Best business commentary

last updated 11 January 2015

Safety in cash havens

In “times of financial crisis (like now),” said Fortune’s Katie Benner in CNNMoney.com, the question of where to keep your cash “isn’t so simple.” In this case, “cash” means liquid investments that won’t lose value, be taxed, or be subject to fees. Money market funds and auction-rate securities have proven risker than some investors bargained for. But “there are still safe options,” although “safety means lower yields.” Treasury bills, bank money market accounts, and CDs carry almost no risk—and offer fairly low returns. With annual inflation at 4 percent, most of those “cash” accounts will lose money. “So don’t keep your money parked forever”—just until the chaos settles.

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“Smart businesspeople” like Sam Zell and Brian Tierney “appointed themselves as life savers” of the newspaper industry, said David Carr in The New York Times. But “soon after jumping in,” they too found themselves “foundering in the tall waves” of the stormy “publishing sector.” As people turn to the Web, newspapers are hitting hard times and cutting talent—and they “may not be touching bottom any time soon.” Zell is selling Newsday, one of his new Tribune empire’s “more lucrative assets,” because it can still fetch a “decent” price. But enjoy the bidding: Barring a future “strategic or ego-driven impulse,” it may be “one of the last big fights for a newspaper.”