The Retirement Coach

As the first three months of 2022 come to an end, the stock market is on the way to its first quarterly loss since the first quarter of 2020, when the Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost -19.6% of its value. To be clear, stocks returned profits in seven straight quarters following the first quarter of 2020, when the pandemic struck. This table shows how often a losing quarter has occurred since 2015. Past performance never is a guarantee of fu..

In the last few weeks, stock prices corrected by as much as 12.5%. As of today’s close, stock prices are about 5% lower than the January 3rd all-time high. A correction in stock prices may still be under way, as Russia threatens the modern world’s geopolitical framework by invading Ukraine, and the U.S. Federal Reserve just began tightening credit to extinguish the worst inflation flareup in 40 years, while the Covid-19 pandemic threat to pub..

Russia is challenging world order and there’s talk of a third world war...

Long-term care insurance (LTCI) has been sold to consumers for less than 50 years. With little historical data to draw from in pricing policies, insurers made overly optimistic assumptions for decades. Today's LTCI policy owners often are receiving premium increase notices. They are forced to accept lower benefits or to pay more to keep their current benefits. And individuals who are buying LTCI for the first time are entering the market at a tim..

Russia is challenging world order, inflation is at a 40-year high, and a stock market correction has been underway. The relentless progress of the United States is being tested once again. Here’s an important perspective on this moment in financial history.  On March 23, 2020, the stock market bottomed. The Covid bear market had erased -33.9% of the value of the Standard & Poor’s 500.  In that moment, which preceded the advent o..

Two years ago, the NBA suspended its 2019-2020 season, Tom Hanks and his wife announced they had tested positive for Covid 19, and the World Health Organization officially declared a pandemic was under way...

The central bank of the United States today said it would hike the interest rate at which it lends money to banks by a quarter point and indicated it would raise rates a quarter of 1% six more times in 2022. The move by the Federal Reserve was expected for months. In reaction to the news, stocks closed sharply higher, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 gaining 2.2% for the day. The Federal Reserve is planning to raise rates gradually to snuff o..

On this date two years ago, the NBA suspended its 2019-2020 season, Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, announced they had tested positive for Covid 19, and the World Health Organization officially declared a pandemic had started.    Since then, nearly one million deaths from the virus have been reported in the United States. Worldwide, six million deaths have been reported. Since then, the Covid-19 health threat to Americans has ..

With Russia breaking the norms of modern sovereign nations and the world order threatened, this is a good time to remember some basic concepts of investing...

With Russia in an existential economic war with most of the world, it’s a good time to mention a problem with the financial news media. The media create a mystique of infallibility of people they anoint as experts. It is only polite for a financial reporter on TV to treat an expert with respect on live TV, which gets replayed on TV and the internet. However, even though reporters may have the best of intentions, in giving great financial minds ..

The U.S. created nearly twice the number of new jobs in February than was expected, and hospitality was the No. 1 job-producing sector of the economy for the second month in a row. The pandemic’s grip on restaurants, hotels, and malls weakened and the nation may finally be turning the page on a dark period in history.          Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to increase, with a gain o..

The stock market has been in correction mode since late January; the buying power of Americans shrank 10.1% in the 12 months through January 31, 2022, in the worst bout of inflation in 40 years! and last week Russia declared war on Ukraine! -- the first war in Europe since Hitler’s army marched on Poland and across Western Europe...

The first war in Europe since World War II, rampant inflation, and a -1.55% stock market decline in stock prices today, dropping stocks back into -10% correction territory today. Today’s headlines are frightening, which makes this the right time to talk about investment fear. Turmoil in the world, economic setbacks, and financial volatility can spark financial fear and anxiety in moments like this. This is a reminder that the most important thi..

Russia declared war on Ukraine on Thursday. Initially, the first war in Europe since World War II, sent stock prices plunging. For the second time in four weeks, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index declined by about -10% from its January 3rd all-time closing high.  Meanwhile, in other news inflation worsened. Data released Friday showed the buying power of Americans shrank, with buying power eroded at the worst 12-month rate in about..

The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2021, signed into law December 27, 2020, by President Donald J. Trump, was a massive $2.3 trillion spending bill. At 5,593 pages, Wikipedia says, it was also “the longest bill ever passed by Congress.”   Buried in CAA is a section on college-student aid dubbed “FAFSA Simplification.” It reduces the number of questions on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form from 108 to..

New rules released by the IRS in January are going to make it much easier for many Americans to retire in their early-50s...

For the first time in 12 months, the U.S. Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) ticked down, falling by three-tenths of 1% in January, as the Omicron variant, inflation, and supply chain problems cooled the hot economy. The LEI is a forward-looking index of 10 components, making it a reliable indicator of recessions and the pace of growth in the economy.  Apart from one other interruption in early 2021, the LEI has surged higher every m..

Consumers do not expect the spike in inflation will last long. That’s the conclusion of six economists from the New York Federal Reserve Bank.  “Besides its tragic human toll, the pandemic has brought about extraordinary economic dislocation, including unprecedented supply and demand imbalances that have resulted in a sharp rise in inflation,” says a Thursday, Feb 14, post from the six economists who examine the results of a monthly su..

With more than 100,000 Russian troops poised to invade Ukraine, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index lost -1.9% of its value Friday, after troop movements of Russian forces reportedly made a war in Europe more likely to break out at any moment.  The economic news, however, remained positive overall despite the Ukraine conflict and inflation woes.  The consumer price index, an inflation metric, released yesterday, increased anothe..

If you are like most people, you probably wouldn’t feel comfortable performing surgery to remove your spouse’s appendix. You probably would not fix the brakes on the family car. You probably would not risk tutoring your child to prepare for the SATs. So why do people think they can create their own financial plan to make their money last the rest of their lives? As an independent professional, it’s troubling to see consumers sold on believi..