May 4, 2016
With bond yields at or near record lows for the past several years, it may be tempting for investors – particularly those seeking income – for fatter checks. But as uncomfortable as it may be to live with yields around 2 percent, here’s the best advice about chasing higher yields: don’t do it. (more…)
March 24, 2016
In April 2015 the Dallas Fed’s Economic Letter carried this front-page headline: “Plunging Oil Prices: A Boost for the U.S. Economy.” But the headline ended with this down note: “A Jolt for Texas.” The newsletter went on to say that while eight energy-dependent state economies might take a hit, lower oil prices represented a net positive for the U.S. as a whole. (more…)
March 3, 2016
On January 4, 2016, the Dow Jones Industrial average closed down 276 points, the worst year-opening trading day in eight years. It was followed by seven more triple-digit declines, pushing the index down by 5.5% for the month, and into an official 10% correction off its 2015 high. The benchmark S&P 500 didn’t do much better: off 5.1% for the month and down 8.9% from its relative high. Meanwhile, small cap stocks had fallen by month-end into a full-fledge bear market, with the Russell 2000 down 20% from June 2015’s high.
(more…)February 2, 2016
Individual Retirement Accounts are one of the great innovations of our age, providing tax incentives for people to save money to supplement their Social Security and any pension benefits. At the same time they’re among the most bewildering of asset-bearing accounts to work into a sound estate plan, and it’s impossible to cover all the considerations in a short article. Instead, what we intend to do here is to introduce investors to the issues by helping them to avoid some of the most common mistakes people make when they’ve got IRA assets to pass on or receive.
(more…)January 6, 2016
Want to Maximize Your Social Security Benefits? The Door Is About to Close on Two Strategies for Most People With all the concern about the future of the viability of Social Security, it should come as no surprise that President Obama signed into law last month a bipartisan federal budget bill that starts to chip away at the retirement benefits the system pays out for two-income households.
(more…)October 30, 2015
With the S&P 500 crossing into “correction” territory (down at least 10% from its high) in the closing days of September for the third time since August this year, investors are understandably anxious. After all, the U.S. stock benchmark has been in a secular bull market since March 2009, making it longer than the previous bull market, which ran a little more than five years, from late October 2002 to October 2007. The downswing made prophets of a host of market watchers, some of whom had been calling for a correction since last spring. And then there was that nasty, historic intra-day decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 1,000 points on August 24, after which it rallied to close down nearly 600 points, which was certainly unsettling to many investors.
(more…)August 18, 2015
Should you be invested in foreign stocks? Some financial advisors think everyone should have at least some exposure to overseas equities, despite the extra currency risk and potentially higher volatility. What’s more, recent headlines are enough to give any investor pause: continued chaos in Greece, slower growth in Western Europe, Brazil and Russia on the verge of recession, and the recent crash in China’s Shanghai Composite stock index.
(more…)October 5, 2014
Scotland voted to remain part of the United Kingdom on its independence referendum. According to The Guardian the results of the September 18, 2014 vote were 55.3% to stay and 44.7% to leave. The first reaction for many was a sigh of relief. If it had passed there were a number of concerns such as: