The return on capital variable accomplishes the first part of that goal (buying good companies), because it looks at how much profit a firm is generating using its capital.

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By 2010, Suber was working only part-time at PFS selling insurance, variable annuities and mutual funds.

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Worryingly, part of this new borrowing has been at variable interest rates, which makes it susceptible to tighter credit conditions.

ECONOMIST: American banks

As part of the compromise, up to a quarter of variable pay can be issued in instruments deferred for more than five years.

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Part of the fear that drives investors to products such as variable annuities, equity-indexed annuities, and the false promises of active management (including absolute return funds) is the misplaced fear of the recent lost decade in the performance of stocks.

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Most Britons, for instance, still have variable-rate mortgages, although the proportion with fixed-rate home loans is rising (thanks, in part, to lower inflation).

ECONOMIST: The single currency