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Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Twenty one percent of the respondents to research conducted by Harris Poll said they expect to work past the traditional retirement age of 65. Of those, 45% said it was because of necessity and 55% said it was because of choice. Those...

 

Thursday, July 8, 2021

Millennials, those born between the early 1980’s and early 2000’s, number 72 million and are the largest generation. According to a recent article “US Demographics Not All Doom and Gloom” most Millennials have...

 

Monday, June 28, 2021

The highest deficit as a percentage of GDP in U.S. history was 29.6% in 1943, the first of three straight years when the ratio was at least 21% (1943 – 1945). Through 7 months of fiscal year 2021, the 7 months ending 04/30/21,...

 

Friday, June 18, 2021

Total state tax revenue (a combination of state income tax, corporate state income tax and sales tax) increased in 22 states and declined in 28 states over the period of April to December 2020 as compared to the same 9 months from 2019...

 

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

The three most popular states to move to in 2020 were Tennessee, Texas and Florida. The rankings are based upon 2M plus rentals of moving trucks last year that involved a “1 way” interstate move. (source: U-Haul Migration...

 

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Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Anyone you know had the flu this season? During the 2018 – 2019 flu season in the United States (approximately November to mid-April) 35.5M Americans got sick with the flu, 16.5M saw a health care provider and approximately 500K...

 

Thursday, April 8, 2021

Do you know how the government calculates the unemployment numbers? With all the attention being paid to the numbers, I thought you would like to learn the methodology used to arrive at the U.S. unemployment rate. The government...

 

Monday, March 29, 2021

The unemployment rate increased in 49 of 50 states for the twelve months ending December of 2020. The state of Hawaii had the greatest jobless rate jump - from 2.7% to 9.3%. South Dakota was the only state to report a lower jobless...

 

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Major league baseball teams started spring training last month. Did you know the minimum salary for a major league baseball player this year is $570,500? (source MLB) To be in the top 1% of all U.S. taxpayers (based on 2018 tax data)...

 

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Evander Kane is broke. The NHL San Jose Sharks player is in the 3rd year of a 7-year contract paying him $7M per year. Kane filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on 01/09/21, listing $27M of debts and only $10M of assets in the...

 

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, an estimated 55% of working age households today are not saving enough money before retirement to allow them to maintain their current standard of living into their...

 

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

The maximum Social Security benefit, assuming a worker retires in 2021 at full retirement age, is $3,148 per month. Do you know what your full retirement age is for Social Security? Do you know what level of earned income someone had...

 

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Joe Biden is our nation’s 46th president and he campaigned on an economic plan for the next ten years of $7.3 T in spending. Of the 7.3 T, 2.4 T is on infrastructure, 1.9 T on education and 1.5 T on both social welfare programs...

 

Thursday, January 21, 2021

According to NBC news an estimated 159.8 M Americans voted last November in the 2020 presidential race. There are an estimated 239.2 M voting – eligible Americans so the turnout was 66.8%. The highest turnout in 120 years.

 

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

The Wall Street Journal College rankings published 09/18/20 were notable in that Harvard University finished first for the fourth straight year. Also of note, the WSJ reported that 60% of four-year colleges and universities in the U.S....

 

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

It is that time of year when some people spend way too much time and energy talking about and worrying about College football rankings. Maybe the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) releases their college rankings this time of year for a reason...

 

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

More young people are seeking the advice of financial advisors according to the recent results of an ongoing study by Northwestern Mutual. The survey of 2,077 U.S adults in late April found 19% of Gen Xers, 22% of Millennials and 22%...

 

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

According to a global survey...

 

Thursday, August 27, 2020

The U.S. fertility rate, i.e. the number of children projected...

 

Friday, August 21, 2020

According to the Food and Drug Administration, in order to approve a vaccine the vaccine must be at least 50% effective. In other words, a yet to be approved COVID-19 trial vaccine must prevent half the people who receive the vaccine...

