REVEALED: How Whitney Tilson Stays In Shape And Saves Money At The Same Time


Whitney Tilson Bike

T2 Partners founder Whitney Tilson was featured in the Wall Street Journal [via Dealbreakerthis past weekend, and not about his investment strategies or economic insights. It was about his personal finances.

Tilson offered a piece of advice to the article "How to Save $10,000 By Next Thanksgiving" on how to be thrifty.

Here's his tidbit:

"I save a small fortune in taxi and subway fares—plus untold hours sitting in traffic or on a subway platform—by riding my bike everywhere in Manhattan," says hedge-fund manager Whitney Tilson. "Plus, it's great exercise!" Savings: You name it, but at least $4,000 a year. (Plus, you can save on the gym.)

Note: With $262 million under management at his hedge fund, how much does $4,000 really mean in the long run?

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This Is How Much Banking With The Big Guys REALLY Costs You


Mario Batali's ATM

Whether you share an account with relatives across the country or need to access your kid's checking account in school, some of us have to deal with those big, scary banks.

If you're taking the plunge, you should know the ins and outs of each bank's accounts, though they surprisingly don't vary that much.

Here's at a look at what you get for who you bank with:

Bank of America: MyAccess Checking

Checking: This requires a $25 deposit to open and there is a $12 monthly fee unless statements are paperless and deposits/withdrawals are done online or by ATM or you maintain a minimum balance of $1,500. The insufficient funds fee is $35.

Debit Card: This service comes with all checking accounts (no additional fees) and out-of-network ATM withdrawal is $2 ($5 internationally, but waived at banks in its Global ATM Alliance).

Wells Fargo: Value Checking

Checking: This requires a $100 minimum deposit to open and there is a $5 monthly fee unless monthly direct deposits are made or an average balance of $1,500 is maintained. The insufficient funds fee is $35.

Debit Card: This service is included with all checking accounts (no additional fees). Out-of-network ATM withdrawal is $2.50 ($5 internationally).

JPMorgan Chase: Chase Total Checking

Checking: This requires a $25 minimum deposit to open and there is a $12 monthly fee unless a direct deposit of at least $500 is made at least once a month or there is a minimum balance of $1,500 or a $5,000 combined daily balance among linked accounts. The insufficient funds fee is $34.

Debit Card: This service is included with all checking accounts (no additional fees). Out-of-network ATM withdrawal is $2 ($5 internationally).

Citi: Basic Banking

Checking: These accounts are free to open and there is a $10 monthly fee, but this can be waived with at least one direct deposit or one online bill pay made per month or when a $1,500 combined deposit is maintained between linked accounts. The insufficient funds fee is $34 or $25 if the account is closed within 90 days of opening.

Debit Card: This service is included with all checking accounts (no additional fees) and out-of-network ATM withdrawal is $2.

US Bank: Easy Checking

Checking: This account is $50 to open and there is a $6.95 monthly fee with online statements or $8.95 with paper statements unless direct deposits of at least $500 are made monthly or the user holds an average account balance of $1,500. 

Fees are also waived for seniors, students, military personnel and those living in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and New Mexico. The insufficient funds fee is $0 for purchases less than $10. For purchases over $10, it goes up to $33.

If the account is closed within 180 days, users will incur a $25 fee. If the account is inactive after 13 months, users will incur a $5 monthly fee.

Debit Card: This service is included with all checking accounts (no additional fees). Out-of-network ATM withdrawal is $2.50.

PNC: Free Checking

Checking: These accounts cost $25 to open and have no monthly fee. The insufficient funds fee is $25 for the first time in a year and then $36 after. There is a $25 fee for closing the account 180 days after opening.

Debit Card: This service is included with all checking accounts (no additional fees). Out-of-network ATM withdrawal is $2.50 ($5 internationally).

TD Bank: TD Simple

Checking: This costs $0 to open, but there is a $2.99 monthly fee with online statements or a $3.99 monthly fee with paper statements. Insufficient funds cost $35 per transaction for overdrafts that are more than $5.

Debit Card: This service is included with all checking accounts (no additional fees). Out-of-network ATM withdrawal is $2.

Capital One:  Checking Account

Checking: These accounts cost $50 to open, with a $8.95 monthly fee unless a $300 minimum daily balance or monthly direct deposit of at least $250 is maintained.

Debit Card: This service is included with all checking accounts (no additional fees).

SunTrust: Everyday Checking

Checking: This costs $100 to open, with a $7 monthly fee unless a minimum balance of $500 or direct deposit is made. The insufficient funds fee is $25 for the first transaction then $36 if the user overdraws more than $5.

There is a $25 fee if the account closed within six months of opening, and in Florida there's a $15 monthly inactivity fee.

