The highest dividend stocks in the Dow

While you will find some investors who've made their riches with high-growth technology or biotechnology stocks, the tried and true method to wealth appreciation via the stock market is through dividend-paying stocks. If you don't believe me, go talk to Warren Buffett, who's built his empire on the heels of dividend-paying stocks.

Why dividend stocks? A company willing to pay a dividend -- be it monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annualy -- is demonstrating to investors that its cash flow is strong enough, and its business model sound enough, to share a percentage of its profits with faithful investors.

Dividends are also a great buffer during recessions and volatile markets. Long-term investors tend to be attracted to steady and/or growing dividend stocks, meaning there's a potentially lower chance of volatility caused by emotional trading.

Related: The 3 Best Stocks to Invest in Biotechnology

But arguably the best aspect of dividends is the ability to reinvest them right back into the same stock. This way you can supercharge your wealth accumulation in combination with share-price appreciation, potentially even shortening the amount of time you'll need to work during your lifetime.

The highest dividend stocks in the Dow: One avenue commonly explored by income investors is the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 30 components. All 30 Dow stocks are (currently) profitable, and each is paying a dividend, ranging from 4.4% at the high end to 0.7% on the low end. Overall, though, the Dow's average dividend yield in the mid-2% range is higher than the approximate average dividend yield of 2% currently being paid by S&P 500 companies.

Five of the Dow's components could arguably be classified as high-yield dividend plays, which I'm defining as any stock yielding 3.5% or higher. The highest dividend stocks in the Dow are:

As you'll note, one relatively common aspect of most Dow components is they tend to be multinationals -- in other words, they operate all around the globe. I'd like to think that having a global market at their disposal, including high-growth emerging market countries such as China and India, as well as the entire continent of Africa, should help drive profit and dividend growth for all 30 Dow components.

Related: Netflix, Inc. Earnings This Week: Don't Overlook These Items

Not all high dividend stocks are created equal: However, the reality is that not all Dow stocks are created equal -- not even the highest dividend stocks in the Dow.

Sometimes the reason a dividend yield appears so robust has more to do with recent stock price weakness, which inflates yields, rather than substantial dividend growth.

For example, shares of Chevron (CVX) are off 28% from the 52-week high it hit last summer. Back then, and based on its current dividend payout of $4.28 per share annually ($1.07 per quarter), Chevron was yielding 3.2%. Its nearly-one-percentage-point-higher yield today is merely a result of its plummeting share price tied to the weakness in crude oil and natural gas prices.

In spite of being a Dividend Aristocrat -- a special group of more than four dozen companies to have raised their dividend in 25 or more consecutive years -- it's possible Chevron may not be able to reasonably increase its dividend in 2015.

Related: Over half of Americans have $0 in stocks

In other instances there's a concern about the longevity of a business model. Fast-food giant McDonald (MCD)'s was the progenitor of casual dining profitability for decades, but it's currently in the midst of a major turnaround after recently changing CEOs.

Among the company's laundry list of problems are its long drive-thru wait lines, a monstrously large menu that could be confusing customers, and concerns from the public that McDonald's food just isn't that good for you. Instead, consumers are opting for healthier casual choices such as Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), which costs about the same on a per meal basis.

Finally, there are companies like Verizon (VZ, Tech30) which have a sound business model, but operate in a hypercompetitive and generally saturated wireless market that's likely going to constrain growth to the low single-digits over the long run. While it does mean that Verizon's high-yield dividend of 4.4% is probably sustainable, it also means there isn't likely to be much in the way of share price appreciation for investors.

Related: Warren Buffett Admits This Is A "Real Threat"

The high dividend stock to rule them all: Among the high dividend stocks of the Dow, the one I personally prefer is conglomerate General Electric (GE).

Does GE have risks? You bet. It's still in the process of removing risks tied to GE Capital that whacked the company during the Great Recession, and as an industrial-focused company it'll rely on U.S. economic growth in order to fuel backlog growth and pricing power. In short, recessions are going to be bad news for GE, as they are for most stocks in general.

However, General Electric has a lot working for it as well, specifically in energy and health care. Rising global energy demand, especially alternative energy demand, should (pardon the pun) fuel demand for the company's wind turbines for years to come. By a similar token, its medical diagnostics, such as MRI machines, should see a boost in demand as the Affordable Care Act lowers the number of uninsured people in this country and the nation's elderly live longer. Compound this with ample emerging market opportunities and I believe GE has a multi-decade opportunity for mid-single-digits growth.

Related: GE sells GE Capital unit for $26.5B

In GE's latest quarter it announced a mammoth backlog of $261 billion, which includes $72 billion in equipment and $189 billion in services. Both figures were up nicely year-over-year. It also generated $15.2 billion in cash flow from operating activities in 2014, which is more than enough to maintain and/or grow its payout for years to come.

If you're an income investor on the lookout for a high dividend stock in the Dow, General Electric would be my suggestion as a great starting point for your research.

Sean Williams writes for The Motley Fool. You can track his stock picks under the screen name TrackUltraLong and check him out on Twitter: @TMFUltraLong.

(New York) April 13, 2015: 10:28 AM ET

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Pandora pops on Spotify fundraising report. Here's why.

Shares of Pandora (P), which is often compared to the rival streaming music service Spotify, rose as much as 4% Monday morning following a report in Friday's Wall Street Journal about Spotify's latest cash injection.

The move is a bit curious.

Even though Pandora and Spotify are often lumped together in the broader music category, they are fairly different from each other.

Pandora is more like an online radio network, while Spotfiy lets users pick and choose specific songs and artists for playlists.

Lot of risks in Pandora's box. It's also odd that investors are assuming that good news for Spotify means that Pandora deserves a higher valuation as well.

Have investors forgotten about the fact that Pandora's stock has fallen more than 30% in the past year?

Related: What bubble? Pandora and many other social media stocks are losers

Or that there are legitimate concerns about slowing ad revenue growth? Or that royalty payments to artists, songwriters and record labels are eating into profits? Or that analysts expect Pandora to report a loss when it releases its first quarter results next week?

I guess none of this matters with the Nasdaq back above 5,000. Tech euphoria reigns supreme. Long live the unicorns!

One enthusiastic Pandora fan on StockTwits tried to argue that Pandora could be worth more than 60% above its current stock price of around $17.50 if investors valued Pandora on par with Spotify.

"Expect to see nice gains in Pandora stock price today. Spotify's valuation of $8.4 billion Friday night equates to $28.50 / share for P," wrote michael_therami.