 

Monday, July 27, 2020

There are approximately 80 million owner occupied homes in the United States as of 03/31/20. By the year 2037, 21M of the 80M homes are projected to have a change of ownership as the Baby Boomer generation dies. Baby Boomers were born...

 

Monday, July 20, 2020

Of the 124M households in the United States as of 03/31/20, 81M (65%) are homeowners. Of the 81M, 50M have a mortgage on their primary residence. 35M American (28%) live alone. (Source: Census Bureau)

 

Monday, July 13, 2020

There were 64 million Americans receiving monthly benefits from Social Security in December 2019. These included retired workers, spouses and children of retired workers, survivors of deceased workers and disabled people. Retired...

 

Monday, June 22, 2020

The Social Security Trustees 2020 report issued 04/22/20 projected that the trust fund backing the payments of Social Security retirement benefits would be valued at $0 in 2034. A zero trust fund does not mean the payment of Social...

 

Thursday, June 18, 2020

When President Roosevelt proposed the Social Security retirement program idea in 1935, FDR’s financial people projected total Social Security expenditures would reach $1.3B in 1980. The actual Social Security outlay in 1980 was...

 

Thursday, May 21, 2020

The overall US economy fell 4.8% in the first quarter of 2020. 47% of the 4.8% decline was from the nation’s healthcare sector, partially due to the requirement that all hospitals temporarily stop all non-emergency surgeries...

 

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

We are in a recession caused by the world’s reaction(s) to COVID-19. How long will the recession last? There are a lot of opinions on that question. Can history be a guide? The worldwide flu epidemic started in the fall of 1918...

 

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

The importance of having a cash reserve “rainy day fund” has really been exposed by the new normal created by the world’s reaction(s) to COVID-19. We recommend our clients maintain between 90 to 180 days of their...

 

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Some of you are trying to manage your investments on your own, which reminds me of a scene from the movie “The Replacements”. The head coach Jimmy McGinty, played by Gene Hackman, is asking the players to “admit your...

 

Thursday, March 26, 2020

ACT test scores are important because they can be highly relevant to your student’s financial aid packages and/or merit scholarship. According to Jed Applerouth of Applerouth Tutoring, most students realize score gains through...

 

Friday, March 13, 2020

According to the College Board, the cost of tuition, fees, room and board at an average public 4 year college is $21,950 for the 2019 – 2020 school year. The same expenses at an average private 4 year college in 1999 – 2000...

 

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Training camps for major league baseball teams recently opened. In 2020 the minimum salary for a major league baseball player is $563,500. Of all US taxpayers (based upon 2017 data) to rank in the top 1% you needed adjusted gross...

 

Monday, February 17, 2020

The IRS expanded its whistleblower program which helped the IRS collect more than $1.4B in unpaid taxes in 2018. The whistleblowers got over $312M! According to the US Treasurer income tax is the most reported violation followed by...

 

Monday, February 10, 2020

The IRS estimates that US taxpayers voluntarily pay 83.6% of the federal income taxes that would be paid if all taxpayers were completely honest. This result is because of tax returns not being filed, income being under reported and...

 

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Audit Potential As you begin the process of collecting your information to either prepare your own taxes, or hand off to your CPA to prepare, thought you should know your chance of an audit. Only 1 out of every 222 individual tax...

 

Monday, December 23, 2019

Bernie has been incarcerated in federal prison in North Carolina for more than 10 years. He started serving his sentence on 7/14/2009. He is 81 years old and is scheduled to be released in 120 years on 11/14/2139 according to the...

 

Friday, December 20, 2019

It wasn’t that long ago that the gloom and doom group was focused on how much United States Treasury debt China owned and was buying. According to the US Treasury, Japan replaced China as the largest foreign holder of US Treasury...

 

Thursday, December 12, 2019

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, as of the end of September 158 million Americans had full-time jobs and 6 million Americans were out of work. Another 166 million are either too young to have a job or they are retired. Of the...

