Veteran financial writer Melissa Preddy served as a business writer, editor and columnist for The Detroit News from 1995 to 2008, is a Michigan-based freelance journalist. She now works as a writer and editor for a medical research unit of the University of Michigan Medical School. Follow her daily posts. | E-mail: Melissa Preddy
Home prices may be moribund and “available” signs abound on commercial buildings, but despite those signs of stagnation in the real-estate market, there lately seems to be an increasing buzz about REITs, the investment trusts that specialize in, well, real estate. And while they’re not generally a go-to item in average consumers’ retirement portfolios, taking a look at [...]
One intriguing financial story that may not have made your radar screen, though it’s ripe for localizing, is the drop in Herbalife’s stock price after an investor asked some pointed questions during a conference call. Here’s a Dow Jones piece on the matter; basically investor David Einhorn grilled Herbalife’s CEO about its distributor network, sales [...]
Many people kick themselves for failing to implement that one great “woulda, coulda, shoulda,” idea — and I’m one of them. Back when the Internet was first becoming mainstream, I wanted to create an online directory of yard sales and garage sales, complete with a mapping function and e-mail alerts. Floating the idea among friends and [...]
Nomophobia — fear of being without one’s cell phone — is on the rise, according to a survey released earlier this year by the U.K. firm SecurEnvoy. Two-thirds of the people it polled said they have the phobia, with many owning a back-up phone just in case. Mobile technology has come a long way from [...]
With burgeoning waistlines leading to a growth in comfort clothing, pajamas are becoming acceptable daywear and jeans barely are raising an eyebrow at churches, weddings and funerals. Sometimes I think it’s a wonder that makers and sellers of tailored apparel still are in business. And indeed, this graphic from The Economist, using federal government data, [...]
People sometimes ask me why I listen to the truckers’ network on satellite radio. Mainly, I do it because tuning in to those news segments and call-in programs — with participants with names like Stormchaser in Oregon or Road Warrior from North Carolina chiming in from their rigs — distracts me from the same-old, same-old Michigan highways [...]
As bathing suit season looms, I’ve noticed a second wave of the weight-loss and exercise ads that typically rear themselves right after Jan. 1. Dieters who fell off the wagon back around Jan. 21 are getting a second prodding from the many commercial interests that cater to the overweight.
With several major jobs reports to be released this week – including the grand finale on Friday of the labor department’s Employment Situation survey – it’s likely your readers and viewers will have a taste for another workforce or jobs market story. From the long-term unemployed to the underemployed to grads (and their parents) worried about getting a career [...]
The Census Bureau released its quarterly-housing survey on Monday, and the headline is that the rate of U.S. home ownership has dropped to 1997 levels in our stagnant post-recession economy. That statistic alone can spark a number of business and finance stories, and the report (indeed the entire Census housing portal) offers plenty of fodder [...]
