ICYMI: : Social Security Turns 84, Consumer Debt And Market Turbulence

As the world’s largest retirement market, current trends in the U.S. will have a disproportionate impact on leading financial services firms over the next two decades, says a new report. While noting that retirement “is and will continue to be” one of the largest growth opportunities for wealth managers, insurers and asset managers, McKinsey& Company’s “Long-term…

I recently summitted Mount Shasta in California, a 14,200- foot volcano. It is a gorgeous mountain and summitting was very rewarding. There are many things that are vital to success at an endeavor such as this, but several of the most important, I believe, are preparation, proper tools/equipment and experience.

WASHINGTON- Stock markets in Japan fell Thursday, but not as drastically as the plummets experienced by U.S. markets a day earlier that amplified recession fears. But most importantly, the analysts pointed to a so-called yield curve inversion for interest rates on two- and 10- year U.S. Treasury notes. But the reverse was in effect Wednesday, and the analysts see it…

—U.S. consumer prices rose 0.3% in July, pushed higher by more expensive gas, medical care and housing. The consumer price index increased 1.8% compared with a year earlier, up from 1.6% in June, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices moved up 0.3% in July and 2.2% from a year ago.

Gun-rights objections reportedly prompted Gov. Chris Sununu to veto legislation that would have allowed financial advisors to delay disbursement of funds from an investment account if they suspected financial abuse.

Aug. 13– As investment values slipped again Monday– with U.S. stocks down and bond yields also off on fears of a China trade war– Vanguard Group investors got an extra jolt when the Malvern- based company showed some of its popular funds falling much further. “Imagine my surprise upon seeing a listing in the paper for Vanguard Target 2025 of $14.91– price over the…

The White House on Tuesday said it would delay imposing tariffs on Chinese imports of cellphones, laptop computers, video game consoles, and certain types of footwear and clothing until Dec. 15, significantly later than the Sept. 1 deadline President Trump had repeatedly threatened. The White House did not give a full explanation as to why these items were being…

For consumers, the world of wealth management can be daunting. Financial advising, financial planning, wealth management, investment management, financial wellness, strategic wealth strategy, asset management- the industry jargon can seem endless. Over the last 30 years, Bill Walker has seen many of these takes on financial services.

2019 AUG 12– By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Education Daily Report– According to a new survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of TD Ameritrade, Americans would rather discuss politics, health issues and religion over money and personal finances while more than a third wish they could discuss their finances more freely. This press release…

Imports of U.S. goods fell 19% from a year earlier to $10.9 billion, customs data showed Thursday, though that was an improvement over June’s 31.4% fall. Beijing has retaliated for U.S. tariff hikes in a dispute over trade and technology by imposing its own punitive duties and suspending purchases of American soybeans and other goods. China’s central bank…

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell should call an emergency meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee and cut rates in the next few days. Our friends at The Wall Street Journal are calling the recent market sell-off the“ Navarro Recession”— a deserved poke at the pro-tariff policies of White House Economic Adviser Peter Navarro. Donald Trump has embraced that…

The week has been especially turbulent as investors and central banks react to the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China. DXC Technology plunged 28% after cutting its financial forecast for the year. General Electric shed 2.4% and TripAdvisor lost 3.6%.

Aug. 9– The American workforce is graying. The surge in older workers can be attributed to multiple factors, such as the disappearance of company pensions, the increasing age to collect full Social Security and growing lifespans. LaVerne Gaither belongs to the former group and Janet Beebe to the latter.

Wall Street has a message for the Federal Reserve: You are not done cutting rates. Yields on 30- year Treasury bonds approached their record low of 2.106 percent. The notion that a protracted conflict could weigh on global growth was further fueled on Wednesday when central bankers in Thailand, India and New Zealand— all of which have important trading…

—Stock prices rose Thursday as investors braced for the next development in the U.S.- Chinese trade war, which has caused volatility in world markets this week, and after Beijing reported a rise in exports, easing some concerns about its economic slowdown. Markets in Europe advanced after indexes in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong closed higher, recovering some of…

Aug. 7– Last week, President Donald Trump announced a new 10 percent tariff on more than $300 billion in Chinese goods to take effect Sept. 10. Ben Gold, president of QuickBridge, a financial services company that provides small business loans, said his clients are already feeling the effects. Whenever Trump announces new tariffs, he says, small businesses are likely…

