Personal Financial Advice from a former Certified Financial Planner
The Federal Reserve Board voted not to raise interest rates at their October meeting, finally realizing that the runaway freight train of interest rate hikes might be more detrimental to economy than the inflation that they are supposedly fighting. Did the Fed Stop Too Late The big question on everyone …
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 …
The IRS decides some of your Colorado refund is tax free, but it’s the IRS, so it can’t be that simple. Colorado Cash Back Refund Is Tax Free I don’t know how good your memory is, but in 2022, Colorado officials realized that Colorado residents would be in line for …
Update: The Biden administration has elected to erase $10,000 or $20,000 in student loan debt via executive order. The website to apply is already up, and the Republican lawsuits to stop it are already filed. If you have more than $10K or $20K, keep paying, although it will help a …
Every year or so, somebody freshens up a study that shows active mutual fund managers underperform passive investing, usually in the form of an ETF of the category benchmark. In plain English: Buying the ETF instead of the mutual fund of the same type will generate higher returns for you …
Text message scams are nothing new, but they used to be really obvious. Like anything else, scammers evolve to keep getting paid. Innocent Texts from a Friend Came across a news story today that finally answers a question of mine. About a year ago, I got a text from “Steve.” …
Recently, the Democrats passed a bill called the American Rescue Plan Act, that made some changes and updates to the child tax credit. This was quickly spun as either a middle-class tax cut or raising taxes on the poor. It’s weird to see how people can distort what is really …
I’m not an economist and I don’t play one on TV. I haven’t even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but I have been involved in finance for a long time now, and I’m old enough to have a pretty good memory. Add that to a lot of research over …
Oh, goodie. It’s time for some more stock market terminology. What Is a Melt Up? The world of finance, like any specialized group, has numerous terms, acronyms, and phrases that apply to managing money and investing in the stock market. Things like “Santa Claus Rally” are less about being able …
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 …