At the annual economic policy symposium hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the Fed would slow the economy to fight inflation and that it would cause “some pain” in the economy...

The economy created 315,000 new jobs in August, signaling a recession has not begun despite Federal Reserve tightening and its hawkish pronouncements about its determination to end the post-pandemic inflation cycle. To be clear, employers continued to create more new jobs than were lost in August, even as the Fed said its No. 1 priority is ending the worst inflation in four decades. Stocks lost ground anyway. Unemployment remains near an all-time..

This is a heads up for anyone deciding on how to designate beneficiaries of an IRA based on advice from an IRA custodian call-center employee. When you call your IRA custodian, checking your account balance or requesting paperwork for a transaction is straightforward, but designating beneficiaries, paying an IRA to a trust, or leaving someone other than your spouse your IRA is an entirely different matter. Even if the service from your IRA custod..

The extreme financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may seem unprecedented..

At an economic policy symposium sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Friday that the Federal Reserve would slow the economy to fight inflation and that it would cause “some pain” in the economy.  The top of The Wall Street Journal’s website Friday evening heralded news of a 1,000-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 60 stocks. The Fe..

The unusual financial economic events of the last couple of years have caused great financial disappointment for some Americans. Losing the money to give your children a down payment on their first home, going through a divorce or business failure -- losing wealth -- is a deeply personal bad emotional experience. Giving up on that retirement dream home, losing the money to pay for a grandchild’s education, or suddenly lacking the wherewithal to..

Investment regulators require financial advertisements to state that past performance is not indicative of future results...

The stock market declined -1.3% Friday and -1.2% from a week ago, snapping a four-week win streak.  Inflation cooled in July and may even have peaked but that does not mean the worst of the financial economic turbulence is behind us, and it’s prudent to expect current conditions to worsen.   Here’s perspective on current financial economic conditions, if you’re a retirement investor or building a legacy.   &nbs..

The extreme financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed unprecedented to most investors. Over the past two years, Americans witnessed a sudden stop financial crisis in March 2020, the injection of nearly $10 trillion of monetary and fiscal stimulus within a matter of months, and an unanticipated burst of inflation that caught even the Federal Reserve off guard. The truth, however, is that these events seem anomalous only because many histor..

As a rule of thumb, a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. As a rule of thumb, a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth...

Securities regulators require financial advisors to state in their public statements that past performance is not indicative of future results because investing is complicated, and nothing is guaranteed. Ironically, however, a mountain of evidence exists showing that achieving investment success depends largely on understanding lessons from the past.     Since the post-war era began in 1957, at least 27 financial crises have c..

Inflation cooled in June, according to Labor Department data. Compared to the +9.1% inflation rate in the 12 months through June 30, the consumer price index (CPI) in the 12 months through July 31 increased by +8.5%. The Standard Poor’s 500 rallied +2.1%.  However, just because inflation cooled in July and may even have peaked does not mean the worst of the financial economic turbulence is behind us. For long-term retirement investors and ..

This week we talk about why markets rise in episode 52 of "You Heard it From a CFP."..

The nation created twice as many new jobs as expected in July, according to the July employment situation report.    It is likely to mean that, despite two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, the United States is not in a recession but is undergoing an inventory correction. That’s one of multiple concurrent anomalies making the financial economic outlook more complicated than in living memory.  As a rule of thu..

When the Bureau of Economic Analysis announced on Thursday, July 28th that gross domestic product shrank by nine-tenths of 1% in the second quarter, the economy was teetering on recession, but stocks rose sharply – by 1.2% that day! and another 1.4% the following day!..

In the three tumultuous months of the second quarter, the Federal Reserve of Atlanta’s algorithm for estimating quarterly economic growth was far more accurate than consensus forecasts by leading economists. That’s unusual. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow predictions are sometimes wildly wrong. Though consensus forecasts of economists are far from perfect, the humans have been more reliable than the GDPNow algorithm.     The Fe..

Real disposable personal income (DPI) per capita in the United States declined from $46,985 to $45,356 in the past 12 months, according to data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer buying power shrunk by -3.5%. Here’s the breakdown of income and spending, crucial factors in the consumer driven economy of the U.S: Disposable personal income was up +3.3% compared to June 2021 – before adjusting for inflation. Inflatio..

Volatility in the stock market has increased. Recently we actually hit some down days of -3.6% and -4% in the stock market.  That shakes people up. But remember why you bought stocks.  The basic axiom of investing in the stock market is that you deliberately looked for an asset class that was volatile. After all, if you don't own an asset class that's going to be volatile, why are you entitled to 10% long-term total return in the stock ..

The growth potential of the United States economy in the long run looks rather gloomy against the backdrop of modern history...

Executive Summary: Pension discount rates continue to move higher following the movement in US Treasury bonds resulting in pension plans obtaining higher funding ratios. The economy may well be in the midst of a recessionary session, independent of the definition used to determine its official existence. Capital markets have responded by exhibiting mostly negative returns for the first half of 2022. State of the Markets Over the second quarter, t..