Here are the Consumer Reports top-rated vehicles in ten categories (with previous years’ top cars in parentheses):

• Pickup Truck: Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (2009: Chevrolet Avalanche, 2008: Chevrolet Silverado 1500, no pick in 2007)
• Sporty Car (formerly Fun-to-drive): Volkswagen GTI (2007-2009: Mazda MX-5 Miata)
• Small sedan: Hyundai Elantra SE (2008-2009: Hyundai Elantra SE, 2007: Honda Civic)
• Family sedan: Nissan Altima (2007-2009: Honda Accord)
• Sports sedan (formerly Upscale sedan): Infiniti G37 (2009: Infiniti G37, 2007-2008: Infiniti G35)
• Luxury sedan: no pick, but implied Lexus LS 460L (2009: implied Lexus LS 460, 2008: Lexus LS 460L, 2007: Infiniti M35)
• Small SUV: Subaru Forester (2007-2009: Toyota RAV4)
• Family SUV (formerly Midsized SUV): Chevrolet Traverse (2009: Toyota Highlander, 2008: Hyundai Santa Fe, 2007: Toyota Highlander Hybrid)
• Family Hauler (formerly Minivan): Mazda5 (2007-2009: Toyota Sienna)
• Green car: Toyota Prius (2007-2009: Toyota Prius)

This year, Consumer Reports chose a “best car overall”, which was again the Lexus LS 460L. The LS scored 99 out of a possible 100 points in the magazine’s road test. (By comparison, my beloved Mini Cooper scored an 81 again.)

Again this year, CR shared its list of “most overlooked cars”, which was identical to last year’s list of overlooked cars. These five vehicles are safe and performed well in their testing, but don’t sell well:

• Mazda5
• Kia Rondo
• Mitsubishi Outlander
• Hyundai Azera
• Suzuki SX4

This year, Consumer Reports revised how it determined which cars provide the best value. Last year they divided each vehicle’s 5-year cost-of-ownership by its road score to come up with an arbitrary measure of cost vs. quality. This year their method is more obscure, though it seems to follow the same principles (but with reliability ratings tossed in for good measure).

The CR website actually has more complete info than the magazine regarding the best and worst values in 2010 cars. Best value overall? The Honda Fit Sport with a “value score” of 2.24. Worst? The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara with a value score of 0.30. (The Mini Cooper places well at 1.82.) Where can you find the best car values? According to the magazine:

Small cars and family cars tend to have the best scores…Similarly, small SUVs tend to be better values than larger ones.

Reliability is important too, of course. This year, Consumer Reports rated these five used cars as the most reliable for their vintage:

• 2009 Toyota Yaris hatchback
• 2007 Toyota Highlander
• 2005 Toyota Prius
• 2003 Lexus LX
• 2001 Toyota Echo

Overall, vehicles from Toyota have been most reliable over the past ten years (present woes notwithstanding), followed by Honda. (These two stand far ahead of the pack in long-term reliability.) Volkswagens and Hyundais have been more problematic, especially over a span of many years. (The magazine notes that Hyundai quality has been improving in recent years, however.)

Other notable rankings:

• The Toyota Prius has the best fuel economy (44mpg), while the Ford F-250 Lariat diesel has the worst (10mpg).
• The Dodge Challenge (V8) has the highest customer satisfaction (92% would buy again), while the Chrysler Sebring sedan has the worst (37%).
• The Honda Fit is the least expensive car to own over five years ($25,500), while the Dodge Viper is the most expensive ($113,000).

Some of the material from the Consumer Reports 2010 Auto Issue is freely available on their website. Other information, however, is locked behind a paywall. And don’t forget that you can always find great info on the Consumer Reports car blog.

From the archives
Don’t forget that Get Rich Slowly features car-buying tips from time-to-time. Notable articles include:

• Why I drive a 13-year-old car
• Dave Ramsey says ‘Drive free, retire rich’
• The best way to buy a new car and A real fighting chance
• Two approaches to car-buying
• How to sell a used car

I also recommend two older AskMetafilter threads:

• Fix it or junk it? At what point is a car not worth repairing?
• What is a reasonable offer for a new car? Don’t miss this fantastic response from a fellow who just bought a car.

The Consumer Reports car issue is an excellent resource. If you think you might purchase a vehicle soon, I recommend it. But I think it’s a little dangerous to pick up just for the sake of browsing. You may find yourself moved from merely curious to “itching to buy”!