Data: LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute; Chart: Harry Stevens/Axios The younger you are, the less retirement security you’re likely to have, as employers accelerate efforts to shed costly pensions and replace them with alternatives that make workers shoulder more of the risk and responsibility. Why it matters: Millennials and members of Generation Z will face less prosperous…

—Just what the fragile global economy didn’t need: An unpredictable escalation in President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, one that spreads the conflict to currency markets, threatens to involve other countries and raises the risk of a global recession. At a time when growth in the United States and the world is already weakening and Trump has said he’ll…

U.S. stocks rebounded Tuesday after Chinese efforts to stabilize the yuan offered investors some much-needed reassurance, one day after an abrupt escalation in the trade war instilled terror in global markets. Though China emphatically rejected the Treasury Department’s move to label it a currency manipulator, the Chinese central bank nudged the yuan’s…

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell has not been shy about saying what he’s trying to do: prolong the economy’s expansion so that it creates more jobs for those who, in the past, have often felt left out. The Fed increasingly sees itself as a social agency dedicated to job creation. That— more than the effect on stock prices— is the real story behind the Fed’s decision…

The U.S. economy added 164,000 jobs in July as the unemployment rate held at 3.7%, the Labor Department said Friday. The Dow Jones fell.

With many clients struggling with credit card debt, advisors use a range of tools to provide education and encouragement.

The Federal Reserve’s report on the economic well-being of U.S. households says that about 27 percent of those surveyed would need to borrow the money or sell something to come up with $400; an additional 12 percent wouldn’ t be able to cover the unexpected cost at all. A recent poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 23…

With Wall Street, it’ s always“ what have you done for me lately? After clamoring for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, big investors got their wish on Wednesday: The central bank, as widely expected, trimmed its benchmark rate by a quarter-percentage point, a move officials said they took to insulate a relatively healthy US economy from a global slowdown…

“Our estimate of average household income, based on Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data, is at the highest level since 2000. Average nominal household incomes are nearly 57 percent higher today than in January 2000,” said Fleming.

Forty percent of non-retired Americans say that “how much income they’ll have in retirement” is the most important question they face about retirement. And eight in ten (80%) non-retirees indicate they lack a specific financial plan that they follow. One-third are not preparing for retirement because they don’t have enough time.

By ABBY VICK For AdvisorNews Attention Advisors: You are missing the boat, if you are not helping your female clients…

The Department of Labor issued a final rule expanding the availability of some multiple employer retirement plans.

Mr. Cohen is the first Chief of the Cyber Unit, created in 2017. “Rob has been a true leader in the Enforcement Division,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. ” “The Cyber Unit has been a great success under Rob’s strategic leadership,” said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “

U.S. business economists expect the economy’s growth to slow this year, and a rising proportion of them think corporate sales and profits will decline. The National Association for Business Economics says its quarterly survey of economists about business conditions finds that the Trump administration’s tariffs on goods from China, Europe and other countries have disrupted the businesses of about one-fourth of its members.

According to a recent report form Standard& Poors, over the last 15 years 92% of domestic actively managed mutual funds underperformed their respective benchmarks. The significant fees associated with actively managed mutual funds makes it very difficult for fund managers to consistently outperform the market. The typical published expense ratio of an…

Bad investments happen all the time. But when you think about bad investments, your mind likely goes right to the stock market where a lousy stock pick can lead an investment value to $0. Investments come in all forms, including a savings account or other cash-based asset class.

The U.S. economy slowed in the spring but continues to grow at a healthy pace that shows little sign of a recession. Consumer spending and federal government spending accounted for the bulk of U.S. growth as Americans bought heavily again in the spring and federal spending surged after the shutdown. This year it’s starting to fade, “said Michael Feroli, chief U.S….

In a report issued by the Brookings Institution, researchers propose to include deferred lifetime income annuities as a default in employer-provided 401 plans. Researchers Vanya Horneff, with the Finance Department at Goethe University; Raimond Maurer, with the Finance Department and Goethe University; and Olivia S. Mitchell, with the Wharton School at the…

You loan money to an entity and they give you an IOU for the most part. There are terms such as when you will get your money back, how you will get your money back, how much they might pay you in compensation for the loan and any other special terms and conditions, of which there can be many. Without going through all the specifics, just swallow the term IOU and you are well on…

The way people eat is changing, which means there is a giant market ripe for disruption and money to be made. However, most investors won’t profit from the disruption because very few of the companies driving the change are public and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. Why it matters: The lack of public opportunities to invest in food disruption despite the ravenous demand is…

What sort of machine is the economy? Pessimists worry that one or two wrong moves from Washington will cause it to seize up. With Trump’ s policies, declared Stephen Moore,“ 4 percent growth can and should be the new normal in America.” After the president signed his big tax cut, Lawrence Kudlow said,“ We’ re on the front end of an investment boom.”.

