Q. I'm in my mid-30s and it has always been my dream to invest in an investment property I can rent out on Airbnb or a similar service. Im hoping to find something affordable that I can fix up, but I dont know where to start. I think I can cover a 20% down payment. What else can I consider? Are there loans for people who want to include renovations in the cost?

Hopeful

A. Rental properties, especially short-term rentals, can potentially be a lucrative investment opportunity.

As with all real estate investments, the primary consideration is location, location, location.

Short-term rentals are in highest demand around tourist attractions and transportation hubs, said Jake Clemens, a certified financial planner with with Beacon Trust in Morristown.

He said Airbnb and other rental companies provide useful tools that can help you determine the demand and potential revenue for locations included in your search.

If youre not going to be living near the property, you may have to hire a management company to maintain it, he said. Before you buy, you should spend sufficient time calculating your operating costs and when you could expect to break even.

As the environment we are currently experiencing as a result of Covid-19 and the efforts to contain it shows, it is also important to ensure that you are able to cover the costs associated with the property for a prolonged period of time without a renter, he said.

Clemens said its also important to consider what level of your overall investable assets you are committing to the rental and what proportion of your investable assets will be invested in real estate versus liquid stock, bond and alternative investments.

You want to avoid being over-concentrated in any particular asset class, he said.

When it comes to financing, its important to note that mortgages for investment properties differ from traditional, primary residence mortgages.

Banks view investment properties as riskier assets, so if you dont plan to live in the property yourself, you will likely face a higher interest rate, closing costs and down payment requirements, Clemens said.

If you are looking at rolling up renovation costs into the cost of the mortgage, consider a Fannie Mae HomeStyle Loan, he said.

This would allow you to take out one loan to cover both the purchase of the property and the fix-up costs, but there are some requirements specific to this type of loan, he said. It would be beneficial to work closely with a mortgage lending professional as part of your search for the right property.

Lastly, before you pull the trigger, make sure you are well-educated on the laws and regulations regarding short-term rentals in the municipalities you are considering. Some communities are less welcoming than others, Clemens said.

Good luck!

Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com.

Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter.

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Is now the right time to buy an investment property? - NJ.com

HomeCannabisIs This Pot Stock a Good Buy as an Investment Right Now?

The cannabis industry had been in the middle of turmoil even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, and many of the biggest stocks in the industry had experienced considerable declines in the period. While Cronos Group (TSX:CRON) (NASDAQ:CRON) was not an exception in this regard, the companys status as one of the biggest players in the industry makes it an interesting proposition.

Whats Next?

The cannabis company is backed by the tobacco behemoth Altria, and that places it in a good position to tide over the present crisis. Hence, it might be worthwhile to figure out if the Cronos stock is worth investing in or not.

The company announced its Q4 2019 and full-year financial results last month. Year on year, sales rose by as much as 71%, and the major reason behind the growth was due to sales generated in the United States. Last year, Cronos did not have a presence in the United States market. The acquisition of Redwood Holding Group gave the company a foothold on the hemp market in the United States and also gave it a legal way of entering the market. If the company can continue to expand its operations in the United States, then it can hope to grow its revenues steadily.

That being said, it should be noted that Cronos still failed to meet analysts expectations of $11.6 million in revenues. However, at the same time, investors might draw comfort from the fact as on December 31, 2019, Cronos had cash and cash equivalents to the tune of $1.2 billion. Last month, it had also emerged that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had asked the company with regards to its revenues recognition.

That forced the company to restate its financials, and that must have come as a bit of a jolt for investors. While it is true that the company is expected to survive the coronavirus crisis, that alone does not make it a stock worth buying. The SEC issue has put a bit of dampener on proceedings as well. While Cronos may have the cash pile to generate growth, it might not yet be the best time to invest in the company.

Been writing about and trading stocks since 2013. Manage a group of micro-cap investors on Facebook with over 15,000 members. Turned $8,500 into 185k the first year I started trading stocks and haven't looked back.

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Is This Pot Stock a Good Buy as an Investment Right Now? - Stocks Newswire

A man waters a tree outside the Jio World center in Navi Mumbai, India, on April 22. INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images

Welcome to Foreign Policys weekly South Asia Brief. Were leading with a story that isnt about the pandemic this week: Facebooks $5.7 billion investment in India and why it matters. Also, deadly clashes in Afghanistan threaten the peace process, Sri Lanka marks a year since its deadly Easter Sunday bombings, and garment industry layoffs disrupt Bangladesh.

If you would like to receive South Asia Brief in your inbox every Thursday, please sign up here.

Facebook Adds Asias Richest Man as a Friend

Amid a global economic recession, Facebook made a surprising announcement on Tuesday. It is spending $5.7 billion for a 9.99 percent stake in Jio Platforms, the tech subsidiary of Indias Reliance Industries. The investmentthe single largest in Facebooks historyis a giant bet on Indias online growth.

The deal could also speed up Jios evolution from a cellular internet service to a broader one-stop digital universeperhaps something like Chinas WeChat. News of the deal sent Reliance Industries share price soaring on Wednesday, enabling the chairman, Mukesh Ambani, to once again surpass Alibabas Jack Ma as Asias richest man.

Whats in it for Facebook? In the announcement on Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote that he wanted to thank Mukesh Ambani and the entire Jio team for their partnershipa rare sentiment from the side investing big money. India has long been a major growth market for Facebook, but one that it has yet to successfully monetize. There are more than 400 million WhatsApp users in IndiaFacebook owns the messaging appand its core platform has more users in India than in any other country.

And there is still room for Facebook to grow: At least half a billion Indians remain offline. Partnering with Jio and its influential owner Ambani may help the company navigate an increasingly protectionist Indian market. Ambani himself has long advocated that New Delhi should take steps against data colonization by global tech giants. The new partnership may soften his stance, as well as Indias trend toward protectionism. As Ive described in my 2018 book India Connected, Facebook has previously been rebuffed by Indian regulatorssuch as when it tried to launch a free, gated version of the internet in 2016. Jio, now the biggest cellular internet provider in India, is a valuable friend for Facebook to have in its corner.

