It can be tough to remain financially confident in the face of high inflation, choppy markets, and economic uncertainty. That came across loud and clear in the data we collected in Schwab’s annual 401(k) Participant Survey. The findings show that the bar for 401(k) savers is going up as the environment for saving has become…
A few weeks back I got an angry email from an occasional reader, complaining that too many articles were about people with $1 million or more. Most people in America have nowhere near that amount, he said. He wants to achieve “FIRE” — i.e., “Financial Independence, Retire Early.” But so far he’s accumulated a 401(k)…
This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org. My widowed mother was left with debts and a bare bank account. So, she married an older man she thought wealthy. “I don’t want to be a burden to my kids,” she said. Remarriage is not my goal, but I’m in the same boat as Mom. And mine…
Relax. Your monthly Social Security checks are not in danger because of the looming federal government shutdown. That will be reassuring news to those retirees who, like many of the rest of us, have difficulty understanding the different impacts of, on the one hand, the U.S. government coming up against its debt limit, and on…
China’s still-floundering economy is only one of a laundry list of worries for foreign businesses active in the country, yet most still plan on investing significant sums into their Chinese operations, according to two much-anticipated reports this week. Uncertainty over Chinese government policy, U.S.-China tensions, toughening local competition and pressure from the Biden administration to…
India will be added to JPMorgan’s emerging market government bond index next year, paving the way for more foreign inflows to the number-five economy. The inclusion of India will take place in June 2024. The bank said 23 Indian government bonds valued at $330 billion are eligible, and over 10 months, India is expected to…
Exchange-traded funds that invest in long-term Treasury bonds are dropping Thursday, as yields continued their march higher in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s meeting on monetary policy. Shares of the Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF VGLT were down a sharp 2% on Thursday afternoon, while the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT sank 2.2%,…
Shares of Instacart, the online grocery-delivery service, slumped to their initial public offering price on Wednesday, as investors appeared to have second thoughts, in a setback for the newly energized IPO market. In after-hours trading Wednesday, Instacart CART, known formally as Maplebear Inc., fell slightly below its original offering price of $30 a share, closing…
The Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hikes are kicking in by slowing growth and cooling inflation, but also making a recession more of a threat, says Rob Waldner, Invesco’s chief fixed-income strategist and head of macro research. “We are increasingly worried about a recessionary environment,” Waldner told MarketWatch late Wednesday, despite what Fed officials said earlier in…
Oil prices set another 2023 high this week as concerns about a tightening market pushed the Brent benchmark crude close to $100 a barrel, complicating the Federal Reserve’s effort to bring down inflation ahead of the September policy meeting and raising fears that a U.S. recession might be still on the horizon. History shows that…
“ Organizations bear the responsibility to foster an environment of transparency for their whistleblower programs to succeed. ” In the years leading up to the eventual collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, insiders blew the whistle about the company’s severe governance and regulatory issues. The flouting of internal control requirements and commingling of client funds…
I wrote recently that people who buy life insurance are effectively loaning money to insurance companies at around a 2.5% interest rate, which is a great deal for the companies and a lousy investment for the policyholders. Here’s something even worse: qualified longevity annuity contracts (QLACs), which are sold by insurance companies and other financial-service…
Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge has been subdued this year, in a “mysterious shrinking” pattern, that’s a bullish signal for equities, according to DataTrek Research. Declines for the Cboe Volatility Index VIX fear gauge come despite continued worries over inflation and elevated interest rates. “We’ve been saying for several months that a low VIX is…
The unique 40-year period from 1980 to 2020 characterized by mostly economic expansion in the U.S. will likely be replaced by a more regular pattern of boom-bust cycles and frequent recessions, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank DB, -1.92%. One reason is that higher inflation over the coming decades will limit central banks’ room to…
Oil and gas prices remain high for consumers, but heading into the fourth quarter, Wall Street analysts are saying buy the stocks. According to a FactSet analysis published on Friday, out of all the industries tracked by the firm, analysts were most upbeat about the energy sector, which has the highest percentage of “buy” ratings,…
Here are some of the most notable stock movers ahead of Monday’s Wall Street open. Stock gainers: MariaDB PLC shares MRDB, -1.36% jumped 9% in premarket trading on Monday after venture capital group Runa Capital said Friday it had offered to buy the system software group for 56 cents a share in cash, representing a…
Private-equity firm KKR has agreed to buy a 20% stake in the regional data-center business of Singapore Telecommunications for 1.1 billion Singapore dollars (US$800.0 million). The telecom company said Monday that the investment to be made by a fund managed by KKR puts the enterprise value of Singtel’s overall regional data-center business at S$5.5 billion….
It hasn’t been a great year for investors to own stocks in the utilities sector – the worst-performing part of the U.S. stock market so far in 2023 – but that could be coming to an end. The S&P 500 Utilities Sector XX:SP500.55 has stood its ground in September as a batch of mixed economic…
The past six weeks have left investors with more questions than answers about the outlook for U.S. monetary policy and, by extension, financial markets. And although the Federal Reserve is expected to leave its policy interest rates on hold Wednesday, Chairman Jerome Powell could still rattle markets as he’s probed for clues about the central…
In his 30-year military career, Dick Power managed billion-dollar budgets for computing and other logistics projects. Then he got his master’s degree in business administration and spent years as an executive at a Fortune 500 company. Now, as an 82-year-old volunteer financial planner, he video chats with veterans, patiently helping them log into online accounts…
How many of us are absolutely terrified of old age? It must be way more than 50%. That’s because nearly that number, or 45%, have admitted to worrying about just one of the multiple horrifying risks, namely the risk of outliving their money. Those expressing this fear, incidentally, include a third of millionaires (defined as…