Pandora had no specific comment about the move in its stock Monday. But a spokesperson for the company sent along remarks made by Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews at its recent investor day about the company's competitive position.

"We believe we've cracked the code on providing the best lean-back listening experience ever created," McAndrews said. "We've done this by assembling the greatest combination of music, people, and technology ever."

Investors should be careful though. One reason for Pandora's pop Monday may be the fact that so many investors are betting against it.

Related: 16 firms worth billions even though they are losing money

More than 15% of Pandora's available shares were held by short sellers as of the end of March. These traders borrow a stock and sell it with the hope of buying it back later at a lower price.

Some of them may be buying the stock on Monday to protect themselves against losses. It's a phenomenon known as a short squeeze ... and it could be just temporary.

Most rivals are much bigger. Pandora also faces a lot of competition. In the media world, there's satellite radio king Sirius XM (SIRI) and old-fashioned radio broadcaster iHeartMedia (IHRT) .. the company formerly known as Clear Channel.

Then there are tech giants Apple (AAPL, Tech30) (which owns Beats in addition to iTunes) and Google (GOOGL, Tech30), which recently acquired streaming app Songza and also has its own Google Play service. And YouTube, of course.

Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) also unveiled its own music service for Prime members last year.

Finally, you have Spotfiy and the music industry's newest streaming service Tidal. Tidal is backed by Jay-Z and has been endorsed by many well-known musical artists.

To Pandora's credit though, it's had to deal with tough competition for many years now. And the company is still around.

It's hard to imagine Pandora going away completely. The company had 81.5 million active listeners as of the end of 2014.

Takeover rumors haven't gone away. That's not something to sneeze at ... and it's probably the main reason why the company is constantly mentioned as a possible takeover target. Pandora shares surged in mid-March on vague merger rumors.

Over the past few years, Pandora has been cited as a possible fit for Apple, Amazon, Google and Yahoo (YHOO, Tech30).

So even though it may be silly to buy Pandora's stock today just because of Spotify hype, it may be equally silly to write a funeral dirge for the company as well.

If you're looking for a good theme song for Pandora, check out the Gloria Gaynor station: "I Will Survive."

Related: Spotfiy CEO sees bright side to Taylor Swift breakup

Related: Amazon launches Prime streaming music service

Related: Clear Channel changes name to iHeartMedia

CNNMoney (New York) April 13, 2015: 11:49 AM ET

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Nearly 90 percent of Americans have health coverage

A poll by Gallup found that the uninsured rate among U.S adults declined to 11.9% in the first quarter, down one percentage point from the end of last year and an improvement from the 18% without insurance in the fall of 2013, when the Americans were first were able to sign up for coverage at state and federal exchanges.

This is the lowest percentage of Americans without coverage since Gallup started tracking the figure in 2008. Those without coverage was just under 15% at that time, then remained in the range of 15% to 18% before it started declining sharply two years ago. The law requiring most Americans to have coverage or pay a penalty took effect at the start of 2014.

"An improving economy and a falling unemployment rate may also have accelerated the steep drop in the percentage of uninsured over the past year," said the Gallup report. "However, the uninsured rate is significantly lower than it was in early 2008, before the depths of the economic recession, suggesting that the recent decline is due to more than just an improving economy."

Related: Five ways Obamacare has helped Americans

Those making less than $36,000 a year have seen the most significant rate of improvement. Though 22% still do not have coverage, that's down from 30.7% at the end of 2013.

Those 26 to 34 years old have also seen the most improvement of any age group, but again, more than 20% still lack coverage. About 98% of those age 65 and older have coverage, basically unchanged from two years ago, as almost all of them qualify for Medicare.

Related: Obamacare's second round attracts more Americans

And far more minority adults still are without coverage, as about 13% of of blacks and 30% of Hispanics don't have coverage. But once again, they've seen greater improvement in their rates of coverage than have whites.

CNNMoney (New York) April 13, 2015: 8:27 AM ET

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Saudi Arabia boosts military spending to record level

Saudi Arabia increased its military spending by 17% in 2014.

That was the biggest increase among the world's top defense spenders, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The dramatic increase reflects the volatile security situation in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has been leading a military campaign against Shiite rebels in neighboring Yemen in recent weeks.

With high oil prices filling its coffers, Saudi Arabia spent $80.8 billion on its military last year -- the fourth highest total in the world. That represents more than 10% of Saudi GDP -- a bigger share than any country other than Oman.

Global military spending was mostly flat last year, but the Middle East and much of Africa saw strong increases, said Sam Perlo-Freeman, the head of military expenditure research at the Stockholm institute.

The United States cut military spending by 6.5% in 2014 as part of a plan to reduce the budget deficit. Military spending in the U.S. has fallen by 20% since its peak in 2010, but remains 45% higher than before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The U.S. is still the world's biggest spender by far. Its 2014 bill totaled $610 billion, nearly three times China's budget of $216 billion. That was up 9.7% from a year earlier.

Related: Russia is buying weapons - a lot of them

Russia is third on the list after the U.S. and China. It spent $84.5 billion in 2014, an increase of 8.1% in just a year.

Russia was planning for the increase even before the start of the crisis in Ukraine. Its long term military modernization plan aims to provide 70% of the armed forces with new equipment by 2020.

Moscow is aiming for further growth of 15% in 2015. The original plan was for an even bigger increase, but the government was forced to cut back after the collapse in oil prices late last year pushed the country intro recession.

The conflict in Ukraine is forcing other European countries to boost their military budgets.

Spending in eastern Europe was up 8.4% in 2014, reaching $93.9 billion. Poland and Ukraine recorded the biggest increases. The institute said military spending in eastern European has increased by 98% since 2005.

Related: What crisis? Kalashnikov business is booming

CNNMoney (London) April 13, 2015: 8:33 AM ET

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'You are all influencers': How lesbians in tech are gaining ground

"You are all influencers," she says. "You know what's going on here."

LGBT women are advancing in the tech world, but they need help finding support in such a male-dominated field.

Pittsford, founder of the group Lesbians Who Tech, will be hosting a summit in New York later this year, and set up the happy hour to crowdsource what would make the event successful.

Lesbians Who Tech, which got its start at a bar in San Francisco in 2012, has grown to include 9,000 members worldwide.

The organization is just one of many that help LGBT women connect with each other, start their own businesses and access a growing network of LGBT mentors and investors. It's a serious need, given that women in tech earn significantly less than men and are less satisfied with their jobs, according to a Glassdoor study released last year.

