On December 22nd, I posted a journal piece titled, "Time to be a Contrarian". I said:

"Since GM has been one of the worst performers for the year, I have got to believe that 2006-2007 will bring a turnaround for the company. I am not placing the stock in the IA portfolio, but for speculators/contrarians, this is an interesting bet".

If you happened to buy the stock in December, you probably picked it up around $18.40. With the stock now trading above $20, the gain is a little over 10%.

GM will be rolling out an important line of hybrids this year, which includes Tahoe's and Yukon's.

With the news being so negative, I couldn't resist buying the stock as a speculation.

This morning, IBM announced that they are shelfing their pension plan and incorporating a ramped up 401k. This is what GM and Ford are trying to do, but it is a little more complicated.

Eventually, I think you'll see all corporate pension plans be replaced by 401k's.