In a recent blog post, Women & Co.'s President and CEO, Linda Descano CFA®, talks about creating your mission statement for retirement and building the capital needed to finance your vision.

Read more highlights from Women & Co. here

To "Sell in May" is a fabled investment thesis. But does it actually work? Over the past 20 years, EM equities have tended to do better in the three months up to May (+2.8%, on average) than the three months after (-0.4%). We also show that May-October has been the worst rolling six months of the year for EM since 1990 (average monthly fall of 0.2%). However, while, since 1991, EM equities have risen in the three months to mid-May in 15 out of 22 years (68% of the time) they have still risen in the three months after mid-May in only 11 of 21 years (52%). So, "Sell in May" does work, but barely. Asia and EMEA have clear "Sell in May" effects; for Latin America, they are less clear.

With this in mind, investors currently fear a repeat of 2011. While YTD performance is better this year, the short-term patterns seem similar; the focus is so intense this year as "sell in May" worked so well in 2011. However, "sell in May" has failed badly in six of the past ten years in EM and has only clearly worked in three of the past 10 years (including 2011). In many recent years (2004-7, 2010) there were 'spring' corrections - remember those - which should have been bought. Average full year returns were 27% in those five years.

Students take all kinds of things to college with them, including laptop computers, smart phones, mini-refrigerators and microwaves. But perhaps the most useful item - and potentially the most financially dangerous - could be a credit card.

Although a credit card can help students buy what they need, it can also make it easier to overspend and, in the long run, do serious damage to their credit history. College students may not give it much thought, but a good credit history will be important when they graduate and want to take out a car loan, rent an apartment and can even influence whether they get a job. That's why students need to keep track of their credit card spending and always endeavor to make their card payments on time.

Yesterday, Citi Ventures announced its investment in Jumio, a fast-growing payment and online ID verification company. Jumio's patent-pending Netswipe solution turns any camera on a desktop, laptop or mobile phone into a secure credit card reader, allowing merchants to easily and efficiently accept online and mobile payments. Netverify, built with the same patent-pending technology as Netswipe, turns any camera into an ID reader. It is an easy and innovative way for website owners to confirm a customer's identity in real time.

In celebration of Citigroup's 200th Anniversary, we are sharing stories from our rich history here on this blog. The eighth installation below covers how the opening of National City Bank's first foreign branch in Buenos Aires lead to a larger expansion throughout Latin America. Read the seventh installment on how the bank presidents set about improving staff education levels, here.

While European woes acted as a drag in the prior two quarterly surveys, the latest data released by the central bank on its poll of bank lending officers rebounded and suggests that domestic economic trends should be supported at least through year-end 2012. However, one cannot and probably should not rule out some 3Q12 softness due to policy direction uncertainty given the upcoming fiscal issues and presidential elections.

Interviewed by a Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA student for their "View from the Top" speaker series, Citi CEO Vikram Pandit answered questions about the economic crisis, leadership, and the future of the banking industry.

Nathan Sheets, Citi Global Head of International Economics, recently visited Bloomberg TV's Rewind discussing why he's bullish on China, how the unemployment rate will impact the U.S. fed tightening credit, and energy growth.

View the full interview here: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/91801073/

Bank Technology News recently revealed the eleventh iteration of their annual top ten "Innovators of the Year" list. Citi is honored to have two senior leaders, Susan Andrews, Head of Innovation at Citi Ventures; and Frank Eliason, Senior Vice President of Social Media, on the list this year.

Today, Citi CEO Vikram Pandit, New York Citi Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced that Citi will be the title sponsor for New York City's new bike share program, "Citi Bike." The $41 million sponsorship will create the nation's largest public bike share system at no cost to taxpayers. 

Launching this July in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, the program will provide a new, affordable, 24/7 transportation option. New Yorkers currently make many short trips each day - 54 percent of all trips are under two miles. With 10,000 bikes and 600 bike docking stations, the signature blue Citi Bikes will improve access to the subway and allow New Yorkers access to bikes without worrying about bike parking or storage.