Fed Doubles Down On Inflation Bet

Investors seem inclined to build wealth until 45, and then turn to retirement-saving mode, according to a Money Morning survey.

Asking good questions is an essential skill to building trust with the people you serve and advise. Here are seven questions to help you establish a personal connection with clients.

Women already faced a significant gap in their retirement savings before the pandemic put those golden year dreams further out of reach, according to findings from a Harris poll.

Not sure how exactly you’d overcome some of your challenges? We’ve all been there. Consider connecting with a more experienced advisor, joining a financial services association such as the Million Dollar Round Table.

Broker-dealers, investment advisors and insurance distributors realize that they must prepare to comply with the Department of Labor’s investment advice guidance, but what do they need to do?

No aspect of life in America escaped unscathed from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the U.S. Pandemic Misery index developed by the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, 80 percent of Americans experience a coronavirus-related hardship over the course of the pandemic.

Perhaps once considered a passing fad, sustainable investing has solidified its place at the investing table and will likely hold that position for years to come, according to a new study released by Allianz Life.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a New York-based couple with insider trading in the stock of the pharmaceutical company where one of them worked as a clinical trial project manager.

An impactful leader must be intentional around “eight pearls of leadership,” according to a speaker at Tuesday’s Million Dollar Round Table virtual annual meeting.

Alex Kane traces the origin of his Big Idea to revolutionize sports betting to his junior year at Drexel University, when he and his father placed a wager on an obscure Thai golfer to win the 2016 Masters Tournament.

There are a lot of moving pieces to a successful retirement. You need to check all the boxes, and hopefully well before you actually retire. What follows will get you thinking.

Many professional investors say AMC, GameStop and other meme stocks have hit heights untethered to reality and are primed for a steep fall, but that’s not stopping an army of smaller-pocketed and novice investors from holding their ground and promising to take their prices “to the moon.”

Because registered investment advisors are held to the fiduciary standard, RIAs might be tempted to think they have the Department of Labor’s investment rules covered automatically, but they would be wrong, says two Faegre Drinker attorneys.

College cannot possibly teach you all there is to know about financial planning. The education must continue after the degree is in hand. Here are four resources to help develop a deeper knowledge-base of the financial planning profession.

When Ken Frazier steps down from Merck next month, there will be four Black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. One of them is Thasunda Brown Duckett, who runs TIAA, a financial services firm that manages more than $1 trillion in assets.

When people are retiring before reaching age 65, it can be challenging to find affordable health care insurance. If you do not qualify for a subsidy from the government health exchange, it could cost $800 or more per month.

The U.S. Federal Reserve, for its part, usually seems to act as if stock-based wealth does help drive spending and employment. After looking at the U.S. on a county-by-county basis, the study finds that after large market shifts, people spend about 3.2 cents per year out of each increased dollar of stock wealth they possess.

As Baby Boomer advisors age, business continuity and succession planning are on everyone’s radar. The average age of financial advisors in the United States exceeds 50, and, according to Cerulli and Associates, less than 12% of advisors are under the age of 35.

The Federal Reserve warned that credit scores — the all-powerful number that can determine if a consumer is able to qualify for a loan, rent a home or even buy car insurance — might have gotten less reliable during the coronavirus pandemic.

Built by the sons of slaves, the Tulsa Greenwood community in the early 20th century grew into America’s most prosperous Black community, only to be destroyed in 18 hours of murder and destruction by a white mob.

Planners and advisors say not many clients are asking about ESG investing, but are becoming interested the more clients learn about them.

With the end of the 2020 filing season upon us, now is the time to become aware of major changes for 2021. But be prepared, politicians are making noise in preparation for another fun-filled year of late breaking changes.

In an era when regulators are tightening standards around fee transparency and disclosure, it is clear than consumers want clarity and are not finding it, according to the Hearts & Wallets survey.

Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average interest on a 30- year fixed-rate mortgage is back up to 3%, with fees of 0.6%. The average size of a purchase loan rose to $411,400 last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the highest since February.

A 2014 Gallup poll indicates that most Americans now retire at age 62. That is a good starting point when planning for retirement.

The April meeting ended the Fed members’ decision to keep interest rates close to zero and they pledged to continue buying $80 billion in Treasury bonds and $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month until “substantial progress” has been made.

If we have learned anything during this last year its how to keep connections thriving and growing in a virtual experience. The NexGen community’s No. 1 goal is to constantly be building new & lasting connections for its members.

Nine out of 10 financial advisors surveyed believe it is important to manage risk in client portfolios. Moreover, 88% believe it is more important to effectively manage risk in their clients’ portfolios than have the highest gains.

