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In the wake of a spate of data breaches highlighting the vulnerability of companies that hold consumer information, class="mandelbrot_refrag"> MasterCard Inc announced last week it would apply the same rules to PIN-based debit card transactions as those used for credit cards: zero liability when fraud is reported. "Fraud and identity theft have been in the news a lot lately. We want to give cardholders peace of mind," says MasterCard spokeswoman Beth Kitchener. The breach at Target last year, which affected more than 40 million customers, is still a top concern for many. For consumers who have MasterCard-branded debit cards, the extension of zero liability means some things will change, while others won't. Here is what you need to know about the new policy, which takes effect on Oct. 1. Q: Does this mean that using a debit card is just as safe for transactions as using a credit card? A: Not exactly. While those who have MasterCard-branded debit cards

It is this year’s bargain: central banks will remain easy, allowing asset prices to march higher despite all those pesky details about growth and inflation. There is lots of evidence to show this is a genuine phenomenon - the ECB is expected to ease on Thursday, perhaps in new and creative ways, and the Federal Reserve, while theorizing about some fine day it will raise rates, is careful not to encourage any breath-holding. And class="mandelbrot_refrag"> markets are doing their part, with asset prices of both stocks and bonds rising slowly and steadily, all amidst unusually low volatility. Not only is the benchmark class="mandelbrot_refrag"> S&P 500 index up 5 percent this year, and 17 percent over one full year, yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. government bonds have fallen strongly in most major markets, powering gains almost across the board in fixed income. Low volatility may be key to understanding both what is happening and why. Investors app

Americans are borrowing more, renting more rather than owning, eating in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> restaurants more and saving less, leading inevitably to questions of sustainability. That’s true both for Americans and for the corporations whose profits they create. What’s more, the kind of financing backing all this indicates that a goodly bit of the balance sheet straining activity is concentrated lower down the income and wealth scale. Juxtapose this with vertiginous rates of corporate profitability (and intriguing hints that a top may have been hit) and you have the making of some serious upcoming tests for the class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy and stock market.   true       First, let’s look at Americans and their cars. A record 27.9 percent of all new car sales so far this year were leases, according to Edmunds.com, while those who did decide to buy did so with record-long loan terms of 66 months on average. Interestingly, leasing, which

class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Google confessed last week that it has a miserable record hiring and retaining women and minorities. The tech giant responded to public pressure - including protests led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the company's annual meeting - by releasing data about the gender and ethnic makeup of its workforce, and the numbers aren't pretty. Women make up just 30 percent of Google's workforce, and the company is 61 percent white. Asians represent 30 percent of Google's workers, but Hispanics represent 3 percent and African Americans just 2 percent. Yet class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Google didn't disclose one of the most important diversity statistic about its workers: their age.   true       Age plays second fiddle in Corporate America to racial and gender workforce diversity, but it needs to be addressed. The country is getting grayer; workers need - and want - to stay employed longer. "It is hard to address thes

Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest bond fund at Pimco, said Thursday the firm believes the 'new neutral' inflation-adjusted federal funds rate will be close to 0 percent as opposed to 2-3 percent in prior decades. "If 'The New Neutral' rates stay low, it supports current prices of financial assets," Gross said in his latest investment letter. "They would appear to be less bubbly." Pacific class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Investment Management Co, which manages $1.94 trillion in assets, introduced its new-neutral outlook in May. New Neutral suggests the global class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy is transforming from a post-financial crisis recovery period called the New Normal in 2009, toward stability characterized by modest economic growth over the next three-to-five years. "Commonsensically it seems to me that the more finance-based and highly levered an class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy

The most cutting-edge technology cannot contain one of the biggest cyber hacking threats on Wall Street: sloppy actions by brokers and other industry employees. Brokerage firm workers have taped sensitive passwords to their computer monitors and stored them in binders labeled "passwords," according to officials from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Wall Street's industry-funded watchdog. Some firms give login information to temporary workers and forget to cut them off after their assignment is complete. At the regulator's conference in May, examiners traded tales of brokerage firm behaviors they had found that could lead to security breaches. One firm, for example, used the very-guessable "username" as the username and "password" for the password that gave access to the company's router, enabling access to the firm's sensitive data. The problems are coming to light as major online security breaches in other industr

Isn't it ironic? Most independent financial advisers have no exit strategy and let their firms die through attrition, according to research from Fidelity Investments and consulting firm FP Transitions. That scenario is bad for clients, and it means advisers reap no benefits from the businesses they invested years building. A firm is an adviser’s largest asset, says Waldemar Kohl, vice president of practice management for Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. “It’s bigger than their home, bigger than their retirement plan" so advisers should think about how they can tap that value when they leave the industry. Advisers who formulate a plan to sell - either via succession plan to employees or a family member - or to an unrelated third party, can secure a lifetime income stream and a business that continues to serve valued clients. CREATING VALUE After an adviser friend sold her practice for a significant sum, Olympia, Washington-based planner Nancy Nelson sought a valu