My Comments: Some of my friends continue to decry the notion of socialism. They seem to equate it with communism, a very different animal. It’s too bad they haven’t yet figured out that it’s not a rejection of capitalism. For me, because the word has accumulated so many negatives, not unlike the Confederate flag, I’ve …
Continue reading GOP confronts an inconvenient truth: Americans want a healthcare safety net
My Comments: Financial illiteracy is a huge problem. But many people have no idea it applies to them. The other day I was trying to explain something to a widow in her 70’s and it was like talking to my six year old grandson. People should be exposed to the markets. But they need to …
Continue reading How do I safely invest my retirement savings for growth?
My Comments: Brian Stoffel has identified 3 critical elements for everyone not yet retired and receiving Social Security benefits. And they are not just about money and the role it plays in people’s lives. I could point out some flaws in his arguments, but the message is real. Brian Stoffel | Apr 17, 2017 You …
My Comments: More and more people have Roth IRA accounts. A common question about retirement is whether to draw money from their Roth IRA first or take money from their non-Roth retirement accounts first. It depends. Any money not yet taxed is going to get taxed. Period. The Roth IRA money comes out tax free; …
My Comments: The last time interest rates started moving upward in a long term up trend was 1946. This lasted until 1981. Then they started moving down again. Now, 36 years later, they have once again started upward. The central bank, known as the FED, started moving them back up about a year ago. Granted, …
Continue reading Rates Won’t Skyrocket, So Ignore the Cassandra Chorus
My Comments: There is a lot of fear these days about money. We all know that from time to time the markets experience a correction. Depending on how old you are and when you expect to use the funds you have, this fear is normal. So how do you deal with it? Again, depending on …
My Comments: We are now six months into the Trump presidency. I somehow knew it was going to be a challenge because the values that surround him are so very different from mine. What I didn’t expect was the utter fecklessness, wrapped inside a veneer of patriotism. I now have many more unresolved fears about …
My Comments: I’m NOT a workaholic. But I’ve learned that ‘retirement’ means very different things to people. For many of us, it’s an ugly word. For me it just means doing what I’ve done for decades, but with a recognition that today it takes me two hours to do what I used to do in …
My Comments: Followers of my posts have heard me say that income inequality is the greatest existential threat to our society. It ranks up there with global warming. The path we appear to be on right now, both here in the States and across the planet, will not change until this issue is addressed. It …
Continue reading The Forces Behind Income Inequality in America
My Comments: In 1983, when Social Security was on the verge of going broke, Congress made some changes to keep it alive and well. It’s again on the verge of going broke and there are ways to fix it. But were not yet close enough to the edge of the cliff for there to be …
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