Social Security Cuts
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 [...]
Best Rebounders
I am not a huge fan or expert on basketball. However, I think the second most important factor next to scoring is rebounding after a failed shot. Not every shot is good, but the rebound allows an opportunity to keep the ball, shoot again, and deny the other team [...]
Social Security Planning: What Baby Boomers Need to Know to Maximize Retirement Income
"Social Security Planning: What Baby Boomers Need to Know to Maximize Retirement Income" When: Wednesday, October 28th, 7:00 pm-8:00 pm Where: Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center 18011 Bass Pro Drive, Independence, MO 64055 Please contact us to reserve seating. Michelle Baldi at mmbaldi@stewcap.com or 816.833.6650. Seating is limited. As [...]
Sitting On My Hands
On this, the last day of an awful quarter for the equity markets, let’s put the present circumstances into context of a longer term perspective in case some of you are thinking of jumping out of the basement window or any floor higher. The older I get, the more important [...]
How to Recognize a Bottom
Hopefully by now, you are not tempted to jump out of your window, even a basement window, because of the financial markets. This looks to be a pretty normal correction, pullback or whatever else a temporarily falling stock market might be called. The most pronounced one of 2014 was seasonally [...]
Asian Heart Attack
(From 8/25/2015) About last week’s column, one of my friends said he agreed with me. Which parts thereof, I am not sure. I stressed the improving American household financial health and in particular, housing growth and debt reduction for everyone but the federal government. I also said I thought the [...]
Summer Doldrums
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 [...]
Lifelong Learning
Area students will go back to school in the next couple of weeks. Since there are likely not many of them that are readers of this publication, I’ll gloss over the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014 information that the $488 median usual weekly earnings for those with less than [...]
Another Day, Another Direction
I have a few friends in my age group who absolutely love to ride roller coasters. Some travel the country to ride a new one when it opens. But when it comes to investments, people who like volatility are scarcer than hen’s teeth. (I am using that comparison since I [...]
How to Conquer Your Debt
Last week I discussed the Greek debt situation and compared my own painful education in the college of life experience. But many people may not know how to make the changes necessary to control, manage and eliminate their debt over time. Hopefully this will be helpful information for persons who [...]