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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
Investors Beware: SEC Is Struggling Amid Covid
Published November 3, 2020, 9:00 p.m. EDT
The Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission released its annual report yesterday. Since it's probably not on your reading list, here are highlights investors need to know.
Policing Securities During Covid. "By mid-March, the entire Division had transitioned to mandatory telework and essentially all of our operations were conducted remotely," says Stephanie Avakian, director of the enforcement division at the SEC.
An Epidemic Of Fraud. Covid inspired a wave of investment fraud. In March and April alone, the Commission suspended trading in the securities of two dozen issuers where there were questions regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information related to COVID-19 that those issuers injected into the marketplace, including claims about potential COVID-19 treatments, the manufacture and sale of personal protection equipment, and disaster-response capabilities. All told, from mid-March through the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30), the Division's Office of Market Intelligence triaged approximately 16,000 tips, complaints, and referrals -- a roughly 71% increase over the same time period last year -- and the Division opened more than 150 COVID-related inquiries and investigations and recommended several COVID-related fraud actions to the Commission.
A Decline In Total Actions. Understandably, total enforcement actions declined, likely due to Covid. A total of 715 enforcement actions were filed in the 12 months ended September 2020. Taking depositions, getting sworn statements, and related legal procedures were moved online, thereby disrupting investigations and prosecutions of securities crooks. Although total actions declined, stiffer penalties were assessed. "While the number of cases the Commission filed was down as compared to last year, the financial remedies ordered set a new high," according to Ms. Avakian's public letter.
The Bad News For Financial Consumers. A breakdown of the number and percentage of the types of actions brought in Fiscal Year 2020 is bad news for investors. The agency took enforcement actions against half as many investment advisers and mutual funds as in FY2019. The SEC data lumps together investment advisors serving individuals with companies managing mutual funds. These are two critical sources of financial advice and the plunge in enforcement actions is renewed cause for concern. Consumers saving for college education, retirement, or their heirs should be aware of the sudden plunge in policing by regulators.
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