A senior trader at the Swiss bank UBS was a "master fraudster" who lost his bank $2.3 billion, imperiling its very existence, through risky deals and deceit in a bid to improve his status, bonus and job prospects, prosecutors said Friday.
Some people take fun to the extreme, engaging in pastimes that put their health -- and even their lives -- at risk. Insurance companies refer to such activities as "hazardous vocations," and charge higher premiums to those who engage in them. One way or another, these hobbies will cost you.
Peer-to-peer lending site Prosper.com has stopped letting high-risk borrowers use its site because too many of them failed to repay their loans. The site's problem, says columnist and one-time lender Alex Salkever, is that Prosper got in the way of letting a social bond form between microborrower and microlender.
Many investors are trying to make themselves feel safer in this uncertain economy by jumping out of stocks, buying bonds or even dabbling in higher risks looking for bigger returns. But that sort of short-term strategy could jeopardize your portfolio.