“I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” On April 6th, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the Department of Labor (DOL) stepped in to do its part to ensure retirement savers get investment advice to help them. The Department issued its final, long awaited regulations regarding fiduciaries [...]
Under cover of darkness, at least figuratively, last week Congress passed a budget bill that actually reduces bleeding from the imaginary Social Security trust fund. President Obama signed it Monday. Some Americans will not like it, especially those who have had higher incomes during their career. The two provisions are [...]
As I have described before, this calendar is destined to be unusual in one way or another. The January indicator, looking at the first few days plus the month as a whole, gave us a prediction of being a lousy year for the stock market. On the other hand, the [...]
The Greeks have thumbed their collective nose at the EU leaders. They are tired of being kicked around and by golly, they aren’t going to take it anymore! The word tantrum comes to mind, but since they are mostly adults—why would any young people stay in Greece?—and they have the [...]
I personally like studying history because, as written in Ecclesiastes 1:9, What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. This week we have learned the Greeks would rather not pay their debt owed mostly to European banks. [...]
I have not written on the topic of disability lately, but there may be a new way to protect against its long term financial ravages. As of January 1, 2015, Treasury and the IRS have published final regulations (79 FR 26838) allowing a defined contribution retirement plan (think 401k) to [...]
My longtime Rotarian friend, Dick Puhr, late sportswriter par excellence for this newspaper, used to write an occasional column he called Dissa and Datta, if I remember correctly. Today I am following his lead with some information and opinion on a variety of topics, but all related to economics and [...]
First let me say that nothing in life, not even life, is guaranteed to any of us. And of course, let’s all say it together: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Period. End of story. But then tell me, What is a better predictor of the future than [...]
Regular readers of this column know I often discuss the four year presidential cycles and their effect upon stock market performance. Although I knew intellectually that 2014 had every statistical right to be difficult and negative—the worst of each cycle—that does not seem to help much if one is perfectionistic. [...]
President Obama made a fine decision when he nominated Robert A. McDonald as the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs in July. McDonald, a West Point Military Academy graduate and Army Captain serving with the 82nd Airborne Division, has spent his civilian career with Procter & Gamble. He rose quickly from [...]
