Retirement Watch Weekly
Don’t Discount the Power of the Fed
Trade conflicts and the dollar appear to be moving markets, but don’t discount the power of the Fed. As the first half of 2018 draws to a close, let’s see how various factors played out during that time, starting with the overall stock market. Here, the major indexes started the year by hitting a series […]
10 Essential Actions for Every Estate Plan Checklist
There are basic actions that should be taken in your Estate Planning, whether the estate is taxable or not. Too many people still believe that because their estates aren’t taxable under federal law, they don’t need to do any estate planning. Others think they’ll wait until the dust settles on the 2017 tax law before […]
The Attraction Of Treasury Bills
A bad sign for investors is when the risk-free asset returns more than riskier assets. When that happens, investors buy the risk-free asset until the riskier assets appear to have higher potential returns. In other words, there can be a bear market. That’s why the action in short-term treasury interest rates is important. As this […]
Managing the Key Players in Your Estate Planning Strategy (Your Heirs, Beneficiaries, Executors, and Trustees)
In last week’s story, we reviewed the major potential “surrogates” in estate plans (the agents, trustees, executors, and others). Today we offer some pointers for reducing problems you may face with surrogate designations. Know all the surrogates you designated Review financial accounts, insurance policies, and estate planning documents to be sure you know who currently […]
Diminishing Value of Social Security Benefits
This article is about a study that concludes Social Security benefits currently buy 34% less than they did in 2000. This annual study from an advocacy group purports to re-arrange the basket of goods and services that are used to compute the Consumer Price Index so that it better reflects the purchases made by seniors. […]
Your Retirement Finance Week in Review
Inflation has been rising. Should the Federal Reserve be worried about it? The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been rising steadily since early 2015. It recently settled in above 2%, and the headlines announced that the latest 12-month reading was at the highest level since 2011. Some Fed officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell, have said […]
New 529 Plan Rules
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made some changes to 529 savings plans, which I discussed in Retirement Watch. This article says many parents still aren’t making use of the provision and explores the reasons why. They may be concerned their funds in a 529 plan could reduce their child’s chances of being awarded a […]
Investors Are Doing Better
We regularly see reports concluding that investors earn lower returns than the published returns for individual mutual funds. The reason usually given for the discrepancy is poor timing. Investors tend to buy a fund after it’s had good returns and then sell after a bad period. This article from Morningstar says investors have done better […]
