Skip to content. | Skip to navigation
Tired of all the rhetoric? Tired of all the political side deals? Alarmed at the realization that the proposed health legislation will cost all of us dearly? So are we.
Tax deferred annuity rates are now just about 4% a year, guaranteed for 5 or more years... This is an exciting opportunity for those seeking to accumulate money safely, at a conservative guaranteed rate of interest.
Predicting is dangerous business, particularly now. We have been through so much economically that we have actually changed emotionally and psychologically. This change will have a big impact on the economy.
Nearly 200 countries were represented recently in Copenhagen Denmark for the Summit on Climate Change. There was a lot of excitement and certainly, everyone is concerned. Strangely, this has not translated into a lot of investment activity in “green” investing.
Mark this down. Be confident, Be prepared. Inflation is coming. The talking heads at the Federal Reserve and media commentators tell us that inflation is being tamed and we don’t need to be concerned. That is true if your outlook is limited to a very short period...
How’s that for a way to start, admitting I was wrong. In a number of previous columns, we asserted the opinion that Index annuities were gimmicky products, intended to generate high commissions for brokers who were not looking out for their clients’ best interests.
Americans habitually are slow to adopt opportunities to save taxes. Maybe this is due to our desire for instant satisfaction, or we don’t want to take the time to study and learn all aspects of an opportunity. Looking at Individual Retirement Account, Health Savings Accounts, and now Roth IRA conversions, we see this pattern again.
Consumer confidence is often used as a barometer of stock market performance, as consumers make up 2/3 of the American economy.. Recent figures show confidence at very high levels. However, a more careful look is telling. High end earners confidence is very high, but low end earners confidence is at a very low level. The rich are feeling good, the restof us, not so much.
The investment markets have made a spectacular, and to some people, questionable recovery. The market averages are close to 50% higher than they were in March of 2009. What has been overlooked is that this still represents a 36% reduction from the levels of mid-2008.
What is better than this combination? Reduce your health insurance premiums and lower your tax bill! Two simple procedures make it happen. One, you obtain a high deductible health plan that is labeled H.S.A. Compatible. This step will reduce your premium by 35-40%, from traditional plans. While this sounds like it may expose you to higher potential out of pocket expenses, it actually does not.
There are a number of challenges that face our economy that don’t get a lot of press attention. We have been worrying so much about the financial meltdown that we have not paid enough attention to some longer term issues and opportunities. Once we take the time to think about these, we will realize that we need to make fundamental changes in the ways that we invest.
The concept of a diversified portfolio was sorely tested in 2008-2009. It seemed that every asset class what hit equally hard. The S&P 500 lost 37%, but an index of intermediate term treasury bonds increased by 19%. Many investors who had positions in bonds lost considerably less than those totally invested in equities. A number of our clients had overall losses of 10% and less.
In case you haven’t noticed, the stock market has surged over the past month and a half. A 35% increase in the S&P500 is a great performance for a whole year, let alone six weeks. The big question is “where do we go from here?”.
After an awful start to 2008, there has been a strong rally in March and into April. This may indicate better things to come, or it may represent a “bear market rally”.
Cost Cutting without the Government