Investment

Michele and Russell Poland's credit was shot, but they managed to buy their suburban dream home anyway. After a business bankruptcy and a home foreclosure, they turned to a rare option in this era of tightfisted banking - a subprime loan. The Polands paid nearly $10,000 in upfront fees for the privilege of securing a mortgage at 10.9% interest. And they had to raid their retirement account for a 35% down payment. Most borrowers would balk at such stiff terms. But with prices rising, the Polands wanted to snag a four-bedroom home in Temecula near top-rated schools for their 5-year-old son. By later this year, they figure, they'll be able to refinance into a standard loan.

The trial of George Zimmerman, which opened with jury selection Monday, will address the legal charges against the former neighborhood watchman in the death of Trayvon Martin. But long after the jury reaches its verdict, what happened in Sanford, Fla., on the evening of Feb. 26, 2012, will continue to be litigated in living rooms, barrooms and Internet chat rooms. That is partly because the evidence is ambiguous and only one of the two men who clashed that night is still alive, but it also reflects the fact that so many Americans have invested themselves emotionally in one of two competing narratives about what occurred.

If you're thinking of visiting a Disney park in Anaheim this summer, be warned that the price is about to jump by between $7 and $150 depending on the ticket deal. The annual summer price hike for tickets to Disneyland and the Disney California Adventure Park were announced Friday and take effect Sunday. For example, a ticket for one day at either Disneyland or California Adventure had cost $80 for parkgoers who are 10 or older. The new price, starting Sunday, will be $87, up nearly 9%. The biggest increase will hit people who buy the premium annual pass that includes parking.

Are you ready to bet that the great housing recession is finally over and that values are rising again? If so, some of the nation's largest institutional investors are ready to roll the dice with you. Pension funds, endowment portfolios and the like don't typically invest in residential real estate, which is the world's largest asset class. But given their long-term horizons, housing is considered a natural fit. And now there's a new investment vehicle that aligns their stash of cash with creditworthy home buyers.

The gig : Andrew Wiederhorn is the chairman and chief executive of Fatburger Inc., a fast-food restaurant chain based in Beverly Hills. The first Fatburger opened on Western Avenue in Los Angeles in 1947 and gained notoriety when rappers Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. all mentioned the restaurant in songs. Since 2003, Fatburger has been owned by Fog Cutter Capital Group Inc., a Santa Monica investment company of which Wiederhorn is also chairman and CEO. Self-starter : Wiederhorn grew up in a single-parent family in Portland; his father died when he was age 9. In high school, he hired a lawyer to help him get permits to rent out jet-skis on the Willamette River.

This post has been corrected. Former Dodgers first base great Steve Garvey, a 10-time All-Star and 1974 National League MVP, is battling prostate cancer. Garvey said that his prostate was removed at UCLA Medical Center in October after his cancer was diagnosed the previous month and that he now hopes to devote a considerable amount of his time to prostate cancer awareness. Garvey, 64, made the announcement in a press release describing several personal baseball items - including his MVP trophy - that he is putting up for auction.

Are you ready to bet that the great housing recession is finally over and that values are rising again? If so, some of the nation's largest institutional investors are ready to roll the dice with you. Pension funds, endowment portfolios and the like don't typically invest in residential real estate, which is the world's largest asset class. But given their long-term horizons, housing is considered a natural fit. And now there's a new investment vehicle that aligns their stash of cash with creditworthy home buyers.

Americans spend billions on hair-care products each year, a remarkable investment for a part of the body with no real function. We clean it, nourish it and style it -- and we definitely mourn its loss. Lots of products and procedures promise to restore thinning or disappearing hair. One especially intriguing option is the HairMax LaserComb, a hand-held laser device that supposedly revives hair follicles.

There was no divine intervention for the musical "Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson. " The Broadway show about evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson - written by TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford - opened and closed within a month. The Foursquare Church, a global Christian denomination based in Echo Park, watched the failure with more than a historical interest. The church, founded by McPherson 90 years ago, was a major investor in the show through its Foursquare Foundation charitable arm. Foursquare representatives declined to say how much the church foundation lost when the show closed Dec. 9, but two Foursquare clergy members with knowledge of the situation placed it at $2 million.

Tongal, the Marina del Rey start-up website that links crowd-sourced videos with major brands, has scored $15 million in funding from a private equity firm. Insight Venture Partners, based in New York, has also invested in other online players such as Twitter and Tumblr. Tongal said it plans to use the infusion to “support plans for rapid expansion.” Already, Tongal has linked writers, directors, actors, social media gurus and other creative types with brands such as Lego, Pringles, McDonald's and Axe. Companies work with Tongal to develop a set of objectives for a video or other “creative need,” which Tongal then opens up to its community of members.

