How Did Elon Musk Make $36.2 Billion In A Single Day?

The Federal Reserve on Thursday banned purchases of individual stocks by its top officials and announced a broad set of other restrictions on their investment activities, about six weeks after news of active trading by some regional Fed presidents sparked an ethics scandal.

According to Bloomberg, the pull of e-commerce, especially in the wake of the pandemic, has helped PayPal’s stock more than double since the beginning of last year, giving the company a market cap of nearly $320 billion. The company’s momentum gives it financial muscle that it could use for acquisitions.

While the Certified Financial Planner certification has long been considered the “gold standard” of financial planning credentials, it has recently become more of a foundational knowledge base for those serious about helping clients achieve their financial goals.

We have an inflation problem. Jerome H. Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve Board, has admitted as much. Since 2012, the Fed has poured roughly $4 trillion into financial markets for stocks, bonds and other financial instruments.

A recent Delta Data survey of nearly 40 US banks, including two of the top twenty-five banks by total assets, found a common thread: Many banks are still employing approaches to asset transfers within their trust/wealth management groups that are heavily manual.

Most people think of the Roth IRA as a way to save for retirement, but it can also be a way to help save for a child’s college education as well. When you withdraw money from a Roth IRA, contributions made directly to a Roth IRA are always withdrawn before any earnings.

When you increase your communication with clients, offer innovative ideas for connecting, and bring more transparency to the advising process, your clients will value your dedication and want to establish successful, long-term relationships.

DPL Financial Partners’ 2021 RIA Retirement Planning Survey looked into the ways this era of low interest rates is impacting the way advisors look at various retirement income strategies and how they put those strategies into practice for their clients.

Last week, Washington Post reporters exposed how global elites have used opaque trusts to shield wealth from tax authorities and the critical public. The answer to the first question begins with a surprise meeting between executives from New York- based Citibank and South Dakota Gov. William Janklow (R) in February 1980.

The September 2021 Survey of Consumer Expectations shows that short- and medium-term inflation expectations rose to their highest levels since the inception of the survey in 2013.

According to a new study from financial services firm Edward Jones in partnership with Age Wave and Harris Poll, a third of U.S. adults (33%) report that the pandemic triggered conversations with close family members about their end-of-life plans and preferences.

The semi-regular debt limit fight is politics at its worst. Why? Because raising the federal debt limit should be a routine, obligatory act by Congress to fulfill the government’s basic duty to pay the bills run up by the very same Congress.

Plan sponsors overwhelmingly see the value of guaranteed lifetime income options according to new research released today by Allianz Life. In addition, the majority are now ready to begin offering these new choices.

Thinking holistically about your clients’ retirement security and developing and executing a strategy aligned with their goals may help free them to enjoy one of the most rewarding times of their life.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the biggest gains are for Wells Fargo (59.05% on the year), and Goldman Sachs (48.96%). Investment banks Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan post returns of 45.98% and 33.96%, respectively, so far in 2021.

Right now, there are two empty slots among the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks scattered across the country. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren resigned after revelations about their trading activities during the pandemic.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said on Thursday the central bank could move forward with efforts to assess how banks could be hit by climate change, saying such analysis will be a key tool in measuring risks.

A fee-based model can help you focus on creating and maintaining client relationships, all while bolstering trust and adding value to your financial advice with a new level of objectivity.

The Senate will vote today on a Democratic-backed measure to suspend the U.S. debt ceiling, a key lawmaker said Tuesday, as partisan politics in Congress risks an economically crippling federal credit default.

New research from Northwestern Mutual shows that COVID-19 has changed many Americans’ retirement plans, with over one-third saying it has either moved up or pushed back their target retirement age.

The Federal Reserve has asked its Office of Inspector General to initiate an independent review of whether trading activity by some top officials broke the law, according to a spokesperson for the central bank.

Hispanics are the most likely demographic group (26%) to say they feel “motivated” when thinking about financial planning in the current environment, according to a survey by Lincoln Financial Group.

Is “buy and hold” always the best way to invest? It is common to see increasing numbers of articles touting the benefits of “armchair” investing during long bull market advances. The last decade has been a boon for the index ETF industry, financial applications, and media websites promoting “buy and hold” investing.

In April, the Federal Housing Finance Agency essentially required Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to put the kibosh on financing one to four unit rentals. The ban-the-rental plan, announced last January, was the work of former FHFA Director Mark Calabria, along with former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

Because if you parse the numbers, as we'll do in a bit, you see that foreign investors and central banks own about 45 percent of the Treasury securities that are owned by investors, rather than by the Federal Reserve and various federal trust funds.

Communication is the most important skill most people don’t develop. Most people believe they’re communicating effectively, while the reality is they’re not.

