The earlier you start pursuing financial goals, the better your outcome may be. As a young investor, you have a powerful ally on your side: time. When you start saving and investing for retirement in your twenties or thirties, you can put it to work for you. The effect of compounding is huge. Most people…
NO SURPRISE: HOUSEHOLD SENTIMENT WANES The initial September edition of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index came in last week at 85.7 – its lowest reading in a year, significantly below its final August mark of 91.9. Given the recent stock market retreat and ongoing headlines about China’s economic slowdown, the closely watched indicator…
A GREEN LIGHT FOR A RATE HIKE? According to the latest Labor Department report, employers hired 215,000 new workers in July – 77,000 of them in professional, business, education, and health care occupations. The jobless rate held steady at 5.3% while the U-6 rate (unemployment + underemployment) ticked down to 10.4%. Monthly hiring totals have…
Working a little (or a lot) after 60 may become the norm. Do we really want to retire at 65? Not according to the latest annual retirement survey from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies which gauges the outlook of American workers. It found that 51% of us plan to work part-time once retired. Moreover,…
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE DIPS WITH STOCK DECLINES July brought an 8.9-point drop for the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index; it fell to 90.9. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index held up better, losing 3.0 points in July to descend to a mark of 93.1.1,2 PENDING HOME SALES SLIP; PRICE INDEX TICKS UP The National Association…
Key lessons for retirement savers. You learn lessons as you invest in pursuit of long-run goals. Some of these lessons are conveyed and reinforced when you begin saving for retirement, and others you glean along the way. First & foremost, you learn to shut out much of the “noise.” News outlets take the temperature of…
Some factors for parents & grandparents to consider. Naming a minor as a beneficiary brings up a major concern. If parents or grandparents make a child a primary or contingent beneficiary of an insurance policy, IRA or investment account, they should be aware that most policies and investments will not directly transfer to a minor.…
CONSUMER & WHOLESALE PRICES INCREASE The Labor Department announced a 0.3% June rise in the headline Consumer Price Index, following the 0.4% advance for May. This left annualized consumer inflation positive for the first time in six months (+0.1%). June brought a 0.2% gain for the core CPI, which is now up 1.8% across the…
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If what you thought to be true about your investments turned out to be false, when would you want to know?
Tip Number 1: Look at the SAI of the mutual funds you own. The SEC requires each mutual fund company
Asset Protection Tip Number 1 It should be pointed out that many portfolio managers, financial advisors, stockbrokers, and financial planners
Truth Number 1 There can be times when the market goes up and your equity indexed annuity will get 0% credit.
What does your money really have to do to bring you peace of mind? The answers lie in asking the right questions,
Just by reading The Fiduciary Awareness Guide, you will know more than most plan sponsors about what it means to be a prudent fiduciary.
Those who benefit the most are employers sponsoring a retirement plan and those who are currently investing for retirement.
Hans Christian Andersen recorded a folktale about a poor farmer who takes his horse to market to sell or exchange for something that will be more practical for his farm. But on the way to his destination, the Old Man (as he’s known in the story) makes a series of ill-advised trades. In each case…
More than 40 years ago, if you had made a list of the most influential investors in America, Peter Lynch would have been near the top. From 1977 to 1990 he ran Fidelity’s Magellan Fund, and during this span compounded capital at a rate of more than 29%.1 He achieved this feat by managing to choose stocks…
Forecasts: Reasonable, Methodical, and Wrong – Presented by Mark K. Lund
Late in 2022 the strategy team at Goldman Sachs Research released their forecast for the U.S. stock market in 2023.1 Based on what had happened the year before and on where the economy appeared to be headed, it seemed to be perfectly reasonable. “Zero earnings growth will drive zero appreciation in the stock market,” wrote…
Quarterly Client Letter – 2022 Q4 – Provided by Mark K. Lund, Financial Advisor
Every January, it’s typical to reflect on market data from the year past. You’ll see the results in your own quarterly reports, as well as across the usual flurry of broad market analyses. Even when the numbers aren’t what we’d prefer—which has certainly been the case for 2022—we look at them anyway. It’s good to…
If They Can Predict the Weather, Why Not the Stock Market? Humans have always had a strong desire to know the future. Soon after writing was developed in ancient Mesopotamia the Babylonians began using it to catalog thousands of auguries—observances of natural phenomena that they believed could predict major events.1 We still want to know…
The difference between planning ahead and worrying ahead When was the last time you watched the entire safety demonstration by an airline cabin crew? If you’ve traveled enough, you could probably stand up and give most of the presentation yourself. Using props like a seatbelt, an oxygen mask, and a lifejacket, the attendants talk about…
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