As hard as you try not to pay attention when stocks plunge, it can make you nervous -- it can make you rethink your portfolio strategy of staying invested in stocks through bear markets in order to capture the gains historically achieved in bull markets...

Here’s an update on this week’s financial economic news, informed by financial and tax planning and a perspective suited to investors seeking to build a retirement income portfolio or building a legacy for the next generation.  The U.S. Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) declined for the sixth consecutive month, and economists at The Conference Board, who compile the data on the 10 indexes that comprise the LEI every month, for t..

This is an unusual year-end tax planning season. The pace of federal tax law reform has increased in the four decades and accelerated since the pandemic. In addition, tax simplification seems like a long-forgotten goal in recent tax reforms. For example, in February 2022, rules implementing the SECURE Act, which was signed into law December 2019, changed a highly technical part of the Internal Revenue Code affecting distributions from federally q..

The stock market suffered its worst week since the June 23 bear market, when the Standard & Poor’s stock index fell more than -20% from its all-time high on January 3, 2022.  Try as you might not to pay attention when stocks nosedive and to stick with your strategy to stay invested in stocks for decades, when stocks plunge like they have in this past week, it can make you nervous, and make you rethink your portfolio strategy. Keep in m..

Since the pandemic, so much has happened; so much has changed in work and in living every day...

It’s only mid-September, but please begin to think about year-end tax planning. This is an unusual year for tax planning. Not only has the stock market been volatile but new rules about distributions from IRAs and federally qualified retirement plans (QRPs) – such as 401(k), 403(b) and defined benefit plans –became effective this year, and the newly-enacted Inflation Reduction Act also adds some planning opportunities.   &nbs..

It is a pivotal moment in economic history. The dust is settling from the economic shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the post-pandemic inflation crisis and Russia-Ukraine War linger on, creating stock market uncertainty, fueling fears of an economic downturn, and, in some quarters, of a worldwide financial disaster. So, the latest data on the service sector of the U.S. economy is indeed reassuring. Amid considerable gloom and doom..

In case you missed it, sweeping new rules on distributions from IRA And Qualified Retirement Plans (QRPs) went into effect at the beginning of 2022.  W ith the pandemic, high inflation rate, Federal Reserve tightening and other crises preoccupying attention, it is understandable if you did not know about the important new rules affecting retirement planning.    On December 20, 2019, President Donald J. Trump signed into law th..

This is a heads up for anyone deciding how to designate beneficiaries of their IRA account based on advice from an IRA custodian call-center employee...

At the annual economic policy symposium hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the Fed would slow the economy to fight inflation and that it would cause “some pain” in the economy...

The economy created 315,000 new jobs in August, signaling a recession has not begun despite Federal Reserve tightening and its hawkish pronouncements about its determination to end the post-pandemic inflation cycle. To be clear, employers continued to create more new jobs than were lost in August, even as the Fed said its No. 1 priority is ending the worst inflation in four decades. Stocks lost ground anyway. Unemployment remains near an all-time..

This is a heads up for anyone deciding on how to designate beneficiaries of an IRA based on advice from an IRA custodian call-center employee. When you call your IRA custodian, checking your account balance or requesting paperwork for a transaction is straightforward, but designating beneficiaries, paying an IRA to a trust, or leaving someone other than your spouse your IRA is an entirely different matter. Even if the service from your IRA custod..

The extreme financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may seem unprecedented..

At an economic policy symposium sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Friday that the Federal Reserve would slow the economy to fight inflation and that it would cause “some pain” in the economy.  The top of The Wall Street Journal’s website Friday evening heralded news of a 1,000-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 60 stocks. The Fe..

The unusual financial economic events of the last couple of years have caused great financial disappointment for some Americans. Losing the money to give your children a down payment on their first home, going through a divorce or business failure -- losing wealth -- is a deeply personal bad emotional experience. Giving up on that retirement dream home, losing the money to pay for a grandchild’s education, or suddenly lacking the wherewithal to..

Investment regulators require financial advertisements to state that past performance is not indicative of future results...

The stock market declined -1.3% Friday and -1.2% from a week ago, snapping a four-week win streak.  Inflation cooled in July and may even have peaked but that does not mean the worst of the financial economic turbulence is behind us, and it’s prudent to expect current conditions to worsen.   Here’s perspective on current financial economic conditions, if you’re a retirement investor or building a legacy.   &nbs..

The extreme financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed unprecedented to most investors. Over the past two years, Americans witnessed a sudden stop financial crisis in March 2020, the injection of nearly $10 trillion of monetary and fiscal stimulus within a matter of months, and an unanticipated burst of inflation that caught even the Federal Reserve off guard. The truth, however, is that these events seem anomalous only because many histor..

As a rule of thumb, a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. As a rule of thumb, a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth...

Securities regulators require financial advisors to state in their public statements that past performance is not indicative of future results because investing is complicated, and nothing is guaranteed. Ironically, however, a mountain of evidence exists showing that achieving investment success depends largely on understanding lessons from the past.     Since the post-war era began in 1957, at least 27 financial crises have c..