So far, tariffs and trade conflicts have not negatively impacted the labor market. The economy added a solid 201,000 jobs in August and with revisions to the previous two months (down 50K), employers have added an average 207,000 a month to payrolls this year, quite a feat, considering that we are in the tenth year of the expansion.
Read MoreIt has been one year since credit monitoring company Equifax announced that a “Cybersecurity Incident” had exposed names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, driver’s license and credit card numbers, from nearly 148 million Americans, which means that it’s time for an identity theft prevention check in.
Read MoreWhile many were kicking back during the last unofficial week of the summer, one of the most interesting bits of news that fell below the radar was the resignation announcement from Seth Frotman, the student loan ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It may seem a little inside baseball, but as reported in the New York Times, Frotman said in his resignation letter that "millions of borrowers had been harmed" by ‘sweeping changes’ at the bureau under Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget director, who became the bureau’s acting director in November.
Read MoreIt used to be that the last couple of weeks in August were slow ones for investors. Well, not this year. Neither the double whammy of Michael Cohen’s pleading guilty and Paul Manafort’s conviction, nor the escalating economic problems in emerging markets (Venezuela and Turkey) could keep stock market indexes from reaching new highs.
Read MoreIn honor of the 83rd anniversary of The 1935 Social Security (SS) Act, here are some questions that I have received from you about the nation’s main retirement program.
Read MoreI am preparing to take a much-needed vacation and in doing so, I am trying to figure out how to disconnect and recharge. According to a study from Project: Time Off, the average time a worker takes per year is now 17.2 days and more than half didn’t use all of their allotted days. That’s a shame, but the survey also notes that those who take a break are often more productive while they work and are more apt to be creative during their down time.
Read MoreAs millions of college students return to school, they will be confronted with the dizzying prospect of selecting classes. For some, the choices will be limited, but there are always a couple of electives. Instead of telling you what I would recommend, I contacted some of my go-to resources, to learn what they thought every college student should take. All of them are seasoned professionals from diverse backgrounds and are ages 40-70.
Read MoreThe Labor Department reported that the economy added 157,000 jobs in July, a bit lower than the expected 190,000. But with the upward revision of 59,000 to the two previous months, this year’s average monthly job creation is 215,000 -- that’s ahead of last year’s 184,000 per month and better than the 2016 - 2017 pace of about 185,000.
Read MoreThe economy was on fire in the second quarter. According to the government, real annualized Gross Domestic Product (“GDP”) was 4.1 percent, the strongest quarter since Q3 2014, which came in at a sizzling 4.9 percent annual rate. As a reminder, GDP measures the nation’s total output of goods and services and is released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on a quarterly basis, with two subsequent monthly revisions to the advance estimate.
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