FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)

There’s a FIRE spreading in the world of personal finance. FIRE is the acronym that stands for “Financial Independence, Retire Early.” It’s popular with Millennials (which Pew Research now defines as anyone born between 1981 and 1996, or ages 22 to 37 in 2018) who want to escape soul-sucking jobs that don’t reflect their values. The movement has added to the chorus of naysayers, who complain about the generation’s work ethic, but I believe that FIRE followers are doing what they should be doing: taking control of their financial lives.

Health Insurance Open Enrollment 2019

Healthcare inflation has outpaced the overall rate of price increases over the past twenty years. While costs have slowed, they are still projected to rise by 4.2 percent over the coming 20 years, according to research from HealthView Services. Please feel free to sigh, complain or yell right now. Now let’s move on to what you can actually control in this process: the choices you make for health insurance coverage.

How Long Will Tax Cut Sugar High Last?

Investors have rediscovered market volatility. After a relatively placid three months, when stocks did not move more than one percent in either direction, the October sell off has reminded everyone why investing remains a dangerous activity.

BlogMark TalercioOctober 27, 2018Jill Schlesinger, Jill on Money, economy, economics, Wall Street, Dow, S&P, S&P 500, China, Trade War, bull market, interest rates

Powerball Porn: Lottery Fever Grips the Country

Unless you have been hiding under rock, you know that the entire country has a case of lottery fever, as the combined Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots have soared into the BILLIONS. With no Powerball winner over the weekend, that jackpot has climbed to $620 million for Wednesday's drawing and Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing has set a world record with a $1.6 billion prize, which amounts to a one-time cash option of nearly $905 million.

BlogMark TalercioOctober 21, 2018Jill Schlesinger, Jill on Money, Mega Millions, Powerball, lotto, lottery, jackpot, Mega Million

We STILL Avoid Estate Planning

Michael Jackson, Prince, Aretha Franklin…these three amazing and wildly successful musicians did not have a will. How could that be, you ask? Don’t they have agents, lawyers and accountants? Didn’t they know at some point they were going to die? “That’s irresponsible,” you say, but welcome to the real world, where even famous people can’t seem to get their acts together to address this difficult topic head on.

Oct Stock Sell Off: What to do NOW

Stocks dropped by about four percent on the week and the proximate cause was the strength of the economy. In the bizarro world of investing, here’s how the reasoning goes: When the economy is expanding, the Federal Reserve has to increase short-term interest rates to ensure that inflation does not eat away at growth. That part has been built into most analyst assumptions, but only recently have we seen yields on 2, 5 and 10-year government notes start to climb. During the week, the 2-year spiked to the highest level in a decade and the 10-yr hit its top level in seven years.

BlogMark TalercioOctober 10, 2018Jill Schlesinger, Jill on Money, Wall Street, Dow, S&P, S&P 500, retirement plan, retirement accounts, stocks, NASDAQ

Jobless Rate Falls to Lowest Since 1969

The last time the U.S. unemployment rate was this low, Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” was the number one song, “Hello Dolly” was the big holiday movie hit and war continued to rage in Vietnam. In December 1969, the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent and not until this September, has it been as low since.

Wage Gains are Coming

The U.S. economy is experiencing “a particularly bright moment,” according to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, which is why Fed officials increased interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to a new range of 2 to 2.25 percent and are likely to hike one more time by the end of the year. The strength is likely to persist into next year. According to the central bank’s “dot plot,” which is intended to forecast future actions, there will be four rate hikes by the end of 2019.

BlogMark TalercioSeptember 28, 2018Jill Schlesinger, Jill on Money, Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve, Fed, wage growth, China, tariff, tariffs

Financial Planning for All

Are you celebrating the upcoming World Financial Planning Day by creating a financial plan? I’m guessing that the answer is no, because according to the 2018 Charles Schwab Modern Wealth Index, about a quarter of Americans have a written financial plan. That’s too bad because having one “can lead to better daily money behaviors.”

BlogMark TalercioSeptember 28, 2018Jill on Money, Jill Schlesinger, CPA, CFP, retire, retirement, retirement plan, Vanguard, Betterment, Schwab, Wealthfront

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