Here's The Best Way To Buy Stocks If You Fear A Market Crash

By Andy Kiersz  |  Business Insider  |  September 25, 2014

Investing in the stock market  can be extremely frustrating for those who look back on the big rally they missed and nerve-wracking for those who believe the may be putting money into the market at the top.

The S&P 500 has roared almost 200% from its March 9, 2009 low close of 676 to its high of 2,011 on September 18.

With today's big market selloff, some are worrying that we've seen the market peak. This obviously would make investors extremely hesitant to buy stocks for fear of a big decline or perhaps a crash.

However, obsessing over this risk could lead to analysis paralysis because you can never know with certainty if the market will indeed crash. And those who constantly stay out of the market for fear of losing money will miss out on some of the best opportunities to buy.

Fortunately, there is a very basic investing strategy that can save investors from losing too much hair as they make the decision to buy stocks. It's called dollar-cost averaging.

There's A Correct Way To Buy Stocks As The Market Is Crashing

The stock market is great for investors who have the benefit of long-term investing horizons. It's also better-suited for investors who aren't concerned about perfectly-timing market tops and bottoms. 

Obama: I’ll take executive action on immigration between the midterms and end of the year

By Katie Zezima  |  Post Politics  |  October 2, 2014

President Obama said Thursday night that he would take executive action on immigration sometime between the midterm elections and the end of the year.

Speaking before the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala, Obama said he shares the frustration of many in the room upset that immigration reform remains stalled. Obama was accompanied to the gala by two congressional interns who are DREAMers -- young unauthorized immigrants who entered the United States before the age of 16.

"But if anybody wants to know where my heart is or whether I want to have this fight, let me put those questions to rest right now.  I am not going to give up this fight until it gets done," Obama said. "I know the pain of families torn apart because we live with a system that’s broken."

Obama laid blame squarely at the feet of congressional Republicans, who he said exploited a crisis of undocumented children at the southern border for political gain this summer and refuse to act with the president on immigration reform. However, he said, he ultimately needs Congress to pass an immigration law, because anything he does by executive action can be reversed by the next president.

From the Viet Cong to the Islamic State, the perils of underestimating the enemy’s ‘will’

By Davis Ignatius  |  Washington Post  |  September 22, 2014

Underestimating an adversary’s will to win can be a costly mistake in war, as Director of National Intelligence James Clapper noted in an interview last week. He said the U.S. had made that error recently in assessing the Islamic State, just as it did nearly 50 years ago in evaluating the staying power of the Viet Cong.

Clapper’s comment was part of a broader trend over the past week in which senior military and intelligence officials have been unusually forthright about issues involving President Obama’s strategy for combating the Islamic State. In addition to Clapper’s remarks, this “push back” has been evident in comments by Gen. Martin Dempsey and Gen. Ray Odierno, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and chief of staff of the army, respectively, about the possibility that ground combat troops might be needed in Iraq and Syria.

It’s as if senior officials, having been through the vortex of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, don’t want to make the same mistake this time of suppressing concerns or misgivings. Many military, intelligence, and foreign-service officers had doubts a decade ago about the wisdom of invading Iraq, but those worries were mostly unexpressed. Not this time.

An interesting footnote to Clapper’s comment about estimating willpower in warfare is that this issue was actually a central point of internal government debate about Vietnam during the mid-1960s. After my column last week, an intelligence official pointed me to official CIA documents that show how skeptical CIA analysts were about policymakers’ rosy expectations that their strategy in Vietnam would work.

School tells Missouri boy his 9/11 souvenir violates school weapons policy

By  FoxNews.com  |  September 19, 2014

A souvenir shell casing handed out by veterans at a 9/11 ceremony landed a seven-year-old Missouri boy in hot water when he took the keepsake to school.

Sherry Falke said her son, Zane, forgot he had the souvenir in his pocket when he showed up for class on Tuesday, Fox4KC.com reported. The boy was given the souvenir at a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony in Carrollton, Mo. 

"He felt it in his pocket, and he took it out and was showing some of his friends at school," Falke told the station.

"The principal proceeded to reprimand him as though he were bringing live ammunition to school," she said. "I understand that's in the policy, in the handbook, that they can’t bring guns to school. I fully support that, but it's an empty blank casing."

