So long, Nancy Drew. Millie Benson, the creator of the Nancy Drew mystery series about the intrepid teenage detective, passed away late yesterday. Benson was paid a minimal fee and no royalties for her original stories in 1930, which went on to be classic reads for a generation of young people.
"I wanted to do something different," Benson once said about her books, which she wrote under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. "The heroines of girls' books back then were all namby-pamby. I was expressing a sort of tomboy spirit."
Namby-pamby she was not. She worked as a journalist for six decades and was at her desk at the Toledo Blade when she fell ill on Tuesday at the age of 96. She was also a pilot.
Benson said she never read her stories after they were finished, "because the minute I do I'm going into the past, and I never dwell on the past." We can only express great admiration. Here we are always talking about ruling our retirement. Let us not forget to rule our lives while we're living them.
The Motley Fool 50 has read nearly the entire series of Nancy Drew stories. It reads them over and over again as fondly as it re-reads Selena Maranjian's recent Fool on the Hill column, "Women and Money." Today, the index fell about half a percent.
In today's Motley Fool Take:
The Shoe Fits at Genesco
Walking over projections is afoot at Genesco (NYSE: GCO) as the footwear specialist sprinted past Wall Street's profit targets this morning. The Tennessee company posted fiscal first-quarter earnings of $0.33 a share, which was essentially flat from last year's levels but still two cents ahead of the analyst pack. Sales stepped 11% higher to $190.6 million.
Granted, no one is calling the shoe industry the next great growth industry. Sole survivors succeed more through winning market share than by banking on cloning Imelda Marcos. It's no coincidence that Vans (Nasdaq: VANS) warned that it was tripped up like a pair of butterfingers on a half-pipe last week, just as Nike (NYSE: NKE) was starting to show improvement in its sluggish stateside market earlier this year.
Genesco has had its taste of feast and famine over the years, too, as fickle shoe wearers walk in and out of fashion trends. Right now, Genesco is riding the tide of brand success at its Journeys, Jarman, and Johnston & Murphy retail chains. Like a pair of comfortable shoes, Genesco fits now, but will it wear itself out tomorrow?
Discussion Board of the Day: Running Fools
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Few investors had ever heard of Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. (ISS) before the hotly debated merger of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Compaq. Even now, most investors remain unaware.
ISS, owned by U.K.-based Hermes Asset Management, is the source institutional investors (such as mutual fund and pension fund managers) turn to when it's time to vote on matters related to companies they own. If you own any stock, you're familiar with the proxy statements you receive each year, asking you to vote for the board of directors, to approve auditors, and to weigh in on various proposals. Many of us may think our votes don't matter much, as we own relatively insignificant numbers of shares. But some institutions may own millions of shares, and the majority of a company's shares are often in the hands of institutions. Clearly, these votes matter greatly. And they're often influenced -- if not effectively dictated -- by ISS. When ISS supported the Hewlett-Packard-Compaq merger, the deal's fate was all but sealed.
Individual investors might hope that institutional money managers who have presumably studied the companies their funds have bought into would take the time to make their own independent decisions when it comes to proxy matters. At the moment, we hope in vain, though.
ISS has recently come under attack for, among other things, its ties to the investment-banking world that stands to profit handsomely from mergers. An article in ComputerWorld pointed out an undisclosed business relationship between ISS and Hewlett-Packard. Investment adviser Bill Parrish has written extensively and critically about ISS, even suggesting that the Securities and Exchange Commission investigate it. (Scroll down to the bottom of his article for links to more resources.)
All is not necessarily shady, though. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required, free trial available to Fools) today reported that ISS is recommending that institutional shareholders of ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) support two rather controversial proposals. The company is being asked to outline its plans to promote renewable energy and to explicitly ban employment discrimination against homosexuals.
"Oh, I realize it's a penny here and a penny there, but look at me: I've worked myself up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty." -- Groucho Marx as himself, in the film Monkey Business
If you're in your late 50s or early 60s, then you're probably going to bed with visions of retirement dancing in your head. However, those dreams can turn into nightmares when you consider the rising costs of health care for older Americans. Your first line of defense: Medicare.