Whats in it for Reliance Jio? This is a bit more complicated. Reliance has been described as Indias Exxon, AT&T, and Amazon rolled into one. While it has fulfilled its goals of becoming an energy giant and the biggest telecommunications player, it has yet to seriously challenge Amazon or Flipkart as an e-commerce platform. This is where Facebook can help.

Since 400 million Indians already use WhatsApp, a tie-in with JioMartReliances online retail servicewould connect tens of millions of small-business owners with a larger base of potential consumers. The partnership could upend Indias e-commerce market. While Jio has its own apps for messaging, movies, and health care, it has not been able to monetize those subsidiary businesses. Joining the countrys most-used mode of communication could boost its hopes of becoming a retail giant and speed up Indias transition to digital commerce.

Why it matters. Beyond the economic implications, there is the larger question of what kind of internet India will have in the future. Will it be free and fair, as it is in much of Western Europe? Or will it be gated and controlled, as it is in China? If approved by regulators, the Facebook-Jio deal suggests that Indias data localization plans may not be absolute. It also suggests that Western tech behemoths will continue to have an important stake in Indias future.

The timing of Facebooks investment, while likely long in the works, may also be telling. The coronavirus pandemic has led companies around the world to seek more local and more secure supply chains. In Facebooks case, befriending a powerful Indian partner could help it gain greater local influence in a market that remains the digital worlds biggest hope for growth.

Coronavirus still rising as Ramadan begins. South Asia has now recorded more than 38,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. As we have reported for several weeks, nationwide lockdowns have helped slow the spread of the pandemic, but they havent been able to stop it entirely. Now, some countries are allowing certain sectors to get back to work. In India, for example, farm and industrial activity may begin in rural areas.

One concern for South Asia, which is home to more than 500 million Muslims, is the start of the holy month of Ramadan on Friday. In Pakistan, the government has caved in to demands from religious clerics to open mosques for prayers as long as they follow a list of rules, including maintaining a six-foot distance between worshippers. Given the countrys high population density, enforcing those rules may be easier said than done.

Trumps immigration plans. With a single tweet on Monday night, U.S. President Donald Trump sent South Asian workers and many others in the United States into a panic. In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, he wrote, referring to the coronavirus, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration. For now, Trump has not ordered a halt to specialty visas such as the H-1B program, through which tens of thousands of Indians work at U.S. tech companies and banksbut he has banned the issuance of new green cards. Most of the 800,000 immigrants in the United States currently waiting for a green card are Indian citizens.

Sri Lanka attack anniversary. Tuesday marked one year since the deadly Easter Sunday suicide bombings across Sri Lanka that killed 269 people. The country marked the anniversary with two minutes of silence, but there were no large-scale events because of the nationwide coronavirus curfew. Colombo says the local militant group National Thowheed Jamath was responsible for the coordinated bombings, though the Islamic State has also claimed involvement.

Deadly clashes in Afghanistan. Taliban forces killed dozens of Afghan security force members in separate clashes in the countrys east and north this week, threatening an already fragile peace process. The clashes come despite recent high-level meetings in Doha, Qatar, between the commander of U.S. forces in the region and the Talibans top leadership. The militant group has so far held off on targeting foreign troops.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a steep drop in global demand for all kinds of commodities, including retail clothing. In Bangladesh, factories have now furloughed or laid off more than half of the countrys 4.1 million garment workers, according to CNN. What percentage of Bangladeshs total exports do garments account for?

A) 10 percent B) 30 percent C) 50 percent D) 80 percent

Scroll down for the answer.

Clear blue skies. Theres an unexpected silver lining to the coronavirus-related shutdowns across South Asia: cleaner air. One week after Indias lockdown was announced on March 24, average concentrations of PM 2.5the most harmful level of particle pollutionfell by 71 percent in New Delhi. Once-smoggy surroundings have given way to clear blue skies. Residents report that the air has for once lost its smoky, metallic taste. People living hundreds of miles from the Himalayas can now see its snow-capped peaks. The drop in pollution will hopefully provide respite to the regions growing number of asthmatic patientsand perhaps set an example for industrial changes that could be put in place once the pandemic subsides.

D) 80 percent.

Not only do garments account for four-fifths of Bangladeshs total exports, but they are also responsible for 16 percent of the countrys total economic activity. After companies such as Zara and Unimark cancelled bulk orders, more than 2 million garment workers have now lost their jobs. Several million more workers in transportation and other parts of the garment supply chain could also find their livelihoods endangered.

Thats it for this week.

We welcome your feedback at newsletters@foreignpolicy.com. You can find older editions of South Asia Brief here. For more from FP, subscribe here or sign up for our other newsletters.

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Why Facebook Is Investing $5.7 Billion in India's Reliance Jioand Why It Matters - Foreign Policy

Traders, some in medical masks, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 20, 2020. Trading on the floor temporarily became fully electronic March 23 to protect employees from spreading the coronavirus.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

The ability to have a more opportunistic view is what separates wealthy investors from much of the investing public, but right now, it is separating them just a little less.

Mike Loewengart, chief investment officer at E-Trade Financial's capital management unit, said its quarterly survey of investors shows the millionaire set and broader investor population converging in the view that the big market rebound off the March lows is not a sure thing to last.

Fifty-seven percent of investors with at least $1 million in a brokerage account expect the market to end this quarter lower, according to a quarterly E-Trade survey which was conducted April 1 to April 8 and included a sample of over 900 self-directed active investors the millionaire data subset provided exclusively to CNBC includes 200 investors with $1 million or more of investable assets. Nineteen percent of these affluent investors expect the market to fall by 20%.

"A technical bull market had occurred during this period of the survey, but they recognize we are not out of the woods yet," said Loewengart. "There could be significant drops, a slow grind of economic data in the coming months and we'll see how it shakes out."

Any investor that looks back at market history will not only see the longer-term rebounds that have occurred, but the magnitude of some notable drops being much larger from peak to trough than the drop that occurred in the first quarter 2020.

