Thanks to the stock market’s performance since 2016 there are now more 401(k) millionaires than ever. It’s pretty heady stuff to think that you’re a millionaire, but many of these newly-minted paper millionaires don’t realize just how fragile their wealth can be. All it takes is a severe stock market crash and all that hard-earned savings and investment can...
Gold has been almost universally derided by governments in recent decades. Finally freed from the strictures of the gold standard, central banks and governments around the world have done their best to propagandize their people that gold is nothing more than a “barbarous relic.” For a while it seemed to be working, with gold prices trading in a narrow...
The latest jobs report was heralded by mainstream media as another indication that the US economy is humming along just fine. The consensus estimate of 190,000-200,000 jobs added was blown away by the actual 250,000 jobs reported. The unemployment rate is now at 3.7%, and wages increased year-on-year at over 3% for the first time since 2009. But looking...
Planning for retirement isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be horribly difficult either. Hard work and dedication can make just about anyone’s retirement dreams come true. Despite that, many Americans hamstring themselves when it comes to saving for retirement. From not saving early enough to spending too much money while they’re working, they fail to do what they...
Stock markets have been topsy-turvy in recent weeks, with investors continuing to remain nervous about the direction of markets as interest rates continue to rise. President Trump has blamed the Federal Reserve and its raising of the target federal funds rate for weakening the economy and unnerving markets. But if merely raising rates has caused this much unease in...
Recent weeks have seen stocks all over the map. From reaching new highs near 27,000 earlier this month to finishing last week over 2,000 points below those highs, investors have been plunged into an uncertainty they hadn’t experienced since February. Back then, many investors didn’t know what to do, as markets plunged but then seemed to recover. Once the...
The rebound in stock markets earlier this month had many investors believing that the turbulent and volatile behavior of markets that has occurred since the highs reached in February was finally over. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 reached new highs and commentators everywhere were touting that as proof that the economy was on fire and markets were poised...
Despite the wishes of many investors, stock markets will not continue to march onward to new highs. The massive growth of stock market indexes over the past few years had its roots in the Federal Reserve’s easy monetary policy that grew to enormous heights in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Cheap, readily available money inflated yet another stock...
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past three weeks, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the furor surrounding Saudi Arabia’s alleged torture and murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The reaction from the West has been strong and steady, with numerous luminaries pulling out of a major investment conference that had been...
Eight months after the stock market turbulence that rocked markets in February, the markets are at it again. Near-record drops, severe slides, and big bouncing recoveries are back again. But while many mainstream financial analysts continue to urge investors to buy the dip, arguing that stock markets are still a great investment, those who remember the events of 2007-2009...