). In fact, 29% of U.S. households have neither IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans. This is according to the Investment Company Institute’s “Research Fundamentals”, issued in January 2006. This 12-page report was available in PDF […]

Private equity firms now control about 7% of U.S. corporate equity, or $800 billion, according to estimates of Thomson Venture Economics and quoted in the BusinessWeek cover story, “Going Private”, of February 27, 2006. Private equity firms gather capital from the Super-Rich in order to take firms private and to concentrate on long-term goals, escaping over- […]

Legal immigration has resulted in solid growth of the U.S. population, despite declining birth rates and an increasing number of old people. This is good news for investors in stocks and real estate . (See: “Profits and Population“) Despite loud railing against illegal immigration by Bill O’Reilly, Lou Dobbs, and Pat Buchanan, the real […]