The city that never sleeps just put its transit to bed:
"The MTA is committed to the safety of its customers and its employees, and due to the forecast, will be suspending service on all bus, commuter rail and subway service at 11:00 p.m. this evening. If you don't have to travel between now and later this evening, we urge you to stay home."
http://alert.mta.info/

No cars on the street after 11, either.
http://observer.com/2015/01/de-blasio-orders-indefinite-street-shutdown-tonight-during-blizzard/

Schedules C, D, E & F are no longer included in the TT Deluxe version. A TT user must now purchase the Premier version to get those schedules.

According to Forbes, Premier isn't high enough if you're filing Schedule C (sole proprietorship) or F (farm). For that, you'll have to step all the way up to TurboTax Home and Business. The $25 "gift" from Intuit won't make up that big a jump in cost.

The city that never sleeps just put its transit to bed:
"The MTA is committed to the safety of its customers and its employees, and due to the forecast, will be suspending service on all bus, commuter rail and subway service at 11:00 p.m. this evening. If you don't have to travel between now and later this evening, we urge you to stay home."
http://alert.mta.info/

Another "Who Knew"
Uber caps surge pricing during blizzard, but people still complain

by Dan Primack @danprimack JANUARY 26, 2015, 2:36 PM EST
Uber is doing the best it can to prepare for the blizzard. Are you?
It’s snowing, so it must be time to be mad at Uber. (note, other common weather conditions for being mad at Uber include sunny, cloudy and night).
...If, for some reason, YOU failed to prepare adequately for a highly-publicized storm and Uber is your only way to get some much-needed supply (from closed stores?), then don’t complain about price or availability. YOU brought it upon YOUrself.
http://fortune.com/2015/01/26/uber-caps-surge-pricing-during-blizzard-but-people-still-complain/

Here's the report on TT's apology and rebate.
http://blogs.wsj.com/totalreturn/2015/01/22/turbotax-users-get-an-apology-and-25-each/
They lost me as a customer.
Thanks for the replies.

Hi Guys,
A few days ago, David Snowball posted a reference to a Chuck Jaffe article. In that article, Jaffe interviewed a market researcher who claimed that an extremely high fraction (like 90%) of fund managers do outperform simple Indices before some critical cost adjustments.
David expressed some skepticism and the need for a better understanding of the study. I await any follow-ups he will post. I too share that skepticism.
The odds of 80% to 90% of active equity fund managers outdistancing their benchmarks for any meaningful period is about as likely as inventing a perpetual motion machine or actually seeing pigs that fly.
I thought that Nobel Laureate Bill Sharpe had put that scenario to bed by doing some simple arithmetic in 1991. Here is a Link to his original article on that subject:
http://web.stanford.edu/~wfsharpe/art/active/active.htm
The Sharpe argument is so simple that it is hard to refute or to ignore.
I agree with Old Joe that a substantial number of managers possess the intelligence, the pride, and the ego to believe they can outperform benchmarks. But the marketplace is top-heavy with intelligent folks, and pride and ego will cramp performance.
That’s why, as the timeframe expands, the absolute number and the percentage of active fund managers who generate Excess Returns is a diminishing quantity.
I hope David will provide closure in the near future.
Best Regards.

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
WSJ Slant:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stock-futures-steady-as-investors-look-past-greek-election-1422279738
Bloomberg Slant;
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2015-01-26/u-s-stock-index-futures-fall-after-syriza-wins-greek-election.html
Reuters Slant:
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USKBN0KZ18N20150126
MarketWatch Slant;
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-futures-lower-as-greece-vote-triggers-risk-aversion-2015-01-26/print
WSJ Markets At A Glance: http://markets.wsj.com/us
Sector Tracker: http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
Current Futures: http://finviz.com/futures.ashx

@Dex & MFO Members FYI:
Regards,
Ted
The Cheapest Tax Prep Software for 2015 (Hint: It's Not TurboTax)
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2015-01-23/the-cheapest-tax-prep-software-for-2015-hint-it-s-not-turbotax-

FYI: A monster blizzard is bearing down on the New York City area, but a snow day for the traders is unlikely. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq will be open for business as usual.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/will-the-east-coast-snow-storm-close-markets-2015-01-26/print
Let It Snow: Frank Sinatra:

@MFO Members: Here is Prudential's take on of the Periodic Tables, and commodities table.
Regards,
Ted
https://investment.prudential.com/util/common/get?file=1D065355D2CC360385257B7D00536F8A
Commodities Table:
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/periodic-table-commodity-returns/

I've done more research and decided that Turbo Tax is no longer for me.
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150125/FREE/150129944/turbotax-raises-prices-and-the-tax-prep-software-battle-is-on
How do people like Tax Act?

