Want to invent the next iPod? Then don’t try too hard. We may be able to train our minds to be better at generating ideas, according to recent thinking on how we think, and often the best way to foster a brilliant idea is not to push it.
When Manuel Frazao climbed aboard his most recent cruise, the first thing he did was take off his shoes. But the New Britain, Conn., retiree wasn’t prepping for the pool or testing a new seasickness remedy. He just wanted to feel the grass between his toes.
It was only a matter of time. Before the crash, investors who wanted to buy more stocks jumped into exchange-traded funds at a record clip. Then bonds became the safe play, and ETFs with bond holdings jumped 61 percent this year, to $91 billion.
Unless you’ve been living in a mine, it would have been hard to miss gold’s most recent glittering run. Increasingly, people who would have never considered gold as an investment are pondering whether to buy it.
Every career has its share of days you never forget. There are the early memories, such as getting that first paycheck, and milestones like scoring the big promotion or the morning you finally moved into the corner office. But for many people, there’s one special day that stands head and shoulders above the rest: the last.
Faster than nearly anyone thought possible just a few months ago, Americans have jumped back into the market in a bid to rebound from the thrashing they took last year. And while good stock picking and smart bond selection are always important, savvy investors say one basic investment tenet is more vital than ever: Keep costs low.
Christmas on ... Independence Day? Determined to avoid a repeat performance of last year’s lackluster sales, retailers have moved up “Christmas creep” even earlier than usual, stocking shelves with gifts during the summer months.
Behold the house of the future. It’s just like the house of the past, only with some subtle nip-and-tuck work. Across the U.S., home builders are redesigning houses using a set of strategies they call "value engineering" – the art of building a house on the cheap without making it look cheap.
