SHORT INTERESTS: TIPS, TRENDS, OBSERVATIONS

From sea to shining sea

The richest metropolitan areas are right where you expect them to be: the coasts. According to NPA Data Services in Washington, the top U.S. metro areas ranked by projected per capita income in 2008 are clustered around New York and San Francisco. In fact, San Francisco tops the list. It’s followed by a slew of New York City suburbs: New Haven-Bridgeport-Stamford in Connecticut and Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon and Bergen-Passaic in New Jersey.

Rounding out the list were West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Fla., and Nassau-Suffolk, New York’s Long Island counties.

More SOS’s on retirement

Half of working households will fail to adequately finance their retirement, says Intuit Inc., developer of Quicken. The Mountain View, Calif.-based financial software firm, using a model developed by researchers at pension system TIAA-CREF of New York, even quantified the shortfall: Families, on average, will have 18 years of living expenses left unfunded, according to the study, conducted by TIAA-CREF’s Mark Warshawsky, director of strategic research, and John Ameriks, a research economist.

Households with members older than 50 who have lower than average educational levels are most likely to fall into that category. Of course, those with lower incomes are at greater risk, the study says. Another surprise: TIAA-CREF, a big manager of variable annuities, says the product can be an effective retirement investment vehicle.

From the mouths of babes

The fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders who won Stein Roe Mutual Funds’ second annual national Young Investor Fund Essay Contest have a pretty firm grasp of the virtues of diversification, real returns and financial security. Well, maybe not in so many words.

Describing the most influential person in his financial life, fifth-grader Caleb Caudell of Springville, Ind., writes: “Grandma Mary has taught me that if you have a good, quality product that people want to own, investing is a way to make money and at the very least not lose it to inflation.”

A mutual fund is like a soccer team, says sixth-grader Jeff Brandt of Plymouth, Mich. “The players are like the companies in the fund. If one player doesn’t do well, the rest of the team is there to make up for it.”

And Annie Pecoraro, a seventh-grader in Naperville, Ill., says “My uncle has greatly influenced my desire to become my own boss, financially speaking.”

They were awarded first place for their grade level from more than 1,200 entries. Nine winners will split $25,500 in Young Investor Fund shares.

Is virtual golf far behind?

More than 100 international investors attended the first virtual Association for Investment Management and Research conference on April 22. ACTIVATE, a Seattle company, transmitted the live webcast over the Internet as contrarian Dean LeBaron delivered his presentation from the comfort of his hilltop home in Switzerland. The 150 online attendees spanned the globe from Japan to the Middle East to Minneapolis.

The association will broadcast its annual conference in Phoenix May 16 to 20. But alas, it has not found a way to transmit the desert sun.