Social Security
Found 257 Articles.
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What Could Go Wrong with the Stock Market?
Bloomberg interviewed a number of long-time professional investors and asked them what worries them. Things are going well now, but another crash is possible. Each identifies the factor they think could cause another deep dive in the markets. One of Tad Rivelle’s favorite charts shows the widening gap between the value of U.S. household assets and […]
Who Invests in Stocks? Stock Market Participation
It’s generally accepted that people aren’t equally invested in the stock markets. It’s usually accepted that higher income individuals have a higher percentage of their net worth in stocks than lower income individuals. Did you know that stock market participation also varies by state? The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis published a paper showing […]
Should You Opt for Social Security Lump Sum Retirement Benefits?
Do you know there’s an option to receive up to six months of benefits in a lump sum when initiating Social Security retirement benefits? Not many people do, until they apply for benefits. While a nice option, too many people are surprised by it, and don’t receive the benefit package that’s best for them because […]
“Stealth Taxes” – How to Avoid Getting Taxed on Social Security Benefits
Have you heard of “stealth taxes?” I call them that because people often don’t know about the taxes before getting bitten by them. One of the worst stealth taxes for retirees is the income tax on Social Security retirement benefits. Some aren’t aware of the tax when they retire. Others are exempt from the tax […]
Should You Opt for Social Security Lump Sum Benefits?
Do you know there’s an option to receive up to six months of benefits in a lump sum when initiating Social Security retirement benefits? Not many people do, until they apply for benefits. While a nice option, too many people are surprised by it and don’t receive the benefit package that’s best for them because […]
Expecting Average Historic Returns
This article reports on a new survey conducted for Legg Mason. The survey says most investors expect that in the coming years they expect to earn the average long-term total return of about 8.5% from their portfolios. The article then reports that a large number of investment professionals believe that’s unrealistic and investors are setting […]
PIMCO’s Intermediate Stock Market and Economic Outlook
Every year PIMCO conducts what it calls a Secular Forum at which the firm’s staff plus invited outside speakers discuss broad economic and investment issues. At the end, PIMCO derives an outlook for the next three to five years and uses this outlook to influence investment decisions. The 2017 forum concluded a few weeks ago, […]
Worry About a Narrow Market – The Problem with Capitalization Weighted Indexes
It is the nature of capitalization-weighted indexes that a few large companies dominate the returns for the index. This becomes especially pronounced after long bullish runs. So, these days we hear a lot of talk about five to 10 stocks deceiving investors about the nature of the market. There’s some truth to that idea. But […]
