The cash price is the price a seller charges a customer given that they plan on paying immediately in cash. Credit card companies charge retailers a commission (a small percentage of the sale), so some stores will charge a different price for people who use credit cards versus cash to make up for the difference.
You may have noticed that gas stations sometimes advertise “$2.50 per gallon–cash || $2.53 per gallon — credit.” $2.50 is the cash price.
from Let It Dough! by Christoph Niemann (NYTimes)
You can invest in lots of different things – stocks, bonds, mutual funds, currencies, cows. (For real! They’re called commodities and they’re really weird.) And you can invest in this stuff in the U.S. or in almost any country in the world.
But here’s the trick: you want to have a diverse mix of all these things, so you don’t lose all your money if, say, the U.S. economy crashes or all the cows go on strike.
Diversification is a way to reduce that risk by creating a portfolio with a wide mixture of different investments. In basic terms, it means “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
Mmm. Sprinkles.
Some people would shatter under the weight of Gordon Murray’s diagnosis. But he channeled his remaining energy into creating a legacy.
The five choices Murray says every investor needs to make:
“It’s American to think that if you’re smart or work hard, then you can beat the markets.” – Gordon Murray
Where did all the money go after the recession hit? Well, some of it appears to have gotten stuck at the top of the consumption chain...
Current cash holdings, by sector:
“We believe companies are looking for greater certainty about the economy and signs of a permanent increase in sales before they let go of their cash hoards, which they suffered so much to build.” – Moody’s Investor Service report
It doesn’t make sense at first, but sometimes countries actually want their currencies to be worth less. Of course, if everyone tried to do it at the same time, disaster would ensue…
“I want the market to value the fact that we were able to forge a certain level of agreement.” – Yoshiko Noda, Japanese Finance Minister
The value of U.S. currency has gone down nearly 10% against the euro in the past three months, but the impact on exports, tourism, the price of oil, and foreign investment may not necessarily be as bad as it seems…
“International finance isn’t pretty. If everyone focuses on exports, it’s a race to the bottom in exchange rates.” – Aroop Chatterjee, Currency Strategist at Barclay’s Capital
Large companies have an obligation to their shareholders, but what happens when that puts them at odds with their obligation to the families of fallen soldiers?
“Until today I actually believed that the families of our fallen heroes got a check for the full amount of their benefits. This came as news to me.” – U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
Banks might have to operate under tighter rules in order to avoid another global financial slump.
“The quality and amount of capital in the banking system must be significantly higher to improve loss absorbency and resiliency.” - Mr. Draghi, Governor, Bank of Italy.
Finance is the practice (or science) of managing money, which includes allocating resources for spending, growing and giving. It can also refer to the system of money and investment as a whole, or to an activity that involves obtaining or providing money for some project or goal.