Sir John Templeton says he finds fewer investment opportunities today than in all his 91 years. Templeton, founder of the Templeton mutual funds, urges caution in an interview in Smart Money magazine. He says he is putting his money in market-neutral hedge funds, which make both bets for and against stocks. He also likes bonds issued by foreign governments such as Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Russia. His best advice: "Diversify. Don't put too much in any one thing."
Real estate advertisers, take note: Single people are expected to become a majority of all home buyers this year, culminating a trend that has been building since at least 1990. Last year, single buyers accounted for 46.7 percent of home sales, according to a study by SMR Research Corp., and are expected to surpass 50 percent this year. The trend has gone largely unnoticed, however, and "typical advertising for homes continues to show happy young couples with their happy children scampering about the yard," SMR president Stuart Feldstein says. "In reality, such home buyers are becoming a minority group."
There may be a reason why Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has become so outspoken in recent weeks. BusinessWeek analyst Rich Miller speculates it's because Greenspan is in the twilight of his Fed career. "After 16 years atop the central bank, Greenspan is widely expected to step down within the next year or two," Miller says. "Once he does, his opinions about the economy will carry less weight."
Corporate America long has tried to increase its diversity. But progress remains slow, especially at big companies, says Strategy+
Business, a quarterly published by business consultants Booz Allen Hamilton. The magazine blames "rankism," defined as the "ingrained human tendency to ignore, abuse and exploit other people, particularly in highly stratified hierarchical structures like corporations." Robert Fuller, author and former president of Oberlin College in Ohio, says victims are made to feel undervalued and underused. Until that habit is broken, Fuller says, women and minorities especially "will have difficulty fitting in at most companies."
It often pays to be creative while job hunting. Rosemary Haefner, a senior career adviser at CareerBuilder.com, says job seekers must think outside the box, and about a third of 1,900 workers surveyed last year did just that to land their jobs. Unconventional tactics include writing a resume on a basketball to apply for a position at a sporting goods company. And one woman offered to work two weeks for free to prove her value.
