Elizabeth MacDonald
Elizabeth MacDonald
Prior to joining FBN, MacDonald was a senior editor at Forbes Magazine, where she covered stock market and earnings news and created "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" annual list. She was also a regular guest on the FOX News Channel (FNC), appearing on "Forbes on Fox," "Your World with Neil Cavuto" and "The O'Reilly Factor."
Before Forbes, MacDonald covered stock market, earnings and accounting abuses for The Wall Street Journal's Money & Investing section, with front page stories and Heard on the Street columns. MacDonald was one of the first journalists in the country to sound the alarm about the coming wave of accounting scandals in the mid-nineties, and also broke stories on, for example, Scientology's secret settlement with the IRS and the Kennedys' use of the IRS to target political enemies.
Prior to that, MacDonald was a financial editor for Worth magazine and covered the IRS and taxes for Money magazine. Members of Congress have noted an award-winning investigative series MacDonald reported on IRS abuses led to improved taxpayer rights and reforms at the agency. MacDonald was also called in to testify before Congress about IRS abuses.
Recognized as one of the top prize-winning business journalists in the country, MacDonald has received 14 awards, including the top prize in business journalism, the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business Journalism (and won a nomination in an ensuing year); the Society of Professional Journalists' Award for Outstanding Public Service reporting; and the Newswomen's Club of New York Front Page Award for Excellence in Investigative Journalism.
MacDonald is a native of Rockville Centre, New York.
FOX Translator
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Think telemarketer. Except, it's much worse because you can't avoid this call. Instead, when you get one, it's time to pay up, because the bet you placed with borrowed money is eating itself.
Buying stocks on margin is risky because you're essentially "playing" with someone else's money. If the shares you purchased tank, your losses will likely be more than if you had bought the shares with your own cash. This is why the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq impose certain restrictions on the practice.
Initially, you¿re only allowed to borrow half of the money from your broker when buying on margin. You set up a margin account and from then on must keep a maintenance balance of at least 25% of the market value of your stocks.
If the market value of your investment falls below this minimum, you're required to make up the difference by either depositing money into your account or selling some of the stock. If your broker notifies you that you've dipped below this minimum, it's called a margin call.
If you fail to adjust your account accordingly, the broker is authorized to sell shares in your account to make up the difference. The broker can even sell other stock in your margin account to make up for the loss that selling the shares didn't cover.
As an example, say you buy $8,000 in stocks of any given company. You borrow the maximum $4,000 from your broker and pay the rest yourself. Now, if and when the total value of these shares changes, you must make sure you maintain at least $2,000 (25%) in equity. In other words, if the total value were to drop below $6,000, you¿d be in trouble since you only put in $4,000 of your own money to begin with.
