When searching for a financial advisor this is one box that absolutely needs to be checked. Glenn Ruffenach explains at The Wall Street Journal: Fiduciaries matter. Along the same line…what kind of adviser were you using, and what kind of advice were you getting, in the years prior to the two recessions noted above? Was your adviser, and your nest egg, prepared for the possibility of a downturn? The point: If you work with a financial adviser, work only with a fiduciary, a person who must place your interests ahead of their own and disclose any conflicts of interest. That’s one of the best … [Read more...]
Yes the U.S. Tax Overhaul Was a Success
You can see on the charts of employment and earnings that the Trump tax reform was a success. Richard Rubin and Theo Francis report in The Wall Street Journal: Employment and wages rose. If companies were restrained in their capital investment, there’s little question that the job market improved, particularly for those of prime working age, driven at least in part by greater consumer spending. Read more here. Originally posted on Your Survival Guy. … [Read more...]
Guess Which States Americans are Moving To
Every year United Van Lines performs its National Movers Study, analyzing where people are moving to, and where they're coming from, to get a picture of the trends for each state. This year, like last year, Vermont won the highest percentage of inbound traffic. Vermont Business Magazine was happy to announce this, writing "Vermont is the only state to have achieved greater than a 70 percent in-bound rate, which it has done the last two years (74.3% in 2019 and 72.7% in 2018)." You can see on the map below that Americans mostly moved out of states with high taxation (California, NY, … [Read more...]
How Early Markets Reacted to the U.S. Airstrike that Killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani
Yesterday, a U.S. airstrike killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, leader of the foreign wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. News of the strike and the general's death sent safe-haven asset prices higher as investors priced in greater risk in the Middle East. Assets such as gold and the 10-year U.S. Treasury note saw their prices rise as investor sentiment weakened. Gold was up 1.4% while the 10-year was at 1.827% Friday morning from 1.880% on Thursday (a drop in yield reflects an increase in price), while DJIA futures were down 226 pts pre-open. Is this a New Year’s prediction … [Read more...]
The Scary Japanese Preview for American Pension Funds
Japan's economy has been in trouble for a long time. Low, or no, growth for decades, and a demographic time-bomb that is about to go off, are two of the many problems Japan faces. Japan simply can't afford to pay its retirees what they'll need to survive, so the country's Financial Services Agency is recommending that retirees save more on their own. Akane Otani explains in The Wall Street Journal: Japan already is feeling the pinch: The national pension fund hasn’t grown rapidly enough to keep up with a rapid rise in the elderly population. As a result, the country’s Financial Services … [Read more...]
Best and Worst Tax States in 2019: A Quick List Retirees Need to See
UPDATE: With 2019 closing, it's a good time to take stock of your financial situation. Are you being held back by the heavy taxation in your state? Is it possible for you to escape by moving to a different locale? If so, here are the lists of the best and worst states for taxes in 2019. Read with care. In retirement, there's nothing that can affect your standard of living more than taxation. Property taxes, taxes on your investment income, and even sales taxes can make all the difference in your ability to pursue the retirement dreams you've been working toward for years. Each year … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy’s 10 Most Popular Advanced Weapons Systems of 2019
You’ve read Your Survival Guy's 10 Most Popular Survival Posts of 2019, and Your Survival Guy's 10 Most Popular Money Posts of 2019. Here are Your Survival Guy's 10 Most Popular Advanced Weapons Systems of 2019. Secretly Closing the Gap in the Air-to-Air Missile Race New Secret Weapon is Like Dropping Anvils on Terrorists Heads The IRS is Coming after Your IRA with this Hidden Tax The Rich and Famous: How to Invest Like Jay Leno Russia’s Next Generation Stealth Bomber May Never Take Flight CHAMP: The Microwave Bomb that can Win a Battle With No Casualties What Happens … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy’s 10 Most Popular Money Posts of 2019
Yesterday you read about Your Survival Guy's 10 Most Popular Survival Posts of 2019, today you’ll discover Your Survival Guy's 10 Most Popular Money Posts of 2019. This Money Market Fund is Paying 47 Times More than its Competition Is Your Cash Safe? Probably not This Safe “Dad, You’re Stressing Me Out” FIRE! (Part II) Living Your Best Life: FIRE! (Part I) Dead or Alive? The Future of Long-Term Investing Dead or Alive? The Future of Long-Term Investing: Part IV Your Retirement Life: What States Did Americans Flee in 2018? Where Did They Go? “I wish that I could give … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy’s 10 Most Popular Survival Posts of 2019
Thank you for reading Your Survival Guy in 2019. You made this year the site’s biggest yet. Here’s the list of the top 10 most popular survival posts of 2019 on Yoursurvivalguy.com: Your Survival Guy: Out of Gas in Newport Air Force Tells Americans They Aren’t Taking the EMP Threat Seriously Enough They’re Not Getting My Guns Tucker Explains: Poverty Doesn’t Cause Instability. Envy Does. Driving into Gun Hell without Your Survival Pistol of Choice Is America on the Brink of a Civil War? Paris Update: Notre-Dame, Protests and Your Survival Guy Tucker Explains: Two … [Read more...]
Warning: Avoid Mutual Fund Year End Distributions
UPDATE: The end of the year is a great time to review your mutual fund year-end distributions. You should try to avoid them if possible. If you haven't done so already, read through Fidelity's primer on Mutual Funds and Taxes below. You don’t need to worry about year-end distributions with individual stocks. But with mutual funds, you absolutely need to worry. It’s why at Young Research we favor individual stocks in both our Retirement Compounders and Maximizers investment strategies. Here’s a primer on year-end distributions courtesy of Fidelity. Pay particular attention to tax strategies … [Read more...]