Senator Elizabeth Warren said Tuesday that she would oppose the renomination of Jerome Powell for another term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, calling him “a dangerous man” because of what she described as serious shortcomings in his oversight of financial regulations.

The Delta variant is keeping more companies cautious about how to invest the mountains of cash they have at their disposal. That hesitancy has led, in part, to corporate spending on stock buybacks outpacing capital expenditures this year. 

Robert Kaplan will step down as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas early next month, the Dallas Fed announced Monday. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, sharply criticized the trades and urged Fed Chair Jerome Powell to bar stock ownership by Fed officials.

One in four American parents who borrowed from the federal government to help pay for a child’s college education don’t expect to retire as planned because of the debt, according to a new survey.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the central bank’s rules about what type of assets Fed officials can invest in need updating amid an ethics controversy involving regional presidents.

When it comes to technology, the insurance industry operated under the premise, “If you build it, they will come.” But when technology platforms are built but not adopted, then what?

The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that it may start raising its benchmark interest rate sometime next year, earlier than it envisioned three months ago and a sign that it's concerned that high inflation pressures may persist.

My career as a financial planner was shaped in my annual tax meetings with my CPA. One year I mentioned to her I really liked taxes, but specifically how a person could be strategic in their finances with tax planning.

While over three-fourths of all respondents seek returns of 5% or more over the next 12 months, the outlook is more optimistic for family offices with AUM over $500 million with 30% seeking over 10% returns.

Allianz Life’s 2021 Retirement Risk Readiness Study identifies distinct differences among ethnicities regarding retirement risks as well as interest in getting help from a financial professional.

Americans have trillions in assets and advisors should have plenty of business in the years ahead, according to new projections of consumer wealth.

Not planning for inflation can be a financial sucker punch in the years when financial breathing room is needed most. By helping their clients build income streams that account for inflation, advisors will help them keep pace with the economic inevitable.

Nearly nine in 10 plan sponsors and participants (88%), respectively, agree that income in retirement is vital to financial security, according to the Nationwide Retirement Institute’s 2021 In-Plan Lifetime Income survey.

LinkedIn has evolved tremendously over the past decade. In the past few years, LinkedIn has become more like Facebook – very social and engaging. It is an incredibly powerful platform if you use it correctly. LinkedIn can transform the way you do business development if you’re willing to make the effort.

While hands-on experience working with families comes with time, it’s beneficial for advisors to prepare for whatever expectations families might have, especially as wealth is a highly personal subject matter.

Social Security was in trouble even before the pandemic, because the retirement of the baby-boom generation is expanding the number of beneficiaries much faster than the increase in the number of workers paying into the system, the trustees said.

The fourth quarter of the year begins soon. Investors are still on the edge of their seats concerned about potential tax law changes and any Federal Reserve policy that might spook the financial markets.

Investment giant BlackRock on Wednesday defended itself from criticism from billionaire financier George Soros, who took exception to its approach to investing in China.

According to a new survey from the New York Federal Reserve, 50.1% of respondents expect to keep working past the age of 62. That’s an almost 2% decline from the year before.

Robert Maron, 62, generated more than $1 million in profits by trading Illumina securities instruments based on non-public information ahead of the company’s financial report in October 2016, according to the SEC.

Indeed, as recently as July, 35% of Americans say they're saving more money than they were before the pandemic, according to a new survey from NerdWallet. The personal saving rate is a figure from the Bureau of Economic Analysis measuring what’s left over in household income after taxes and spending.

For most Americans a home mortgage is their most significant financial liability and paying it off is a high priority. Those fortunate enough to have savings or income beyond what is needed to pay living expenses should consider the financial and psychological benefits of paying the balance down early.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its August employment report this morning, revealing that the domestic economy added a disappointing 235,000 jobs during the month, falling well short of Bloomberg-surveyed economists’ median forecast for a gain of 733,000. This comes on the heels of a strong July during which payrolls climbed by an upwardly revised 1.053 million jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 5.2% in August, in line with expectations, and was paired with an unchanged labor force participation rate, which stayed at 61.7%.

Sometimes red flags are waving gently in front of us, but we are blind to their signals. Many of Bernie Madoff's clients failed to notice the warning signs that something wasn't quite right. Madoff was the infamous architect of an epic securities swindle that lost billions in clients' money.

Crafting your client base can be a daunting task, but simplifying it to a system that’s easy to digest will streamline your search process. The “ABC” system that I use is interlinked, as each component depends on, and thrives off one another.

Over the past year or so, consumer confidence has risen sharply, coming off the trough at the start of the pandemic, and was approaching pre-pandemic highs. Two leading surveys were saying the same thing. Then something started to change.

