Retirement Watch Weekly
Why Consumers Aren’t Spending More – The Impact of and Aging Population
This brief article from some Federal Reserve economists explores the question of why in recent years consumers haven’t been spending as much as expected. Given recent increases in incomes, home prices, and investment prices, spending would be higher if consumers tracked behavior before the financial crisis. The authors consider the effects of psychological effects of […]
Robot Investing by Quant Funds using AI Fails The Latest Test
Hedge funds that use artificial intelligence and similar quantitative tools to invest fared worse than other hedge funds in the latest market correction, according to this article. A firm that’s been tracking the funds since 2011 says it tracks only a small number of funds, but it appears the computer models were set to assume […]
Investing in Art: The Rockefeller Estate Art Auction
Interesting article about the expected $1 billion auction of the art and other valuable from the estate of the late David Rockefeller. One interesting point is that much of the art was purchased for substantially less than today’s estimated value. Another point is that Rockefeller changed his plans for the pieces over time, partly because […]
The Tax-Free Lifetime Income Stream that Pays Up to 76% MORE than Social Security
To read the Special Report, please click the PDF below. […]
Antiques Investing: The Great Antiques Bust
Prices for many antiques are way down, and could have farther to fall, according to this article. In fact, it appears that many “antiques dealers” have changed their businesses entirely and not dealing at all in older items. This article has some theories about why this happened. Even New York’s prestigious Winter Antiques Show has […]
How to Maximize Charitable Giving Tax Benefits in the New Tax Reform Law
Many savvy taxpayers will change their charitable giving strategies… now that they’ve had time to process the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. For years I’ve advised that writing checks to charities each year, or more frequently, is an inefficient way to donate. It’s even less efficient now. The latest tax law made several […]
11 Essential Estate Planning Documents, Forms and Strategies
The most neglected assets in retirement and financial plans probably are the family home and home equity. Even though these are among the most valuable assets most people have, they are, at best, an afterthought in planning. Home equity should be an integral part of your retirement plan, and that makes it what I call […]
The Changing S&P 500
The market rally the last few years has been uneven, and that’s led to technology stocks dominating the S&P 500. S&P doesn’t rebalance the S&P 500 index on a regular basis. It generally lets the market do that, as the weight of different stocks and especially sectors changes over time. Sometimes the changes can be […]