Loewengart noted the 84% drop, from peak to trough, after 1929, and then 57% pullback during the global financial crisis, and said these historical market data points are a reason why many investors are not jumping back in with both feet.

The stimulus already announced, and announced quickly, caused investors to come back from the brink, but there are many unknowns that remain. "We are still trying to figure out a new normal, what's going to become a new normal, even after the economy is fully reopened," he said.

"The narrative for the last few years has always been buy the dip, and that had been rewarded," Loewengart said, and 31% of millionaires expect a rise this quarter, one-third of these bulls expecting a stock market gain of 20%. But he said the data shows the extent to which "that's still coming into question," even a survey that was out in the field during a big rebound for stocks. "Many of these investors are still assessing the volatility, but they know it's part of the game and part of the risk."

Data compiled by investorHowardMarksshows that, during the two previous bear markets, the first big comeback rallies have been followed by sharp declines until a bottom was ultimately reached. "The first and second declines were followed by substantial rallies . . . which then gave way to even bigger declines,"Marks,co-founder of Oaktree Capital, wrote in a memo to clients in early April amid the rebound. The market followed a similar pattern between late 2007 and early 2009 amid the financial crisis.

On Monday,Marks told CNBC,"It took seven years to get back to the 2000 highs in 2007. It took 5 years to get back to the 2007 highs in late 2012. So is it really appropriate that, given all the bad news in the world today, we should get back to the highs in only three months? That seems inappropriately positive."

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger told the Wall Street Journallast Friday, a day on which the market rallied with headlines citing some limited evidence of a coronavirus treatment showing promise, that it was not time to pounce.

"I would say basically we're like the captain of a ship when the worst typhoon that's ever happened comes. We just want to get through the typhoon, and we'd rather come out of it with a whole lot of liquidity. We're not playing 'oh goody, goody, everything's going to hell, let's plunge 100% of the reserves [into buying businesses]."

The CEOs of the market's biggest companies are not sounding immediately confident. Delta Air Lines CEO said on Wednesday, "The second quarter will be worse," in a letter to his employees. CEO Jamie Dimon said on the recent J.P. Morgan earnings call about the economic reopening that investor confidence hinges on, and which has become a source of tension between the federal, state and local governments, "A rational plan to get back is a good thing to do, and hopefully it will be tuned around later, but it won't be May. You're talking about June, July, August, something like that. "

A few simple rules have long worked out over the long-term for the affluent. It's OK to have some money in cash as part of a defensive allocation, but it is often a bad decision to rush into cash after the market has already fallen. Above all, when the market does tank, decades of equities history show it has been the wise idea for long-term investors to buy into stocks at a discount. That has been been happening as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded off its late-March lows, but not with widespread conviction.

"The ability to always have a long-term view, when we think of these wealthy investors, we saw it in 9/11 and the financial crisis. They have a bigger foundation to tolerate these downturns," said George Walper, president of Spectrem Group, which has studied the financial advice and affluent investor markets for a long time.

Walper said his firm's survey work didn't show wealthier investors selling all of their equities in 2008-2009, and that's the case again now. A survey it conducted earlier this month shows opportunistic buying among the affluent, but only with a slight edge over more selling.

Fifteen percent of investors have sold equities in recent weeks, while a greater percentage (21%) have purchased equities to try to take advantage of lower stock prices. But the Spectrem Group survey also showed that wealthier investors are more likely to have taken both of those approaches in April, and there has been a spike among wealthy investors who have thought of firing their advisors which eclipsed the financial crisis sentiment.

Even wealthy millennials, that group has to hopefully realize you can't panic, but it all depends on how long you might be out of work or underemployed or taking a pay cut. That's when long-term investing is nice to talk about, but in next six months hard.

George Walper

president of Spectrem Group

The Spectrem Group survey also found that 20% of investors with $10 million or more indicated that they were thinking another financial advisor would be better fit. "Even during the financial crisis people were not saying that," Walper said, though he added that in the one to two years that followed the crisis, 12% to 15% of investors did make advisor changes.

"Over 10 years this will be smoothed out, but it is hard to be comfortable with emotionally even if it is consistent in investing," Walper said."For younger investors it is really tough to grapple with taking a long-term view."

That is especially the case for people worried about making mortgage and rent payments. It is a great long-term opportunity for them, he said, but panic buying can be as big a mistake as panic selling. "Even wealthy millennials, that group has to hopefully realize you can't panic, but it all depends on how long you might be out of work or underemployed or taking a pay cut. That's when long-term investing is nice to talk about, but in next six months hard," Walper said.

Some data points in the E-Trade survey are to be expected given the economic standstill: 59% of millionaires grade the U.S. economy at a D or F right now, and 53% think we are already in a recession. The more important E-Trade survey data finds wealthier investor bearishness increasing even more quarter over quarter than bearishness among the broader investing population, and the biggest block within the wealthy investor segment are saying it will take one to two years to recover from this bear market: 46%.Twenty-two percent said three years or longer; 31% less than a year.

Loewengart said he zeroed in on the investors believing it will be one to two years for a recovery. "That is not that long, considering the 10-year economic expansion we came off off. That can be painful, but in the context of most investors' time horizons, not that long. If you have 30 years ahead of you, then one to two years is short lived," he said. "When you look back at the global financial crisis, it fully recovered in about 18 months for a diversified portfolio."

Loewengart said it is encouraging that wealthy investors in the firm's are not indicating greater interest in going to cash or changing allocations. Those who said they would be moving out of current positions and into cash declined from Q1 to Q2, from 25% to 19%, while those who said they would move out of cash and into new positions more than doubled, from 10% in Q1 to 24% in the current quarter. Those who said they would be making overall portfolio changes declined from 29% to 20%, while the largest group of wealthy investors indicated they would be making no changes to their portfolios this quarter (42%).

But quarter over quarter, less millionaire investors said they were looking to buy undervalued names (down from 46% to 38%) and dividend stocks (down from 41% to 24%). Positive sentiment by S&P 500 sector for the second quarter is concentrated in health care (64% of millionaires) and consumer staples (51%).

