Personal Finance
The optimism Republicans expected voters to feel from the huge Trump tax cut package has quickly turned sour. In the latest Gallup poll, 48% of respondents said they disapprove of the tax cuts; only 39% approve. Experts are baffled, given that the cuts have increased the take home pay for approximately two-thirds of workers. There are […]
President Donald Trump fired off a tweet on this week taking oil cartel OPEC head on over rising energy prices. U.S. gasoline prices are at $2.77 on average and well above $3 a gallon on the West Coast. “Looks like OPEC is at it again. With record amounts of Oil all over the place, including […]
According to new statistics, one in five home borrowers use more than 45% of their monthly income to pay off a mortgage. CoreLogic, a mortgage data tracking company, revealed the research in a recent Wall Street Journal report. These levels of mortgage debt haven’t been seen by financial experts since the housing crisis of the […]
In an ironic twist, just as the market is experiencing tumult for the first time a decade, large companies are not only boosting the amount of the dividends payable to stockholders but are increasing the payout as well. February is the busiest time of the year for dividend announcements as companies disclose their annual results […]
The advantages of Social Security are numerous, but one that people don’t often realize is its flexibility. By changing the age at which you start claiming retirement benefits, you can greatly alter the amount you receive each month. Age 62 is the earliest you can claim, but the longer you wait the fatter the checks will […]
David Hogg, one of the students who survived the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida is calling on investors to boycott BlackRock Inc. and The Vanguard Group These are two of the largest investment-management companies in the country, overseeing the retirement funds of millions of Americans. Most have never given a second thought to what they […]
Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates (net worth $91 billion!) thinks it’s guaranteed that the world there will face another major financial crisis, maybe even one worse than 2008. He just can’t say when. The tech titan, philanthropist and Warren Buffett confidant offered this alarming assessment during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session last week […]
Bank of America investment strategists are now calling the rise and fall of Bitcoin in late 2017 and early 2018 “one of the greatest asset price bubbles in history.” After nearing $20,000 in mid-December, the virtual currency fell to $6,598 in mid-April. It trades this morning at around $8,050. Merrill chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett […]
After a decade of uninterrupted rising share prices, investors were in for a rude awakening — the S&P 500 has posted its first quarterly loss since 2015 and the bond markets did not fare much better. Investor apprehension is rooted in the onset of an entirely new and dramatically different investment climate. Many investors are […]
When you are young and actively employed there is no way to predict exactly when you may finally retire, what will be your retirement savings, and how much money you will need for what purposes. While it is comforting to imagine that you have a fairly accurate answer to these questions, chances are you may […]