"When we come together, we can start thinking of some of these issues and tackling them," Pittsford said, adding that she doesn't always see LGBT issues as part of the bigger conversation about diversity in Silicon Valley.

"We all know there are too few women in tech. Parse that down to lesbians in tech and there are very few," said Marie Trexler, head of the lesbian entrepreneur mentoring program for StartOut, a nonprofit working to create more LGBT-identified business leaders. "Sexual identity isn't always front and center in your business life, but it can be, and it can be very valuable."

Related: Lesbian dating app secures $1 million in funding

A few years ago, Trexler started attending gay tech events, but found, unsurprisingly, that the crowd was mostly male.

"Often it would be me, two or three female friends and 50 to 60 guys," said Trexler, an experienced venture capitalist.

When she started asking lesbians in tech what they wanted, mentoring was repeated over and over.

"The role modeling component really does make a difference," said Trexler.

With StartOut's lesbian entrepreneurship program, each mentee is paired with a mentor for six months. Trexler said one of the biggest challenges for the mentees is funding, which is true for female entrepreneurs across the board.

Related: Record number of U.S. firms offering same-sex benefits

Several funds have been launched to support LGBT-identified entrepreneurs.

VentureOut funds seed-stage startups founded by business leaders in the LGBT community. LGBT Capital takes a different angle, supporting companies that target the LGBT consumer market.

Pitching investors is a big part of Trexler's program.

It made a difference for B. Cole, founder of Brioxy, a soon-to-be-launched platform that helps young people of color find fellowships. She completed the StartOut program last year.

"As a person of color who identifies as a lesbian and someone gender non-conforming, the deck is stacked, so they say," she said. The program helped her identify investors and build a network.

She is looking to raise $500,000 in the next year, to add to the $15,000 she raised on Indiegogo last year. "I'm ready to increase the size of the team and go after a larger market share," she said.

For women who may not want to build their own startups, but still have their sights set on tech, Pittsford said events like hers bring inspiring women together.

At one summit, Megan Smith, who President Obama named as U.S. chief technology officer last year, gave a talk and then stayed to talk to attendees.

Pittsford said the line to get face time with Smith was nearly out the door, and it's women like her that provide a solid role model not just for LGBT women, but women everywhere.

That means a lot to Pittsford, who said that before she started her organization, women said they didn't even have one person they looked up to who was in tech and a lesbian.

"I thought, 'There is something we can solve here,'" she said.

CNNMoney (New York) April 13, 2015: 9:21 AM ET

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Gap and Target among 13 stores probed for hourly wage practices

The office of attorney general Eric Schneiderman sent letters last week to 13 retail chains asking for information about their so-called "on call shifts," where employees are given very little advance notice on what hours they will be working.

Workers find out if they are scheduled for work just hours or the night before the start of a shift. If they are told to stay home, employees are not paid.

Such erratic schedules make it difficult for employees to manage their family needs such as child care or school schedules, according to the letter. It says workers on these shifts "experience adverse financial and health effects, as well as overall stress and strain on family life."

Related: More workers are quitting and that's good news

Schneiderman's office says it has received reports that a growing number of major retailers are using these on call systems to manage staff levels so they have more people when it's busy and fewer when its slow.

New York law requires employers to pay workers at least four hours of minimum wage if employees report for a scheduled shift.

Currently, eight U.S. states and the District of Columbia have similar requirements, according to the National Employment Law Project.

In addition to Target (TGT) and Sears (SHLD), the letter was sent to Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Gap (GPS), Ann Taylor (ANN) , Burlington Stores (BURL), Crocs, JC Penney (JCP), J. Crew Group, L Brands (LB), TJX (TJX), Urban Outfitters (URBN) and Williams Sonoma (WSM).

Related: Microsoft tells its contractors to give workers paid time off

Gap said it was committed to "sustainable scheduling practices that will improve stability for our employees, while helping to effectively manage our business."

The company said it is working with researchers at UC Hastings College on workplace scheduling an productivity issues.

A spokeswoman for TJX, which owns T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, said its schedules are designed to "serve the needs" of both the workers and the company and that they treat employees "dignity and respect."

A spokesperson for Sears said the company is looking into the matter and plans to cooperate with the Attorney General.

Representatives of the other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Related: Nearly 90 percent of Americans have health coverage

Related: 35% of workers say they'll quit if they don't get a raise

CNNMoney (New York) April 13, 2015: 11:05 AM ET

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Canada's economy is a disaster from low oil prices

The fall in oil prices is forcing billions of dollars in spending reductions for Canada's oil and gas industry. In February, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) shelved plans for a tar sands project in Alberta that would have produced 200,000 barrels per day. Last year, Petronas put off plans to build a massive LNG export terminal on Canada's west coast.

Moody's recently predicted that very few of the 18 proposed LNG projects in Canada will be constructed. Most will be canceled. The oil industry is expected to lose 37% of its revenues in 2015, or a fall of CAD$43 billion.

That is bad news for Canada's oil and gas sector. But even worse, Canada's overdependence on oil and gas will threaten its broader economy now that the sector has gone bust.

The severe drop in oil prices has made the Canadian dollar one of the worst performing currencies in the world over the past year. The "loonie" used to trade at parity to the U.S. dollar, and even appreciated to a stronger level a few years ago, but now a Canadian dollar gets you less than 80 U.S. cents.

Related: Top 12 Media Myths On Oil Prices

Disaster levels: While a weaker currency has complicating effects on the economy (it will also boost exports, for example), on balance low oil prices have been an unmitigated disaster for Canada's economy.

Canada's GDP "fell off a cliff" in January of this year, according to a report from Capital Economics, a consultancy. Canada's economy could be shrinking by 1% on an annualized basis. For the full year, Capital Economics predicts growth of 1.5%, followed by a weak 1% expansion in 2016.

"Overall, unless oil prices rebound soon, the economy is likely to struggle much longer than the consensus view implies, even as the improving US economy supports stronger non-energy exports," Capital Economics concluded. Other economic analysts agree.

Nomura Securities worries about "contagion," as the collapse in oil prices lead to less drilling, declining demand for supporting services, falling housing prices, a sinking stock market, and weakness in other sectors like construction and engineering. The pain could be concentrated in Alberta in particular, where household debt averages CAD$124,838, compared to just CAD$76,150 for the rest of Canada. Now with the rug pulled out beneath the economy, there could be a day of reckoning.

Related: How Much Longer Can OPEC Hold Out?

