The perennial political drama over raising the United States’ debt ceiling continues, with consequences of failure just being default and global financial catastrophe. So … same old, same old. Still, though politics has seemingly decided to regard fact-checking (and, maybe, facts) as outdated, this fact is important to remember: despite the bloviating, the debt and Read more
It’s Spring! A Good Time to Tidy Up Your House … and Finances
As spring arrives and the flowers bloom, this is a good time to review your finances. Actually, any time is a good time to do this. You don’t need to obsess over your budget, but it’s smart to make money check-ins a regular part of your routine, by conducting a self-audit at least once a Read more
A Matter of Trust: How the FDIC Works
You have heard it many times in those rapid-fire announcements on bank advertisements: “FDIC insured.” Before the recent high-profile bank failures, that was likely all most depositors knew about the FDIC, that it was insurance on their money. But current events have brought FDIC into the headlines over actions to protect depositors after the collapse Read more
Fault Lines: Bank Failures Cause Market Tremors
On March 10 Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed and was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). This was followed by the collapse of Signature Bank (SBNY) and another takeover by the FDIC takeover on March 12. There followed a period of volatility for the banking sector, turmoil in equity and fixed income Read more
Taxable Events: What Is a Capital Gain?
To encourage certain types of investing, the government distinguishes investments by prioritizing tax treatments. The government offers favorable tax treatments for some types of investment over other types of investments. One distinction in the tax code is the tax treatment of capital gains. This is based on type of investment, the duration of the investment, Read more
Mind Your Head: Debt Ceiling Crisis Looms Again
We are now in the early stages of the perennial political melodrama over raising the debt ceiling. If this debate goes as usual, it should look like this: demands will give way to threats and lead to a fiscal cliff and government shutdown and the specter of default and global catastrophe before – whew! – Read more