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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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Understanding The Federal Reserve Mandate To End Inflation
The Federal Reserve System, the nation’s central bank, has a dual mandate to pursue maximum employment and maintain price stability. These two priorities are currently treated equally, but that was not always the case. In fact, the Fed’s bias toward maximizing employment was a critical driver of the stagflation that plagued the U.S. in the late 1960s and 1970s. Recognizing the need to balance price stability and maximum employment, in 1977, Congress revised the Federal Reserve Act.
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Fed Governor Kugler Details Inflation And Economic Outlook
The 12-month inflation rate, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, was 2.6% in December, down from its peak of 7.1% in June 2022, and the six-month rate for PCE inflation was even lower, at 2%, which is the target rate set by the Federal Reserve.
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Why Rates May Not Be Cut Until June
The cost of a loan to buy a home, car, college education, and achieve the American Dream is staying the same for now. As expected, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank did not lower loan rates following the Fed’s Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, policy meeting.
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Practical Suggestions For Achieving Your 2024 Resolutions
New Year’s resolutions usually fail because they‘re often too hard to achieve. After six months, only 10% of people who make resolutions achieve them or remain committed to them, , according to a study by Dr. Mark Griffiths, a Chartered Psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Behavioral Addiction at the Nottingham Trent University. What can you do to make financial, medical, or other personal resolutions more likely to be achieved?
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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
To promote transparency and free markets, the Federal Reserve System began publishing the opinions of the 19 U.S. central bankers that decide interest rate policy.
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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
The Fed Just Cut Rates Again; What's It Mean To You?
Published Friday, November 1, 2019 at: 7:00 AM EDT
The Fed cut rates again on October 30th, for the third time in 2019. What's it mean to your long-term financial plan?
The rate cut is a reversal in policy and not what the Fed had expected to do, which is worrisome because the Fed has caused every recession in modern U.S. history by making a policy mistake. However, admitting its previous financial plan had been wrong, the Fed's abandonment of its earlier forecast, that inflation was a danger, is encouraging.
Federal Reserve policy has grown far more responsive to economic fundamentals and market sentiment. Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, who had studied financial crises for decades before becoming the nation's top central banker, was the right person to guide the economy when the global financial crisis occurred in 2008. He implemented policies never-before tried in a major world economy. His successor, Janet Yellen, a labor economist, who fatefully had spent her professional life studying how to increase employment, continued Mr. Bernanke's quantitative easing plan and deftly extended the expansion.
Although opinions about the direction of interest rates or stock prices in the next year or two will always vary, it is clear that the Federal Reserve has made progress in achieving its dual mandate to promote employment and control inflation. The Fed — led by Jerome Powell and backed by a deep team of the world's best minds — has abandoned its long-held forecast for a 2% inflation rate — and in admitting its mistake to raise rates on December 14th, 2018, its change of policy should be viewed in the context the Fed's progress. The third interest-rate cut of 2019 signaled that the Fed is no longer worried about inflation and determined to defend the 10½-year long expansion in 2020 and beyond, even if it means admitting it made a mistake and is changing course.
Amid the cacophony of modern-day living, don't lose sight of the unceasing progress in the world, and always try to frame your long-term investment perspective from this easily overlooked trend of civilization.
This article was written by a veteran financial journalist. While these are sources we believe to be reliable, the information is not intended to be used as financial or tax advice without consulting a professional about your personal situation. Tax laws are subject to change. Indices are unmanaged and not available for direct investment. Investments with higher return potential carry greater risk for loss. No one can predict the future of the stock market or any investment, and past performance is never a guarantee of your future results.
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