Falke said her son's teacher seized the shell casing and took him to the principal’s office. She claims they Zane he could be suspended from school for 10 days, but instead gave him a silent lunch where he sat by himself and missed two recesses.

Stop Google from tracking your search history

By Kim Komando  |  komando.com  |  October 13, 2013

Q. Is it true that Google keeps a record of every search I've ever made? If so, is there any way to clear my search history? And what the heck are they doing with all my information?
-Victoria from Bakersfield, CA, listens to mylocation, age, shopping habits, hobbies, medical conditions - it's all up for grabs.

Google uses this information to customize your search results and generate those targeted ads you see around the Internet.

But it's not just ad companies getting access to your information. If you've been following myBreaking News page, you know that Google regularly shares your information with the government, too.

Now there's word that Google will soon be using people's names and faces to further "personalize" targeted ads. As you can imagine, lots of folks aren't too keen on the idea of their face showing up in ads. 

If you don't want Google to track your searches, there are steps you can take to secure your information. I'll show you how to delete your search history and stop Google from recording your every move.

High School Principal Outlaws Chick-fil-A Sandwiches Over Gay Rights

By Eric Owens  |  The Daily Caller  |  September 12, 2014

A California high school principal has banned the football booster club from selling Chick-fil-A sandwiches during a back-to-school night fundraiser because she disagrees about gay marriage with the president of the Atlanta-based fast food chain.

The principal who outlawed Chick-fil-A sandwiches is Val Wyatt of Ventura High School in the coastal town of Ventura, Calif.

“With their political stance on gay rights and because the students of Ventura High School and their parents would be at the event, I didn’t want them on campus,” Wyatt said, according to CBS Los Angeles.

Wyatt said she is worried that the presence of the chicken sandwiches might offend someone.

The superintendent of the Ventura Unified School District Superintendent, Trudy Tuttle Arriaga, backed the decision.

Ten Things I Want My Children To Learn From 9/11

By Ken White  |  Popehat.com  |  September 11, 2014

The greatest fear I felt on September 11, 2001 was not as a citizen, but as a new father. My fears about that day — and about its legacy — remain centered on my children.

I rose very early that day to meet my father in the hospital. He was scheduled for an early surgery at Huntington Memorial in Pasadena — a triple bypass, following six years of messing around with angioplasties. I met him in the prep room before 6, and talked to him for a while, reminiscing out our recent trip to Korea to pick up Evan and joking about the condom catheter they'd made him use. I don't know if he was afraid; I was, but we didn't discuss it. Eventually the nurses waved me away as they started to ready him for surgery. I walked out of the prep area towards the family waiting room. As I did so, I noticed two nurses, a receptionist, and a doctor talking in an agitated fashion about something.

I walked into the family waiting room at about 6:20 a.m. Pacific time, and encountered two other families staring uncomprehendingly at a television depicting something out of a bad Bruckheimer movie. I spent the day in that sunny, cheerfully painted room, waiting with other people already numb with anxiety over the operations their loved ones were undergoing a few doors away, watching the terror as it unfolded. The flow of new people ebbed as Huntington canceled non-emergency surgeries to accommodate victims of any local disaster. Strangers all, we sat together, comforted each other, got each other coffee, celebrated when news of a loved one's successful surgery arrived, and used our cell phones to contact family members in surreal conversations bouncing between immediate medical peril and incomprehensible existential peril. The volunteer receptionist, a frail elderly lady with hair a shade of blue normally associated with county fair cotton candy, wept inconsolably until we found a supervisor and had her ushered carefully home.

I remember the inhuman, robotic tone the anchor used to note that the second tower had collapsed. I remember the desperate fear about how many more planes turned angry missiles might still be in the air. I remember the way we all had our eyes locked on the screen until the reception phone would ring to bring an update about a patient's condition, at which point we would all stare at the phone the way a bird looks at a snake. I remember calling my wife, telling her to turn on the TV, and thanking God that my son was too young to understand or fear what was happening.

Berkeley Chancellor: Freedom of Speech Means Restricting Political Speech

By Sonny Brunch  |  The Washington Free Beacon  |  September 8, 2014

Ken White had a bit of fun over the weekend fisking a monumentally awful letter authored by U.C. Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks. Please read the whole thing; it’ll get your week started off on the right foot.

