Personal Financial Advice from a former Certified Financial Planner
Understanding Auto Loans: Prime vs. Subprime, A Comparison In today’s economic landscape, inflation and resuming student loan payments, are causing financial strain for many Americans, leading to record-high default rates on auto loans. The situation is reminiscent of the financial crisis in 2008, but this time, it’s the auto loan …
Below is a quick belt out of information and opinion before I head off with the family on a last-of-summer vacation. Don’t bother letting me know about other links, grammatical errors, or the like. I’ll go back to normal when I get back next week. Should the Fed stop raising …
Alright, here is the short, short version typed up as fast as I possibly can, while I wait for my documents at the title company. In Washington D.C. they have been stretching legislation to lift more than it as designed to since before they built the Congressional building. This time, …
More proof that elections and politics don’t matter as much to the markets as politicians and pundits would have you believe, the Dow Jones rallied to its best one-day gain since 2000. The Dow ended up over 1,200 points, or 3.7% in one day not because anyone did or did …
It is looking less and less like the U.S. economy will achieve the promised land of a soft-landing and will instead end up in a recession. It may turn out to be a shallow recession, but the economy is not typically forgiving of rapid increases in interest rates. If hiring …
The press loves a good scare story, and mortgage rates hitting a 12-year high is just the ticket. Mortgage rates did hit a 12-year high, and I suppose for those who are newer to the world of finance that probably seems like a big deal, but the reality is a …
The Federal Reserve is best known for setting the Fed Funds Rate which is the interest rate that the Federal Reserve charges banks for overnight loans. That, in turn, influences, or outright directly adjusts, several other interest rates that have a meaningful impact not only on business, but American citizens …
It’s Fed Day, boys and girls, and the markets are feeling pretty good this morning, having already priced in negativity from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Markets are up, although they trimmed the earlier pop. All eyes are on the Federal Reserve Board meeting where the Fed is expected to raise …
These days everyone is worried about inflation. The financial media often distill reporting about inflation down to a single, easy to understand number. “Inflation rose 5% in March,” they will say. What are they talking about, exactly? What is the CPI? What is the PPI? And, what is the difference …
So, the S&P 500 closed low enough on Tuesday to make it 10% lower than its closing high on January 3rd marking, officially at least, a correction in the stock market. If you aren’t seeing a lot of fuss, that’s because it really isn’t that big of a deal. Back …