Whether you’re on the fence about using social media to accelerate your success or you’ve started to dip your toe into the water to see if it’s warm enough to dive in, you’d likely agree social media is a powerful platform that can be leveraged for your business success.

Credit card customers’ expectations for credit cards are revolving, and a new J.D. Power survey shows many card issuers are failing to keep up. The decrease in customer satisfaction was led by midsized card issuers who couldn’t keep up with the evolving needs of consumers during today’s volatile economy.

Corrections are a normal part of investing and the S&P 500 Index has yet to pull back even 5% so far this year, something that happens on average three times per year. However, we remain steadfastly bullish and this week want to explore five things that some bears believe that do not worry us.

In his latest Investment Outlook of 2021, Bill Gross writes about interest rates: “At 1.25% for the 10- year Treasury, they have nowhere to go but up.” He sees rates increasing by as much as 2% over the next year.

Technology has always been the driving force behind change. When combined with rapidly-changing consumer needs, it has the potential to transform industries.

The average American will pay more than $130,000 in interest fees over their lifetime, according to a new study from Self, a credit building company. The state where borrowers pay the highest interest fees is Hawaii, where Americans pay $272,326 over their lifetime, followed by California with $234,337.

Sixty-one percent of retirees wish they had done better at planning for the financial aspects of their retirement, according to an Edward Jones/Age Wave study titled “Retirement in the Time of Coronavirus: What a Difference a Year Makes.”

A Brooklyn man is facing federal charges related to an illegal check-cashing scheme that netted him more than $55 million over the past decade.

Most people I know look forward to retirement someday. They dream about travel, dining out, spending more time with family, etc. These are the things that people plan and save for. This vision of retirement is what we see in commercials.

The firm still ranks at the top of surveys by J.D. Power and others, yet complaints about Vanguard’s customer service are growing anecdotally, according to online reviews, financial advisers, and company loyalists.

The Department of Labor’s lifetime income illustration rule requiring pension and retirement plan providers to issue an annual projection for clients goes into effect in September but the department still has not produced a final rule.

A MetLife study using Chamber of Commerce data shows employees are worried about finances but employers are not sharpening their focus on their workers’ financial well-being.

Word is that the Social Security increase we see in January could be as much as 6.1%, the largest since 1983. For the average benefit recipient, currently receiving $1,543, that could amount to $94 per month.

It’s not an overstatement to say ours is a profession built on relationships. Understanding and truly connecting with our clients unlocks endless opportunity – for us to deliver better recommendations, make our clients happier and grow our businesses.

So, you have reviewed the client’s circumstances, discussed the options, developed a roadmap, excited the client about their plan and then it’s “Great! Let’s do some paperwork!” That frown you see on the client’s face is one of the costs of friction.

Financial planning for the LGBTQ+ community embodies a wide range of topics like marriage decisions, financial protection, family planning and legacy planning.

—Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the U.S. economy has been permanently changed by the COVID pandemic and it is important that the central bank adapt to those changes. “We're not simply going back to the economy that we had before the pandemic,” Powell said at a Fed virtual town hall.

2Q S&P 500 earnings growth did not surprise by quite as much as in the first quarter, but came pretty close—boosted by the biggest quarterly upside revenue surprise in at least 13 years. Here, we recap the strong numbers and raise our forecasts for earnings and for S&P 500 fair value at year-end.

MassMutual is pushing deeper into cryptocurrency with a planned investment fund for Bitcoin administered through a tech platform that the carrier has already invested in.

The SEC’s order finds that Pearson made misleading statements and omissions about the 2018 data breach involving the theft of student data and administrator log-in credentials of 13,000 school, district and university customer accounts.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.19 percent in July, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1.34 percent. The S&P 500 led the way with a 2.38 percent gain during the month. As we continue to hit new highs, what are the risks going forward?

Authorities say Martin Ruiz misappropriated more than $8 million of client funds, transferring those funds through a series of entities Ruiz also controlled, and spent the vast majority of the funds on personal expenses.

If you’re looking to beef up your client’s retirement savings, then you’ll want to check out this Roth IRA loophole right now. Roth IRAs have been around since the introduction of the Taxpayer Relief act in 1997, and are considered to be a smart tool for retirement if used correctly.

The inflation story is more about isolated components, rather than general increases in prices, and even those components are showing signs of peaking. And this is even before we consider the one- and two-year differential in prices.

As you approach an intersection when driving, you have to be aware of a number of factors. Is there a traffic light or a stop sign ahead? Are pedestrians about to cross?

Retirement plan participants are worried about running out of money, losing income or not being able to afford medical expenses, according to an American Century survey.