EasyBlog

For over two decades, we’ve heard ongoing calls to transform Social Security from a government administered “group” program, where everyone who’s ever worked benefits, to an investment program of individual accounts, where you as the investor manage your own account.

You hear the arguments about how the stock returns have far outpaced those of U.S. treasuries and how an individual could be worth so much more.  That may be true, but I assume there’s far more to it than your potentially receiving higher returns.

The question about handing medical expenses in retirement is coming up more frequently, even among my younger clients.  They hear that the average lifetime retiree health-care costs is over $400,000 for insurance premiums, co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs.

One of the best ways to prepare to manage these expenses is to get healthy now.  What do I mean?

A common water cooler topic and segment on the local news is the price of gasoline. Remember when we were paying $5.00 or more per gallon?  Over the last year or so, you may have been overjoyed at paying closer to half of that amount at just over $2.50 or less per gallon.  Even today’s $3.00 per gallon seems like a bargain.

With all the talk about gas prices, it seems reasonable to assume that when gas prices are high, people drive less and consume fewer gallons.  And, likewise, when prices are lower, people drive more.

Conventional wisdom suggests that rising interest rates are not good for stocks.  Following the Federal Reserve’s (the Fed) most recent rate hike in December 2015, the market has been increasingly volatile to the downside.
 

Is this evidence that conventional wisdom is right?

Or will a review of the historical evidence suggest that this downside volatility is likely an overreaction?

I grew up in Basketball Country (aka The Bluegrass State) and there’s nothing like this time of year.   Four full weeks of college hoops. Conference tournaments and then the NCAA tournament.  And, the tens of millions of tournament bracket submissions filled with predictions about who’s going to win and advance round by round.

These are always fun and add to the spectacle of college hoops and the ribbings and banter among friends.   I love it!