Personal Finance
-
How to invest your IRA contribution: 3 strategies to fit your mind-set in a turbulent market
If you just made an IRA contribution to get it in before the tax filing deadline, the first thing to know is that you have to actively do something with the money or it will sit in cash—unlike a workplace 401(k) that’s allowed to have defaults or automatic investments in place. Up to 40% of…
-
Why would a financial planner team up with a nutrition coach? To attract Millennials, of course.
Many financial advisers are pursuing a once-overlooked market segment: early-career professionals who welcome expert advice on budgeting, financial planning and basic investment management, even if they haven’t amassed much wealth. To attract these up-and-comers, many of them in their late 20s and early 30s, advisers are expanding their services. Just promising to help young folks…
-
‘I had zero information’: This Silicon Valley Bank customer hated being forced to move banks. He’s not alone — most people stick with the same bank for decades.
Peter Dziedzic knows what it’s like to stick with a bank. He’s shared the same Iowa credit union savings and checking account with his husband for well over a decade. But an ex-Silicon Valley Bank customer, he now knows what it’s like to switch accounts. After this latest switch, he’s done with switching. It took…
-
Can Social Security keep pace with high inflation? Maybe not, but you can still fight back.
Regardless of your age, you may wonder if Social Security will survive as long as you do. Recent reports indicate Social Security trust funds might be barreling toward insolvency by 2033. But there’s a more immediate threat: While U.S. inflation remains high, Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) may not keep pace with rising prices.…
-
We want to retire in about 5 years but have $150,000 in credit card debt and loans and $1.4 million locked in retirement accounts — ‘we want to be really retired’
I’m trying to get some outside guidance on being able to retire in the next 5 to 7 years. I might have to work until I am 59 1/2 to be able to start using retirement funds. We have about $1.4 million in 401(k) and Roth accounts, $30,000 in stocks, a rental house that we…
-
How First Republic stock’s tailspin started and why it hasn’t stopped
Shortly after Silicon Valley Bank disclosed on March 8 that it was running short of cash and needed to raise capital, First Republic Bank’s epic stock slide began. The stock FRC, -1.36% has lost 90% of its value in less than two weeks, hitting an all-time low of $12.18 a share on Monday. Supportive comments…
-
Bank insider action tells us the battered financial sector is a buy: These 4 regional bank stocks are tempting those in the know.
Banking company insiders are sending stock investors a message now: Calm down and buy shares of regional banks, because they are not likely to lose all their business to “safer” megabanks. We know this because community bank insiders are aggressively buying their companies’ shares in the banking sector’s sell-off following the collapse of Credit Suisse…
-
Small U.S. banks lose 1.9% of their deposits after SVB failure
The numbers: Deposits at small U.S. banks fell by a steep $108 billion, or almost 2%, in the week after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the Federal Reserve reported. Business loans at both large and small banks rose in the week ended March 15, however. Wall Street is watching the Fed report closely to…
-
More Americans are using ‘buy now, pay later’ services to pay for groceries. Here’s why that’s a worrying sign.
The concept of “buy now, pay later” has exploded in popularity in recent years. Americans have been using this form of lending — in which the cost of a purchase is typically divided into four payments over several weeks or months — to buy everything from clothes to Peloton bikes. But now there is a…
-
Tempted to open a new credit card? It might get more difficult. Powell warns of ‘tighter credit conditions for households and businesses’
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell this week lent some credence to predictions that banks will start tightening credit standards. On Wednesday, Powell called the country’s banking sector “sound and resilient.”But he added a cautionary note: “Events in the banking system over the past two weeks are likely to result in tighter credit conditions for households…