High-cost oil: Much of Canada's oil production comes from high-cost tar sands. When they are up and running, tar sands operations can produce relatively more stable outputs than shale, which suffers from rapid decline rates. But, nevertheless, tar sands are extremely costly, with breakeven prices at $60 to $80 per barrel for steam-assisted extraction and a whopping $90 to $100 per barrel for tar sands mining.

Even worse, Canada's heavy oil trades at a discount to WTI, which makes it all the more painful when oil prices are low. The discount is nearly $12 per barrel below WTI right now. Some of that discount is the result of inadequate pipeline capacity, trapping some tar sands in Canada. The stalled Keystone XL pipeline is the most controversial, but not the only pipeline that has been blocked. The head of Canada's Scotiabank recently warned that the inability to build enough energy infrastructure, plus Canada's near total dependence on the U.S. market, puts Canada's economy at risk.

Related: The Real Cost Of Cheap Oil

The Bank of Canada surveyed the top executives at Canada's 100 largest businesses found that two-thirds of them think it is critical to diversify the economy away from oil. With such a dependence on commodities, the oil bust has rippled through the economy, forcing layoffs and increasing unemployment. Consumer confidence is low, and hiring is at its lowest level since 2009, during the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Of course, diversification can only be achieved over the longer-term. In the near-term Canada's fate is tied to the price of oil.

Nick Cunningham is a Washington DC-based writer on energy and environmental issues for Oilprice.com. You can follow him on twitter at @nickcunningham1.

Related: Oil fallout: U.S. companies kill over 51,000 jobs

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

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What happens when you can't pay what you owe the IRS

But what if you can't come up with the money, at least not all at once?

The good news: There are options other than pawning everything you own or having the IRS go after your wages and bank account.

Your first step should be to file all your returns of the past few years if you haven't done so already. Otherwise steep failure-to-file penalties will accrue quickly, compounding your financial woes.

Second, you must weigh lots of variables to figure out the best payment plan for you -- and then hope the IRS agrees. Those variables include how much you owe, your capacity to pay, the time required under different plans to do so and how much financial information you must reveal to seal the deal.

Whatever deal you strike, follow the terms down to the letter. Because if you miss a payment you're considered in default and then "the gloves come off," said former IRS collections officer David Levine, now an enrolled agent in Reno, Nevada.

Related: When the IRS can keep your refund

Getting help: If you owe less than $10,000, you may be able to resolve the situation on your own, without paying high fees to a lawyer or accountant, according to former IRS attorneys Deborah and Garrett Gregory, who wrote the "Guide to IRS Collections for Liabilities under $10,000."

But if the IRS maze confuses you, find a qualified pro to help.

In any case, if you've always done your own taxes, you might want a tax professional to look them over to make sure you really owe as much as the IRS says before working out a payment plan, Levine suggested.

If you owe more than $10,000, it's advisable to have a tax attorney, enrolled agent or CPA with experience setting up payment plans represent you.

"The more that is owed to the IRS, the more complicated it becomes to negotiate with the government," the Gregorys noted.

Payment options include:

Personal loan: If available to you and you're sure it won't ruin your relationship, a personal loan from a family member or friend will let you pay what you owe in full, save you money in penalties and get the IRS off your back right away.

Related: Don't want to file your taxes? Get ready to pay ... a lot

Assuming you can pay the loan back, Levine recommends this option.

But make sure you formalize the loan by writing down the repayment terms, including interest, and having it notarized, he said.

For many people, of course, a personal loan is not an option. So consider the following:

Short-term extension: If you think you can pay off your debt within 120 days, the IRS may let you do so, and that will curb how much you'll owe in interest and penalties. Plus there's no fee to set up this payment plan as there are with most other options.

Related: You've never seen IRS penalties like these

Installment agreement: If it will take you time to pay your debt, an installment agreement may be your best bet. You can apply online or on paper.

To be considered for one, you generally must owe less than $50,000, be current on your tax return filings and can pay what you owe within 72 months or within the remaining portion of the 10-year collection statute, whichever is less, Garrett Gregory noted.

You may be able to get an installment agreement if you owe more than $50,000 too, but the bar for acceptance is much higher. In addition to everything those who owe less than $50,000 must do to apply, you also must produce a financial statement and all documents supporting income and expenses, he said.

Undue hardship extension: If you can document that paying your tax debt immediately would cause you undue hardship -- e.g., forcing a fire sale of your home -- the IRS may grant you up to 18 months to pay.

To apply for the extension you must include a statement of assets and liabilities, as well as itemize the income and expenses you had three months prior to the tax due date.

Offer in Compromise (OIC): If you can make the case with supporting documents that you will never be able to pay your tax debt in full, the IRS may agree to accept a lesser amount.

Keep in mind, though, the IRS only accepts a minority of OICs and undue hardship extensions, said Mike Slack, a tax researcher at H&R Block's Tax Institute.

CNNMoney (New York) April 13, 2015: 12:07 PM ET

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You're right - flying got worse in 2014

U.S. airline quality declined in 2014 according to the latest ranking from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which looks at on time performance, lost bags, customer complaints and bumped passengers.

The ratings for most airlines fell, but Virgin America (VA) took the top spot as it has for each of the last two years.

Best on-time performance: Hawaiian Airlines (HA) was tops in the category, thanks to relatively few weather delays. But Alaska Air came in second despite the fact that it has much more difficult weather to deal with.

Fewest customer complaints: Alaska Airlines had the fewest number of complaints about things like ticketing and baggage problems.

Fewest lost bags: Virgin America. Virgin also bumped almost no passengers from their scheduled flights.

Biggest decline in quality: Envoy, which used to be known as American Eagle, took the biggest hit in this year's rankings. It also suffered the worst in the overall score out of the dozen airlines that were ranked. It had the highest rate of lost bags and the worst on-time performance.

Bringing up the rear in the 2014 rankings are ExpressJet and SkyWest (SKYW), which like Envoy both provide feeder services for the major carriers.

Related: Why flying stinks and you're still paying more

Most complaints: Frontier Airlines. The industry's overall complaint rate jumped 22% from 2013.

"Things are going in the wrong direction, that's for sure," said Wichita State professor Dean Headley, one of the report's authors.

The study's authors don't expect to see an improvement any time soon, since more people are flying.

"I think it comes from a decision to not reinvest in customer service," said Embry-Riddle professor Brent Bowen.

