In qualifications-obsessed Germany, the baby-faced stockpicker Markus Frick stood out. When his first book in 2001 claimed the former baker had turned 100,000 euro into a million in the space of a year -- and that he could tell investors how to do the same, if they signed up for his seminars and e-mail newsletters -- Germans listened.
As a rule, life insurance is sold, not bought. Hence the plethora of geckos, ducks, and perky saleswomen in ad campaigns. Then there's New York Life Insurance Co., the $34-billion-in-revenue life insurer that leads its category in Fortune's 2010 ranking of the World's Most Admired Companies. It has played up its stodgy image, boosting ad spending by 24% with messages such as "We are built for times like these" and "We're Main Street, not Wall Street."
Hop on your favorite broom. Let out your best cackle. Cuddle up with a black cat and twitch your nose like Samantha. Quadruple witching day is almost here!
Fortune: HD for everyoneupdated: Tue Mar 31 2009 09:59:00
Whether it's watching Jim Cramer and Jon Stewart trade blows on Hulu, or catching up on the latest from the Disruptors series (shameless plug, I know) more and more video is getting delivered via the Internet.
By most accounts, the showdown was pretty brutal.
Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer trade barbs on "The Daily Show."
After a week of pointed verbal barbs, host Jon Stewart sat face-to-face with financial analyst Jim Cramer on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and continued the assault Thursday. Stewart blamed Cramer and cable network CNBC for being irresponsible cheerleaders in the lead-up to the stock market meltdown.
Tontine Associates, the once gilt-edged hedge fund that collapsed rapidly over the past two months in the wake of the market's carnage, was renowned for its massive and highly contrarian bets in industries like home-building and steel manufacturing.
Question: I listen to some weekend radio shows and they confuse me. I'm not sure if I should take their advice or turn my money over to them. What are your thoughts?
It was only five months ago that Cerberus Capital Management bought 80% of Chrysler from Germany's Daimler but already the vultures are circling. Stock market pundit Jim Cramer has become the latest to forecast disaster for the struggling automaker. In the January 7 issue of New York magazine, Cramer riffed on Chrysler's weakened condition and the skills of its CEO, Bob Nardelli of Home Depot, declaring: "Call the Chrysler failure [in 2008] a lock."
If you're struggling to find something that symbolizes the transition from the old-fashioned markets of yesteryear to the seemingly inexplicable wildness of today's derivative-driven, conduit-imploding financial complex, you need look no further than the contrast between old television's Louis Rukeyser and thoroughly modern Jim Cramer.
SIGN THE GUEST BOOK: Had some great visits last week. First, sorry to have missed Kiril Sokoloff, a man who knows markets and the Dalai Lama, who came by to speak with some folks at Fortune early last week. Thanks Kiril.... Then we were thrilled to have Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson drop by. Hammerin' Hank, was as you might expect, upbeat, yet cautious. Think about the spot he's in. You have to be thrilled with the economy and all, but just terrified knowing that it's going to end somehow, and not knowing how.... Dined with Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, at the Four Seasons. They've taken their sweet (suite!) time building that company and it looks like it's beginning to pay off. Saw Sandy Weill there, and said hello to Ralph Schlosstein, prez of BlackRock and Paul Fribourg of ContiGroup. Ralph expressed amazement that I was picking up the tab. (Nice one Ralph!) Also saw Steve Rattner, whose Quadrangle is the new owner of Dennis (Maxim) Publishing....
Want to get a glimpse of hedge fund psychology and strategy? How to drive a stock down to make your short bet pay off? Then you've got to check out a particular video on TheStreet.com.
When the editors of FORTUNE told me I was going to be called upon to cap off this special issue, I was humbled, I don't mind telling you. I don't believe it's an exaggeration to say that I have bee...
Question: I contribute to my 401(k) and also have quite a bit invested in mutual funds. I now have $10,000 to invest. I plan to invest $3,000 of it in an index fund and to purchase individual stocks with the rest.
The little rally that could! Stocks always climb when you least expect it. The whole deal is orchestrated by the GOP, right? They wish!
I've noticed something about the financial advice that seems to register with Americans these days: It's getting louder.
I'm 26 years old and contribute 6 percent of pay to my 401(k), which my company matches. Aside from a menu of 18 different mutual fund options, my plan also has a self-directed brokerage account option that allows me to invest in stocks and other investments. I have the desire to invest and I follow the market news intently, but the minimum fees to trade seem high. Would I be wasting my time investing my 401(k) money through this brokerage account, or is this something that's worth a try?
CNNMoney: Put fun into the Fedupdated: Thu Oct 06 2005 09:46:00
President Bush is looking for a new Fed head.
Fortune: face offupdated: Mon May 16 2005 00:01:00
A show-biz couple has split, and for once we're fairly certain Angelina Jolie isn't to blame. CNBC analysts Larry Kudlow and Jim Cramer, who formerly shared the screen on Kudlow & Cramer, recently ...
