Wages, inequality, housing, generations and work.
112 articles · page 5 of 6
Most advice on retirement planning has traditionally focused on the basics of portfolio construction, risk management, diversification, maximizing contributions and other financial considerations. But there is also another important aspect of retirement that only gets marginal coverage. That aspect is happiness. Various indexes, such as the World Happiness Report, now exist which measure the “happiest”
Just as the Great Depression of the 1930s (that lasted from 1929 to 1941) affected an entire generation of Americans, the 2008 recession is having the same affect, according to a new study by Allianz Life. The people that have been especially hard hit are Generation X and the Baby Boomers. Their responses should alarm…
When there are more people renting apartments or homes, it reduces the opportunities to build wealth, according to some of the basic rules of financial planning. The latest statistics show that the historic increase in the number of people renting a place to live, as opposed to buying a dwelling, means that one of the…
Willie Sutton, the infamous bank robber, said he robbed banks because that was where banks kept the money. He was correct. Today, 401(k) educators, financial planners and benefits administrators freely complain that participants are not saving enough because they are not disciplined enough. They are wrong. The answer to why workers don’t save enough is because they are…
As the number of part-time workers continues, more workers are now becoming freelancers to make an income. But this large shift comes at even larger price: freelancers do not get benefits, including the all-important 401(k) plan and its critical employer match. According to a CNBC report, over 53 million Americans are now freelancers, comprising up…
“Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.” — Stephen Decatur, U.S. Navy captain, (1779-1820) The United States may always be right, but sometimes people decide they want to watch the nation from another location. That seems to be the case…
Very few industries are as blatantly anti-customer as the financial services industry. And for good reason. Basically, the financial service industry is bi-furcated into two very separate operations that, when they work together, are anti-consumer, while simultaneously being pro-banking and pro-corporate. In everyday life, too many individual investors are routinely victimized by financial professionals who…
As millions of Americans remain concerned about whether they will have enough money to fund their retirement, they can remain assured that the GOP is intent on making these post-working twilight years as difficult as possible. While retirement once had an appealing ring to it over 50 years ago, that concept is now as foreign…
The corporate media routinely admonishes violent protests, even as it ignores the undisputed historic role excessive politically-motivated behavior has been in causing fundamental political-economic change. Media coverage of the events unfolding in Baltimore connected with the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man , carry a familiar theme: protestors gather to demonstrate their anger at the unprovoked death,…
As the 2014 mid-term election analysis continues, it is readily apparent that many voters and election experts say “the economy” is to blame for the major Republican win. But what do voters mean when they register objections against “the economy,” especially as it affects their individual economic situations? It’s safe to assume American voters naturally…
The mistakes at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas were due to professional and cultural lapses that put nurses and the public in danger. Based on first-hand reports from nurses who worked at the the Dallas hospital, here are the mistakes the hospital made even when it was reported to them by staff and…
Since the first patient died of Ebola on U.S. soil, nurses and doctors have been on the front lines of treating this deadly virus. But it took the virus’ unfortunate spread to Nina Pham, a nurse attending the stricken Ebola patient, to shake up the protocol and alert the nation that there were problems in…
Yesterday’s announcement that the U.S. Supreme Court increased the ability of wealthy donors to influence political campaigns and elections by raising the amount they can contribute to candidates signals that money and politics are now synonymous. In effect, this means that all political offices at every governmental level will now be influenced by campaign contributions…
Quantitative easing has been the Fed’s major policy to resurrect the economy since late-2008, but after spending hundreds of billions in the process, it is now fair to ask if better tools were available to resurrect the economy faster than massive bond purchases. It’s a legitimate question, especially considering the latest nominal GDP numbers released…
The study of economics was originally called political economy because classical economists readily acknowledged that monetary policies were determined by the state, or at least its most affluent social groups. But as economic theories and fiscal policy development became more complex, economics became a distinct science, and seemingly shed its political origins. Now, it seems,…
Recent news that the Case-Shiller Housing Index posted a five-year high in May is cause for some celebration at the macro-level, but since the index is so regionally variable, investors and average homeowners should not start spending their home equity and paper appreciation. That’s the caution from Yale Professor Robert Shiller, co-developer of the Case-Shiller…
It should not be any surprise that a June 2013 Gallup poll finds that a majority of workers don’t like their jobs, the accompanying workplace stress and working conditions. These poll results are expected because workers have not received wages increases for the past few decades, nor benefited from the greater recent productivity gains and…
Dear Girlfriend: As one of your viewers, it may be time to change the format of questions you ask during the “Can You Afford It” segment. For those of you who don’t know, this is the segment when people contact Girlfriend to ask whether they can afford to buy a special item or experience, such…
A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) finds that the gap between employee’s hourly compensation and their productivity is the highest it’s been since after World War II. According to a report from CNN Money, “this divergence is one of the major drivers of the nation’s growing income inequality.” The EPI report found…
It’s 2012 and close to four years after the Lilly ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law. Surely, the gender wage gap has been closed, right? Wrong. Even with moves toward equalizing pay between men and women, men still make almost 20% more than women in nearly all industries. This is despite the fact…