Related: Legroom - How the airlines compare

Airline customers had plenty of problems in 2014, but airline investors did very well as the industry posted record profits. Shares of the four major airline - American Airlines (AAL), United Continental (UAL), Delta Air Lines (DAL) and Southwest (LUV) - were all among the market's top-performers. Shares of Southwest more than doubled, posting the biggest gain in the S&P.

CNNMoney (New York) April 13, 2015: 12:02 PM ET

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Pepsi to replace Coke as NBA's official sponsor

Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi is expected to make the announcement later Monday.

Coke was the NBA's exclusive food and beverage partner for 28 years.

Pepsi (PEP)CEO Indra Nooyi is expected to officially unveil the partnership with the NBA later Monday.

With the latest partnership, Pepsi will have sponsorship deals with all of the major U.S. sports leagues, including the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League.

Coke (COKE) said it decided not to renew its contract with the league for the upcoming season. The company said it will continue to promote Coke products through existing deals with NBA players, including LeBron James.

Separately, Coke said it would become the exclusive sponsor of Major League Soccer in the Untied States.

CNNMoney (New York) April 13, 2015: 12:06 PM ET

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Kansas City Royals raise ticket prices 20%

Kansas City fans at last year's World Series.

The team made it to baseball's playoffs and World Series for the first time since 1985 last season.

And now? The Royals had by far the biggest jump in ticket prices this season, according to Team Marketing Report.

The average ticket in Kansas City will cost $29.76, a 20% jump. Only two other teams had double-digit increases: The Houston Astros, up about 14%, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, up 11%. The San Francisco Giants, which beat the Royals in the World Series, raised prices 7% to $33.78.

The average price increase league-wide was 3%.

Still, tickets for the two most expensive teams are way out in front: The Boston Red Sox ($52.34) and The New York Yankees ($51.55). The good news is that both teams kept their prices unchanged.

Related: Mayweather-Pacquiao tickets on pace to be most expensive ever in sports history

Red Sox and Yankees fans will also pay the most at the concession stands and to park. Both charge about $35 for parking.

Of course, ticket prices are only one piece for a family outing to the ballpark.

Team Marketing's Fan Cost Index looks at the total cost for a family of four, including four tickets; four hot dogs; four soft drinks; two beers; parking and two baseball caps.

For all that, trips to Boston's Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium in the Bronx top the list at $350.86 and $337.20.

Even so, baseball is a relative bargain compared to other sports. The average ticket prices in the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League are both more expensive than the average Red Sox ticket, as is the cheapest average ticket price in the NFL: $54.20 to see the Cleveland Browns.

Related: Standing room tickets to Game 7 of World Series - $800

CNNMoney (New York) April 6, 2015: 8:39 AM ET

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How Ellen Pao hires for diversity at Reddit

As interim-CEO of Reddit, Pao is taking steps to make sure women are treated equally to men at the social media website.

Pao was back at work after a San Francisco jury late last month found that her former employer, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, did not discriminate against her because she's a woman.

It was a closely-watched case in Silicon Valley and cast a spotlight on the challenges women face in the technology industry.

Related: 'Things will not change' after sex bias verdict without push

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Pao says she wants to stay on as CEO after her one year interim gig ends. She described how she hires for diversity.

-- She has eliminated salary negotiations from the hiring process because women often end up fairing worse in terms of pay.

-- She has hired a well-known diversity consultant to advise Reddit.

-- She has passed over candidates who are not committed to gender and racial diversity, according to the interview.

"We ask people what they think about diversity, and we did weed people out because of that," she said.

Related: 9 reasons to be hopeful about women in tech

Related: Saadia Muzaffar is fighting for women in tech

CNNMoney (New York) April 6, 2015: 7:15 AM ET

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Stocks: 4 things to know before the open

Click chart for in-depth premarket data.

Here are the four things you need to know before the opening bell rings in New York:

1. Stocks set to slide: U.S. stock futures are firmly in negative territory as investors get ready to react to the disappointing U.S. jobs report, which was released on Friday when markets were closed.

The monthly jobs report showed only 126,000 jobs were added in March, the lowest since December 2013 and well below the 244,000 new jobs expected by economists.

The unemployment rate remained stable at 5.5%.

Related: This week in the markets could get ugly

2. Show me the money!: Despite continual talk about its difficult financial situation, Greece said it has enough money to make a crucial debt payment this week to the International Monetary Fund.

Greece needs to pay the IMF about 460 million euros ($505 million) this week, but some were concerned the country wouldn't come up with the money.

European traders are expected to react to this latest Greek development on Tuesday when markets reopen after the long weekend.

Greece needs to repay its loans or risks stumbling out of the eurozone.

3. Crude recovery: Oil futures are climbing ahead of the open, recovering from a dip last week as traders worried about Iran soon ramping up its oil production.

Crude is rising by about 3% to trade around $50.50 per barrel.

The U.S. and other world powers reached a tentative agreement last week that would see Iran scale back its nuclear capabilities, which would lead to a lifting of international sanctions. These sanctions have kept Iran from pumping and exporting its vast oil reserves.

Related: Fear & Greed Index

4. Thursday market recap: All major U.S. indexes finished last week with small gains ahead of the long Easter weekend.

The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 both edged up by 0.4%. The Nasdaq notched a 0.1% gain.

CNNMoney (London) April 6, 2015: 5:03 AM ET

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'Furious 7' races through records at the international box office

Universal's "Furious 7" had a big US debut at the box office, but also broke records around the world.

The Universal picture starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Paul Walker, who died during production, pulled in an estimated $240.4 million at the international box office over the weekend, and was the #1 film in every territory where it was released.

Combining the U.S. and international totals, the film ended its first weekend with $384 million in ticket sales.

The film, which goes by the title "Fast & Furious 7" outside the U.S., represents Hollywood's third highest grossing international opening weekend ever. The only two bigger franchises are "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."

"Furious 7" was also the highest-grossing global opening of 2015 to date.

Box Office Mojo called the $240 million total "incredible" -- "and that's without any help from China, Japan and Russia, where it will open in the next few weeks."

Related: 'Furious 7' races to record $143 million opening box office

Since 2001, "The Fast and the Furious" has been a growing franchise for Universal, the movie studio division of NBCUniversal.

It is now a $2.7 billion global brand.

And "Furious 7" is the biggest installment yet. Even though "Furious 7" is only a few days old, it currently sits third on the highest worldwide gross for the series, behind only 2011's "Fast Five" and 2013's "Fast & Furious 6."

