Blog
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Rising Student Loan Rates: What Parents Need to Know
Student loan interest rates are going up for the 2018–19 academic year. With total student loan debt at nearly $1.4 trillion and rising, even small increases in the interest rate indicate millions of additional dollars required by students and parents to service these loans. If your child is using student loans to help pay for higher education, or if you are using Parent PLUS loans to help your child out, here are five important facts to keep in mind.
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Divorce in Midlife: What Women Need to Know
Couples past age 50 are increasingly likely to divorce – more than twice as likely as they were in 1990. For women facing this difficult situation, there are some key financial considerations regarding income, investments, retirement assets, and real estate. Here are four key questions that women going through this midlife transition must ask.
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The Sharing Economy: It’s Not Just for Hipsters Anymore
Baby Boomers now hitting their retirement years may be the fastest-growing demographic for entrepreneurs benefitting from the “sharing economy”: the massive and growing Internet-driven marketplace of products and services. These peer-to-peer apps try to make commerce as easy as possible for both user and vendor, but they could also supplement retirement incomes for seniors by monetizing spare bedrooms, vehicles, or personal time.
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False Diversification Q&A with Kimberly Foss
We all know the classic concept of diversification: “Don’t put your eggs in one basket.” True diversification can help protect a portfolio against volatility—the stomach-churning ups and downs that can occur in the financial markets. When a portfolio is properly diversified, the investor should see that when one asset class is down, another may be little changed, or even up slightly. But sometimes, investors distribute their “eggs” among a number of different baskets, but don’t realize that the baskets are all very similar.
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Your Emotionally Fraught Relationship with Money: The Good News Is, You’re Not Alone
Given the importance of money in our daily lives, it shouldn’t be surprising that many of us have a complicated relationship with it. If you struggle with guilt or shame related to how you use your money, the first thing you need to know is that you aren’t alone. The most reliable antidote to unhealthy financial attitudes is having access to trusted friends or advisors who are willing to be vulnerable about their own problems with finances.
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Trade Wars and Stock Market Jitters: Should You Be Worried?
As President Trump’s tariffs on foreign imports continue to attract strong reactions and retaliation from China, the European Union, and other US trading partners, the stock markets have displayed some reactions of their own. Volatility—especially when it’s downward—makes us worry about the safety of our investments. But reacting emotionally to market swings will typically not increase the value of your portfolio over the long term, and we know this because of solid, data-based research.
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Medicare Funding: The Long-Term Outlook and Your Long-Term Plan
On June 5, the trustees for Medicare’s hospital trust fund released a report containing some somber news: the fund is expected to run out of money in 2026, three years earlier than previously expected. The report cited lower-than-expected revenues from payroll and Social Security taxes, coupled with higher-than-expected payments to hospitals and private Medicare plans.
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Home Warranties: Wise Purchase or Not?
If you have bought or sold a home in the last few years using the services of a real estate agent, either the buyer’s or seller’s agent probably included a home warranty in the transaction.
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The Cost of Waiting
The median retirement portfolio account balance for persons age 56-61 is just $25,000—which is obviously not enough for a healthy retirement, and suggests that many Americans followed less-than-healthy savings habits.
