Ladies and gents, I have written for b5media for about 17 months now and today, my investing blog will come to an end. It has been a fun, interesting and educational tenure. The funniest moment would have to be receiving my first (and only) piece of what I call blog hate mail, which labeled me an “ignorant baby boomer.” Priceless. The interesting and educational pieces came daily through research, comments and exchanges with readers. Even though my b5media blog is coming to an end, I am still keeping busy and if you would like to keep up with me, here are a couple of tips: Twitter – @tisasilver (Bear with me, I’m new to the whole “tweeting” business) www.tisasilver.com - My web site with book related... [Read more]

I am a huge proponent of investing in what you believe in (It’s Chapter 13 in my book!). I’ve heard plenty about faith-based initiatives, but not so much about faith-based investing. According to TheStreet.com, over the past few years, the strategy has not only been quite profitable, but it has outperformed major benchmarks. Photo by Fr Antunes, courtesy of flickr There are approximately 100 faith-based mutual funds which hold a total of $31 billion in assets. Similar to other socially responsible investing tools, these funds are more widely known for what they will not invest in, as opposed to what they will invest in. Companies to avoid include alcohol, tobacco, gambling and adult entertainment. Some funds also avoid banks and... [Read more]

China’s leading search engine, Baidu (BIDU) posted a 41 percent increase in earnings and a 39 percent increase in revenues for the recently completed third quarter. Shares of Baidu lost 13 percent of their value in after-hours trading. Photo by danny sullivan, courtesy of flickr What went wrong? According to Reuters, the company’s outlook took a turn for the worse, execs are predicting Q4 revenues will come in well below the Street’s expectations. The company blamed the decrease in revenue on its transition to new advertising technology. Up until today, 2009 had been a banner year for shares of Baidu. The stock had more than doubled in six months. BIDU broke the $400 per share mark last month for the first time 2007, and... [Read more]

According to the Associated Press, over 80 percent of companies that reported third quarter earnings in October 2009 beat Wall Street’s expectations. Photo by epicharmus, courtesy of flickr Is business booming or what? I’m leaning to the “or what” side. Things are definitely better than they were around this time last year, but the number of companies beating the street’s estimates is uncanny. Makes you wonder how the expectations are formed. Ultimately, they are generated from within the company and companies know that investors don’t like to be disappointed.  Earnings surprises, good and bad, often offer a bounce or bust, but if you invest on news of such surprises and the market has overreacted you could... [Read more]

It’s Saturday and time for Following The Fool’s “This Week’s 5 Smartest Stock Moves.” The weekly list authored by Rick Munarriz highlights stock movements from the past week. Let’s see if any of the picks turned out to be smart moves in the week following their inclusion in the list. Photo by jason.mundy, courtesy of flickr Below you will find how the picks panned out for the week of 10/16– 10/23. Microsoft (MSFT)– Price when reported by the Fool: $26.50. Closing price on 10/23: $28.02. One-week rate of return: +5.7 percent. Disney (DIS) – Price when reported by the Fool: $29.40. Closing price on 10/23: $28.89. One-week rate of return: -1.7 percent. Sirius (SIRI) – Price when reported by the Fool: $0.59. Closing... [Read more]