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Google and the Justice Department will face off in the final stage of a landmark antitrust case that could force the company to spin off its Chrome browser business.
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Buy expensive stocks - or build a whole portfolio - on the cheap. Fractional shares, increasingly available at online brokers including Schwab, Fidelity and Robinhood, allow you to buy a portion of a stock you might not otherwise be able to afford. You can even put together a portfolio of stock snippets, giving you a diversified ownership stake in the best of corporate America, even if you're just starting out and your budget is limited.
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Say you had $1,000 to invest and wanted to buy stock in NVR (NVR), a homebuilder recently rated Strong Buy by investment research firm CFRA. You'd be out of luck, considering the shares recently traded for about $4,200 a pop. But at Schwab, for example, you'd be able to buy what the company calls a Stock Slice - a single slice or up to 30 slices at a time of any S&P 500 stock for as little as $5 per slice, commission-free. With Fidelity's Stocks by the Slice program, you can access more than 7,000 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for as little as $1.
You can also trade fractional shares at Robinhood and InteractiveBrokers, each with programs starting at $1. Eligible stocks and ETFs at Robinhood trade for more than $1 per share and have a market value of more than $25 million. InteractiveBrokers allows trading in U.S. and European stocks and ETFs. Vanguard is testing fractional trading of Vanguard ETFs for launch later this year. The rules and eligible investments for fractional share-buying differ by broker, so be sure to compare options.
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Many farmers are facing a critical retirement decision. The traditions of yesterday are often changing, and their children may no longer want to follow in their parents' footsteps. The challenges are many. However, there are options available.
In 1971, I began my farming career at the tender age of 9 in the Skagit Valley, 60 miles north of Seattle. Crop farming was my gig; rouging spinach, sorting tulips, picking strawberries, raspberries and cucumbers alongside the migrant workers from Mexico. When I was old enough, I was driving picking machines with a dozen kids lying on boards over a conveyor belt, or driving an open tractor pulling a green pea combine while traveling about 1 mile in four hours.
SEE MORE Keeping Property in the Family with LLCs and Partnerships
Today, at the age of 59, I realize that I've been preparing this article for 50 years. During 12-hour shifts on the open tractor, it rained, often. My family could not afford proper rain gear, so a plastic lawn bag with holes punched out for my head and arms provided quite well. Working six of these shifts every seven days gives a teenager time to reflect. That's when I decided farming was very hard and I wanted an easy office job someday!
Challenges for Farmers Today
A huge debt of gratitude is owed to the men and women who feed the world. You face unprecedented challenges:
Mother NatureInconsistent commodity prices
Lack of access to labor
Global competition with lower costs of operations
Lack of resources to compete with larger corporate farming technology
Next-generation (family) choosing a different career path
You are at an age where you need to slow down or retire completely
Potential income tax law changes
Inheritance and estat
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