Dividends
Edited by Toddi Gutner
The Stat
63 percent of Americans said they don't feel the nation's financial, government, or regulatory systems protect people against investment losses and accounting fraud.
Data: Financial Planning Assn.
GOLF
The Zagats Break Par
From the publishers of the famed Zagat restaurant guides comes America's Top Golf Courses for 2003. Here are some of the folksy comments from its 5,311 volunteer golfer/reviewers:
INTERNATIONAL LINKS, MIAMI.
Sure, "it's in the flight path of Miami International Airport," and yes, "you see major highways as you golf," but "for a quick round" before your plane takes off, "you can't beat" it.
GREAT RIVER, MILFORD, CONN.
You're in for either a "championship-level" "day to remember" or a "butt-kicking," so "bring your A-game or your antidepressants."
GOLF
MUTUAL FUNDS
Bruised by Bonds
After 12 consecutive years of positive returns, the Merger Fund has stumbled in 2002, falling 7.7% as of Nov. 11. What happened? With deals at an eight-year low, the fund's managers could not find enough arbitrage opportunities. So they bought corporate bonds. That's allowed, but it's not the fund's expertise. Bonds make up 18% of the $850 million portfolio.
Many of the bonds' issuers read like a bankruptcy court docket: WorldCom, Enron, Adelphia Communications. Only the Adelphia bonds were distressed when manager Frederick Green bought them. WorldCom's were investment grade. "Absent the fraud revelation, they would've paid off, because they had very short maturities," says Green. The Enron bonds were purchased when the energy trader was a Dynegy acquisition target.
Merger Fund's decline has ticked off a lot of investors, who relied on the fund as a hedge against the bear market. One angry shareholder at a Morningstar.com message board summed up the mood: "Totally pathetic management buying this crap."
Read a Letter to the Editor about this story.
By Lewis Braham
STOCKS
Bush Bets
Want to profit from the GOP sweep? Consider these stock picks from ChangeWave Research of Potomac, Md.
STARBUCKS (SBUX
)
We'll be up late watching the war on TV, so we'll need coffee.
GUIDANT (GDT
)
A Guidant defibrillator is a must for keeping Dick Cheney alive at Bush's major meetings.
EON LABORATORIES (ELAB
)
If the GOP passes a Medicare prescription plan, Eon's generic drugs will benefit.
By Mara Der Hovanesian
COOKING
From Ice to Fire
A marriage of opposites: Whirlpool's $1,799 Polara refrigerator/oven keeps the turkey cold until it's ready to roast. Then the oven turns on for a preset time. If the meat is done before you get home, the oven will switch to warm before reverting back to refrigerator mode.
By Michael Arndt
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Copyright 2002, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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