In a recent article I wrote that U.S. public healthcare spending is projected to exceed private spending by 2012. U.S. healthcare expenditures was estimated to reach about 17.3% of the GDP in 2009. One of the beneficiaries of all this spending are the companies in the healthcare industry such drug makers, health insurers, etc. They …
Continue reading ‘Drug Stocks Offer Long-Term Investment Opportunities’ »
Tomorrow civil service workers in Greece plan to go on strike protesting the government’s pension reforms. A recent article in the NY times discussed the current situation in Greece. From a BBC article titled Greece plans to ban early retirement: “Greece’s government intends to raise the national pension age and ban early retirement as it …
Continue reading ‘A Review of Retirement Age in OECD Countries’ »
In the journal article “Sins of Past Guide Asian Banks“, Peter Stein notes that Asian banks are well capitalized than their U.K. and European peers. Singapore banks have higher equity Tier 1 ratios based on the proposed Basel 3 standards than Chinese and Indian banks. Australian banks are just a notch above European and British …
Coal is the main source of electricity generation in many countries. In addition, coal is used in industrial and other sectors. The global consumption of coal is projected to increase each year by over 1.5% annually. Yesterday Australia signed a $60B deal to supply coal to China for the next 20 years. As part of …
I posted The Importance of Diversification chart last year in an article on Callan charts. In 2008, diversification across countries did not work well for investors as the majority of stock markets fell. However that does not mean diversification is dead. Diversification still matters. One can diversify by not only investing in different countries but …