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Slick TV ads often make financial planning and wealth management sound simple, but it’s usually not. Managing wealth requires knowing a lot about highly technical topics, like taxes, government regulations, and finance as well as history, psychology and how to communicate with loved ones about sensitive issues. This article highlights some of the knowledge needed to manage wealth and why it’s often so daunting without the help of an independent personal financial advisor who is familiar with your situation.
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Fed Governor Kugler Details Inflation And Economic Outlook
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Why Rates May Not Be Cut Until June
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Practical Suggestions For Achieving Your 2024 Resolutions
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A Sign Of Progress In Solving U.S. Economic Problems
The Federal Reserve appears to be pulling off a feat most experts did not believe it could: ending its aggressive inflation-fighting campaign of 11 interest rate hikes without tipping the U.S. economy into a recession.
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Fed Keeps Rates Unchanged; Expects Easing In 2024
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Have You Logged Into Your Social Security Account?
Have you logged in to your Social Security account? Creating an online account at SSA.gov is an important first step in understanding your retirement income situation. However, only about 60 million of the 160 million individuals in the U.S. labor force who have Social Security accounts have created a way to access the Social Security Administration’s website.
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The Great Fake Out Of 2023 Is Poised To Extend Into 2024
All year long, the economy and stock prices have fooled experts and consumers, outperforming expectations month after month.
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Test Your Financial Planning IQ
The five questions below are a challenge meant to allow you to assess your knowledge of investing, tax and financial planning. If you have been following our news stream, this quiz draws on familiar ground. The answers are below.
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Planning Briefs
Inflation Is Lower, And There Is Reason For Optimism
Published Friday, May 26, 2023 at: 11:35 AM EDT
Economist Fritz Meyer yesterday said inflation is slowing rapidly and warned of a period of deflation.
At his monthly webinar for CFP, CPA, CIMA, CFA professionals, Mr. Meyer showed several charts tracking inflation expectations, including the two shown below.
The rate of Inflation expected by consumers for the next 12 months, three years, and five years are shown in the chart above. The data are based on a survey of consumers conducted by The New York District Branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. Over the year, inflation is expected to average about 4.1%. Over the next three- and five-year periods, the inflation rate is expected by consumers to come closer to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.
The average expected inflation rate over the next 10 years is shown in this chart above. At 2.21%, it’s very close to the Fed’s target rate. The 10-year inflation rate in this chart is based on the recent yield on a 10-year U.S. Treasury bond versus the yield on 10-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities. Inflation is under control, according to these metrics of inflation expectations.
Mr. Meyer, whose one-hour webinars are conducted monthly and averaged a 4.8-star rating from professionals for over a decade, warns that an unprecedented drop in the money supply could result in a period of deflation. Mr. Meyer cited a May 24, 2023, op-ed article by economist Donald Luskin in The Wall Street Journal, which said this is the only contraction in money supply in U.S. history and that it “would be extraordinary if such a contraction didn’t result in deflation.”
Since March 2022, the Fed raised rates 10 times in the boldest tightening policy campaign in U.S. history. The inflation crisis may be over now, and the regional banking crisis was not much of a crisis. The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index trades at 18 times net profits expected by Wall Street in the next 12 months, which is a reasonable valuation. Considering that artificial intelligence technology, which is led by American companies, is about to usher in an era like the introduction of the Web to consumers in the mid-1990s, the stock market could surprise investors on the upside in the years ahead.
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