It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the Southeast and we wanted to check in. Storms can take a massive toll on families and communities, with challenges that take months and years to resolve. With an active hurricane season upon us, we’d like to take a moment to talk about how natural disasters can […]
The Federal Reserve recently voted to cut interest rates, shaving 0.5% off the benchmark .1 Markets rallied exuberantly at the news, reaching new highs.2 Why did the Federal Reserve cut rates? With inflation on a strong downward trajectory and concerns about economic weakness rising, the Fed clearly decided now was the right time to cut. […]
Whenever you listen to financial experts, there’s one topic that will almost always come up: interest rates. But what do interest rates have to do with your portfolio and wealth? It turns out, a whole lot. When you hear the term “interest rates” on the news, it’s usually referring to the Federal Funds Rate, which […]
It’s been a wild August for markets. Recession fears kicked off the worst selloff since 2022 at the beginning of the month. Then markets staged a choppy recovery, even notching the strongest week of the year along the way.1 That’s not so surprising. It’s very common for a strong recovery to follow a selloff. It’s […]
We’re sure you saw the headlines. After hitting new highs last month, markets dropped dramatically, erasing months of gains.1 It feels like the sky is falling. Let’s take a step back and take a look at what’s going on. (Scroll to the end if you want our takeaways.) What’s behind the market drop? A couple […]
When you see headlines like, “Nvidia becomes world’s most valuable company…”1 Or read that a few stocks are responsible for most of the market’s gains… Or see some newsletter bragging about a X,XXX% return on a single stock pick… It’s natural to wish you could go back in time, invest in a “sure thing,” and […]
After months of simmering inflation reports, it looks like inflation finally eased slightly in April.1 Are prices stabilizing? Can we breathe a sigh of relief? Let’s dig a little deeper. What’s inside the latest inflation report? Economists typically look at two major inflation gauges: the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Personal Consumption Expenditures Index […]
New research has found a new “magic” retirement savings number. (We explain how inflation factors in below.) We say “magic” because if you put 10 people in a room, you’ll get 10 different opinions about how much you should save for retirement. And this estimate is no different. Northwestern Mutual surveyed 4,588 adults and found: […]
The Federal Reserve has been in the headlines a lot lately as analysts try to figure out when policymakers will cut interest rates. Why does the Fed matter so much? Let’s discuss. The Fed’s decisions on interest rates are a big deal for markets and the economy because they affect how much it costs to […]
The S&P 500 broke the 5,000 level recently for the first time in history as investors embraced euphoria and rallied.1 And then tumbled as investors got jittery.2 Then yo-yo’d a bit more. What’s going on? Let’s talk about investor psychology. Fear and greed are the two halves of the investor psychology coin. When investors are feeling […]
