What bubble? Many social media stocks are losers

The Nasdaq is back above 5,000 and not far from its all-time high.

And social media stocks are leading the charge in tech. Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) is up more than 35% so far this year. Facebook (FB, Tech30) is at an all-time high. LinkedIn (LNKD, Tech30) trades for nearly 90 times 2015 earnings forecasts.

So this must be 2000 all over again, right?

Not exactly.

Sure, the sector's leaders are flying high. The stocks may be ahead of themselves and could be due for a pullback.

But Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all reporting healthy gains in revenue and are expected to post solid increases in profits over the next few years.

Related: Mark Cuban is worried about a bubble in startups

These are real companies with enormous, entrenched user bases generating actual revenue from ads and fees. They are not the second coming of Webvan, theglobe.com and Pets.com.

Another difference between now and 15 years ago? Investors are also doing a better job of picking winners and losers this time around.

Companies that aren't doing well are being punished. There isn't a wave of hype lifting all social media stocks.

In fact, the Global X Social Media Index (SOCL) exchange-traded fund has fallen during the past year while the Nasdaq is up nearly 20%.

Even though this ETF owns the big social media companies that are thriving, it also holds many of the industry's laggards -- such as Groupon (GRPN), Zynga (ZNGA), Yelp (YELP), Pandora (P) and Angie's List (ANGI).

Related: Why this tech party isn't like 1999

If things were really as insane as they were in 2000, you would see a lot more companies with poor track records taking part in the rally along with the their stronger rivals. That's not happening now.

Yes, there are some private companies that have raised significant sums of money from prominent venture capitalists and are already worth tens of billions of dollars. That is a little unsettling.

Will companies like Uber, Aribnb and Snapchat be able to generate the strong levels of revenue and earnings growth that Wall Street will demand from them if they decide to go public? That's not clear.

Heck., Uber's $40 billion valuation makes the ride sharing app worth more than Twitter and LinkedIn.

So if there is a bubble anywhere in tech, look at the companies that aren't yet trading -- not the ones that are already public.

Related: Uber banks an additional $1 billion in funding

Related: Alibaba has invested $200 million in Snapchat

CNNMoney (New York) March 23, 2015: 11:13 AM ET

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Millennials: More educated, fewer employed than Gen X

Today's young adults are on track to becoming the most educated generation to date, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.

More Millennial women, in particular, are securing their diplomas than their older sisters, mothers and grandmothers.

They also outnumber their male peers when it comes to getting college degrees.

But those degrees aren't helping them get jobs. Thanks to the Great Recession, Millennials are less likely to be employed than Gen Xers.

Millennial men were hit particularly hard. Not only do they trail Gen Xers in employment, but fewer are employed now than Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation (who are now mainly in their 70s and 80s) were at the same age.

Instead, Millennial men are more likely to be out of the labor force, either in school or not looking for a job.

Millennial women lost ground in terms of employment when compared to Gen Xers. But they are still more likely to work than Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation, when it was more common for women to stay home and raise children.

Related: Millennials closing the gap in pay disparity between men and women

Related: Millennials say no to marriage

Related: Enough with Millennials. Here's what Gen X thinks

CNNMoney (New York) March 20, 2015: 3:35 PM ET

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The $10 bill is up next for a new look

While one advocacy group is calling on the government to replace President Jackson with a woman on the $20 bill, it's actually the $10 note that's up next for a redesign.

A new $10 bill is on track to enter circulation in 2020, a Treasury Department spokeswoman said Friday.

It will be the first to have a raised "tactile feature," making it easier for people who are blind to identify the cash, according to a Treasury Department document outlining redesign plans from 2013. The spokeswoman confirmed that the information in the report still stands.

Related: Jack Lew: Higher minimum wage = stronger economy

She would not comment on whether or not the redesign would include a new portrait of Hamilton or anyone else for that matter.

Some changes to the bill are aimed at making it harder for crooks to make counterfeit money. All bills are changed every so often for this reason, and security threats largely drive the schedule for redesigns.

One reason the $10 bill was selected as the first to get the raised feature is because it is frequently used and has a low production volume, allowing for a smooth transition, the report says.

