892 articles · page 30 of 45
Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, concerned elected officials cared about the retirement needs of their many millions of citizens. But those days are over. Today, retirement security continues to be an elusive goal for millions who will likely never be able to retire and enjoy the quality-of-life comfort level…
First they came for your healthcare. Next, they are coming for your pensions. Yes, it looks like the $3 trillion healthcare industry, as well as pensions in the U.S. are going to go through a major transformation. And, while the final form of the health care is yet to be decided, it’s clear…
It looks like it’s official: The consumer purchasing frenzy is slowing down, and auto sales are among the biggest victims. According to Yahoo News, auto lending is slowing down after eight years of strong sales as missed payments rise. That’s partly because, as Business Insider’s Frank Chaparro recently detailed, subprime loans to people with…
For a much-needed parody about the failure of corporate capitalism, check out this article in the Monthy Review. If you don’t think unregulated corporate capitalism has a lot of problems, how do you explain the sad fact that Trump became a billionaire? This is a clever, much-needed light parody about the danger of unregulated,…
The current commentary explosion on social media of Chicago airport security guards forcibly pulling a man off a United Airlines plane is deeply disturbing because everyone who has flown can relate to some degree of passenger mistreatment. Of course, three men have not pulled us from our seats in a closed container. Still, the…
One neighbor to the north has come up with a way to over-fund their state pension system, so why can’t it be repeated here? Bucking the industry trend, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan announced it was 105% funded as of Jan. 1, 2017, its fourth consecutive year of being fully funded. The fund…
Want to rig the world’s largest financial market? No problem. At least, that is what prosecutors in the U.S. and the UK are saying about their charges that three of the world’s largest global banks rigged parts of the $5.3 trillion a day foreign exchange market. To give you an idea of how big…
Many veteran political observers say they cannot recognize the Republican Party that elected Donald Trump. They should not be surprised. The reason is that it is not the Republican Party. It is the party of the John Birch Society, which morphed into the far-right Libertarian Party. This is why veteran Republicans, such as Dwight…
If you thought planning for retirement was difficult, it got a lot harder. That’s because saving for retirement must now account for two significant life changes: you are living longer, and you won’t make much on your investments. Living longer is considered a good thing since science and medicine can do wonders. However, the…
The Brady Bunch TV series was a caricature of a large blended American family and only aired from 1969 to 1974. But while it was popular entertainment, no one ever thought it would have a lasting impact on American TV journalism. While the show worked as a parody of old-style family sitcoms, some TV…
The $1.3 trillion Target Date Fund market is not all it’s cracked up to be. That should come as a big surprise to millions of people who own these funds through their employers’ 401(k) plans, as well as others who were sold a simple, easy-to-understand, hands-off investment product that would allegedly take care of…
Face it: Financial planning in the Trump world hinges on politics, not investing. This makes it more critical than ever for people providing financial advice to tell clients about the implications of political decisions made in Washington and less about the basics of investing. Everyone has heard of the $26 billion-a-year fantasy football leagues.
Unsurprisingly, the Trump Administration has declared war on individual investors, making it more difficult for millions of Americans to have a financially secure retirement. For millions, there may be no retirement, or certainly, there may be one with a lower quality of life than when people were working. However, to hasten this downward spiral,…
The truth hurts, but here it is: “Some people think that the people who voted for Trump are racists and sexists and homophobes and deplorable folks. I don’t agree, because I’ve been there. Let me tell you something else some of you might not agree with, it wasn’t that Donald Trump won…
A little-known segment of the Dodd-Frank bank reform bill has been revoked by Trump’s Republican Congress. It allows major global corporations to do what they do to get business done: bribe foreign governments. The measure to repeal Section 1504 was passed by a vote of 52-47, strictly according to party lines, and was done…
An earlier post on this site pointed out that the retirement crisis in America is not getting any attention. But just because it is not getting noticed does not mean the crisis will disappear. On the contrary, it will only worsen, aggravated by the nation’s wealth gap and attempts to alter Social Security and Medicare…
The financial media operates 24 hours a day, and despite the proliferation of company, market, and economic news and endless commentary, financial journalists avoid discussing the biggest financial crisis facing every American: the retirement crisis. Politicians don’t want us to talk about it since this is the ultimate form of bad news for working…
Face it: the world of corporate communications is pretty unimaginative and bland. It could use some rejuvenation. And now, this is possible thanks to the cutting-edge communications techniques used by the ranting Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump. There is no need for any more staid, predictable, stage-managed shareholder meetings and sincere-sounding Letters from the CEO. Corporate communications…
Even in the best of times, retirement planning is never an easy or fun task. Now, this task is being made more difficult because the Trump Administration and top Republicans are considering plans to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, reducing benefits, adjusting tax brackets and deductions, raising the retirement age, cutting financial regulations…
When a federal court judge ruled on Feb. 8, 2017, that the U.S. Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule must still stand despite furious protests from the financial services lobby, it did not mean individual investors would automatically be protected from errant financial rep who continue to sell products that are not in the best…
