Helping pave the way towards financial freedom
One year ago there was a craze about I-Bonds. Many people inquired about them, and many people bought them. Perhaps you were one? I wrote about I Bonds in May 2022, and wanted to do an update on them now that we are in May 2023. What’s Changed? Well, the inflation rate over the past few…
In past posts – or perhaps conversations – we’ve been known to take aim at the media. That’s because bad things tend to happen to your personal wealth if you read, watch, or listen to too much news—or if you read too much into the news you’re reading. It’s human nature to react to the…
In planning for retirement, one topic is often top of mind: What if Social Security goes bust? As we covered in a related 2022 post, When Should You Take Your Social Security, most of us have been paying into the program our entire working life. We’re counting on receiving some of that money back in…
DO YOU THINK YOU’RE TOO SMART TO BE SCAMMED? About 4 out of 5 people say yes. Most also believe they’re better than others at spotting scams. Yet, scams work—and they’re more prevalent and profitable than ever before. In fact, every 15 seconds, someone’s getting scammed. Each year, billions are lost. Seniors are big targets,…
Nothing like year-end government planning! The original SECURE Act was signed into law on December 20th, 2019. Its “sequel,” the SECURE 2.0 Act, was similarly enacted at year-end on December 29th, 2022. Both pieces of legislation seek to reform how Americans prepare for retirement while juggling current spending needs. But a hard truth remains: Employers…
To say the least, there’s been plenty of political, financial, and economic action this year—from rising interest rates, to elevated inflation, to ongoing market turmoil. How will all the excitement translate into annual performance in our investment portfolios? Markets often deliver their best returns just when we’re most discouraged. So, who knows! While we wait…
Contribution limits do not go up every year. But every couple of years, we’ve come to expect gradual increases across the various types of accounts. The Internal Revenue Service has just released new limits for the coming year. For the most part, the amount of increases are linked to inflation. So perhaps it does not…
So many big events competed for our attention this summer … said nearly every investor, almost every summer, ever. We’re not making light of this summer’s uncertainties. Inflation is real, and needs to be managed; we also can’t rule out the possibility we’ll still see stagflation and/or a recession (although neither has happened yet). Heightened…
Even though we know it was just dumb luck, can we get a round of applause for seeming to forecast last month’s surprisingly strong market returns? It’s almost (but not really) as if the market were reading our mind when three broad U.S. stock indexes ended July 2022 with their best returns since 2020—up 9.1%,…
Got kids? This one is for you. The date was September 2017, and a massive Equifax security breach became public knowledge. If there was a silver lining to this infamous event, it likely spurred more consumers to take more measures to protect their identities. Perhaps you’ve frozen your lines of credit, or you’re at least…