The continued progress in the economy has made Americans more confident about retirement. Recent upbeat data from the government may explain why the good mood prevails.
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The government reported that the economy added a better than expected 263,000 jobs in April. It was the 103rd straight month of job growth, the longest streak on record. Nearly ten years into the expansion, job creation is 205,000 for the first four months of 2019, just above the monthly amount added since the labor market bottomed out in 2010.
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Was the fourth quarter of 2018 just a bad dream for investors? It sure looks like it now. With just two trading sessions left in the month, the S&P 500 is on track to close out the first four months of the year with its best results in 32 years (1987), has rallied more than 20 percent from the December lows, and has also bested its previous all-time high!
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The amount of outstanding student loans has more than doubled over the past decade. Part of that explosion has to do with tuition, fees and costs growing faster than the rate of inflation. But it’s clear that another factor is that many families had no way of discerning exactly what they were signing up for in the first place.
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The clock is ticking for the millions of Americans who have not yet filed their tax returns. And probably for good reason, as this is the first tax year of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), and there has been a lot of confusion. To help, here are the most frequent questions that have arisen, as well as a bunch of resources:
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I was among the generation of students who attended skills-based classes like sewing, cooking, typing and shop. I did not master any of these areas, but I am very happy to have had some basic knowledge about each of them and typing has come in handy in my career.
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I am using the occasion of Financial Literacy Month to define the most frequently asked financial words or terms that I find myself defining for readers, listeners and viewers. I will use the letters of the alphabet to help and if I miss something you would like defined, just shoot me a note and I will add to the Jill on Money Financial Glossary. I’ll complete the alphabet later this month.
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Three different producers contacted me about the following headline, which appeared last week in the Wall Street Journal: “Inverted Yield Curve Is Telling Investors What They Already Know.” You may be forgiven for that case of déjà vu, because we last discussed the inverted yield curve in December. Here’s a refresher from my post on the topic:
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Last week, the Federal Reserve decided not to raise interest rates. The more dovish Fed outlook pushed down interest rates, which led mortgage rates to 14-month lows. The current 30-year fixed rate loan stands at just under 4.3 percent, just in time for the spring home buying season.
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