"Everyone is bearish in a way, and that's why consumer staples jumped up so much in popularity, same as health care," the E-Trade official said.

Daniel Kimeldorf, associate managing advisor at New York City-based Altfest Personal Wealth Management, said there was "nothing like the middle weeks of March" for the volume of calls he had with clients which were a mix between those wanted to get out of market and those who wanted to put everything in, he said, and "everything in between."

Now the majority of clients are skewed towards being opportunistic but also are still wondering whether they are "crazy to think that," Kimeldorf said.

His firm's advice hasn't changed: 100% focus on the long-term and with stocks down over 30% by late March, a risky time to invest was also a time to have some confidence that three months, or three quarters later, investors would benefit from having bought. "Three years later they will be saying what a great buying opportunity it was," Kimeldorf said.

Ben Carlson of Ritholtz Wealth Management wrote last Saturday that the recent action in stocks has shown that during the worst periods the market takes an elevator both up and down.

"The bounce we saw over the past couple of weeks resembles similar activity to the ups and downs of markets in the 1930s. I don't know how any investor could be certain about anything at the moment. Maybe instead of trying to figure out how bad losses will get investors should resign themselves to the idea that market volatility will remain elevated for some time as we try to work out how bad things will get during this crisis."

Unless something has drastically changed in an individual's life, sticking with a target asset allocations could mean buying more stocks to get back to the percentage weight stocks had before the downturn, Kimeldorf said. That is rebalancing, not changing a long-term asset allocation, or in other words, buying stocks to make up for organic losses. Altfest had many clients more defensively positioned coming into this year so in some cases cash that had already been on sidelines has been put back into the market. But these moves do not mean the market bounce since late March is an all-clear signal, though Kimeldorf said the rebound is a big reason why some investors are not as scared as they were two weeks ago, or 11 years ago.

For investors who have the ability to manage their finances right now for goals rather than short-term needs who have not lost a job or income source which requires them to dip into investments to finance their cash flow, or already have an emergency fund with 6 to 12 months of expenses Kimeldorf said this experience will ultimately not be sodissimilar to 2008-2009, when there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Consumers will return. Earnings will return. Stock values will be back to the levels that increased portfolio values over the last ten years, maybe not this quarter or this year. ... In the short term, there will be volatility. We don't want to predict week to week what the market will do. Day-to-day fluctuations in the market are not a winning recipe for long-term wealth management," he said.

Spectrem's Walper said no one expects the ride back to be swift or sudden: "People are not expecting the market [the Dow] back to 29,000 on July 4."

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A conflict over the No. 1 rule of investing among wealthy Americans during this crisis - CNBC

Alibaba Cloud announced today that it will invest another RMB 200 billion (or about $28 billion) into its infrastructure over the next three years, prompted in part by increased demand for services like video conferencing and live streaming as businesses adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The investment will focus on expanding Alibaba Clouds technology, including its operating system, servers and chips, in its data centers. The provider currently has 63 availability zones, located in Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

In press statement, Jeff Zhang, president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence and chief technology officer of Alibaba Group, said, By increasing our investment on cloud infrastructure and fundamental technologies, we hope to continue providing world-class, trusted computing resources to help businesses speed up the recovery process, and offer cloud-based intelligent solutions to support their digital transformation in the post-pandemic world.

In its last quarterly earnings report, issued in February, Alibaba reported cloud revenue grew 62% to $1.5 billion. Alibaba Cloud is the top cloud provider in the Asia Pacific market, according to Gartner.

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Alibaba Cloud will invest $28 billion more into its infrastructure over the next three years - TechCrunch

If youre willing to fork over more up front, these older sports cars could fetch you more down the line.

Fears of a global coronavirus pandemic have ground the automotive industry to a halt. Manufacturers have either shut down their plants entirely or repurposed machinery to create medical equipment, while consumers have stopped buying new vehicles almost altogether amid an economic contraction the likes of which the world has never witnessed.

For the individual gearhead, though, the current environment has its pros and cons. One benefit is a complete lack of traffic on the highways and byways of America, though most Cars and Coffee events have been canceled, as well. And the effects of this situation on the secondhand market remain to be seen, especially when it comes to collectible cars given that the world's wealthiest people don't seem to suffer as much as an average person might during times of hardship.

Regardless of how the economy ends up, keep scrolling for 14 old sports cars that offer great investment potentialeven if they're a little expensive today.

BMW has struggled to live up to the company's "Ultimate Driving Machine" slogan for almost the past two decades. But looking back at the E30-generation M3 would provide a simple recipe for success: respectable power, perfect balance, and driver engagement. All of those qualities are what make the E30 M3 unlikely to ever go down in value.

RELATED:8 Old BMW Cars That Lost All Their Value (And 7 On The Rise)

While many supercars suffer significant depreciation over the course of their lives, few do so with the kind of impeccable reliability offered by the 996-generation Porsche 911 Turbo. With a twin-turbocharged flat-six known as the "Mezger" engine that uses a dry-sump oiling system and all-wheel drive, the 996 Turbo is truly a steal today and will always be a good investment.

The Lancia Delta HF Integrale is the world's most successful rally carbut the whole rest of the world knows that. The snag here is that American collectors are just starting to catch on to this hot hatch's amazing attributes and the 25-year importation rule has now elapsed. Right now is the perfect time to buy, especially for a not-quite-range-topping Evo model, as opposed to the later Evo II.

Another sports car that was never shipped to the United States but that is now eligible for importation thanks to the 25-year rule is the Audi RS2. This was a sporty wagon that singlehandedly created the market for sporty wagons and was built with a lot of help from Porsche. And values are only going to go up, without a doubt.

Honda built the original NSX to be a Ferrari-beater with stellar reliability at a fraction of the cost. Today, one of the world's best supercars is easy to find around the $35-50,000 range, with the advantage that these cars can run for hundreds of thousands of miles with little more than routine maintenance required.

