If you worry about your retirement investments during market downturns, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, emotions are often the enemy of sound investing. Here are some points to help you stay clear-headed during periods of market volatility. Markets Rebound Historically, even the worst bear market has bounced back and eventually gone on to reach new highs.
Throughout your life, your financial needs will change and life insurance can help you meet some of those needs. But how much life insurance do you need? There are a number of approaches to help determine how much life insurance you should have. Here are three of those methods. Family Needs Approach With this approach,
John D. Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest Americans in history, loved receiving stock dividends. “Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure?” he once asked. “It’s to see my dividends coming in.”1 There may be many things other than money that give you pleasure, but you can still appreciate the stabilizing role that
Global economic growth is projected to drop from a 5.8% rate in 2021 to 3.3% in 2022, as the world grapples with repercussions of the Russia-Ukraine war and ever-changing conditions wrought by the pandemic. Growth forecasts of 3.3% for the United States and 2.4% for the euro area in 2022 (down from 5.6% and 5.2%,
29% – Families who appealed to their college for more financial aid due to the pandemic. Of the families who appealed for more aid, 71% received additional aid, with 52% receiving a higher grant amount. Source: How America Pays for College, 2021, Sallie Mae For many high school seniors and their families, the period of
As measured by the Consumer Price Index for food at home, grocery prices increased 3.4% in 2020, a faster rate than the 20-year historical average of 2.4%.1 More recently, food inflation accelerated by 6.5% during the 12 months ending in December 2021, while prices for the category that includes meat, poultry, fish, and eggs spiked
The COVID-19 recession and the continuing pandemic pushed many older workers into retirement earlier than they had anticipated. A little more than 50% of Americans age 55 and older said they were retired in Q3 2021, up from about 48% two years earlier, before the pandemic.1 For people age 62 and older, retiring from the
After the wild ride of 2020, the U.S. stock market was relatively calm in 2021, but there was still plenty of volatility. There were 55 days when the S&P 500 index — generally considered representative of U.S. stocks — closed with a rise or fall of 1% or more from the previous day’s closing price.
$1,657 – Average monthly Social Security benefit for retired workers after the 2022 COLA. It was $1,565 before the COLA, an increase of $92 per month. Source: Social Security Administration, 2021 The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2022 is 5.9%, the largest increase since 1983. The COLA applies to December 2021 benefits, payable in
Here are some things to consider as you weigh potential tax moves before the end of the year. Defer Income to Next Year Consider opportunities to defer income to 2022, particularly if you think you may be in a lower tax bracket then. For example, you may be able to defer a year-end bonus or
