August 2014 - Runnymede Capital Management

The Best and Worst 529 College Savings Plans of 2014

baby girl

My weekends are packed with activities to entertain my 2-year-old daughter Chloe. Virtually all my friends have children, from newborns to kindergarten age. We all reminisce about the days when college was a third of the cost and wonder how the heck we will pay for our kids to go to college. With 50 colleges charging over $60,000 a year, where will prices be in another 10-15 years?!?!? My dad always thinks outside the box and he thought I should train to become a football placekicker so I could earn a scholarship. While definitely a cool idea, it never progressed past a Nerf football being kicked about 15 yards in the backyard.

Stock buybacks fueling earnings growth and higher prices

In the first quarter, US companies returned a record amount of cash to shareholders via stock buybacks and dividends. This trend has helped drive the stock market's record-setting rally; but is this a good or bad sign for the bull market going forward?

Storm Warning: Warren Buffett stockpiling record cash

Berkshire Hathaway just reported its most profitable quarter ever. Operating income topped $4.3 billion, far surpassing analyst expectations. Thanks to Warren Buffett's savvy investing, Berkshire is now sitting on its largest stockpile of cash in its storied history. Cash and cash equivalents are above $55.4 billion for the first time ever and is 55% higher than a year ago.

A Look Inside Captive Insurance Companies’ Investment Portfolios (2014)

Marsh recently published its 2014 Captive Benchmarking Report, analyzing 1,148 captive insurance companies (managed by Marsh globally) for benchmarking analysis. Since the credit crisis, captives that have a parent company have invested approximately one third of investments toward loans to their parent company or other intercompany investment. Prior to 2008, many more captives were invested in equities. The motivation behind intercompany investments with the parent entity or affiliates is to minimize the cost of capital employed in the captive and enhance the parent company's liquidity. Reinjection of resources to the operations of the parent company is also a side effect of the current low interest rate environment. Further, the parent company has greater control over the captive’s invested assets.

Month: August 2014