 

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

A new study, “The Retirement Solution Hiding in Plain Sight: How Much Retirees Would Gain by Improving Social Security Decisions” zero’s in on the cost of workers claiming benefits before their full retirement age....

 

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

If you are wise enough not to be planning on an inheritance to solve your retirement shortfall (see October 8, 2019 blog), maybe a pension is the solution. In 2018, according to the Urban Institute, 16% of full-time workers in the...

 

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

A recent HSBC study found that 51% of the people surveyed expect to inherit money from older family members. Of this group, 25% believe that inheritance will largely or entirely fund their retirement. A lot of people are going to be...

 

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

According to research from the World Economic Forum...

 

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

A recent study by T. Rowe Price found retirees’ number one financial objective is to have peace of mind. Then to be able to maintain an acceptable quality of life, followed by managing day to day expenses, reducing debt, and...

 

Friday, August 16, 2019

The first person to collect social security retirement benefits had only paid into the plan for three years. She started receiving her monthly benefit in January of 1940 and died in 1975. According to one Social Security Administrator,...

 

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 Under the 2017 tax law, as of 12/31/2018, 14 million of the 79 million homeowners in the U.S. claimed a mortgage interest deduction. The previous year (2017) of the 77 million homeowners, 34 million...

 

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article (4/30/2019) only 60% of men go to the doctor for a routine check up. The most common reasons given for not going to the doctor: (1) I only go to the doctor if I’m extremely sick...

 

Thursday, June 6, 2019

College Is Hard Recent federal data reports the six year graduation rate is 59% at public universities and 66% at private universities. Maybe a little planning can improve your student’s numbers. Educate To Career (ETC) is a...

 

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

A Four Year Grad? School is finishing up and summer is almost upon us. My wife and I just moved our daughter home after completing her freshman year of college. She only changed her major once. So far! According to the US Department of...

 

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (4/20/2019) only 20.2% of 16 year olds had drivers licenses and less than 50% of 17 year olds had a license. The share of 16 year olds getting their licenses was nearly halved...

 

Friday, April 12, 2019

According to Harvard University the admission rate for applications from children of wealthy donors, alumni, and faculty is 34%. The admission rate for everyone else applying is 6%. The Griffin Financial Aid office site on Harvard.edu...

 

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

March madness is here again, but this year there is the added madness of the college admissions scandal that recently hit the news. Parents paying bribes, to a handler who paid bribes to schools and coaches, to get kids into...

 

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

According to a LIMRA survey 58% of 1,504 small businesses reporting in August/September of 2018 (defined as US companies with 2-99 employees) do not offer any retirement benefits e.g., 401K, profit sharing plan. Maybe small businesses...

 

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

As we move past the holidays and into a new year, for many of us it is a time of reflection and planning. Shouldn't part of your planning process be answering the question of how much you spent in the past year to live your life? Is it...

 

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

A record amount of U.S. currency is circulating. Are you going to be using any on Black Friday bargains? The role cash plays in the U.S. economy is shrinking. Where is all the cash currency? There is almost $1.6 trillion of U.S....

 

Friday, November 16, 2018

High school juniors should be getting serious about their college search process by now.

 

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

If you are like me you are getting calls on your cell phone about the car warranty, that you never had, expiring. Robocalls are annoying but usually not fraudulent. The fraudulent activity to be weary of now, according to the Federal...

 

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Now Facebook users, 50 million, got hacked. I don't know how you feel about all this hacking, but I feel like it will never end. It's one thing to have a "toy" we use hacked, something much more serious when it's a financial provider...

 

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Another aspect of The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education college rankings published 9/6/18 that I found interesting was the average net price report. The average net price parents and/or students pay for the first year of...

 

Friday, September 21, 2018

Recently The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education rankings of U.S. colleges was published for the third year. The research looks at schools the way parents and prospective students do. The analysis puts the greatest emphasis on...