A tight housing market is leading many young adults to postpone purchasing a home, choosing instead to go the rental route. Many simply don’t want to be encumbered with a mortgage and all of the responsibilities that go with home ownership. As a renter, it’s tempting to think that all of your responsibilities and worries shift to your landlord; however, you’ll be in for a shock if the building you’re living in is damaged by...
Generally speaking, conversations about life insurance revolve around whether you should buy term or permanent insurance. However, every decision to buy life insurance begins with deciding what is the right amount of life insurance. And, integral to determining the right amount of life insurance is understanding the role of your Social Security Survivorship Benefit (SSSB). What is the Social Security Survivorship Benefit? If you qualify for Social Security and pass away, a SSSB may provide...
Here’s a number most people would like to see on an annual statement: 21.6 percent. That was the annual return for the Standard & Poor (S&P) 500 Index during 2017. In general, U.S. stock indices did quite well last year – and the year before, too. For instance, the S&P 500 Index was up 11.8 percent in 2016.1 While no one can invest directly in an index, recent returns make it easy to understand why...
So you’ve got your degree, now what? These days, only on television is landing your dream job after graduation a thing that could actually happen. The reality is, in a recent survey of 503 - recent grads - entry-level job seekers by national career matchmaking firm GradStaf, “nearly 70 percent of respondents were either unemployed or working in a full-time non-professional job to make ends meet.” Pair that with the idea that ‘the average cost...
The last bear market in bonds began in the middle of the last century and lasted for about 31 years. Some investors who bought bonds in 1950 locked in relatively low rates of return for a very long time. On January 1, 1950, 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds yielded 2.3 percent.1 As interest rates moved higher, the market value of those bonds diminished. The good news was people could hold bonds to maturity and expect to...
Retirement and Social Security are inextricably linked. Not only did Social Security help establish the official U.S. retirement age at 65, it also provides a significant portion of today’s retirees’ incomes. Some of the earliest company pension programs began paying benefits at age 65.1 The economics made sense since life expectancy for a 30-year-old at the turn of the century was about 65 years.2 When the U.S. government was working through the economics of old-age...
You’re 25 and feeling alive. You’re settling into life after university, paying off your debts and slowly figuring how to “adult”. But with the responsibility of bills, rent, and even keeping up social appearances, prioritizing financial planning is something far too often pushed to the side. Of course the nagging idea that maybe starting a 401-K might not be the worst thing, however it’s hard to fully take control of your financial future when the...
The world’s first central bank offered unprecedented convenience. It gave 17th century Swedes the option to pay with paper notes rather than 40-pound copper plates, which were the currency units of the Swedish empire at the time. Historically, it may have been one of the few actions taken by a central bank that has been relatively uncontroversial.1 It seems as though central banking in the United States always has been hotly debated. Early in our...
Healthcare. Retirement. Those may be two of the most stressful words in the English language today. Especially when you include them both in the same sentence. For instance, a married couple that saves $326,000 has a 90 percent chance of having enough money to pay healthcare expenses in retirement. A single man would need to save $116,000 for retirement healthcare expenses, and a single woman about $131,000 to have the same odds, according to the...
In a 2002 interview with Mike Wallace, former First Lady Nancy Reagan said she often reread the love letters written by her husband, former President Ronald Reagan. The letters, which had sustained and enriched their relationship, helped Mrs. Reagan reconnect with her husband and remember the man he was before Alzheimer’s claimed him. 1 An excerpt from her book, I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan reads: 2 “No matter...
Dan Taylor faced a precarious situation after his father suffered from a stroke at age 72 and couldn’t live alone. Dan was responsible for looking after him and had no idea how to proceed. He was overwhelmed by the plethora of options and was determined to find a place where his father “would be treated with dignity and respect.” His experience inspired him to write The Parent Care Conversation, a book that helps parents and...
The bull market in U.S. stocks has been charging ahead for more than eight years.1 While that’s young in people years, it’s ancient in bull market terms. Since World War II, the longest bull market in U.S. stocks lasted for almost nine-and-a-half years. The shortest sputtered out after just 13 months. On average, bull markets last for slightly less than five years, according to Fortune.2 So, how much longer will this bull market persist? No...
