Finance sites

John Oliver on retirement plans, advisors and fees. His conclusion:  Index Funds.    Now where have you heard that before ?

I guess I didn't see this one coming.    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-13/microsoft-to-buy-linkedin-in-deal-valued-at-26-2-billion-ipe079k9 I was looking back at my blog posts from 2011, and I was convinced that LinkedIn was overvalued then.  I think it still is, but you'd have done pretty well if you bought the stock at the IPO.  That's why I'm an indexer and not a stock picker!

Here's an interesting article comparing R&D expense in 2006 with now. http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-04-29/amazon-and-facebook-are-big-spenders-on-r-d Top R&D today: Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Intel and Apple. Top R&D in 2006: Ford, Pfizer, GM, J&J, Microsoft, IBM, Intel.

Radiohead the band has an incredibly complex corporate structure, comprising of numerous individual companies.  As a colleague of mine has been known to say: "I bet there's a tax story in there somewhere". Read about it here:  https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/29/radiohead-corporate-structure-firms

How can you be worth -$8 Billion? Ask Yahoo.   http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-yahoo/

Step into any classroom and you'll see rows of students with laptops open tapping away at their keyboards.  Some of these students are taking notes, some are checking facebook or instagram. Aside from distractions, I've wondered whether laptop usage is a good thing or not.  Turns out, the evidence is pretty clear.   We shouldn't use laptops for note taking. Here are a few articles... Scientific American reports that deeper understanding comes from handwritten notes: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/ See also: http://lifehacker.com/the-benefits-of-writing-by-hand-versus-typing-1778758792 Laptops are a distraction to not just the owner, but also other students:  http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2013/08/20/new-study-shows-computers-in-class-distract-both-users-and-non-users/ And one Prof even writes about being a Luddite : https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/04/28/confessions-of-a-luddite-professor/ I th...

Turns out that there is more to their problems than meets the eye. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt-mpuR_QHQ

Gawker media on pension fund fees (and NC in particular). http://gawker.com/retirees-are-handing-wall-street-billions-for-no-good-r-1767496764