And "Furious 7" is far from finished. The Russian opening is on April 9 and the Chinese opening is on April 12. Those markets could push the film toward $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales.

Related: How Paul Walker helped create a fast and furious box-office franchise

CNNMoney (New York) April 6, 2015: 10:38 AM ET

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Get the balloons ready for Party City's $428 million IPO

There wasn't much to celebrate about the first three months of 2015 in the IPO market. It was worst quarter for bringing companies public in more than three years, according to Renaissance Capital.

What better company to change that vibe than Party City? North America's largest party goods retailer by revenue filed paperwork Monday to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "PRTY."

The filing comes just days after GoDaddy (GDDY) raced around Wall Street with a strong debut of its own.

Party City plans to sell 21.9 million shares at a range of $15 to $17 a piece. Including shares the IPO underwriters can purchase, the total deal could raise up to $428 million and value the retail chain at nearly $2 billion. They have not set a date yet for the IPO.

Related: Don't panic about stocks yet

Rapid expansion plans: Founded in 1947, Party City is a major player in the $10 billion retail party goods industry that draws the biggest traffic during special occasions like Halloween, Fourth of July, New Year's Eve and the Super Bowl.

Party City has 900 locations. In addition to its namesake brand, the company also owns Halloween City, Factory Card & Party Outlet and Party Packagers. It's the largest global maker of decorated party supplies by revenue, with products in more than 40,000 retail outlets around the world.

But Party City thinks the party has more room to grow. The company plans to rapidly expand its retail store base, opening another 350 locations in North America and pushing into more international markets.

Related: GoDaddy races onto Wall Street

Too much debt? One risk investors will have to weigh is Party City's large debt load, which the company highlighted as a key risk that could hurts its financial flexibility and competitive position. Party City listed total debt of $3.4 billion at the end of 2014.

Much of that debt was incurred in 2012 when private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners acquired a majority stake in Party City for $2.7 billion. THL would still own a majority stake in the company even after the planned IPO.

Related: Are we in a tech bubble or not?

DIY goes to Wall Street: Party City isn't the only company sending out IPO invitations these days.

Virtu Financial, a high-speed trading firm, also said on Monday it plans to raise up to $314 million in an offering of its own. The filing comes about a year after Virtu delayed its IPO due to controversy surrounding high-speed trading ignited by "Flash Boys," the Michael Lewis book.

The DIY industry should give the IPO world a boost next week, too. That's when Etsy, the online marketplace for homemade crafts, is likely to go public. Etsy plans to raise up to $267 million in the offering and list its shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "ETSY."

Related: How Etsy's IPO could save cities

CNNMoney (New York) April 6, 2015: 10:54 AM ET

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Tesla stock up sharply on strong sales report

Tesla (TSLA) has seen its high-priced stock fall this year after CEO Elon Musk said in January that sales in China have been weak. But Friday's strong sales figures sent shares up 8% in Monday trading, wiping out about half of this year's sell-off in a single day.

The company said last week it sold 10,300 of the Model S, which starts at around $70,000, in the first three months of the year, up 55% from the same period of last year. That was about 500 cars more than expected.

The worries about China had caused some people to think Tesla would miss sales targets, said Rod Lache, auto analyst for Deutsche Bank.

"It's good to see the company exceed targets," Lache said. "But in the long run this should not be why anybody is buying the stock at this point. You should be buying because you believe the company will be a much larger business in the future."

Related: Tesla to unveil new product line

The roll out in China, the world's largest market for car sales, has not been smooth. Last month, it announced it was cutting 30% of its staff, or 180 jobs, in China, due to the early problems there. Musk said in January that Chinese buyers had "a misconception that charging was difficult." Tesla started deliveries of cars in China in 2014.

Tesla's quarterly sales announcement did not give a geographic breakdown on sales. Independent car sales tracker Autodata estimates the electric car maker has sold 3,550 cars in the United States during this period, which is down 24% from a year ago.

Related: Tesla - Now there's no excuse for running out of juice

CNNMoney (New York) April 6, 2015: 12:00 PM ET

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John Oliver lands Edward Snowden interview from Russia

The comedian surprised viewers on Sunday night by revealing that he visited Russia last week and met with Snowden, who leaked a trove of documents about the American government's mass surveillance programs to journalists in 2013.

The result was a half humorous, half serious R-rated conversation about surveillance, centering around one specific possibility: Can the government secretly access Americans' naked selfies?

Snowden's answer was, Yes.

"If you have your email somewhere like Gmail, hosted on a server overseas or transferred overseas or [if it] at anytime crosses outside the borders of the United States, your junk ends up in the database."

He added, "Even if you send it to somebody within the United States, your wholly domestic communication between you and your wife can go from New York to London and back and get caught up in the database."

Oliver's show "Last Week Tonight" has become known for its lengthy examinations of under-covered but critically important topics. The Snowden interview is another example of what some have called "investigative comedy."

HBO is owned by Time Warner (TWX), which also owns this web site.

The interview almost certainly took months to arrange. Only a handful of American journalists have traveled to Russia to meet Snowden in person. (Snowden has been living there in exile while his lawyers seek a way for him to return to the United States.)

Snowden's ACLU attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment about how the interview came about.

With Oliver, Snowden spoke frankly about his fears that the initial reports by The Guardian, The Washington Post and other news outlets would not get sustained attention.

"I was initially terrified that this was going to be a three-day story. Everybody was going to forget about it," he told Oliver. "But when I saw that everybody in the world said, 'Whoa, this is a problem, we have to do something about this,' it felt like vindication."

Oliver challenged him on that. HBO had sent camera crews to Times Square in New York to ask Americans about mass surveillance. The crews came back with tapes of people saying "I have no idea who Edward Snowden is."

Oliver played the tape for Snowden, who seemed to grimace at one point while watching it.

Oliver asked him, "Is it a conversation that we have the capacity to have? Because it's so complicated, we don't fundamentally understand it."

"It's a real challenge to figure out -- how do we communicate things that require sort of years and years of technical understanding, and compress that into seconds of speech, so I'm sympathetic to the problem," Snowden said.

That's when Oliver sought to make it about something very specific: naked selfies.

Oliver showed Snowden more tape from Times Square -- this time, with passersby saying things like, "If my husband sent me a picture of his penis, and the government could access it, I would want that program to be shut down."

CNNMoney (New York) April 6, 2015: 11:16 AM ET

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No one fired at Rolling Stone. Really?

