Expect the Unexpected Expect the unexpected. When the unexpected happens, there is no do-over. There is no reset button to push. Remember, You Only Get a Mulligan in Golf. You knew that already. So why am I telling you this?…
Blog Archives
What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been
Has it ever. Now that the Presidential Election is over many are left scratching their heads. President Elect Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017. Very few pundits predicted…
Why The Fed Got Off its Assets and Raised Interest Rate
The Federal Open Market Committee (“FOMC”) raised the Federal Funds Target Rate by .25% from .50% to .75%. The Federal Funds Target Rate is the interest rate charged to financial institutions for the trading they do with each other overnight.…
7 Reasons Not to Wait Until Thanksgiving to be Grateful
You don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving to be grateful. You can be grateful every day. It’s your choice. Life might not be going swimmingly well for you every day. I get it. I truly hope you didn’t expect it…
Tagged with: Average Joe's, Bill Gates, CD's, College Board, EU, European Migrants, European Union, Federal Funds Target Rate, Federal Reserve Board, GDP, Germany, Grateful, Great Recession 2008-2009, Greece, Gross Domestic Product, Harvard, Manchester Community College, Mexico, Microsoft, Migrants, S&P 500, Spain, Standard & Poors 500 Index, Thanksgiving, The Fed, U-3, U-6, Unemployment Rate, Unemployment Report
The Last Mortgage Refinance
I know it’s not breaking news that mortgage rates are low. They are very low in fact. At the last Federal Open Market Committee (“FOMC”) meeting in September they elected to keep the Federal Funds Rate unchanged. The FOMC…
Tagged with: Congress, Fed, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, Federal Open Market Committee, Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Board, FOMC, Freddie Mac, Great Recession 2008-2009, HELOC, Home Equity Line of Credit, Home Mortgage, Home Refinance, Income Tax Deduction, Itemized Deductions, Mortgage, Mortgage Interest, Mortgage Rates, PMI, Points, Presidental Election, Private Mortgage Insurance, Refinance, Standard Deduction, Tax Deduction, TRID, U. S. Treasury Securities, W-2
All Eyes Are on The Fed
The Federal Reserve Board (“Fed”) met in mid-September 2016 and again, decided to leave interest rates unchanged. The last time they have raised interest rates was in December, 2015. They raised the target federal funds rate to a…
Tagged with: 401 (k) Plan, Abenomics, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Banks, BOJ, Brexit, CD, Cental Bank, Dow, Dow Jones, Dow Jones Industrial Average, ECB, EU, Europe, European Central Bank, European Migrants, Fed, Federal Open Market Committee, Federal Reserve Board, Great Recession 2008-2009, Interest Rates, James Grant, Japan, NASDAQ, Negative Interest Rates, Paul McCartney, Pension, Prime Interest Rate, Prime Rate, QE, Quantitative Easing, Real Estate, S&P 500, Shizo Abe, Social Security, Standard & Poors 500 Index, Student Debt, U-3
The Difference Between a 401(k) plan and a Roth 401(k) plan
401(k) plan The 401(k) plan has become one of the primary retirement vehicles many people will use to help fund their retirement. It is one of the cornerstones in 5 Easy Steps to Retirement. Pre-tax contributions and tax-deferred compounding…
Tagged with: 401 (k) Plan, 401(k) plan employer match, Auto Enrollment, Catch Up Contribution, Congress, Default Investment, Defined Benefit Plan, Earned Income, Enron, Field of Dreams, Great Recession 2008-2009, Income Tax, Inflaton, IRA, Money Market Account, Paycheck, Pension Plan, Pension Reform Act of 2006, Retirement, Retirement Planning, Risk, Roth 401(k) plan, Roth IRA, Stock Market, Tax Deferred Accounts, Tax-Free
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
I took a statistics class back in college. Like many of my other subjects I didn’t do that well in it. I did, however, gain a deeper understanding of what average meant and still continue to aspire to get up…
Tagged with: Affordable Care Act, Al Capone, BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chicago, CHINA, College, College Tuition, Core Inflation, Energy Costs, Federal Reserve, Food Costs, Great Recession 2008-2009, Health Savings Accounts, Higher Education, HSA's, Income Taxes, Inflation Rate, Internal Revenue Service, IRS, Janet Yellen, Labor Force Participation Rate, LFR, Medical Expenses, Obama Care, Statistics, The Fed, U-3, U-6, Unemployment Rate
Average Joe’s
The movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story came out in 2004. It’s a story about gym owner Peter Lafleur (Vince Vaughn) trying to save his gym. The gym is very behind on its bank loan and Peter is concerned it…
No Deposit. No Return.
What does this mean? If you don’t put something in (deposit) you won’t get something out (return). Isn’t that the truth? This applies whether you want to learn to play the guitar, improve your culinary skills or learn how to…
Tagged with: 401(K) Plan, 401(k) plan employer match, Catch Up Contribution, CNBC, College, College Board, College Tuition, Financial Plan, Financial Well- Being, Great Recession 2008-2009, Income Tax, Investing, IRA, New England, Pension Plan, Portfolio, pre-tax, Required Minimum Distribution, Retirement, RMD, Roth 401(k) plan, Roth IRA, Saving, Social Security, Tax Deduction, tax-deferred, Tax-Free, Taxpayers