As long as you've contributed enough to the program (most Americans have, through Federal Insurance Contributions Act or FICA taxes), you'll be eligible for Medicare when you turn 65, regardless of whether you're retired. Medicare has two parts. Part A, which covers hospitalization, is free to most Medicare recipients. Part B covers doctor visits and various other medical services and has a monthly premium that changes each year. For 2002, the Part B monthly premium is $54 per person.
You become automatically enrolled in Part B if you receive Social Security benefits, and the premiums are deducted from your Social Security check. You should receive a Medicare card about three months before you turn 65. If you don't want Part B, follow the instructions on the card. However, for most people, it's a good deal. Plus, for every 12 months after you turn 65 that you don't enroll in Part B, the premium can increase 10% -- permanently.
Depending on where you live, you may have a choice of Medicare programs. They might include:
- The Original Medicare Plan (a.k.a. fee-for-service plan): This is the basic plan that is available throughout the country. It offers the most choices in terms of who provides your medical services, but it also will result in the most out-of-pocket expenses. To compensate, enrollees should also get Medigap supplement insurance, which is offered by private companies but regulated by states.
- Medicare + Choice Plans: These can be Medicare-managed care plans, which are just like HMOs. In other words, you have to use the in-plan services and specialists. However, this plan usually results in lower out-of-pocket expenses and extra benefits such as prescription drugs and dental care. The other type of Medicare + Choice plan is the Private Fee-for-Service plan, which is sort of a hybrid of the other two plans.
Whatever plan you choose, it's important to note that Medicare doesn't cover everything. There are all kinds of deductibles and co-payments involved, and you may have to cover the total costs of some services on your own. For a comprehensive description of Medicare, visit the publications page of the Medicare website. Also, check out AARP's Medicare Basics. If you'd like to learn more about how Medicare -- and other forms of insurance -- figure into your retirement plan, consider the Rule Your Retirement Online Seminar. (Enrollment for the seminar ends today, so sign up now!)
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Shares of online lending exchange LendingTree (Nasdaq: TREE) vaulted almost 14% today on a whopping two-and-a-half times normal volume. The price began climbing last night in after-hours trading -- in fact, right after we announced that our real-money Rule Breaker Portfolio would buy shares in the next five days. What a coincidence!
The SEC has begun a preliminary investigation into the way Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) accounted for cost overruns on construction jobs. The transactions in question occurred when U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was chief executive of the company.
Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) issued an update today, saying second-quarter revenue will be flat to down 5% from the year-ago period. The telecom equipment maker will also overhaul its optical "long-haul" business, cutting 3,500 additional jobs. Some 50,000 positions have been eliminated in the past several months.
After nearly a generation, there will finally be a change in the anchor chair of one of the major network newscasts. General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC network says Brian Williams will succeed Tom Brokaw after the next presidential election in 2004. Williams currently anchors a news program on MSNBC and CNBC. Brokaw, 62, has been NBC's main news anchor since 1983. Dan Rather has anchored CBS's news (owned by Viacom (NYSE: VIA)) for 21 years, and Peter Jennings has 19 years under his belt as Disney-owned (NYSE: DIS) ABC's main anchor.
As the energy sector turns: CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS) says it will be selling off its oil and gas exploration and production unit. That leaves the company to concentrate on other aspects of the business, such as energy trading. CEO William McCormick Jr. resigned a few days ago amid an inquiry into bogus trades that artificially inflated revenue.... Meanwhile, El Paso Corp. (NYSE: EP) says it will be de-emphasizing energy trading. The company announced a major shift to "limit its investment in and exposure to energy trading and increase its investment in core natural gas businesses." It also slashed 2002 and 2003 earnings estimates in the process, and investors sent the stock reeling for a 20% loss.
And Finally...
Today on Fool.com: Bill Mann reviews conversation from the Fool discussion boards regarding recent Maker columns.... Guest columnist Whitney Tilson writes about Warren Buffett's funky new security with a weird name.... Fool's School explains why beta equals volatility.
Contributors:
Bob Bobala, Robert Brokamp, Jeff Fischer, Tom Jacobs, Bill Mann, Selena Maranjian, Rex Moore, Rick Munarriz, Reggie Santiago, Dayana Yochim
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