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]]> http://www.ourfinancedaily.com/2010/03/16/consumer-reports-auto-issue-top-cars-for-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.ourfinancedaily.com/2010/03/16/reminiscences-of-a-stock-operator-by-edin-lefevre/ http://www.ourfinancedaily.com/2010/03/16/reminiscences-of-a-stock-operator-by-edin-lefevre/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:34:09 +0000 Jim http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=5727 Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edin Lefevre was first published many many years ago and tells the first person fictional tale of Larry Livingston, a stock speculator in the early 1900s. It was widely believed that the character was based on Jesse Lauriston Livermore and in this version of the book, the connection is made concrete through annotations by Jon Markman.

Despite being considered an investment classic, I had never heard of it in part because it’s a classic in the sense that it gives a fantastic account of the financial system in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It’s more history than investing education though it has a healthy dose of both, especially with Markman’s annotations. You can preview it at Google Books and even the few pages of the preview give you a very good feel for how the book is.

Livermore, on which the book and the character Livingston is based, won and lost millions of dollars speculating on the stock and commodities markets during the early 1900s, even making ten million dollars over the course of a month. The annotated version links the fictional story of Livingston with the reality of Livermore to provide a much richer experience. Without it, and a clear understand of what is truth and what is fiction, I think the original probably would’ve fallen more into the fictional bucket for me. Having the annotations put the story into context and gave more credence to the story (did Lefevre make it up or did that really happy? Annotations make it clear what’s real and what was “editorial license).

For me, the book was an entertaining way to learn about some financial history. For example, on page 299, the Lefevre’s story mentions Ponzi and the annotations go into Charles Ponzi’s scheme in much greater detail. Ponzi promised 50% returns in 45 days by investing in “international reply coupons.” These international reply coupons were real coupons, they were created in 1906 to facilitate global shipping and redeemable into country-specific postage. Ponzi claimed to arbitrage postage rates… not an unbelievable idea right? Well, except he didn’t invest it and was outed in a Boston Post series. Ponzi only served 10 years (Bernie Madoff sentenced to 150 years!).

It’s a fun book to read, I learn something interesting every time I open it up (I didn’t read it cover to cover, though I feel like I should), and it’s a fun time if you like this sort of thing.

As I started to do more research on stock certificates, I finally understood why prices for stock trades had fallen so much in the last twenty years. The process for buying a certificate isn’t difficult, it just takes a bit of time, and there are a few options out there. Some of which are actually quite pricey, relative to the price of GM at the time (eighty five cents).

Did you know there’s a name for the “study and collection of stocks and bonds?” It’s scripophily and it’s a specialized field of numismatics, which is study and collection of currency. It’s appeal is in intricate designs and engravings of some stock certificates (and sometimes because of the signatures on the certificates, like John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil Company).

The Process

Whenever you buy stocks through a broker, they’re usually registered in “street name.” The street name is the name of your broker and this facilitates the buying and selling of stocks on the open market. For example, if I were to buy a share of Coca-Cola, TradeKing take my money and buy the shares. They would buy the shares in their name and Coca Cola would recognize them as the shareholder, they would not know who I was. When Coca Cola pays out dividends, TradeKing sends them my way. When Coca Cola requests a vote, TradeKing sends me the proxy.

If you want the shares, you will need to employ the services of a transfer agent. Each company works with a transfer agent to issue shares of stock, you will need to work with one to get a stock certificate issued in your name. You can do this by buying shares through a company that will interact with transfer agents on your behalf (like OneShare), or you can do it yourself by either buying directly with a transfer agent or through a broker.

Buy Through a Transfer Agent

You will need to track down the transfer agent for the company whose shares you want. You can usually find this information in their Investor Relations section or anywhere they share their direct investment/purchase plans. For example, if you want to buy shares of American Express, you need to work with The Bank of New York Mellon and their BuyDIRECT program. Once you make a purchase, you can request that they mail you a physical stock certificate.

Buy Through A Broker

As I mentioned earlier, if you buy stock through a broker it will be registered in street name. After you’ve made the purchase, you need to contact your broker to find out how to get the shares transfered to the transfer agent for the company. Once you’ve made the transfer to a transfer agent, the process is the same as working through a transfer agent.

Best Way to Buy a Stock Certificate

It comes down to why you want the physical certificates, since there is no financial benefit to having the paper certificates (in fact, it makes them more illiquid since you have to send them back in if you want to sell it). If you’re buying it to collect, you may want to go with a service like OneShare because then you can have it framed, not folded, and shipped in a way that preserves it’s condition (but it’s not cheap!). If you want the cheapest option, it’s probably cheapest to buy it directly from the transfer agent and have it mailed to you. You can get a nice frame from a local crafts store and still end up with a nice little keepsake.