The advocacy group, Women on 20s, is petitioning the president and Congress to put a woman on the $20 bill. It has a list of 15 candidates to replace Jackson and people can cast a vote for their favorite on its web site.

Additional reporting by Antoine Sanfuentes.

CNNMoney (New York) March 20, 2015: 7:50 PM ET

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The best performing investment under Obama is...

But it's still useful -- and fun -- to see how investments perform over different time horizons.

Take President Obama's time in office. It's been just over six years since Obama was sworn in during the midst of the Great Recession.

Back then, stocks were tanking. Frankly, most investors were scared to touch just about any asset, although there was some bounce in safe havens like gold and silver.

So which assets have performed the best so far in Obama's tenure?

Related: U.S. companies hoard record amount of cash

Best investment: Your gut inclination might be to say gold, commodities or even the U.S. dollar.

But stocks are the clear winner so far under President Obama.

The only other assets class that comes close is real estate investment trusts (REITs), which trade like stocks but are companies that hold office buildings, malls and other properties and make money off the rents.

The stock market bottomed out in March 2009 and has been on an upswing ever since. In fact, we are in the midst of the fourth-longest bull market in U.S. history (and it could become the third longest if we make it to May).

What's ahead? The question is whether this stock surge can continue. The market is once again within striking distance of setting new records.

"We are advising our clients to continue to stay invested in equities," says Tracie McMillion, asset allocation strategist for Wells Fargo (WFC). "We think that because of the significant downturn that we experienced in 2008 and 2009, this particular bull market could have a longer run than average."

While there's debate today over whether the stock market is getting too expensive, experts almost all agree that stocks are likely to give investors the best return over the next decade.

Related: What an interest rate increase means for real people

Wells Fargo puts it this way: expect stocks to return 9% to 12% (not adjusted for inflation) a year, on average, over the next decade or so while bonds are forecast to return only 3% to 4%.

Experts say it's typically best to stay invested, but it might be a good time to rebalance since stocks have done so well.

As for REITs, this might be a good time to reassess. The phenomenal rise of REITs since Obama took office is largely due to the effects of the financial crisis.

The fallout of so many bad mortgages caused real estate assets to sink dramatically in value. Since then, the property market has roared back, especially for retail spaces and office buildings.

That said, as the Federal Reserve signals it plans to raise interest rates, the property market may start to look less attractive. Mortgages will become more expensive, and investors will have more options for yield.

Related: Play CNNMoney's Stock Market Madness

Obama versus other presidents: So how does Obama's tenure compare with other presidents vis a vis the stock market?

The returns for the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq haven't been anywhere near this good since the days of President Reagan.

While many think of the dot-com stock surge under President Clinton, most of the wild returns happened in the last part of his tenure during 1999-2000. Six years into Clinton's time in the White House, stocks were up, but not off the charts.

Related: Nasdaq near all-time high. Is it another bubble?

Interestingly, six years into President George W. Bush's presidency, silver and gold were actually the best performing asset followed closely by REITs and oil.

While the stock market has typically performed better under Democratic presidents, the reality is the commander in chief has limited influence on the market.

"For most presidents, it's more about either good or bad luck in terms of how they show up in the financial markets," says Bill Stone, chief investment strategists for PNC Wealth Management.

"Certainly [Obama] taking over after a horrendous market environment helped. It would be true of anyone after that. The market has always come back," notes Stone.

As investors know, it's hard to know when markets will be up or down, but history continues to show that stocks do best over the long-term.

Related: Apple stock is making regular Americans rich

CNNMoney (New York) March 22, 2015: 9:16 AM ET

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Millennials: More educated, fewer employed than Gen X

Today's young adults are on track to becoming the most educated generation to date, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.

More Millennial women, in particular, are securing their diplomas than their older sisters, mothers and grandmothers.

They also outnumber their male peers when it comes to getting college degrees.

But those degrees aren't helping them get jobs. Thanks to the Great Recession, Millennials are less likely to be employed than Gen Xers.