Debit Card: This carries a $5 monthly fee for unlimited debit card usage. Out-of-network withdrawal is $2 ($5 internationally).

BB&T: Bright Banking

Checking: This account costs $50 to open, with a $10 monthly fee ($12 in Kentucky and Indiana) unless  a $100 monthly direct deposit is made or a $2,000 minimum balance ($7,500 in Kentucky and Indiana) is maintained or a mortgage with BB&T OR $6,000 combined deposit and loan balances. The insufficient funds fee is $35 for overdrafts over $5.

There is a $25 fee if the account is closed within three months of opening and a $7.50 monthly inactivity fee after a year.

Debit Card: This is included with all checking accounts (no additional fees). Out-of-network ATM withdrawal is $2.50 ($5 internationally).

HSBC: Basic Banking

Checking: This costs $0 to open, with a $3 monthly fee. Users can write up to eight checks or withdrawal slips monthly for free; after that they are 35 cents each. The insufficient funds fee is $35.

There is a $25 fee if account closed within half a year of opening.

Debit Card: This service is included (no additional fees). Out-of-network ATM withdrawal $2.50

See 12 millennials reveal how they got hooked on debt >

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The Launch Of The Fiat 500 Was Supposed To Be A Huge Deal In The US, But It's Not


fiat 500 jennifer lopez

The Fiat 500 is supposed to be one of Chrysler-Fiat's big global brands, and its answer to BMW's iconic Mini.

But in the US, the Fiat 500 is off to a dismal start since launching in March, reports Larry Vellequette at AutoNews. It initially expected to sell 50,000 units in the first year, but so far, it's only at 15,000. In fact, 29 of its 130 US stores didn't sell a single one last month.

Why the crappy start?

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne blames the distribution network, not the car itself. He says that it has even less dealers on board than Ferrari this year, and it has been six months late to roll things out, according to Vellequette.

Some dealers are blaming the $16,000 vehicle itself, for being a small car with a not-so-small price. Dealers have spent millions investing in new brick-and-mortar facilities for Fiat and Alfa Romeo cars. But the Alfa Romeo launch has been delayed, leaving them with just the Fiat 500s for another year.

Other dealers say that they haven't gotten enough help on the marketing side from Fiat. There were a couple advertising spots that ran nationally over the summer (including those Jennifer Lopez ads). One says that Fiat was targeting the wrong people -- families are buying them as third cars, instead of the youthful student demographic that it wanted.

There are also questions about the launch of the Fiat brand as it reentered the US market. Here's what Peter De Lorenzo at The Autoextremist had to say about Marchionne's handling of it:

"It’s clear to me that Marchionne took his eye off of the ball when it came to Fiat and it has absolutely killed the launch of the brand. Leaving the initial launch marketing for the Fiat 500 grossly underfunded and undermanned without the kind of experienced, savvy people who were needed was a crucial mistake.

And Sergio’s extreme management style didn’t do the launch any favors either. He had too many other things to micromanage, meaning that he simply let Fiat slip through the cracks for all intents and purposes, which I’m sure makes Fiat dealers here in the U.S. – who shelled out millions to align with Sergio’s “vision” – deeply regretting that decision at this very moment.

Right now, Sergio & Co. has screwed-up the launch of the Fiat 500 so badly that they have to start over."

Can Fiat and Chrysler recover from the botched launch? Of course, but it's going to take some work, and there may be a management shakeup in the near future. Vellequette reports that Marchionne may reassign Laura Soave, the exec in charge of the Fiat brand in the US. At least Marchionne will have another shot at a big time launch in 2013 with Alfa Romeo.

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WTO Membership May Have A Surprising Affect On Russian's Drinking Habits


russia vodka

Russia's impending membership of the World Trade Organization may have an affect on the drinking habits of its citizens, according to reports in Russia Today.

With membership of the organization, import duties on foreign wines will "fall from 20 percent to 12.5 within four years, and for beer from 60 eurocents to 1.8 eurocents per litre by 2018."

As Russia Today notes, the move may be an unexpected benefit for the Russian government, pushing Russians towards now cheaper wine and beers and away from hard alcohols such as vodka.

The news comes after the announcement that taxes on vodka are set to double, and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev argued that "wine making is one of the sectors that should be developed to contribute to the eradication of alcoholism."

Read more at Russia Today >

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Mashable Fires Editor At Large And Top Writer Ben Parr


ben parr

UPDATE: Mashable has confirmed with us that Ben Parr was fired on Friday.

EARLIER: Mashable's editor at large Ben Parr has left the fast-growing news site, Business Insider has learned.

Parr had originally intended to stay until July next year after receiving a $250,000 cash bonus, according to several sources familiar to the matter.

