Shifting Economic Balance Ever wonder how the balance of the world stock markets have changed over the last 120 years? Here’s a really interesting snapshot (see graphic), which shows the size of many countries’ stock markets at the beginning of the 1900s (as a percentage of the total), and as of the start of this […]
Skyrocketing Student Loans- While some are worried about the rapidly growing U.S. national debt, others are looking at a different debt bomb that is slowly ticking in American households. Debt by Americans age 19 to 29 years old exceeded an astonishing $1 trillion at the end of last year, the highest exposure for the group […]
Buried in a recent report by Fidelity Investments was some remarkable news. Last summer, the mutual fund and retirement plan provider noted that there were more than a million people with more than $1 million in their 401(k) accounts. Then December hit, wiping out almost 20% of the value of the S&P 500 index, with […]
Chances are, you already know it’s expensive to raise a family in this day and age. But exactly how much over the 20 years until your kids reach the age of maturity? A recent analysis by the EverQuote organization estimated various costs for two parents plus a son and daughter for normal costs like housing, […]
Virgin Group founder and self-made billionaire Richard Branson dropped out of school at the age of 16 to start Student Magazine, and later founded Virgin Records—and a few other businesses along the way. Over time and various blog posts, he has recorded some thoughts on how to be successful in business and in life, apparently […]
Have you ever enjoyed a glass of wine at dinner and wondered what the one-percenters are enjoying at their tables? Or, perhaps, the one-tenth-of-one-percenters? Sotheby’s, the auction house based in New York, London and Hong Kong, recently released its 2018 Wine Market Report, which is a summary of the auction action last year among […]
Rich or Comfortable? What would you have to make to be a one-percenter—that is, to have an income in the upper one percent of the population—in the U.S., Singapore, China, Brazil, England or Australia? The answer, of course, differs in every country. At the bottom of the scale, someone earning $81,000 a year in […]
If you haven’t been really, really sick in the last few years, you may not have ever heard of the “donut hole” in Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. This is the common name in the medical field for a quirky coverage gap where, if you incurred $3,750 worth of drug costs in any […]
Many people wait too long to create advance health directives and designate a health care surrogate, and the results can be tragic. A recent article, by a physician who is also a financial planner, illustrates a not-uncommon situation that nobody wants to find themselves in. The story begins with a woman suddenly becoming acutely […]
