Many people are concerned that the Social Security system is running out of money. Currently, a percentage of every worker's wages are collected and paid into the Social Security trust fund. At present, 6.2% of workers’ wages are withheld from every paycheck and contributed to the trust fund. Employers pay the same amount into the trust fund for a total of 12.4% of all payrolls in the country.
In an era when interest rates are relatively low and inflation is stubbornly high, how does a conservative investor get any return on their money? The Barclays Aggregate Bond index is off to it’s worst start in years as the Federal Reserve is tightening the money supply and raising interest rates
If you find yourself with a bit of extra time on your hands in the upcoming months, you may want to use this time to check in with your family’s finances.
Most of us have gone through volatile markets before, and maybe even a bear market or two. This might also be your first time experiencing a market cycle such as this one. Either way we want to remind all of you that this is a normal type of behavior for markets.
In order to beat inflation should you invest for income or for total return? With inflation at the highest levels, we have seen in 40 years you may be wondering whether you should devote more of your portfolio to dividend paying stocks.
If you are feeling a little uncertain about the markets you are not alone. The S&P 500’s April return of -8.7% was the 14th worst month since 1970. You would have to go back to March 2020 (the very beginning of the pandemic induced Bear market) and September 2008 (the height of the financial crisis) to find worse months.