Kicking the bucket: New life for old KFCs

By Brad Thomas:A few weeks ago, I wrote an article titled Weathering the Storms with a Fleet of Battleship REITs and in that article I detailed five “battleship” REITs that have survived decades of turbulence and market volatility.

As an 85-year-old Texan billionaire oil investor, Thomas Boone Pickens should be enjoying a comfortable retirement. But instead of kicking back on his vast Dallas ranch, T Boone Pickens – as he is universally known – is facing a bitter family legal dispute. Mr Pickens, who made his US$1.4-billion fortune as a business magnate and financier, is taking legal action against his son Michael, after the 58 year-old began writing an inflammatory blog attacking his family.

Philippine farmer Liezl Balmaceda has never heard of Madonna, but the US pop star's endorsement of coconut water may help change her impoverished life for the better.

We want to be the authority in sports in Canada from a retail perspective TORONTO • Could sporting goods be Canadian Tire Corp.’s first line of defence against Target? On the heels of several executive departures confirmed Wednesday as a bid to streamline costs, the retailer announced it will buy big-box specialty chain Pro Hockey Life Sporting Goods Inc. for $85-million.

For almost two decades, Mike Hughes has had to come to terms with his own mortality.  The Martin Agency president was diagnosed with lung cancer in the 1990s.

By David White:New York Mortgage Trust Inc. (NYMT) is a mortgage REIT. It invests in Agency and non-Agency MBS, prime ARM loans, CMBS, commercial mortgage loans, and other financial assets.

By Philippe Proudhon: Combing through REITWatch 08-2012, my eye was caught by Government Properties Income Trust (GOV), a fairly recent property REIT with seemingly interesting financials, as shown in the table below: (click to enlarge)

By George Acs:I hate all of the financial phrases that are tossed about, despite the fact that I can lay claim to at least one of them, maybe even more if all of life would obey the laws of timestamps."Kicking the can down the road," a "rip your face off rally" and "moral hazard" come quickly to mind.