Several sources described Parr's brand on the site as "critical," which prompted Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore to offer him an impressive package to stay.

Mashable's own site also indicates he has left:

Ben Parr is a technology journalist, web entrepreneur and aspiring world changer. He is best-known as the former editor-at-large of Mashable where he focused on technology trends, the companies behind them, and the intersection of technology, media and society. Ben's 3+ year career with Mashable began when he joined as a writer in August 2008.

We first learned Parr was taking off after getting in touch with him over email. We received an automated response saying he left the company: 

Ben Parr is no longer with Mashable. For all inquiries, please contact Chris Taylor and Lance Ulanoff.

We wrote last week about Ben's impressive payout. One source told us that the fact we knew about Parr's payout was a breach of contract. So there's a chance the agreement was shot down or Parr and Mashable couldn't reach a new agreement.

Mashable is growing very quickly, with around 20 million unique monthly visitors, but is having some trouble holding onto its top writers. Five writers left over the course of a few months.

Parr hasn't indicated where he is heading next, but several sources close to him have told us he has a bunch of Hollywood-related plans. Several sources said he is working on some kind of television show.

We reached out to Mashable and Parr and we'll update as soon as we find out more. if you've heard anything about Mashable or where Parr might be headed, please reach out to us at mlynley@businessinsider.com.

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Checking the Quality of Renren's Growth

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Renren (NYSE: RENN  ) carries $7.2 million of goodwill and other intangibles on its balance sheet. Sometimes goodwill, especially when it's excessive, can foreshadow problems down the road. Could this be the case with Renren?

Before we answer that, let's look at what could go wrong.

AOL blows up
In early 2002, AOL Time Warner was trading for $66.27 per share. It had $209 billion of assets on its balance sheet, and $128 billion of that was in the form of goodwill and other intangible assets. Goodwill is simply the difference between the price paid for a company during an acquisition and the net assets of the acquired company. The $128 billion of goodwill in this case was created when AOL and Time Warner merged in 2000.

The problem with inflating your net assets with goodwill is that it can -- being intangible, after all -- go away if the acquisition or merger doesn't create the amount of value that was expected. That's what happened in AOL Time Warner's case. It had to write off most of the goodwill over the next few months, and one year later that line item had shrunk to $37 billion. Investors punished the stock along the way, sending it down to $27.04 -- or nearly a 60% loss.

In his fine book It's Earnings That Count, Hewitt Heiserman explains the AOL situation and how two simple metrics can help minimize your risk of owning a company that may blow up like this. Let's see how Renren holds up using his two metrics.

Intangible assets ratio
This ratio shows us the percentage of total assets made up by goodwill and other intangibles. Heiserman says he views anything over 20% as worrisome, "because management might be overpaying for the acquisition or acquisitions that gave rise to the goodwill."

Renren has an intangible assets ratio of just 1%. This is well below Heiserman's threshold, and a sign that any growth you see with the company is probably organic. But we're not through; let's also take a look at tangible book value.

Tangible book value
Tangible book value is simply what remains after subtracting goodwill and other intangibles from shareholders' equity (also known as book value). If this is not a positive value, Heiserman advises you to run away because such companies may "lack the balance sheet muscle to protect themselves in a recession or from better-financed competitors."

Renren's tangible book value is $1.2 billion, so no yellow flag here.

By the way, I asked Heiserman about the tendency for some large-cap blue chips -- names like Procter & Gamble, IBM, and Altria -- to have a high intangible assets ratio and negative tangible book value. He says this can be OK, provided the company has (1) modest or no net debt, (2) persistent and rising levels of free cash flow, and (3) stock buybacks at a discount to intrinsic value.

Foolish bottom line
To recap, here are Renren's numbers, as well as a bonus look at a few other companies in its industry.

Data provided by S&P Capital IQ.

Renren appears to be in good shape in terms of the intangible assets ratio and tangible book value. You can never base an entire investment thesis on one or two metrics, but there are no yellow flags here. If any companies you're researching do fail one of these checks, make sure you understand the business model and management's objectives. I'll help you keep a close eye on these ratios over the next few quarters by updating them soon after each earnings report.

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Source: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/11/20/checking-the-quality-of-renrens-growth.aspx

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All About Debt Counseling Programs

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No one really wants to have debts. It is financial situations (bad of course) that find many people estranged in debts they would surely not been able to get themselves out of. To many people, debts are an unavoidable evil.

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Life After Bankruptcy

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It makes sense to show your creditors you are credit worthy and there is no better way than by paying your bills on time. If you have retained possession of your car you'll serve yourself well by continuing to make your car payments and bills time on time and in full.

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