When it comes to a legit track scalpel that will never lose value short of being rolled at Laguna Seca, the 996 generation of the Porsche 911 is here once again. The GT3 of the era used the same Mezger engine as the Turbojust without the turbochargers, and sent all its power to the rear wheels through a six-speed stick shift.

On the cheaper end of relatively expensive sports cars that are getting up there in terms of age and yet offer excellent investment potential comes the BMW known affectionately as the "Clown Shoe." The best bet for a good M Coupe is a later S54-equipped example, which shares its inline-six with the E46 M3.

Mitsubishi fans will swear that the Lancer Evo is a much better car than the Subaru STI, its main competitor. Regardless, everyone in their right mind should jump at any opportunity to get their hands on a Lancer Evo Tommi Makinen Edition, which features all kinds of rally-bred goodies in addition to the Lancer Evo's already hardcore package.

RELATED: Here Are The Worst Sports Cars Audi, BMW, And Mercedes Ever Produced

Most Subaru fans know about the first-generation Impreza and specifically, the JDM-only 22b STI. This unicorn is a coupe with fender flares and all the turbocharged Boxer engine goodness that made later models of the WRX and STI so popular in the statesall in a lighter car that looks much, much better.

The C8 Corvette has emerged as a potent mid-engined supercar available at a surprisingly reasonable price. But it still can't hold a candle to the outgoing C7 Corvette in Z06 or ZR1 trimand with the coronavirus delaying the C8's development, there's a good chance that fact will remain true for a few years, at least.

It's hard to believe that the Porsche Cayman is almost fifteen years old, though this mid-engined track star has come a long way in the interim years. Still, a first-gen Cayman in the second formwith a facelift and no IMS concernsoffers great potential for investment plus all the great performance of a Porsche at a fraction of the price.

RELATED: 8 Reasons Supercars Use AWD (And 7 Reasons They Shouldnt)

BMW recently revived the 8 Series in an attempt to get back to the company's roots, though the experiment looks to have largely fallen flat. But the original 8 Series has done some serious appreciating recently, especially the rare 850CSi variant. And that means the time is now to get into the next-highest trim level, the 850i, and its V12 engine ASAP.

Lotus has announced the electric Evija supercar and teased a forthcoming "affordable" sports car as its final internal combustion-only model ever. But the Exige remains arguably the best Lotus ever in terms of all-out performance, despite having debuted two decades ago. And there's not much of a chance any Lotus will ever be lighter or nimbler ever again.

At the high end of collectible cars that are sure to remain solid investments comes the Ferrari 360 Modena. With smooth styling and a level of analog driving that has largely vaporized from Ferrari's lineup, the 360 Modena hails from the best era in automotive history: when computers had begun to help cars but hadn't yet started to hinder their enjoyability.

NEXT: 10 Fast Sports Cars That Handle Very Well (And 5 That Dont)

Sources: Classic Driver, Car and Driver, and Jalopnik.

Next 12 Facts About The Station Wagon From National Lampoons Vacation

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These Old Sports Cars Are Great Investments Today (Even If Theyre A Little Expensive) - TheThings

WITH AN AVERAGE NET WORTH of $100 million, Brian Pfeiflers clients dont need to worry about day-to-day stock market moves and yet theyre riveted. Despite the fact that they have, in many instances, generational wealth, almost everyone is attuned to this just-in-time world that we live in, says Pfeifler, a Morgan Stanley lifer whose $13.7 billion practice is based in New York.

Speaking with Barrons Advisor, Barrons fifth-ranked advisor nationally explains how he responds to those nervous clients. He predicts a U-shaped recovery from the pandemic-fueled crash, and tells us where hes looking to invest. And he details a pivotal decision years ago that laid the groundwork for his career.

Q: Brian, four members of your 10-person team are working from the Palm Beach office that you opened in January with financial advisors having been deemed an essential service by the State of Florida. What steps are you taking to stay safe?

A: I get in the car at my house, I drive to the office. I park, I walk right in, wash my hands, get to the desk, stay away from people. I have lunch that I brought in. I leave at six or so and go home and do the same thing the next day.

We are in Palm Beach and I think there are something like 10 people on the entire island who have the disease. Its very odd. Its just very, very quiet; everything is closed, with the exception of restaurants, which are doing takeout. But its extraordinarily hectic in terms of work.

Q: How do you see this whole situation playing out?

A: I think the longer-term ramifications are unknown, and the longer it persists, obviously, the more poignant those ramifications become.

But given that youve got the smartest minds in the world trying to figure out a vaccine and [treatments] for this, and the amount of research dollars that are going towards it, youll probably have a widespread vaccine within 12 months. And I do think that once you have that, as hard as it is to imagine, we in many ways will probably go back to a more normalized way of living.

In 2008-2009 the world was ending, for a whole host of reasons. But with government intervention, recapitalizing the financial sector, and time, equity markets did extraordinarily well. Now that were in this, youve seen the Fed and the government in the U.S., but also the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and also their governments on the fiscal side, address the Covid problem in a much quicker manner. Three quarters of what the Fed did in 08 and 09 already has been done within six weeks.

Q: What are you telling clients about the markets?

A: We have a great group of clients and it skews very high net worth. So even with major market declines, in almost every instance, they are not going to impact the quality of life of the clients, or their spending or their ability to continue to live the way theyve lived. So we can take a long-term focus.

Having said that, I would say that 90% of the calls Ive had over the past five or six weeks, have been, OK, whats the market going to do over the next few days? Whats the market going to do over the next three, four weeks?

So despite the fact that they have, in many instances, generational wealth, almost everyone is attuned to this just-in-time world that we live in. They want to know in real time whats the portfolio value, how much is that down, how much is that up, when is this going to stop.

Q: How do you respond?

A: My message to them is I have absolutely no idea what the markets will do over the next four weeks. No one really had a great call coming into this. When the markets were at their bottoms, a lot of very smart, celebrated people were saying that people should be still very cautious. Now the market is up 20-odd percent from there, and a lot of stocks are up more than that.

