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Why a record month for fund inflows makes me cautious
Investors put more money into mutual funds and ETFs during January than in any month since February 2000. And we all remember what happened next.
FORTUNE -- The way to make money in the stock market is to buy cheap and sell dear. The average mutual fund investor, however, does the opposite: buying at or near market peaks, selling out near bottoms, missing most of the subsequent run-up, then buying again MORE
Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large - Feb 5, 2013 5:00 AM ETPosted in: Exchange-traded fund, Mutual fund -
How Dell could help finance its own buyout
Why banks may be eager to lend Dell $15 billion.
FORTUNE -- Dell Inc. has its major asset—about $11 billion of cash—located primarily outside the United States. That means that it would face a multi-billion-dollar tax bill if it repatriated the money or borrowed against it. Therefore, most people have assumed that Dell's cash is essentially useless when it comes to funding a possible buyout, or helping Dell (DELL) pay its post-buyout MORE
Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large - Jan 22, 2013 1:10 PM ET -
Estimating your new taxes: It's worse than you think
Even a numbers nut gets it wrong when it comes to the complex new tax policies.
FORTUNE -- Well, it turns out that I knew even less about federal income taxes than I thought I did. In my recent column lamenting the extra complexity added to the tax code by the fiscal cliff avoidance legislation and the fact that even a numbers nut like me needs expert help to figure out his MORE
Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large - Jan 22, 2013 8:44 AM ET -
The Fed's big dollar gamble
Ben Bernanke's low interest rate policy has driven down the dollar. America's trading partners aren't happy.
FORTUNE -- What do Rogaine and the Federal Reserve's economic-stimulus policies have in common? No, it doesn't involve Ben Bernanke's or Alan Greenspan's hairlines. Give up? The answer: side effects.
Rogaine, as you may know, was originally developed as a blood pressure medication but was "repurposed" because it had the side effect of promoting hair growth. MORE
Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large - Jan 16, 2013 5:00 AM ET -
Good luck estimating your new tax rate!
About the only thing the new legislation guarantees is job security for accountants. The already incomprehensible tax system even more incomprehensible.
FORTUNE -- The legislation that edged our country away from the alleged "fiscal cliff" isn't named properly. Instead of calling it the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, Congress should have called it the Accountant Full Employment Act of 2012. That's because the legislation, which supposedly doesn't increase taxes for anyone other MORE
Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large - Jan 7, 2013 5:00 AM ET -
Tax hikes for the rich? Blame George W. Bush
It seemed like a great idea at the time: sweeping tax cuts that would never go away because of an endless economic boom. The day of reckoning has come.
FORTUNE -- What seems brilliant today can come back to bite you in the butt tomorrow when the world changes. That's my major takeaway from the fiscal cliff soap opera.
It's a lesson that Republican tax-cutting zealots are now learning, painfully, as their MORE
Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large - Dec 21, 2012 5:00 AM ET -
Municipal bonds: A train wreck waiting to happen
Beware of munis priced at bubble levels. They'll always pop in the end.
FORTUNE -- Investment-grade municipal bonds used to be Snooze City. You know, the kind of thing that we retail investors buy, stick into our portfolios, and then forget about. But these days, thanks to the Federal Reserve's holding down interest rates and the prospect of steeper income taxes facing top-bracket types, high-grade munis, which pay tax-free interest, have MORE
Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large - Dec 5, 2012 5:00 AM ET -
How Tim Geithner can dodge the next debt crisis
An open letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on how to avoid the fiscal cliff: Stop acting like a policy wonk and start acting like a Wall Street dealmaker.
FORTUNE -- Dear Mr. Secretary:
I know that even though President Obama has been reelected, you are planning to leave the Treasury. So I'd like to offer you a goodbye gift. It's not money or a prestigious seven-digit-a-year gig. It's a way to MORE
Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large - Nov 14, 2012 5:00 AM ET -
Where have you gone, Jack Welch?
The former GE CEO has had a great run, both in corporate America and in the world of commentary. It's a shame that he didn't quit while he was ahead.
FORTUNE -- I never thought I would feel sorry for Jack Welch, but now, I do. His op-ed piece in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, "I Was Right About That Strange Jobs Report," strikes me as, well, strange.
Even though I rarely wrote about MORE
Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large - Oct 11, 2012 5:00 AM ET -
Goodbye, and many thanks, to my favorite mutual fund ever
If you want to take advantage of the Royce Select Fund's uniquely fair fees - sorry - that ship has sailed.
FORTUNE -- There are times when an innovative and brilliantly designed product takes the world by storm and makes a fortune for its creators and marketers. Think iPhone. And then there are times when an innovative and brilliantly designed product just doesn't catch on. Think of the Royce Select Fund.
Never MORE
Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large - Oct 10, 2012 5:00 AM ET
Allan Sloan, who has been writing about business for more than 40 years, joined Fortune in July of 2007. Before that, he was the Wall Street editor for Newsweek for 12 years. His work also appears in The Washington Post. Allan is a seven-time winner of the Loeb Award, business journalism's highest honor, receiving awards in four different categories for five different employers. He is a graduate of Brooklyn College and has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. He and his wife live in New Jersey. They have three grown children.