Most of the time (55%), older spouses are caregiving alone as husbands or wives come to the end of their lives, without help from their children, other family members or friends or paid home health aides, according to research published earlier this year.

When leukemia patients were assisted with costs related to medical expenses and worked with financial professionals, they had a significant improvement on health outcomes, according to a study.

We didn’t understand how to use fiscal policy in the early stages of the Depression. Economists generally clung to Cambridge tradition of Alfred Marshall (whose textbook from the early 1890s still dominated) which held that markets would solve any economic problem if left alone.

At the meeting Fed officials said the U.S. economy was quickly strengthening and that inflation was showing signs of picking up. The Fed also said it would continue buying $120 billion in bonds each month to try to keep longer-term borrowing rates low.

Most retired clients or those who are working towards retirement have only one question: How much money can they generate to last the rest of their lives?

So far, the White House has largely responded to these setbacks by either downplaying them or arguing that they amount to one-time aberrations related to the unusual circumstances tied to the rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly three-fourths (72%) of advisors and financial professionals are very concerned about tax increases over the next four years, according to Nationwide’s Washington Impact Survey.

It’s embarrassing to admit this but in our earnings season preview on April 12, when the consensus estimate reflected a nearly 24% increase, we wrote that S&P 500 Index earnings growth for the first quarter could potentially exceed 30%.

The National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Optimism Index rose to 99.8 in April, an increase of 1.6 points from March. The Optimism Index has increased 4.8 points over the past three months since January but a record 44% of owners reported job openings they could not be filled.

Long before they receive a dementia diagnosis, many people start losing their ability to manage their finances and make sound decisions as their memory, organizational skills and self-control falter, studies show.

Every bear market has the same thing in common; they happened precisely after they hit an Elliot Wave 5 target. When it comes to stock market forecasting, a picture is worth much more than a thousand words if you pay attention to it.

The multiple fallouts from COVID-19 will be revealed for years. But one reality is clear now: Working mothers were particularly punished by the coronavirus pandemic. Many women lost service sector and personal care jobs, which were the first to disappear.

If you are age 70½ or older, IRS rules require you to take required minimum distributions each year from your tax-deferred retirement accounts. As long as the charity is a 501 c3 organization in good standing with the IRS, you can directly send them a portion of your RMD and never claim that amount as taxable income.

What had lately emerged as a growing concern for U.S. and world markets materialized this weekend, when Janet Yellen and Warren Buffett exchanged views on possible rises in inflation. Berkshire President and CEO Hathaway warned that there are already signs of a peak in that line, something the Treasury secretary rejected.

Merrill Lynch has quietly rolled out yet another major chunk of technology that will, at least initially, most benefit the 15,000 advisors in its Thundering Herd, along with their clients and the firm’s client associates. And this means being able to open and manage accounts across the various wealth management groups within Merrill Lynch.

As a planner, have you taken a moment to ponder the question, “Who do you serve?” If not, please do. A few probing questions that helped guide me were: What lights my fire? Working with which type of clients would excite me? Is there a type of client that does not bring me joy?

With the change in presidential administrations, some are demanding that President Joe Biden fire the current commissioner, Andrew Saul, of the Social Security Administration, appointed by President Donald Trump. Under current law, Saul may stay in office through the end of his term.

Sell in May and go away refers to the seasonal stock market pattern in which the six months from May through October are historically weak for stocks, with many investors believing that it’s better to avoid the market altogether by selling in May.

Due to the pandemic, undergraduate enrollment was down 2.5% in fall 2020 and down 4.5% for spring 2021, compared with the previous fall and spring, respectively, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer, Century Financial, said the rise in US Treasury yields is unlikely to be sustained as Jerome Powell, the chairperson of the US Federal Reserve, is not even discussing the tapering of bond purchases.

Polls found that Americans are more confident about covering their daily expenses and their ability to handle an emergency, but they also mortgaged some of their future to pay for that security today.

Comprehensive financial planning involves working with, and potentially overhauling, every aspect of a client’s financial life. In Part 2, we will explore the remaining two parts of the “4+1” model, retirement and legacy/philanthropy, along with how to make changes to comprehensive financial plans already in place.

Many wealthy families would be spared in leaving the estate tax exemption as is, but get slammed by the elimination of the step up in basis.

President Biden’s 100th day in office is tomorrow, on April 29. Hard to believe it has been 100 days already, but overall the economy continues to improve and stocks have done very well under our new President.

In 2020, with the shift to more work from home, we saw an evolution in where people get work done. While 72% of business leaders expect to go back to a hybrid work model with employees working from both the office and home, certain business activities are just done better in person.

Even with the strong equities market and low bond rates, stock funds are losing net flows to bond and money funds, while ETFs take their own bite.