Theres no doubt that the cash flow earnings for almost every company out there, with the exception of an Amazon, Costco, maybe a Netflix and things like that, are going to be lower in 2020, and materially lower at least in the second quarter and probably the third quarter. And they are probably going to be lower in 2021. Im not necessarily in the camp of an immediate V-shaped recovery here; I think the best case is that were going to have more of a U shape.

Having said that, I think its also quite likely that we do have a therapeutic and a vaccine by early to mid-next year that is widely available in the U.S., Europe and all developed areas. My sense is that once the vaccine is out there, behavior will go back to relatively normal. And I think that means that looking out to 2022 and beyond, the earnings stream for most companies is probably not going to be that much different than where it was coming into this.

So if one takes a view, not of the next quarter, not of the next few quarters, maybe not even of the next 12 months, but of the next 24 months, the picture is much more optimistic than what the current market is pricing in. Recognize that short term can be very ugly, ensure that you have enough liquidity on the sidelines to get through these types of downturns, [but recognize that] any company that makes it through this is really going to be viewed on the sum of their 10-year cash flows and 10-year earnings, and the near term earnings hit is not that important.

Q: So you remain bullish on stocks for the long term.

A: I think stocks still are attractive on a long-term basis, although I think the next year could certainly be choppy. My sense is that equities came into this offering a better opportunity set than fixed income on a longer-term basis, and they continue to represent that now.

The bad news has been coming out on infections re-emerging in some places, which Im sure they probably will in the U.S. Whether that will mandate additional shutdowns I dont know, but even if things go well, youre going to have those types of flareups and such. That will cause downturns in the markets and cause risk assets to decline more than safety assets in the short term, but I think in the longer term thats still where one wants to be.

So we are spending a lot of time discussing that with clients. Thats not to say not to have reserves on the sideline, because it can always get worse. My view is that clients should always have money on the sidelines to get them through a very ugly market for between three and five years. Its just what you do with the assets outside of that reserve.

For many people with a lot of wealth, who spend very small portions of their net worth, I still [like] equities and now increasingly, distressed debt situations. Were very attracted by right now because of the dislocation there.

Q: Lets talk about distressed debt in a moment. First, which sectors do you see as good values right now for long-term stock investors?

A: Large U.S. financial institutions are too cheap right now. You have to recognize which businesses will come out of this with different cost structures in the same way that Wall Street came out of 2008-2009.

Coming out of the recession, the financial services industry went through a fundamental change in terms of regulation, compliance costs, the amount of capital that we had to build up, and the amount of equity issuance to get to that capital buffer level. We came out of it very, very different than how we entered it.

I dont think we come out [of this recession] that differently than we entered. But for an airline company, I dont think anyone is going to get on a plane ever again without that plane being extraordinarily clean. I think that industry exits with a much higher cost structure than they came into this crisis with, as does the cruise industry and all that.

Think about hotels, that are already cleaning every room overnight. I think people probably will be more inclined to go to a [high-end] brand hotel. I think that will give them a level of comfort that you may not have in lesser-known brands or, say, some of the AirBnB-type things. And thats going to have positive implications for those companies when we come out of this, I think.

And then, certainly, weve been very invested in technology and the move towards the cloud [via] public equities. Weve also allocated a tremendous amount of our client capital to growth equity in the private technology space through private equity funds that focus on technology in the U.S. and in China.

I dont really have any position in the most hard-hit things like airlines and the cruise industry. I dont see how that works out very well for them.

Q: To what extent do you think businesses will continue to rely on remote rather than in-person communications after the vaccine?

A: I am not of the belief that everyone is going remotely at all. There is a huge value to being together in the workforce. Remember after 9/11, everyone thought that Polycom was the best buy in the world and everything was going to be remote? After that, people got comfortable with what was going on at TSA, and everyone started traveling again. The travel industry had an extraordinary boom for a whole slew of years.

I think that if you have an effective vaccine, the world will resume and people will want to go see clients face to face. Any business that thinks they can [interact] 100% remotely, I think, will not succeed against those companies that see their clients face to face, whatever industry theyre in.

And people will want to travel. You are going to have a continued expansion of the middle class in China and different places and they are going to want to travel. So there will be a need for airplanes.

Q: What are your thoughts about distressed credit?

A: There will be really good opportunities for those who can effectively navigate that landscape. We dont do that directly, but we have managers that weve been with for a long time.

Ive been around for years and years, having started in high yield. And typically every seven years you see a blowup in high yield. Were in one right now, and the spread widening has been commensurate with what you saw in 2008 2009. Ive outlined the view that we get back to a more normalized economy within, say, a year and a half. I think credit will also normalize over that same time period. Youre seeing a lot of large, well-known funds raising money to take advantage of it.

I dont think high quality government debt for a long-term hold is particularly attractive right now. I think it will underperform distressed credit and equities over a three, five and 10-year holding period.

Q: Brian, I want to touch on your career if we can. Can you point to a couple of milestone decisions that helped you get where you are today?

A: First of all, coming to Morgan Stanley was a milestone. Morgan Stanley allowed me to have varied experiences.

Q: Right, you started as an analyst at the investment bank, then traded bonds, then moved to wealth management.

A: And two, we made the decision early on that I was going to make the investment decisions. I think you have a lot of people in this business who focus on raising assets, and relegate the role of the investment side to more junior people or to internal models within the firm.

I always wanted to be directly in control of [investments], and so to make a determination that I was going to run a large portfolio of U.S. equities, which I do today, and then select the managers that we invest with on our best-of-breed, open-architecture platform.

I never have focused on raising assets; how to generate new clients doesnt even cross my mind. A hundred percent of our clients come from reverse inquiry. We probably generate three or four new clients a year from referrals, and thats that. Thats a big decision I made, and I think its really helped us in terms of performance.

Q: Was the idea that if you took care of performance, the business development would take care of itself?

A: Yeah. If you think about it, if you can generate two very good clients a year for 20 years, thats 40 great clients. I would say we probably have 50 great clients now. We focus on doing a great job, and then if those assets perform well, our entire business grows.

