Your First Impression You only have five seconds to make a good first impression, right? Or maybe it’s 10 seconds, or 13. A study of 2,000 Americans commissioned by Dollar Shave Club (you might consider the source), the actual time it takes to make a first impression is actually 27 seconds, and […]
Government Shutdown Consequences As the U.S. government shutdown enters its second week, you might wonder how so many shuttered government agencies and laid-off federal workers will affect the economy and your portfolio. The good news is that the economic impact, overall, is likely to be small. In late 2013, a similar government shutdown, spanning 16 […]
This was the year the long, seemingly endless bull market came to a crashing halt– and U.S. investors finally, for the first time since 2008, experienced the normal definition of a bear market.The bottom fell out in the final month of the year, which started with a decent chance of another year of overall annual […]
Would you like to lower the volatility of your investment portfolio? There’s an easy solution. No, the solution we’re thinking of is not to retreat to cash—which, even in times of low inflation, is a strategy doomed to steadily lose the buying power of your portfolio. All that does is guarantee a downside. Diversification will […]
Here’s a question that a lot of older Americans ask themselves from time to time: I’m over age 65. Can I still make a contribution to an IRA or a Roth IRA? Can I reinvest some or all of my required minimum distribution in an IRA or a Roth IRA? The answer, generally, is that […]
If you’ve looked at your portfolio performance statements, line-by-line, you might have noticed that your U.S.-based stock ETFs and mutual funds are doing really well, but your overall portfolio is not showing quite the same generous returns. Are you the only one? The answer is no; we are coming off of a remarkable decade […]
Remember when people played board games in the evening, instead of binging on Netflix or fiddling with their phones? Sitting around a game board used to provide a chance for family socialization, and very inexpensive entertainment. A recent article listed the 40 greatest family games, giving all of us a chance to at least try […]
Older Marrieds Nobody seems to have a good explanation for it, but American adults are increasingly delaying marriage. According to the most recent population survey by the U.S. Census bureau, the median age at first marriage in the U.S. is now nearing age 30—29.8 for men and 27.8 for women. That’s up from 27.1 and […]
Independence Day Very quietly, the United States economy crossed a remarkable milestone. As of October, America is now energy-independent for the first time. For comparison purposes, the U.S. was spending a whopping 4% of its total gross domestic product to buy foreign oil and gas as recently as 2008. This news will not be cheered […]
Tax Opportunities Before Year-End Every year, U.S. taxpayers face a number of year-end deadlines which, if ignored, can be costly and even punitive. In the latter category, consider people over age 70 1/2 who forget to take the full required minimum distribution from their IRA or 401(k). If they get the calculation wrong, or […]