Analysts and advisors expressed surprise at the announcement.

U.S. long-term mortgage rates rose this week after three weeks of holding steady, tipped higher by expectations that the Federal Reserve could reduce interest rates soon. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate on the benchmark 30-year mortgage increased to 3.81% from 3.75% last week.

Elizabeth Warren on Thursday rolled out a plan to crack down on private equity firms as part of her broader push to take on Wall Street. “Let’s call this what it is: legalized looting— looting that makes a handful of Wall Street managers very rich while costing thousands of people their jobs, putting valuable companies out of business, and hurting communities…

AmeriLife Group, LLC (“AmeriLife”), a national leader in developing, marketing and distributing annuity, life and health insurance solutions, has acquired a majority interest in Brookstone Capital Management (“Brookstone”), a leading SEC-Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firm providing fee-based asset management services, creating one of the largest independent marketing and RIA organizations in the U.S.

More than one-third of the $1 billion new assets on the digital advice platform are from new clients.

Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan has joined the chorus of central bank leaders hinting strongly that an interest-rate cut is coming at the end of July, but he does not see the need for additional cuts this year. I could see an argument for that, “Kaplan told The Washington Post in an interview Tuesday. Wall Street is pricing in nearly a 100 percent…

Defined contribution retirement plan sponsors would like to see broader financial wellness topics addressed in participant education, according to a survey by Voya Investment Management, titled, “Survey of the Retirement Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities for DC-Focused Advisors.” “We found that the issue of retirement readiness is more of an issue…

When you do something different, prospects notice.

Insider Q&A: This year is on pace to be one of the hottest on record, again, and the trend may only accelerate as the Trump White House loosens policies meant to combat climate change. That has some investors feeling anger, but others are seeing dollar signs, says John Streur, CEO of Calvert Research and Management, one of the largest families of responsibly invested mutual funds.

Patrick Harker, the former president of University of Delaware and head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, told the Wall Street Journal that he sees no need to lower interest rates. Harker does not sit on the committee of the Federal Reserve which votes on rate increases or decreases. However, all governors of the Federal Reserve participate in…

Water is easy to take for granted. It falls from the sky, and, though it’ s vital, we sometimes treat it as if it’ s worthless. “Water scarcity is a global phenomenon,” said Andreas M. Fruschki, portfolio manager of the AllianzGI Global Water Fund.“ And it’ s most pronounced in regions with the highest population growth,” like the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East.

“For the most part, every governor in the country had no idea what opportunity zones were, they didn’t know how it worked, they’d never heard of it before, it was kind of a shock to everyone and people were left scrambling,” said Patrick Mullen, director of opportunity zones and financial incentives for the Utah Association of Counties. There are 8,761 in all 50 states,…

New tech helping wealth management firms. Wealth managers are increasingly leveraging technology to free up their time, allowing them to focus more on their clients. Deidre Prescott, president and co-founder of Sandy Cove Advisors, said she uses many different kinds of technology to run her business and take care of clients, rather than a large, expensive,…

Here’s an interesting report from The Associated Press: Out of 1,423 participants in a poll, nearly one quarter of them said they never plan to retire from work. Given that today’s average lifespan is 78 years, that’s got to be a long time for some of the people who said they’ll work till they die. That’s no surprise at all: For anyone in their 50 s today, the retirement…

Just because you’re rich doesn’t mean you’re right, apparently. This year’s mistake cost the wealthy an estimated $136 billion so far, according to an Investor’s Business Daily analysis of data from Capgemini’s World Wealth Report. 

Ahead of a House Financial Services Committee meeting, Rep. Maxine Waters (D – Calif.) called for more diversity and representation…

Good news makes investors nervous. The S&P 500 rose above 3,000 for the first time in its history on Wednesday, with gains that continued early Thursday. The most recent jump began after Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, suggested the nation’ s central bank was worried about the economy.