Of, if having an actual legitimate certificate isn’t that important, nothing stops you from just searching for and printing out a high quality scan of a certificate.

I never did buy those shares of General Motors but I think I saved myself the 85 cents.

According to Marc Jahr, the current president of the NYC Housing Authority, Citigroup has partnered with an affiliate to purchase 13 of the 21 projects. The projects in question are considered some of the worst, run-down apartments out of the group. Citi is taking on $360 million of the debt and has plans to re-market the rest. In addition, Citi will invest over 200 million dollars of equity into the 13 projects which should result in tax credits of $255 million off their federal tax bills.

All 21 projects were build with city and state funds after the second World War. As time has passed, the city and state stopped subsidizing the projects requiring the housing authority to use federal dollars set aside for other projects to pay for the upkeep. Over the years, the projects have fallen into disrepair making modernization necessary to bring the projects current with the times.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has stated, “Nothing is going to change except for the better” and reminding people that “No one will be displaced. The land these developments occupy will always be used for public housing and nothing else.”

The renovation of these projects comes at a perfect time when the city’s unemployment rate is exceeds ten percent. With hundreds of renovations needed, this will provide jobs for countless workers. In addition to the repairs needed for the 13 projects that Citigroup is involved with, there are also 8 other projects which will be renovated through the New York City Housing Authority and the New York City Housing Partnership. It is expected that just under 500 million dollars will be issued to the New York City Housing Development in a period of three years in the form of tax-exempt bonds.

Since I don't hire a tax preparer, these are the things that I would do. Of course, if I did use a tax preparer, I would immediately contact him to help me prepare for an audit.

Finally, an audit is not always bad news. I recall reading that 30% of audits results in an additional refund for the taxpayer, showing that the IRS isn't always correct :-)

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or tax advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2010 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

According to a piece written by Corby Kummer in the Atlantic magazine, it appears Walmart may be helping small farms and local economies more than their competitor Whole Foods (WFMI). Whole Foods Market is also one of the world’s largest retailers, specializing in natural and organic foods. Despite the fact that Americans are showing an increased interest in where their food comes from and the quality of products going on the dinner table, the struggling economy has made it more difficult for some families to afford the high price tag associated with better quality foods. As a result, more consumers are turning toward the local discount giant, Walmart for lower priced groceries that are more affordable. In Kummer’s essay, he notes that he was surprised to discover the variety and quality of foods found at Walmart, as well as the fact that many of the products came from local farms. This lead to a discovery of a little known program called Heritage Agriculture offered by Walmart.

Through this program, local farms (within a day’s drive of Walmart warehouses) are encouraged to grow crops that otherwise would take days to truck in from out of state. This might prove to be a big boost for local farmers and economies as well, due to the fact that many small to medium sized farms are simply unable to compete with industrial farms. With a guaranteed buyer of their crops, these local farmers can focus on growing quality products that will be bought and consumed locally. Of course this benefits Walmart by giving them a larger piece of consumer spending. And at the end of the day, corporations must pay attention to the bottom line. It appears even if Walmart has to pay slightly higher prices to buy locally grown food, versus buying from large industrial farms, they save money on transportation and other costs associated with buying from non-local farmers. If those savings can be passed on to you and your family, while supporting the local economy- it could be a win-win situation.

Out of the 110 fatalities that have been attributed to sudden acceleration in NHTSA records, 59 of them occurred in brands other than those sold by Toyota, whose recent recalls have brought significant public attention to the issue.

The federal agency received 15,174 complaints from drivers involving unintended acceleration issues during the last 10 years. The company has ran 141 investigations of the phenomena during the last 30 years, ending 112 of them without any corrective actions.

NHSTA repeatedly concludes that these accidents occur largely because drivers mistakenly stomp on the accelerator instead of the brake. Because of the large number of cases involving human error, the NHTSA has taken complaints of runaway vehicles less seriously than they otherwise would have.

“The agency had made a determination that this was primarily a human factor, driver error, and that’s outside NHTSA’s purview,” said Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator to Bloomberg.

He continued, “The Toyota case has brought new scrutiny to other factors, and NHTSA has to look at other causes.”

Claybrook also serves as the president emeritus of Public Citizen, a D.C. based advocacy group that has sued automakers in hopes of getting crash information.

At the core of many of these decisions, as sad as it may be, are taxes. It’s obvious in the case of the Roth IRA and Traditional IRA and less obvious in the housing (interest, property taxes, and such are tax deductible), but it’s present in many money decisions. Do I take that new job? Well, how much do I really get to take home? That will, in part, depend on taxes.