Good entrepreneurs often make bad investors--as James Cramer well knows, having tried both. For company owners to overcome that hurdle, Cramer says, they have to understand that the biases and beha...
On Wall Street right now, there may be no person as feared as the attorney general of New York State. This is in some ways an utterly banal statement, one that probably won't surprise anybody who h...
For many of us, it's the ultimate luxury: a few summer days when, free of obligation, we can lose ourselves in a good book. If you want to squander such a rare commodity on a totally frivolous read...
Fortune: One-Hit Wondersupdated: Mon May 27 2002 00:01:00
VH1's oh-so-addictive 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders got us thinking about the flashes-in-the-pan of the business world. Our list:
It's been four years since I first spoke with Kevin Landis, but already it seems like eons ago.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, who inherited wealth, said there were no second acts in American lives. James J. Cramer aims to prove the old preppie wrong: The hedge fund manager, columnist and website found...
Sooner or later, it seems, every financial journalist in America interviews James Cramer. By the end of the 1990s, his profile was so high as a writer, television commentator, hedge fund manager, e...
Fortune: Soccer Coachupdated: Mon Oct 30 2000 00:01:00
JAMES CRAMER, age 45 New York hedge fund manager Cramer became a high-profile Net dude when he co-founded TheStreet.com. The day the company went public, its stock hit $60; at press time shares wer...
It's hard to imagine Jim Cramer--the hyperactive hedge fund manager turned Web entrepreneur turned market pundit--parking himself in front of a television every Friday night. Yet Cramer says there ...
Recently, journalists around the country received a rather desperate e-mail from a total stranger. "Hello, my name is Eric Hellweg and I'm a senior editor at Business 2.0 magazine," it began. "We'r...
The decade had barely three weeks to go, and the Nasdaq was busting out all over. Yahoo was gaining $64 in a single day. (Why? Because it was joining the S&P 500. Now there's a compelling reason!) ...
It was the spring of 1998, and Brian Murray, general manager of mutual funds at E*Trade, was getting frustrated. He and his team had done everything they could think of to make sure their account h...
By early May, TheStreet.com, one of the most anticipated IPOs of 1999, should be reveling in its moment of market glory. Shares in the unprofitable financial-news site will probably receive the fev...
Money Magazine: The Portfolioupdated: Thu Oct 01 1998 00:01:00
Our 10 experts don't really have their own investment club, but this list of 15 investments--10 stocks, four open-end mutual funds and one closed-end fund--reflects what they might come up with, ba...
Money Magazine: The Trader JIM CRAMERupdated: Thu Oct 01 1998 00:01:00
What can you say about Jim Cramer? Gonzo investor. Media star. Online entrepreneur. He's a singular character and, in a sense, the quintessential creature of today's markets--a man who blurs the li...
In times like these, with dramatic drops in U.S. stocks, Russia on the brink and an unshakable Asian flu epidemic, investors are facing uncertainties as never before. The great bull market of the 1...
Back in May 1997, Jim Cramer seemed to be everywhere. When FORTUNE profiled the curly-haired 43-year-old hedge-fund manager, he was appearing regularly on CNBC's Squawk Box, writing for New York an...
Once upon a time--like last January--Ascend was the most appropriately named company in the world. Following its 1994 IPO, its stock soared from about $1.50 (split-adjusted) to $80. At the start of...
My job is to make people money," declares Merrill Lynch's Tom Kurlak. It's a laudable goal, but a hard one to reach with any consistency. Critics have long complained that much of the analysis comi...
Fortune: CRAMER FOLDSupdated: Mon Jun 23 1997 00:01:00
One of the two big activist investors in Dow Jones appears to be walking away. James Cramer, who snapped up one million shares of Dow Jones common stock early this year--after FORTUNE revealed that...
It's 9:30 a.m. and hedge fund manager James Cramer is trying to figure out what to do with Cisco. About an hour and a half before the market opened, Salomon Bothers analyst Peter Swartz unexpectedl...
By the time you read this, it's possible that the stock market will have stopped sinking and will have righted itself, just as it has so many times before during the incredible bull market of the 1...
The Wise Guy was sobered up by a recent first-time attempt to short the market via S&P 500 index futures. As experienced practitioners realize, when you buy a single contract, you're making a $500-...
The skirmishing escalates at Dow Jones. Only weeks before the company's April 16 annual meeting, at which several board seats are to be filled, the family that controls Dow Jones's voting shares is...
Usually when a stock leaps 28% in two months, there's a pretty obvious reason--a dynamite new product, say, or spectacular earnings. This does not appear to be the case with IBM. Efficient-market t...
Readers' thoughts on ethics have dominated our mail recently. Reacting to April's "The $150 Billion Tax Cheats," you were dismayed that people who shortchange the IRS put an extra $1,932 burden on ...
THIS IS NOT A COLUMN I WANTED TO WRITE. I HAVE AVOIDED criticizing competitors, partly because, like you, I tend to tune out anything that seems even vaguely motivated by self-interest. I'm making ...
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