The Sarbanes-Oxley reform law requires companies to disclose more information in the wake of the accounting scandals. Now many companies, afraid of not disclosing enough, seem to be going overboard, Forbes reports. Eastman Kodak's latest government filing had 45 percent more pages. General Motors' was 28 percent bigger; General Electric's, 54 percent. Forbes' advice: Buy stock in printing companies.
Home sales are expected to set a new record this year, but BusinessWeek says the boom may be nearing an end. It's not a bubble that's about to burst, but the magazine says housing will hit a plateau and gradually slow in 2004.
You may be eating up a lot of potential savings. Financial Web site www.dinkytown.net has added a "lunch-savings calculator" to show how a little lunch savings can go a long way. Over a 30-year career, the site estimates, a person can save about $100,000 by packing lunch at home. The calculation assumes $3.50 brown-bag lunches in place of $6 takeout meals.
Visions of a remote plot of land for a future dream house are alluring, but these purchases are notoriously bad investments, Fortune says. The rural property market can be "fraught with such potential calamities as wells running dry and timber clear-cuts ravaging million-dollar views," the magazine says.
Whether single, married or divorced, women need to develop a solid plan for their financial futures rather than depend on husbands or significant others, Black Enterprise says in a package of articles on "women and their finances." The articles tell women how to save, spend and invest for maximum advantage.