Q: Youve navigated through a number of market and economic crises. What lessons are you applying now in order to deal with the pressure?

A: Im not going to lie, its been very, very stressful. The vast majority of our clients are entrusting us with their financial wellbeing. Outside of their health and their family, its probably the most important consideration they have in their life.

It was very stressful back in 1994 when I was trading bonds. It was very stressful in 1999 and 2000. And it was very stressful in 2008 and 2009. Ive been doing this for 30 years; Im 52. I think as you get older youre more focused on your own wellbeing, because you realize its more precious. I would say that I definitely sleep more than I did 20 years ago. Im really trying to get seven-odd hours a night, and Im trying to exercise every day. And Im also just trying to remind myself that this too will pass.

Q: Thanks, Brian.

More:
Brian Pfeifler: How to Invest in a Changed World - Barron's

The $23 million apartment building proposed for Cleveland's Larchmere neighborhood has landed a commitment from the building union pension fund-backed ERECT Funds for a $5.6 million investment.

David Wondolowski, executive secretary of the Cleveland Building & Construction Trades Council, shared a copy of an email with Crain's Cleveland Business saying the funds adviser had secured board approvals on Tuesday, April 21, after nine months underwriting the project.

In a phone interview Friday, April 24, Wondolowski said he is excited the fund was able to help the project's developer close a gap in the capital stack for the project.

"It's another example of the building trades coming through for the developer of the project and the community," Wondolowski said. A provision for receiving the funds is that the recipient agree to 100% union construction of the site.

Larchmere developer First Interstate Properties of Lyndhurst used the same source to help fund One University Circle, a high-rise apartment building on Euclid Avenue that First Interstate and homebuilder Sam Petros opened last year.

The 88-unit property is designed to produce rentals for the general workforce, a different market than One University's upscale rentals. The Larchmere building is proposed for 12201 Larchmere Ave., near the landmark Larchmere Boulevard commercial district.

A First Interstate affiliate in late March acquired the 1.5-acre site for the project, including the 1960s-era building that will be demolished, for $950,000.

The ERECT funding approval means the project is nearing a closing of construction funding. However, no mortgage documents were filed by April 21, according to Cuyahoga County online real estate records.

Mitchell Schneider, First Interstate president, did not return a phone call and email about the project by 1 p.m. on Friday.

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Construction pension fund to invest in Larchmere apartment project - Crain's Cleveland Business

April 25, 2020, 3:10 PM

8 min read

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As the nations scientists toil in laboratories to find a vaccine for COVID-19, the federal government, research groups and the pharmaceutical industry are working to solve a different scientific challenge: massively scaling up production of these vaccines so they can be ready to deploy as soon as there is proof that one of them works.

"Thinking about manufacturing and scale-up in the very earliest stages is critical," Dr. Barton Haynes, director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute told ABC News. "The question is: what do we need to be doing now to deliver a vaccine that we think is safe and effective as quickly as possible?"

Unfortunately, industry scientists find that the vaccine technologies being tested today wont be easy to scale, thanks to the complex nature of vaccines. And now, amid a rush to scale up manufacturing in preparation for eventual launch, the Trump administration has unseated Dr. Rick Bright, the government official responsible for leading the charge on the production and purchase of vaccines.

Bright, previously director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), wrote a scathing rebuke of his ousting, claiming the Trump administration is placing politics and cronyism ahead of science.

Even with Bright gone, the race to scale up vaccine manufacturing continues, now with acting director Gary Disbrow at the helm. So far, BARDA has invested heavily in the nations most promising vaccine candidates, including $483 million to Moderna and committing more than $1 billion together with Johnson & Johnson for vaccine development and manufacturing.

Vaccine development costs a lot of time and money. Science typically proceeds in a linear fashion, first in test tubes, then in animals and people, and then eventually the expensive and complex process of manufacturing large batches of vaccines for mass immunization.

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However, in this pandemic, all these phases need to overlap simultaneously. That means that vaccine groups must start preparing to ramp up production, sometimes before knowing that their vaccine works in test tubes.

"Theres a full-out, break-the-glass attitude about making this vaccine," said Dr. Paul Offit, co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine who sits on the Food and Drug Administrations vaccine advisory committee.

Even before showing that the vaccine can produce a lasting, protective immune response, groups are making a bet and taking huge financial risk to make plans for scale-up.

"The easier part is creating strains and showing proof that your concept works in animals. But then you have to do the hard part In vaccines, the process is the product," said Offit.

Although the pipeline of COVID-19 vaccine candidates is diverse, most are stuttering in their goals of being deployed at a pandemic scale.

Moderna, for example, made headlines with its mRNA candidate vaccine, which entered initial early stage safety testing in humans less than ten weeks after the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 was released on January 11.

But Moderna uses RNA -- a brand new technology in vaccines at this scale -- meaning scientists cant yet predict what manufacturing problems might crop up. Other groups, such as Duke, the Imperial College of London and Fudan University in China, are also exploring this promising approach.

RNA technology leaves researchers with many unsolved challenges, compared to more traditional vaccine types that are already mass produced. One current problem is storage to ensure the vaccine doesnt degrade. This proves especially tricky for RNA which, by nature, is an intrinsically unstable molecule.

"We havent figured out a way to make RNAs stable in the refrigerator yet," said Dr. Rhiju Das, associate professor of biochemistry at Stanford and leader of Eterna massive open laboratory.

"Currently, theyll have to be deployed in ultra-cold freezers at -80C. These are available to us since we live near biomedical research facilities, but theyre not going to be available to my friends and family who live in rural parts of the U.S. or in India," Das said.

Yet another problem is securing enough accessory chemicals, critical for vaccine production.

"Many of these RNA vaccines are formulated with magical chemicals that look like oil droplets. These accessory materials are expensive and hard to make in large quantities. No one has figured out how to scale up their manufacturing or get the costs low enough so that everyone can get the vaccine," explained Das.

