What's Next in the Debt Ceiling Debate
At first thought, it seems inconceivable that Congress would want to go through another protracted fight like the one that shut things down for 16 days in October. That could occur, however, if a new budget panel doesn’t meet its deadline.
11/4 Weekly Update
On October 30, the Federal Reserve announced no tapering of QE3 and no change to interest rates. This helped the S&P 500 go +0.11% for the week and close at 1,761.64 on Friday. The Dow settled at 15,615.55 Friday, rising 0.28% for the week; the NASDAQ lost 0.54% in five days to settle Friday at 3,922.04
Annual Financial To-Do List
What financial, business or life priorities do you need to address for 2014? Now is a good time to think about the investing, saving or budgeting methods you could employ toward specific objectives. Some year-end financial moves may prove crucial to the pursuit of those goals as well.
Medicare Open Enrollment
The open enrollment period for 2014 runs from October 15-December 7, 2013. This is not only a period where you may enroll for the program, but also switch providers for your comprehensive health and drug coverage. Here are some key dates to remember...
10/28/13 Weekly Update
Rising 0.88% for the week, the S&P settled at a new peak of 1,759.77 Friday, and both the DJIA (+1.11% to 15,570.28) and NASDAQ (+0.74% to 3,943.36) advanced with it. Friday’s NASDAQ close represented a 13-year high.
Women & Money Paralysis
There is an old belief that women are more cautious about money than men, and whether you believe that or not, both women and men may fall prey to a kind of money paralysis as they age – in which financial indecision is regarded as a form of “safety.”
What Women Should Not Retire Without
When our parents retired, living to 75 amounted to a nice long life and Social Security was often supplemented by a pension. How different things are today! The good news is that life expectancy for women – as measured by the Centers for Disease Control – is now 81.1 years. The Social Security Administration estimates that the average 65-year-old woman today will live to age 86. Given these projections, it appears that a retirement of 20 years or longer might be in your future.
10/21 Weekly Update
The S&P 500 advanced 2.42% last week, hitting a new intraday record of 1,745.32 on Friday before settling at 1,744.50. The NASDAQ finished the week at a 13-year high of 3,914.28, rising 3.23% across five days. A 1.07% weekly gain brought the Dow to a settlement price of 15,399.65 Friday. NYMEX crude settled at $100.81 per barrel Friday afternoon, down 1.2% since Monday for their fifth weekly loss in the past six weeks. COMEX gold jumped 3.2% on Thursday alone, with futures up 3.7% for the week to a Friday close of $1,314.60.
Legacy Planning for Women
Women often become guardians of family wealth. Many women outlive their spouses, and have the opportunity to have the “final say” (from an estate planning standpoint) about the wealth they have built or inherited. Legacy planning is essential for single women and couples, too, as one or two successful careers may leave a woman or a couple with a significant estate.
Why Women are Prepared for Financial Success
Statistics don’t mean everything. Read enough about women and money online, and you will run across numbers indicating that women finish a distant second to men in saving and investing. Depressing?
Women Need to Take Charge of Their Money
Many women are in charge of their financial lives, and proudly so. Some have become their own financial captains as a result of life events; others have always steered their own ships. Even so, there are too many women who are left out of financial decision making – some by their own choice.
The 1995-96 Government Shutdown and Its Impact
In late 1995, the economy had been expanding – similar to today. Stocks were on a tear: a powerful bull market had begun in 1992, and it was far from over. Between 1992 and 2000, the Dow rose about 7,800 points. In fact, it gained almost 3,000 points (about 75%) between January 1995 and March 1997.
10/14/2013 Weekly Update
DJIA RISES AS CAPITOL HILL NEGOTIATIONS PICK UP. The Dow climbed more than 300 points last Thursday en route to a 1.09% weekly gain and a Friday close of 15,237.11. The S&P 500 (+0.75% to 1,703.20) advanced for the week, though the NASDAQ (-0.42% to 3,791.87) did not.
What if America Shatters its Debt Ceiling?
During October, America may risk running out of cash. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew recently urged Congress to lift the federal debt limit before October 17. Secretary Lew claims that if nothing is done by that date, the Treasury will have only about $30 billion in available cash to pay down as much as $60 billion in daily net expenditures. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has a slightly different opinion: it believes that the government will run out of free cash sometime between October 22 and November 1 if a stalemate persists on Capitol Hill.
10/7/2013 Weekly Update
Even with the federal government mostly out of commission last week and a debt ceiling battle brewing, stocks didn’t fall too far. The NASDAQ actually rose 0.69% in five trading days, marking its fifth straight weekly advance; the S&P 500 lost only 0.07%. The CBOE VIX, unsurprisingly, rose 9.25% last week to settle at 16.89 Friday. COMEX gold hit its lowest level since August on Tuesday, and the dollar touched a one-month low against the yen on Thursday. The week ended with no resolution to the budget impasse. Last week, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde cautioned that U.S. GDP could slip below 2% this year if the debt ceiling is not raised.
The Government Shutdown
As you have no doubt heard, the United States government shut down at midnight (Eastern) October 1, 2013. There are many questions and concerns about this situation, but here are some basics.
9/30 Weekly Update
With a last-minute showdown over the federal budget looming in Congress and consumers and business owners trying to learn more about the healthcare exchanges slated to open October 1, there was a lot to concern Wall Street and Main Street last week. The Dow (-1.25 to 15,258.24) and S&P 500 (-1.06% to 1,691.75) made weekly retreats, but the NASDAQ rose 0.18% in five days to settle at 3,781.59 Friday.
9/23/13 Weekly Update
After hitting an all-time high Wednesday, a bad Friday still left the Dow at 15,451.09 at the end of the week. Across a volatile five days, it rose 0.49%; the S&P 500 (+1.30% to 1,709.91) and NASDAQ (+1.41% to 3,774.73) both outperformed it last week.
9/16/2013 Weekly Economic Update
As fears about missile strikes on Syria eased last week, stocks rose in advance of the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy statement. The Dow climbed 3.04% during its second-best week of 2013 to settle at 15,376.06 Friday. The NASDAQ (+1.70% to 3,722.18) and S&P 500 (+1.98% to 1,687.99) also had solid weeks. While all three indices are up more than 3% so far in September, the Russell 2000 is ahead of them all (+4.26% MTD at Friday’s close).
Implications of Rising Mortgage Rates
Between early May and mid-July, the average interest rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose about 1%. Rates on 30-year FRMs have basically held steady since hitting a peak of 4.51% in Freddie Mac’s July 11 Primary Mortgage Market Survey – in the August 15 edition, they averaged 4.40% – but they could rise dramatically again