BHP Billiton bumps the dividend

Adam Investing

  BHP Billiton, one of my favorite, permanent holding companies, reported better than expected earnings today. In an environment in which the prices of all 4 of their primary commodities are in the tank, the company continued to operate admirably. Continued cost cutting and inefficiencies were found (from god know’s where) and the company reduced debt, improving it’s balance sheet.  …

What I’m Reading

Adam Reading

Gene alterations are here (remember Gattica?) (MIT Tech) What happened to Peter Thiel’s dropout club? (Chronicle) Meet the Founder Trying to Start the Self-Driving Car Revolution (Inc) Stop asking me about your brand and start doing work (Gary V) 50 famous business books summarized in 1 sentence (BI) Pmarca’s career guide (great read) Passive investing is no guarantee (The Felder …

Lorillard (LO) Increases it’s Dividend

Adam Investing

Lorillard, Inc. (LO), the third largest manufacturer of cigarettes in the United States, announced today that its Board of Directors approved a 7% increase in the quarterly dividend on its common stock from $0.615 per share to $0.66 per share.  The dividend is payable on March 10, 2015 to stockholders of record as of March 2, 2015. Those boosts are …

Occupational Licensing

Adam Entrepreneurship, Politics

The Obama administration will take a stab in it’s new budget at important labor market impediment: occupational licensing. Econ blog readers will be familiar with these laws that set frequently overly burdensom rules for who can do certain jobs. They often require far more training than is necessary, expensive classes and tests, and sometimes even degrees before someone can legally …

Yakezie Challenge

Adam My Life

I’ve been writing pretty consistently since November, with a sum total of 58 posts (and another 38 sitting in draft) and am now trying to get my name out there a bit more. So I’ve decided to join the Yakezie Challenge started by Sam over at Financial Samurai. Below are the rules. Let’s see how far we can get on those …

This is why you save

Adam Energy, Personal Finance

As many of you know, I live in Houston. While most of the country is celebrating lower prices at the pump, the companies in this town are cutting budgets, lowering forecasts, and worst of all, laying off massive numbers of people. The stories are always heartbreaking and you never want to see somebody lose a job, but I also keep …