Other types of vaccines being tested are composed of a piece of the virus. The pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline, Novavax and Clover are all at various stages of testing this approach. Called protein subunit and recombinant protein vaccines, this approach is similar to existing vaccines used for HPV and Hepatitis B.

But even this more traditional vaccine approach comes with its own distinct scale-up challenges. These vaccines may require booster shots to provide lasting protection against COVID-19.

For other vaccinate candidate types, scientists are unsure if one dose is enough to generate and maximize a protective immune response, meaning each American might have to be given multiple doses -- further complicating manufacturing scale-up.

An employee shows a blood sample for COVID-19 antibody testing at home at the Labor Dr. Heidrich & Kollegen MVZ GmbH medical lab, on April 16, 2020, in Hamburg, Germany. The Heidrich lab, one of approximately 130 medical labs in Germany doing COVID-19 testing, is processing on average over 100 tests a day, both from people who use the lab's at-home swabbing kit and from samples arriving from local medical practices.

All the issues of development, manufacturing, scale-up and distribution, would be nearly insurmountable for one group to tackle on their own. Of the confirmed active vaccine candidates, 56 are being developed by private industry developers, while 22 projects are being led by academic, public sector and other non-profit organizations, according to a report in Nature.

The pandemic has brought unprecedented collaboration among vaccine developers across the world. The National Institutes of Health is launching a public-private partnership to speed COVID-19 vaccine and treatment options, known as ACTIV -- short for Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines.

Scientists work tirelessly to curb the pandemic through developing a safe, effective vaccine that can reach people across the world. Experts hope the enthusiasm for a COVID-19 vaccine will transfer to other vaccination efforts.

"Past vaccine efforts have been more limited on the patient uptake side than on the supply side. Some people are resistant to flu vaccines," Dr. Andrew Badley, chair of the Mayo Clinic Covid Research Task Force, said to ABC News.

"With this global scare, Im hopeful that vaccine uptake will be better. I hope that people learn that vaccines for other infectious diseases are beneficial, too. And I hope that in the coming years, more people will opt to take those vaccines as well," Badley said.

Tiffany Kung, M.D., a resident physician at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Hospital in Denver, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

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Unsolved issues and huge investments in COVID vaccine manufacturing - ABC News

If youre not Netflix, Amazon or Walmart right now, youre probably bracing for a rough few months or more.

The New York Times estimated the unemployment rate is already at 20%. The ad industry is estimated to see nearly $26 billion in lost revenue. Supply chains have taken a massive hit, and even Apple has hit some turbulence, with iPhone shipments reduced by as much as 10% in Q1. All conferences and live events have been canceled; the music industry and the tech event industry are poised to lose billions.

But heres the good news: There is opportunity for growth. I work with some of the countrys top brands in media, technology, retail, finance and information services, and I have seen what leads businesses to fail and what leads them to succeed. And the truth is that businesses need to lean into their digital strategies right now to have the best chance of weathering this crisis and coming out of it stronger.

Yes, in the midst of economic uncertainty, Im suggesting you make an investment in growing not just sustaining your business. COVID-19 isnt just changing how were doing business this spring; its going to change how we do business far into the future.

Take the retail space for example: If youre not online in retail right now, youre not in business. Retail is the nations largest private-sector employer, but in March, retailers across the country cut 46,200 jobs; that number could rise into the millions. Retailers with a strong digital presence, on the other hand, have seen a surge in business as people are relying on ecommerce and mobile for nearly all their purchases. There is so much new business coming in that some such as Walmart and Amazon are planning to hire hundreds of thousands of new employees.

Even companies that already have an established digital presence are working to beef up their existing infrastructure to catch up to the industry leaders. For example, Best Buy just launched curbside pick-up across the country in late March. Now, its 1,200 stores are closed to customers but delivering orders to cars in their parking lots. Another example is Giant-Eagles new Pick-Up Centers, which are converting traditional stores into dedicated pick-up locations that enable customers to perform the expensive last-mile delivery themselves. These examples could become the new normal, as customers become accustomed to mobile app ordering and seamless curbside pickup.

The reality is that peoples buying habits are changing, and while brick and mortar is sure to make a comeback when lockdowns are over, there will likely be more demand for digital platforms in retail whether that means more digital payment options, virtual showrooms, in-store recommendations based on your online search history, or digital price tags.

Or consider healthcare. The healthcare industrys transition to telemedicine has rapidly accelerated in the face of COVID-19. Online pharmacies like UpScript are booming. IoT and remote patient monitoring are already proving to be extremely helpful in the midst of the pandemic, with organizations like Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centerusing this technology to continuously monitor patients and get real time updates. This technology is already being deployed in various use cases across healthcare, and we will likely see it deployed more and more as a way to provide better real time care to patients.

Telehealth startups are in the forefront of the news. A large portion of the $2 trillion stimulus bill was focused on expanding telehealth access for Americans, and federal policy will surely follow the easing of rules around telemedicine that were already seeing at the state level. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine just signed an order allowing social workers, family counselors and marriage counselors to offer telehealth services. To be HIPAA compliant, these organizations will need to invest in buying or building true telehealth software not just spinning up a noncompliant FaceTime or Skype session. This creates the opportunity for multiple new telehealth providers to enter the market.

Media is another industry that is facing dramatic transformation. With live sports on hiatus, were streaming more media than ever. Americans streamed 85% more video in March 2020 than in March 2019, on platforms and channels from Netflix to YouTube to PBS. More streaming services are being launched, such as HBO Max, NBC Peacock and Quibi. COVID-19 could accelerate subscriptions as people become more accustomed to paying for content they appreciate.

Additionally, live events are shifting to virtual events. Financial Times predicts that many wont want to go back to airless conference centers now that theyve seen what events are like from the comfort of their own couches. Lady Gagas virtual concert held in mid-April drew 20 million viewers.

Investing in new products and platforms is always a risk, and maintaining the status quo is the easiest path during times of economic uncertainty. But many businesses that plan to stand still right now will end up backsliding. Taking the risk to improve your organizations digital infrastructure could ensure your current and future viability.

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Now is the time to invest in your business' digital upgrade - Technical.ly