The coronavirus pandemic has been a challenge, affecting how we work, play, and interact. While individual situations surely differ, general financial lessons, which can help you better position and support yourself in the future, have emerged from the pandemic. Build Up an Emergency Fund Record numbers of people were laid off or furloughed at the Read more
Mind the Ceiling: The Debt-Limit Drama
The U.S. debt ceiling places a limit on the total amount of money the federal government is legally authorized to borrow to meet its existing obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments. Once that ceiling is reached, Congress must decide to either increase Read more
Halftime Report: 2021 Mid-Year Outlook
With the 2021 economic year halfway done, we can say the U.S. economy is broadly on a path toward having a solid year of strong growth—but, as always, there will be bumps along the way. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic remain; supply-chain disruptions are weighing on output, while the Delta variant of the coronavirus Read more
Mix It Up: Diversification in Investing
One of the keys to successful investing is learning how to weigh your comfort level with risk against your time horizon (the period in which investments are held). One way to balance risk and reward in your investment portfolio is to diversify your assets. Diversification is an investment technique designed to help reduce the volatility Read more
Value vs. Growth in Investing: What’s the Difference?
In investing, the terms value and growth both refer to two different categories of stocks, as well as the two investing styles built on their divergence. While value investors look for stocks they believe are undervalued by the market, growth investors seek stocks that they think will deliver better-than-average returns. Value and growth are sometimes seen as an either/or Read more
My Child Turned 18—Now What?
When your child turns 18, the experience can be emotional. Your baby’s passage into adulthood suddenly becomes real, and even if you think you’re ready, it happens a lot sooner than you were likely anticipating, especially if your child is still a dependent. A lot of changes occur with an 18-year-old, and not just those Read more