Based on the most commonly used valuation metrics such as the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E), stock market valuations are elevated. But how elevated?

But it is White Americans who disproportionately benefit from the tax breaks for those things, Emory University tax law professor Dorothy Brown told lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee last week. That’s why she believes the US tax code helps to perpetuate the racial wealth gap.

Despite a global pandemic that created uncertainty in the employment and financial markets, the 2021 Retirement Confidence Survey found 80% of retirees are confident in their ability to live comfortably throughout retirement.

Recent merger and acquisition momentum is likely to continue, putting this year on pace to be the ninth consecutive record-breaking M&A year, according to a report from Echelon Partners.

Remote working has become popular in recent years, but the “working-from-home” economy bloomed exponentially as the world was forced to confront the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom, as of summer 2020, 42 percent of the United States labor force was working from home full-time.

Summer is often a missed opportunity for many students. While many peers will use the summer break as an opportunity to take a road trip or visit family, the summer is an important period for serious students to get ahead on their studies and qualifications for financial planning work.

The Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index fell to +26, down 16 points from +42 in the fourth quarter of 2020. This reversed much of the improvement seen in the fourth quarter as the markets surged following positive news about COVID-19 vaccine trials.

The wealthy are leaping far ahead of lower-income groups’ long-term goals. The survey found that the majority of affluent Americans are prioritizing many traditional milestones in life, such as buying a house.

The 10-year Treasury yield in recent weeks moved above 1.75%, and the 30- year Treasury topped 2.5% for the first time since August 2019. The Fed also restated its commitment to no short-term interest rate hikes through 2023. The Fed is keeping short-term rates steady while long-term rates are trending higher due to market forces.

Saving money as a college student is challenging because, let’s face it, the typical student budget is pretty tight. Between classes and homework, students have little time to earn a significant income.

Comprehensive financial planning can seem like a massive undertaking, as it addresses every aspect of our client’s lives. But, where to start? Over the years, I have learned that by breaking the process down into five key components – the “4+1” –unlocks and discovers what is in a client’s heart and head.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged seven individuals, including criminal recidivist Richard Dale Sterritt, Jr., with defrauding investors through a multimillion dollar oil-and-gas offering fraud and related market manipulation scheme.

—The Senate has approved President Joe Biden’ s choice of Gary Gensler to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling an emphasis on investor protection for the Wall Street watchdog agency after a deregulatory stretch during the Trump administration.

According to the 2021 Q1 Quarterly Market Perceptions Study from Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, nearly three-quarters (74%) of Americans believe markets will continue to be very volatile in 2021, up slightly from 72% in Q4 2020.

Madoff died at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, apparently from natural causes, the person said. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

While most Americans have weathered the pandemic financially, about 38 million say they are worse off now than before the outbreak began in the U.S.. Overall, 55% of Americans say their financial circumstances are about the same now as a year ago, and 30% say their finances have improved, according to a new poll.

With New York legalizing recreational marijuana, is it time for investors to jump in? There are still federal-level barriers that limit cannabis companies’ growth potential.

—The U.S. economy is poised for an extended period of strong growth and hiring, the chair of the Federal Reserve said in an interview broadcast Sunday, though the coronavirus still poses some risk. Chair Jerome Powell, speaking to “60 Minutes,” also said that he doesn’t expect to raise the Fed’s benchmark interest rate.

The outstanding fourth-quarter earnings season we had in 2020 is a tough act to follow, but 2021’s first quarter has the makings of another potentially great earnings season.

Talk of pending tax increases has some advisors busy with clients who are anxious to plan now.

Money can still be made off Bitcoin purchased today, but scale works against performance matching the massive gains that have created a gold rush mindset for some.

The first quarter looks to be the turning point, both for the pandemic here in the U.S. and for the economic damage it has caused. While risks still remain, especially in the short term, the significant progress we made in the first two months of the year started coming to fruition in March, signaling that we are through the worst of it.

The S&P 500 scraped its way to a record close on Wednesday in a mixed day of trading as the Federal Reserve indicated it would remain committed to policies supporting economic recovery. Eric Schiffer, CEO of the Patriarch Organization told MarketWatch he believes the market still likely “has room to run.”

Your preferred financial news source is always talking about the next wave sweeping over the financial advisory profession. That’s with good reason, technology has made access to different ways of doing business much more possible in the 2010s and 2020s than they ever were before.

The SEC alleges that actor Zachary Horwitz misappropriated investor funds for his personal use, including the purchase of his multi-million dollar home, trips to Las Vegas, and to pay a celebrity interior designer. Horwitz’s credits as an actor include low-budget features such as “Trespassers.”