Key Takeaways Confidence from homebuilders has now fallen every month for a year, hitting levels not seen since 2012, according to the National Association for Home Builders (NAHB). An index below 50 is considered negative, and in December sentiment fell 2 points to hit 31. The NAHB believes this negative trend will continue into 2023,
Retirement
You know that those credit card rewards aren’t free, but who’s really paying for them? Most of the people I know have credit cards or other payment cards with some kind of reward or point program. For every dollar charged to the card, the card carrier is credited with points or some other reward measure.
The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates again and continues to take an assertive stand against historically high inflation numbers. What’s that doing to your investment portfolio? “Interest rates are critical inputs to the valuation process—and influence the value of stocks and bonds,” says Charlottesville, Virginia-based Robert R. Johnson, Professor at the Heider College of
Medical professionals across the U.S. are warning us that the combination of flu season, Covid and RSV is putting everyone at risk for getting sick. Preliminary estimates from the Centers for Disease Control are that our population will have 27 million folks who get the flu this year. That is just the early estimate at
Social Security benefits for existing beneficiaries will increase 8.7% in 2023 from 2022 levels. People who haven’t claimed their retirement benefits yet shouldn’t let that change their strategies for claiming Social Security benefits. I regularly hear from people who see the boost in the Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA) and say that makes
If you ask pre-retirees and retirees to name the most serious financial risk they face, they often cite investment risk. That’s not surprising, given that this risk received a lot of attention in 2022 due to the volatility in the stock market and the sharp increase in interest rates. But while investment risk is certainly
Family caregivers are overwhelmed, usually untrained, and often under enormous financial stress. If they are lucky, they have a community to help support them. But unless those receiving care are on Medicaid, they get little help from government. Now, Maine has begun a program aimed at helping family members care for aging or disabled relatives
It may not be an issue during the current environment of rising interest rates, but reinvestment risk never goes away. It’s most acute when you put all your eggs in one basket and buy that one bond with a great coupon rate. Trouble arises when that bond matures, and interest rates have dropped. Then what
Key Takeaways Inflation was up just 0.1% in the month of November, bringing the headline annual rate to 7.1%, down from 7.7% last month. Today the Fed has raised interest rates again, though the 0.50 percentage point increase is a less aggressive raise than the past four 0.75 percentage point increases. The ‘dot plot’ of
Key Takeaways A ‘Santa Rally’ is the term used to describe the gains for the markets in December, with many believing it’s generally a good month for investors. Funnily enough it’s actually true, with the probably of a positive return for US large caps at a massive 77.9% from 1926 to 2020. So far this