Millennial men were hit particularly hard. Not only do they trail Gen Xers in employment, but fewer are employed now than Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation (who are now mainly in their 70s and 80s) were at the same age.

Instead, Millennial men are more likely to be out of the labor force, either in school or not looking for a job.

Millennial women lost ground in terms of employment when compared to Gen Xers. But they are still more likely to work than Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation, when it was more common for women to stay home and raise children.

Related: Millennials closing the gap in pay disparity between men and women

Related: Millennials say no to marriage

Related: Enough with Millennials. Here's what Gen X thinks

CNNMoney (New York) March 20, 2015: 3:35 PM ET

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Employers aren't really cutting health benefits

Under Obamacare rules that kicked in this year, large employers have to offer health benefits to workers who put in 30 or more hours a week or face penalties. Some fretted that the new rules would cost employers a bundle or prompt them to cut workers' hours to get under the cap.

But a new study found that so far there's little cause for concern: Average enrollment in company plans was essentially unchanged between 2014 and 2015 at 74% of all workers.

The survey of nearly 600 employers by benefits consultant Mercer found that in 2015

Related: Obamacare is finally hitting employers

The average percentage of employees who were eligible for coverage increased 1 percentage point to 88%, while enrollment of eligible workers dropped 1 percentage point on average, to 83 percent.

Part of the explanation for the stable results stems from the fact that most employers were already in compliance, says Beth Umland, Mercer's director of research for health and benefits.

In 2014, employees had to work 25 hours a week on average to be offered health insurance, according to Mercer. That figure has edged up since 2011, when it was 23 hours weekly, but is still well below the law's 30-hour threshold.

Still, while the expansion in eligibility wasn't a big change for many employers, "if you were impacted, you were really impacted," says Tracy Watts, Mercer's national leader for health care reform.

Food and lodging companies were most affected by the new rules, with the average percentage of workers who were eligible for coverage increasing to 60% from 57%.

Other industry sectors that felt the change included health care, where per diem nurses and other professionals take on short-term assignments, and higher education, which employs many part-time adjunct professors, says Watts.

Related: Obamacare's second round attracts more Americans

But most employers aren't changing their practices to discourage health plan enrollment, the survey found. Some 73% said they had no plans to change, while 16% said they made sure newly hired part-timers work fewer than 30 hours weekly. Some 19% said they reduced the hours of employees who consistently or occasionally worked more than 30 hours a week.

Even though the health law aims to encourage employers to offer coverage by imposing fines on those who don't do so, not all of their employees take advantage of the offer.

Workers might not sign up because they have other options under the health law. Low-income workers may be eligible for Medicaid in states that have expanded coverage. Young adults can stay on their parents' plan until they turn 26 under the health law, and many people continue to get coverage through their spouses.

Related: Wal-Mart cuts health benefits for 30,000 part-timers

CNNMoney (New York) March 20, 2015: 3:27 PM ET

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The $10 bill is up next for a new look

While one advocacy group is calling on the government to replace President Jackson with a woman on the $20 bill, it's actually the $10 note that's up next for a redesign.

A new $10 bill is on track to enter circulation in 2020, a Treasury Department spokeswoman said Friday.

It will be the first to have a raised "tactile feature," making it easier for people who are blind to identify the cash, according to a Treasury Department document outlining redesign plans from 2013. The spokeswoman confirmed that the information in the report still stands.

Related: Jack Lew: Higher minimum wage = stronger economy

She would not comment on whether or not the redesign would include a new portrait of Hamilton or anyone else for that matter.

Some changes to the bill are aimed at making it harder for crooks to make counterfeit money. All bills are changed every so often for this reason, and security threats largely drive the schedule for redesigns.

One reason the $10 bill was selected as the first to get the raised feature is because it is frequently used and has a low production volume, allowing for a smooth transition, the report says.

The advocacy group, Women on 20s, is petitioning the president and Congress to put a woman on the $20 bill. It has a list of 15 candidates to replace Jackson and people can cast a vote for their favorite on its web site.

Additional reporting by Antoine Sanfuentes.

CNNMoney (New York) March 20, 2015: 7:50 PM ET

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