Rolling Stone wants the damning report by Columbia Journalism School to be a moment when the magazine begins to restore its battered reputation. But observers are asking if it can really do that without any punishment for staff members.

The report detailed the cascading failures in the writing, editing and fact-checking of "A Rape on Campus," the magazine's shocking account of a gang rape at the University of Virginia. Investigators have concluded that there is no evidence the rape occurred.

The reporter, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, and the magazine's top editor, Will Dana, say they are taking responsibility for the failures.

"These are mistakes I will not make again," Erdely said in a statement.

But Erdely will continue writing for Rolling Stone. Dana is standing by her, telling The Washington Post that "Sabrina's done great work for us over the years and we expect that to continue."

And Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner is standing by both of them.

Wenner did not respond to CNN's requests for comment about his decision. But according to people with direct knowledge of his thinking, he concluded that the publication of Columbia's report was essentially punishment enough.

Related: Columbia finds major 'failures' in Rolling Stone's rape story

Related: Three fatal failures in Rolling Stone's UVA rape story

The report certainly is embarrassing. That's why some journalists outside Rolling Stone are perplexed by the publisher's position.

"So no one gets fired and no policies change? No wonder so few trust us anymore," former NBC News investigative correspondent Lisa Myers wrote on Twitter Sunday night.

"What would Rolling Stone in its heyday write about an institution that screwed up unbelievably, damaged people's lives, but punished no one?" Politico's John Bresnahan tweeted.

Acclaimed scholar Clay Shirky concluded that "this wasn't a failure wasn't of process, it was a failure of competence, one big enough that Will Dana should resign."

"He won't, though," Shirky added. "Instead, he got Columbia to dress up Rolling Stone's failure. The Columbia report is thorough, but a distraction."

But what some might call ineptitude on the part of Rolling Stone, others might call a show of loyalty and a second chance for the staff.

Columbia journalism school dean Steve Coll, who led the review, pointed out in an interview with The Post that he found no outright dishonesty by Erdely or the editors -- no "inventing facts, lying to colleagues, plagiarism or such, that I would think of as grounds for automatic firing or serious sanction."

Coll may speak further about this at a 12 p.m. Eastern press conference at Columbia. CNNMoney will have a full report from the press conference.

Although disciplinary actions have apparently been ruled out, Rolling Stone has indicated that it may make behind-the-scenes adjustments.

When Dana was interviewed by Columbia's investigators, he said, "It's not like I think we need to overhaul our process, and I don't think we need to necessarily institute a lot of new ways of doing things. We just have to do what we've always done and just make sure we don't make this mistake again."

Coll and his fellow reviewers disagreed. It prescribed several possible changes to the magazine's processes, including restrictions on the use of pseudonyms.

In his apologetic editors' note on Sunday night, Dana said, "We are also committing ourselves to a series of recommendations about journalistic practices that are spelled out in the report."

Dana declined a CNN interview request on Monday morning by saying he was "talked out for now."

Related: Author of botched Rolling Stone rape story apologizes

CNNMoney (New York) April 6, 2015: 11:36 AM ET

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6 top stocks to buy in April

We asked six of Motley Fool contributors specializing in technology and consumer goods stocks to weigh in with their top picks for April. Read on to see what they had to say about Priceline (PCLN, Tech30), Under Armour (UA), Zillow (Z), Google (GOOGL, Tech30), TubeMogul (TUBE), and Netflix (NFLX, Tech30).

1. Rick Munarriz likes Netflix: The world's leading premium streaming video service reports quarterly results smack dab in the middle of the month, making Netflix a smart buy if you think that it will at least live up to if not exceed expectations. I obviously do. Netflix set the bar high during its holiday quarter, and it's targeting 61.44 million subscribers worldwide by the end of March. That's 4 million more than it had just three months earlier.

Related: An Interview With Michael Lewis

Netflix had a springtime stumble last year. Subscriber growth stalled after a May price hike, and the content gap between the sophomore seasons of "House of Cards" and "Orange is the New Black" seemed like it was an eternity for fickle members. That's not happening this time around. Netflix kept the exclusivity juices flowing through March with the gripping Bloodline and hilarious Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It also capped March off by launching its magnetic service in Australia and New Zealand.

The stock has taken a breather since hitting $486.50 in February, but the fundamentals are as strong as ever. Investors can buy in today at a discount to recent highs, and if Netflix pulls off another blowout quarter -- it's coming off of back-to-back periods of better-than-expected earnings -- it wouldn't be a surprise to see the dot-com darling set a new high-water mark in April.

2. Andres Cardenal likes Priceline: Priceline stock has been stagnant through the last year, mostly due to investor concerns over a depreciating euro and its impact on the company's business. While this can be a material source of uncertainty in the short term, the long-term growth story in Priceline is pretty much intact, and temporary weakness seems to be creating a buying opportunity in the online travel leader.

Related: Markets Change. So Should You

Weakness in the euro is no big news, and Priceline is still delivering solid performance in spite of economic headwinds. The European currency depreciated nearly 8% versus the U.S. dollar in the fourth quarter last year. Priceline's gross travel bookings grew 17% in U.S. dollars, and by a much larger 23% on a currency-adjusted basis, so the impact on the company's business was considerable.

But Priceline still delivered a 19.4% increase in revenues and a 25.6% jump in gross profit measured in U.S. dollars during the period. The company is producing impressive performance while facing challenging conditions, and this says a lot about the health of the business and its fundamental quality.

Priceline trades at a forward P/E ratio around 20 times earnings forecasts for 2015. This is a slight premium versus the overall market, but still quite attractive for such a profitable growth business. Economic conditions come and go, but Priceline has the strength to continue delivering rapidly growing sales and earnings over the long term.

Related: The stock market could get ugly. Don't panic yet

3. Dan Caplinger likes Under Armour: The athletic apparel business has grown strongly in recent years, and rising interest has vaulted Under Armour into the upper echelon of companies in the space. The company has become the No. 2 player in the U.S. market and has made moves to broaden its appeal globally as well. Having started out as a niche provider of specific types of apparel, Under Armour's growth path has taken it into direct competition with footwear giants, yet it has maintained a reputation for being a scrappy upstart that appeals to consumers who prefer an underdog to the establishment-leader of the industry.

Under Armour reports its first-quarter earnings late this month, and investors have high expectations for the company, looking for 25% growth in sales. With arch-nemesis Nike having delivered strong results in its quarterly report last month, Under Armour will feel pressure to outperform its larger rival. Investors should especially look at Under Armour's international efforts, as well as its moves to broaden its appeal among female customers and teen athletes while offering a broader set of product lines to appeal to athletes of all levels. If it can keep succeeding, Under Armour shares could easily continue their strong run.

