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 […]
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 […]
You may have read that there has been a drop in new home sales—down 13% in September compared to the previous September—and that, combined with the drop in stock market values, might have you worried about the state of the U.S. economy.
Beware the Bears If you’ve been paying attention to the financial news lately, you’re probably seeing a lot of ominous predictions—and they’re usually backed up by some ominous headline. The most simplistic are saying that the bull market has now lasted ten years, so therefore it’s about to come to an end—as if bull markets […]
Defaults Down the Road When it comes to municipal finances, we may have entered the calm before the storm. You can go to the MuniNet Guide, which describes itself as the “hub for state, local and municipal research,” and find detailed historical statistics on the bankruptcies of small municipal utilities and special purpose districts, cities, […]
Flattening Curve The best indicator of a future recession is not perfect, and doesn’t provide an exact time or date, but economists have found that an inverted yield curve can be a warning sign of a downturn to come. A what? The yield curve is a map of the yield of bonds from very short […]
The Cost of Waiting The median retirement portfolio account balance for persons age 56-61 is just $25,000—which is obviously not enough for a healthy retirement, and suggests that many Americans followed less-than-healthy savings habits. In fact, this amount could have been accumulated simply by saving $6 a month in a 60/40 portfolio from 1980 to […]
2018 First Quarter Market Report Is the bull market finally over? For the first time in nine calendar quarters, the U.S. investment markets delivered a negative overall return. It was only a slight decline, but the decline reminds us that markets can and do go down from time to time. After starting the year strong, […]
Crytpo-Crash Last year, it was hard to turn on your computer without reading about the dramatic rise in cryptocurrency values, or see advertisements for ways that you, too, could participate in this get-rich-quick opportunity to buy virtual money that is backed by no government on Earth. It’s almost always the case that when an investment […]
The History of Bond Rates—Past as Prologue? Although stocks get the most attention, bonds are significant contributors, both to your total return on your portfolio, and also to the prices of every other investment. Bonds compete with stocks and real estate for investment dollars; when their yields are high, it causes a shift in demand […]