Dear Liz: My husband and I have been putting 5% and 6%, respectively, into our 401(k) accounts to get our full company matches. We're also maxing out our Roth IRAs. The CPA who does our taxes recommended that we put more money into our 401(k)s even if that would mean putting less into our Roth IRAs. We're also expecting our first child, and our CPA said he doesn't like 529 plans. What's your opinion on us increasing our 401(k)s by the amount we'd intended to put into a 529, while still maxing out our Roths, and then using our Roth contributions (not earnings)

It was hailed as a crowning achievement for Los Angeles in the early 1970s - an indoor shopping mall that filled an entire downtown block and also boasted a plush hotel and a high-rise office building. For years, tourists flocked to the premier address. These days, however, Macy's Plaza has devolved into a dated, downscale relic and gets little love, even at the busy intersection of 7th and Flower streets. The mammoth complex can reclaim star status, its new owner said, but only after several multimillion-dollar improvements and radical surgery to open its fortress-like exterior.

  The Soviets put guns before butter, but we put almost everything before guns. " - Margaret Thatcher, January 1976 When Margaret Thatcher made the above observation in a speech that earned her the title "Iron Lady" from the Soviet army newspaper, she noted that the Soviet Union was spending 20% more each year than the United States on military research and development, 25% more on weapons and equipment and 60% more on strategic nuclear forces....

Its squat, 1970s-era headquarters in Van Nuys may not look like much from the outside, but Superior Industries International Inc. is a key figure in the automotive industry. The company sells aluminum wheels to the major automakers: Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Volkswagen. Founded in 1957 in North Hollywood, Superior Industries at first sold wind deflectors, seat belts and a popular steering wheel cover called Sport Grip. In the 1960s, the company starting making aluminum wheels.

Dear Liz: My spouse has tenure at a university. Given that one of us will always be employed, should we change the way we look at the amount of money we keep in an emergency fund or our risk tolerance for investments? Answer: Even tenured professors can get fired or laid off. Tenure was designed to protect academic freedom, but professors can lose their jobs because of serious misconduct, incompetence or economic cutbacks, such as when a department is eliminated or a whole university is closed.

Question: Our homeowners association is hemorrhaging money at an alarming rate, and the president tells owners he moved all reserve money elsewhere to avoid a potential judicial judgment from attaching it. Under management's influence, he invested it all in an assessment recovery firm, claiming the association receives a very high return on our investment. He said management invests in the same firm. This firm has been unrelenting in its voracious targeting of titleholders utilizing liens, fees, penalties, interest, threats of foreclosure.

This just in: The Tony Award-winning musical "Once" is a hit. Following in the footsteps of the low-budget Irish film that inspired the musical, "Once" has delivered a return on its initial $5.5-million investment in just six months. The film version, which starred musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglová, was made for $150,000 and went on to earn roughly $20 million as the left-field indie hit of 2006. In an announcement Monday, the Broadway show's producers crowed that "Once" recouped its investment "faster than any Tony Award-winning best musical in more than a decade.

India has long had a love affair with gold. But one businessman there is so infatuated with the precious metal, he dropped about $230,000 on solid gold shirt. More than two dozen goldsmiths toiled for 15 days for lender Datta Phuge, who custom ordered the seven-pound top to wear for New Year's festivities, according to the Pune Mirror . The shirt is crafted from 14,000 22-karat gold rings linked together and comes with six Swarovski crystal buttons and a belt also made of gold.

Baby boomers should be reviewing their retirement portfolios once a year and tweaking or re-balancing them, if necessary, says Delia Fernandez, a fee-only certified financial planner. Fernandez is the founder of Fernandez Financial Advisory in Los Alamitos. She had that suggestion and more for Marymount College math professor Patrick Webster, 63 and his wife Susie Martin, 54, who also works at Marymount. GALLERY: Bank failures that drained deposit-insurance funds The couple had managed to amass savings of more than $1 million, but they were still worried.

OAKLAND - It was a quiet evening by this city's standards, and still the police emergency lines were lighting up. As screams rang out behind her, a caller said her neighbor was being beaten. A woman reported that a front door down the street had been bashed in by a possible intruder. Another said a family member with a knife and supply of methamphetamine was threatening to kill herself. By 7:30 p.m. there were 40 calls requiring squad cars on the eastern half of town but no officers available to respond.