I just wanted to focus on one very brief snippet of Dirks’ insanely awful thought process:

Yet this is easier said than done, for the boundaries between protected and unprotected speech, between free speech and political advocacy, between the campus and the classroom, between debate and demagoguery, between freedom and responsibility, have never been fully settled.

Emphasis mine. As White wrote about the bolded portion, “This proposed distinction is a sign of civic illiteracy. Political advocacy is not distinct from free speech. Political advocacy is the apotheosis of free speech.” And that is true! To argue that there is some sort of logical distinction in the United States between “free speech” and “political advocacy” is the most rancid form of pernicious nonsense. It is totally ahistorical and utterly unjustified by decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence. 

And yet, this rancid, pernicious claptrap undergirds much of the thinking about freedom of speech on the left. It’s why the left was so angered by the Citizens United case—a case that, it is always worth reminding people, centered around lawmakers and judges trying to tell a group of citizens that they were not allowed to distribute a documentary about a politician in the months ahead of a election.

The First Amendment is pretty straightforward on this topic: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” The First Amendment doesn’t say “shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, except for those groups that The Wise Council of Elders have determined to be engaging in ‘political advocacy.’” I sincerely doubt it would’ve even occurred to the founders to think that. Political advocacy is the entire reason to protect free speech. The First Amendment is explicitly designed so that the government cannot ban people it doesn’t like from saying things it doesn’t want the people to hear. Doesn’t anyone notice how insane this argument is?

7 money mistakes you shouldn't make in your 30s

By Mandi Woodruff  |  Yahoo Finance  |  September 12, 2014

There’s a reason 20-somethings dread their 30s — it’s the decade when everything seems to finally get real. Careers are established (or at least that's the plan), homes are purchased, bills stack up, and wedding invitations flood mailboxes. Friends you once saw dancing on bar tops abruptly decide to “settle down” and all of a sudden, you realize there are fewer excuses for not having your own financial house in order.


Many of the choices you make in your 30s will determine what kind of life you'll be living when you hit your 60s. To help you along, here are a few common money mistakes you should try to avoid:

1. Getting married before you talk about the "F" word — finances.

Forget about the fact that an American wedding costs an average $30,000 today. The most expensive mistake you could make before walking down the aisle is not being open and honest with your partner about your financial affairs beforehand. Money is one of the most common causes of friction in marriages -- for good reason. By not making full disclosure about your debts or that impulsive shopping habit you picked up after college, you’re asking for trouble.

If you’re nervous about bringing up the “F” word with your partner, seek help from an objective mediator — someone like a relationship counselor, financial planner, or even a representative from your church who can referee. Prenuptial agreements aren’t just for the wealthy, either. Many attorneys recommend couples consider a prenup, especially if they are carrying assets that might be put at risk in the event of a divorce (for example, property in their name, ownership in a business, an inheritance, or children from a previous marriage).

2. Letting your student debt take care of itself.

Army officer told he cannot enter his daughter's school while wearing a uniform

By Fox News Staff  |  MyFoxNewsDetroit.com  |  September 11, 2014

ROCHESTER, Mich. (WJBK) -Lieutenant Colonel Sherwood Baker says he is just a father who was trying to help his daughter find her way at her new high school.
Lt... Baker has served in the Army for 24 years. This past week he was told by Rochester Adams high school security that if he wanted to get into the high school with his daughter he was going to have to go home and change his clothes.

Baker's wife, Rachel Ferhadson says, "Before he was allowed in, the security guard stopped him and said sorry your not allowed in the school. Security told him men and women in uniform weren't allowed because it may offend another student."

Lt. B
Lt.er says he was simply coming to the school to speak with his daughter's counselor regarding her class schedule but was turned away at the doors because he was not wearing a tie.

Rochester Schools superintendent Robert Shaner, who is a veteran himself, quickly took care of the situation apologizing to the family for their troubles.

Shaner sent a letter to Fox 2 which says: "The district has apologized for any perception that individuals in uniform are not welcome in the school. The district does not have a policy excluding individuals in uniform and will be working with administration and the firm that handles our security to make sure district policies are understood and communicated accurately."

The Baker family has scheduled a meeting with the principal of Adams high school in the coming days.