I have always had a special place in my heart for caregivers. According to a new study from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, family and friends are assuming more of the responsibility of caring for the nation’s growing senior population, often at the expense of their own personal and professional lives. For about one-quarter of these “informal caregivers,” the amount of time they spend providing care each week is the equivalent of a full-time job.
Read MoreThe October employment report was not just good, it was great. The economy added 250,000 jobs, the unemployment rate remained at a 49 year low of 3.7 percent and workers enjoyed the best annual wage growth in nearly a decade (April 2009).
Read MoreThere’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.
Read MoreHealthcare 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.
Read MoreInvestors 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.
Read MoreUnless 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.
Read MoreMichael 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.
Read MoreStocks 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
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