I recently congratulated an old friend on the announcement of his impending retirement, and he dropped me a response asking for a chat. Joe had done all of the math on his retirement savings and spending plans – which include some nice travels in the next few years – and was trying to figure out …
Financial milestones should be celebrated. The question is whether they can be believed, whether savers and investors who pass key numbers on their lifetime financial journeys can trust the point they have gotten to. I’m concerned about it now because the buoyant stock market of the last year has created a bunch of situations with …
The guy whose research taught investors to expect a 10 percent annualized average return from the stock market has been trying to teach a different lesson for years, namely that the next quarter century is going to see market returns be more modest. It would be just another market forecast – a forgettable opinion from …
Throughout the pandemic, people who were mostly stuck at home took on burdens and household tasks they had let slide, and accepted challenges to clean up, complete chores and generally stay active and involved. They tackled self-improvement ideas; they made beef jerky and bread and pies (though not at the same time). With Covid vaccinations …
Keith is a friend from the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania whose family is living both ends of the pandemic financial life through his adult twins. It’s a quirky story that’s about to take its next turn with the latest stimulus check from the federal government. Both of Keith’s 24-year-old children moved home within the …
You can’t get revenge against the pandemic, no matter how much money you spend. Yet as we get closer to a time when people feel they can return to a more normal life, there has been plenty of talk about how they will break loose with their money. For people still feeling like they are …
In the alphabet soup of typical economic recoveries – think V-shaped, or W, Z, U and L – the one thing that’s common to the ending is that, for better or worse, everyone comes out together, at the same spot in the curve. The Covid-19 economy, however, is creating a K-shaped recovery, and it’s growing …
So you missed out on the $865 million Mega Millions jackpot on Tuesday. I know, because you’re here reading this. You’re not beating the 1-in-292 million odds and winning the $730-plus million Powerball jackpot being drawn Wednesday, either. Some things don’t change in the middle of a global pandemic, like your lottery luck or the …
I changed the way I “keep the change” in 2020, and it paid off bigger and better than expected. At a time when multiple studies show that just four in 10 American adults could cover the cost of a $1,000 emergency room visit or car repair using savings – and with people understanding more than …
(This column was released for publication on Dec. 23, 2020.) Let’s all resolve to make 2021 a better year than the miserable 12 months we have just gone through. Boom! Achievable resolution – one everyone can agree on – in the bag. After a year with so much misery, we can stop the resolutions right …