Hi Guys,
Ted just posted the Callan 2014 Periodic Table of Returns.
The Callan Table is the granddaddy of the many versions of these data that are now published. It’s great stuff. But I prefer an American Century edition. Here is its Link:
https://www.americancentury.com/content/dam/americancentury/ipro/pdfs/flyer/Periodic_Table.pdf
Note that some of the ranking categories and quoted annual returns are slightly different between these two excellent sources.
Best Regards.

The current Dogs: AT&T (ticker: T), Verizon (VZ), Chevron (CVX), McDonald's (MCD), Pfizer (PFE), General Electric (GE), Merck (MRK), Caterpillar (CAT), ExxonMobil (XOM) and Coca-Cola (KO). Average yield: 3.71%.
and you find (safe) yield like that where else?

FYI: (This is a follow-up article)
Vanguard Group surpassed State Street Global Advisors as the second-largest ETF provider, a new milestone following a year that was filled with them.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150126/FREE/150129942?template=printart

Thanks @Ted.
Noted at the end of the M* article:
"Nontraditional funds are trailing intermediate funds again in 2015, as interest rates continue to fall. Intermediate funds returned an average of 0.9 percent as of Jan. 13, while flexible funds lost 0.1 percent, according to Morningstar.
It still may be too early to make a valid judgment about the flexible funds, said Sarah Bush, a senior analyst at Morningstar.
“They haven’t been around that long,” Bush said in a telephone interview. “We are going to have to see how they perform through a whole cycle.”
>>>Say what? Perhaps the fund type has not been around very long; but hopefully many of the fund managers have, eh? The managers are "unconstrained" by the fund prospectus and happened to get the call wrong on bond prices. Not unlike "calling" any other sector of investing and not unlike what we individual investors face in our "unconstrained" portfolios attempting to stay ahead of the curve with where to "put the money" to obtain a best total return.
Many folks have had problems with bond directions over the past few years, yes?
Regards,
Catch

FYI: The new generation of bond funds just can’t keep up with your parents’ investments.
Unconstrained funds, part of a new breed of mutual funds designed with the flexibility to profit in rising and falling markets, returned an average of 1.2 percent in 2014, compared with 5.2 percent for intermediate-term funds, historically the most popular bond investment. The new funds, the best-selling segment of the fixed-income category in 2014, also trailed in the past three and five years, and are behind again in 2015, according to Morningstar Inc.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2015-01-15/flexible-bond-funds-flop-as-rate-drop-stings-top-sellers.html
M* Unconstrained Bond Fund Returns:
http://news.morningstar.com/fund-category-returns/nontraditional-bond/$FOCA$NT.aspx

Gross: "We brought consumption forward and issued one giant credit card for the past 30 years. Now the bill is coming due. Investors need to get used to low returns, and low growth, inflation, and interest rates for a long time." Very SCARY.
Faber: "Policy makers have created an environment in which a corporation with a lot of cash isn’t going to build a factory or a business. It is going to buy back shares or take over another company. In each takeover, staff is eliminated and there is no capital spending. "
Barrons Roundtable tracker:
Faber, Zulauf, Schafer, and Witmer are top of the pack. I like Witmer's style, just simple company turnarounds with no guesses about economy, etc.
http://blog.pundittracker.com/barrons-roundtable-2013-performance-updated-2002-13-rankings/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=barrons-roundtable-2013-performance-updated-2002-13-rankings

EM reads
http://www.columbian.com/news/2015/jan/17/consider-emerging-markets/
globe and mail ETF eddition
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/funds-and-etfs/etfs/welcome-to-the-globe-and-mails-etf-buyers-guide-2015-edition/article22607701/
energy sector
http://www.wallstreetsectorselector.com/investment-articles/editors-desk/2015/01/energy-sector-enjoys-relief-rally/
Equity ETFs post 3rd straight yrs of gains
http://www.morningstar.com/advisor/t/101013187/equity-etfs-post-third-straight-year-of-plus-side-returns.htm
gold miners new
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/will-gold-miner-etfs-dig-up-solid-returns-in-2015-etf-news-and-commentary-cm434083

FYI MFO Members: (Click On Article Title At Top Of Google Search)
Regards,
Ted
Is It Time to Invest in Energy Stocks?
https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=Is+It+Time+to+Invest+in+Energy+Stocks?+wsj&oq=Is+It+Time+to+Invest+in+Energy+Stocks?+wsj&gs_l=hp.3...6814.12229.0.12710.5.5.0.0.0.0.73.340.5.5.0.msedr...0...1c.1.61.hp..2.3.205.FgXH4E9HiBY

@MFO Members: RNCOX is a very expensive, 2.22% ER , Fund Of Funds that can't beat the S&P 500. My suggestion , take a pass.
Regards,
Ted
Fact Sheet RNCOX:
http://assets.rivernorth.com/pdf/fact.sheet/2014.q4.rncix.rncox.fact.sheet.cedar.pdf