Personal Finance Articles
- Nine Questions to Ask Your Advisor
- Why You Should Do An IRA Rollover with an Old 401k
- Should You Take a Pension Buyout?
- The Importance of Non-Retirement Savings
- How Much House Can you Afford?
- Why You Should Never Buy a Front-End Loaded Mutual Fund
- How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?
- Why Term Life Insurance is the Only Life Insurance you Need
- When Should You Start Taking Social Security?
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Recent Posts
Author Archives: Marc
11/23/18 – Ugly Holiday Week for Markets
I hope you had a happier Thanksgiving than the market did. The holiday-shortened week proved ugly for global markets. Both the Dow and S&P 500 were down sharply. The Dow declined over 1,100 points, its worst Thanksgiving week since 2011. … Continue reading
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11/16/18 – Late Week Rally Stems Losses
Concerns over a slowing economy and trade wars drove stocks sharply lower in the first half of the week. Even with up days yesterday and today, both major indices closed down on the week, with the Dow declining 2.2% while … Continue reading
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11/9/18 – Markets Respond Positively to Divided Government
Stocks finished their best week since June following the midterm elections this week which saw the Democrats regain control of the House while Republicans retained control of the Senate. This result was largely expected by pre-election polling and election betting markets. … Continue reading
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11/2/18 – Markets Rebound, Strong Jobs Report
The stock market rallied for much of the week, recouping over half of last week’s losses. Both major indices increased 2.4% this week. Strong earnings and increased optimism on a Chinese trade deal helped push markets higher. The October jobs report showed the US … Continue reading
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10/26/18 – Stocks. Ouch.
Stocks suffered another rough week with the Dow declining 3.0% while the S&P 500 decreased 3.9%. This continues a trend we’ve seen for most of October. Approximately 50% of companies in the S&P 500 are down 20%+ from their recent … Continue reading
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10/19/18 – Stocks Rebound Slightly in Volatile Week
Stocks ended the week in the green, but the volatility from last week continued. Tuesday saw the Dow gain over 2%, while yesterday declined almost 1.5%. Everyday featured large swings up and down throughout the day. While last week’s sharp … Continue reading
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10/12/18 – Stocks Tumble on Minimal News
Stocks declined sharply on Wednesday and Thursday this week. Financial headlines largely pinned the declines on raising interest rates and Fed policy. That is hard for me to believe. The Fed has been raising rates over the last two years … Continue reading
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10/5/18 – Stocks Losing Streak Continues
Stocks sold off in the first week of October as we saw US Treasury rates move sharply higher and the labor market slowdown in September. The 10-yr US Treasury, a key interest rate in the financial world increased sharply, reaching a 7-year … Continue reading
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9/28/18 – Stocks Down in Final Week of Quarter
Stocks sold off this week in the last week of the third quarter. The Dow declined 1.1% while the S&P 500 was down 0.5%. Even with the down week, the S&P 500 had its best quarter since 2013. The market sold off … Continue reading
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9/21/18 – Stocks up on Light News
Stocks continued higher this week without significant news. Trade talks continued with the Trump administration announcing 10% tariffs on $200 billion of China trade. That was less than the 25% that was discussed most of the summer, but markets largely seemed to … Continue reading
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