In the same way that it’s important for you to know the value of your time, it’s important for you to know your tax bracket.

Answering “What’s My Tax Bracket?”

You can see your federal income tax brackets here but you’ll have to go to your state’s Department of Taxation (or similarly named department) website to find your state income tax rate.

With the federal tax brackets, you have to do more than find the range your salary falls in. You need to also take into account deductions you may be taking, because that will give you a more accurate marginal tax rate, which you can use to help make decisions. For example, if John earns $35,000 a year, he appears to be in the 25% tax bracket. However, he can take the standard deduction of $5,700, putting him in the 15% tax bracket.

It’s important to know which tax bracket your in because you can use that information to help make decisions. For example, if you were planning on selling a stock you own, knowing your bracket will help you understand what you will pay on the gains. For long term capital gains, you pay 0% if you’re in the 10%/15% brackets and 15% in the higher brackets. You might want to sell a long term holding if you’re in the 15% bracket to lock in tax free gains.

I wouldn’t spend too much time calculating your exact effective tax rate, you won’t need that much detail unless you are making a very large decision and the decision hinges on knowing your exact rate. Usually a ballpark figure is good enough to help you make decisions.

Well, now seems to be the time. To celebrate the upcoming fourth anniversary of Get Rich Slowly and the imminent release of my first book, Your Money: The Missing Manual, I’ve decided to do something a little scary and exciting. We’re going to have a video contest.

GRS readers are awesome
The reader stories I’ve been featuring every Sunday seem to be a hit. And, in fact, I’ve always maintained that what makes this site so awesome has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you, the readers. Your tips and stories and suggestions are what make this one of the best places on the internet to discuss actual personal finances.

As proud as I am of this site’s growth, of the income it has provided, and of having now written a book, I think my favorite achievement came last year when The Wall Street Journal wrote: “The strength of [Get Rich Slowly] is that, along with plenty of advice from financial experts, he opens the site up to input from readers so they can learn from each other…Much of the value of the blog comes from readers’ comments.” Amen.

Well, it’s time to get open this site up for even more reader input. Here’s how it’s going to work.

The Get Rich Slowly video contest
I want you to create videos of under two minutes in length that provide personal-finance info in one of two categories: Personal Finance Tips or Success Stories. You can use anything you want to record the videos, and you can be as creative (or non-creative) as you’d like to be.

Since I’m the judge for the contest, I’ll tell you right now that although content is king (meaning the quality of your tip counts for a lot), I’m going to be pre-disposed to hands-on, how-to type videos: “Here’s how to change your oil”, “Here’s how I use coupons to save at the grocery store”, and so on.

Here’s a sample of what a video in the Personal Finance Tips category might look like:

And here’s an example of what videos in the Success Stories category might look like:

As you can see, your videos don’t have to be anything fancy. While you’re certainly welcome to get creative, what I really want is for you folks to make something by hand. I want you to take risks, get creative, and share your ideas with other GRS readers. I think it’ll be awesome!

Prizes!
What’s a contest without prizes? For the 2010 Get Rich Slowly video contest, we’re giving away cold, hard cash. The winner in each category — Personal Finance and Success Stories — will receive $500. And ten runners-up in each category will win an autographed copy of Your Money: The Missing Manual. That makes 22 prizes in all!

How to enter
If you’re over 18 years old and this contest is legal in your state (sorry, this contest is for U.S. residents only), you’re invited to submit an online video no more than two minutes in length. To do so, follow this procedure:

• Make your awesome video.
• Upload the video to your YouTube account.
• Head to the video contest page and click the “submit your video” button.
• If you have any questions or have problems submitting your video, email videocontest@getrichslowly.org.

You can submit videos in two main categories: Personal Finance Tips or Success Stories. (You may submit one video in each category, for a total of two possible entries.) And, as mentioned before, if you have a website, you can flag your video to be entered in the bonus Website category.

The contest is open until 15 April 2010. I’ll announce the winners on 01 May 2010. Once submissions start coming in, you’ll be able to view the most recent entries — I’ll post the place to view them on the video contest page soon. (Plus I may highlight a few videos between now and April 15th.)

Join the fun!
It takes guts to put yourself out there on video. Trust me, I know. But please don’t be afraid of looking like a dork. Be enthusiastic, share your knowledge, and have fun! (And if you’re worried about the juvenile YouTube commenters, simply turn off comments on your videos.)

What are you waiting for? Pull out your cameras and start recording. I hope you join in the fun, not only for the possibility of winning a prize, but to also share your stories and ideas with others — and to make something by hand.

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