Related: When's the right time to invest

4. Steve Symington likes Zillow Group: When Zillow announced in January that it would let its 4-year-old agreement to receive certain MLS listings from ListHub expire on April 7, 2015, it initially seemed to leave the company in a lurch as it worked to make up for those lost listings. But Zillow recently announced that as of April 8, it will have a higher number of for-sale-by-agent listings than ever before thanks to its accelerating efforts to secure agreements with dozens of new MLS partners over the past two months.

If that wasn't enough, Zillow also closed on its acquisition of Trulia in mid-February, and stated at the time that integration efforts for what will be two leading, complementary business were already under way. Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff also called Trulia a "game changer" given the incremental revenue opportunity its massive rental lead volume will provide to Zillow's HotPads platform. Investors will receive more information on these synergies and operating plans in Zillow Group's first-quarter earnings call next month. But for now, with shares trading modestly lower so far in 2015 as of this writing, I think Zillow Group stock presents a perfect opportunity for patient, long-term investors to step in.

Related: The first investing strategy you should learn

5. Joe Tenebruso likes Google: With U.S. markets near all-time highs, many of the stocks I follow are trading at lofty valuations. I'm not afraid to pay a premium for quality, but I'd much rather buy an excellent business at a good price. Today, I believe we have one such opportunity with Google.

Google's stock is down about 4% over the last 12 months as skeptics focus on the threats posed by competitors such as Facebook and the potential loss of Google's position as the default search provider on Apple's Safari browser. While these threats are not to be taken lightly, I believe their potential impact is being overstated by some. Facebook's new video initiatives do make it a more direct rival to YouTube, but video is a massive and fast-growing market, and YouTube remains a clear leader. In addition, the loss of the default search position on Safari is by no means a certainty, and even if it were to happen, the actual hit to Google's business may be far less than many bears would have you believe.

More importantly, while the fear surrounding Google is granting us an attractive short-term entry point into the stock, I'm more focused on Google's long-term opportunities. Google remains the undisputed leader in Internet search in most areas of the world, and is constantly expanding its reach with an ever-growing array of services such as Google Play, Chrome, and Drive. And while Apple has been clawing back share of the smartphone market, Android remains the market share leader. Maybe most importantly, Google's culture of innovation helps it to remain at the vanguard of technological change.

Related: Warren Buffett says there's no stock market bubble

6. Tim Beyers likes TubeMogul: Advertising is a huge enough market that Google generates over $60 billion a year in revenue slinging digital ads, a business that barely existed a decade ago. (Google's 2005 revenue topped out at $6.1 billion.)

How does this relate to TubeMogul? We're still in the early stages of figuring out how to create consistent, effective, cross-channel online video ads. TubeMogul is leading the way forward with an analytics-powered buying engine that makes it easy for advertisers to take advantage of this growing medium.

What's more, because of the presence of online logins at YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion and more, digital video advertisers learn more about how consumers engage with pitches. Think of it as "Moneyballing" the ad buying process; every new campaign provides intelligence that leads to better targeting, better conversions, and more money for the enabling platform: TubeMogul.

We're already seeing gains. Revenue more than doubled in 2012, rose 67.5% in 2013, and 99.7% last year, S&P Capital IQ reports. Gross margins have expanded rapidly over the same period -- up from 52.1% to 70.3%. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, continued growth would strongly benefit co-founders John Hughes and Brett Wilson. Combined, they own over 11% of TubeMogul's shares outstanding. With so much invested in the company, it's a good bet that Hughes and Wilson will do everything they can to boost the stock -- for themselves and the shareholders invested alongside them.

These six investors write for The Motley Fool, which recommends Apple, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Nike, Priceline Group, Under Armour, and Zillow Group.

(New York) April 6, 2015: 11:48 AM ET

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Somaliland to Harvard: How this student beat the odds

Abdisamad Adan is starting at Harvard University later this year.

He credits the dramatic change in his fortunes to Somaliland's Abaarso School, a very small boarding school he attended, which was founded in 2009 by an American hedge fund manager.

"I'm not the smartest kid in Somaliland but I've had [the] opportunity [to attend Abaarso]," said Adan, who received his Harvard acceptance letter, along with a full scholarship, this month and will begin his undergraduate studies in September.

The Abaarso boarding school has become something of a feeder school for elite universities. Adan, 20, is among a small number of underprivileged students who are increasingly getting accepted into the most prestigious American universities, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown.

The Abaarso School is based in Somaliland, a self-declared independent state in Somalia.

Abaarso's founder, Jonathan Starr, is a former American hedge fund manager turned headmaster, who left his job in finance because he wanted to do something different.

A family connection led him to launch the school in Somaliland, a self-declared independent state in Somalia that is still recovering from decades of civil war and a severe drought.

Related: Harvard rejects about 95% of applicants

The boarding school houses 185 students in grades 7 through 12. It is staffed by American teachers who work on "volunteer pay," according to the school.

The school has received roughly $2 million in financing, mostly from Starr and his finance friends.

Many of Abaarso's students come from nomadic families and, like Adan, didn't speak English before joining the school.

Adan joined Abaarso, on a scholarship, shortly after it was launched. His grandmother had not even heard of Harvard before he began his application process.

"Harvard does not mean a lot to her, but when she realized I got into the one I wanted, she was very happy," said Adan, describing the day he received his acceptance letter.

Related: Colleges with the highest-paid grads

Starr says it's been an uphill battle to get colleges to notice bright students like Adan. Many elite universities that see an application from Somaliland may crumple it up and think it's a practical joke, he said.

So Starr has been canvasing universities and promoting his school, while also arranging for students to study for a year abroad to gain international exposure.

Adan received financial assistance to study for a year at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York, where he was able to prove that he could keep up with his American peers.

"I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do the SATs if I hadn't gone to America," he said.

Looking ahead to the future, Adan says he wants to focus on academic subjects that will help him serve his country after he graduates. He's particularly interested in economics and political science.

"I'm just trying to put myself day after day in a better position to help my country," he said.

And Adan says he has no problem with Harvard's cut-throat reputation.

"People kept telling me that Harvard is really really competitive and everyone is trying to beat you. I was like, great. That's what I want."

Related: Stanford offers free tuition for families making less than $125,000

CNNMoney (London) April 6, 2015: 12:04 PM ET

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