Salient to Investors: The wealth effect from rising house prices may no longer be as effective in spurring the US economy as homeowners increasingly pay down mortgage principal and shorten maturities. Freddie Mac said cash-in refinancings outnumbered cash-outs by more than 2-to-1 in Q4 2012. Amir Sufi at the University of Chicago said the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: More investors are pursuing a modified DIY approach, using increasingly sophisticated online tools and a-la-carte advice services offered by financial firms. Surveys suggest between one-third and two-thirds of boomers manage their own investments. Ed Tracy at Deloitte Consulting said many investors were massively disillusioned by the perceived
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Americans are facing a retirement crisis. Half say they can’t afford to save for retirement, while one-third say they have no retirement funds. Brooks Hamilton says you will need 10 to 15 times your income at retirement to be OK, which means you have to save more, and get
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Calpers is 26 percent short of meeting its long-term commitments. The state and cities contributed $7.8 billion in the last fiscal year, almost 4 times more than a decade earlier. California taxpayers may see their municipal pension contributions rise as much as 50 percent under a plan
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Sarah Turner at University of Virginia said it is not just the sticker price and the net costs, but how likely it is that you will get into medical or law school or have some other opportunities if you choose the more prestigious college? Turner said if
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The Society of Actuaries says less than 20 percent of men and women say their planning horizon is at least 20 years. Cynthia Levering at the Society of Actuaries said the variability of life expectancy is often misunderstood, and people need to plan for being above average. Average
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The vast majority of older Americans face steep and rising health-care costs that threaten to bankrupt them and are doing little to protect themselves. Only 1 in 5 companies with at least 10 employees offers long-term care insurance. Medicare doesn’t cover long-term care. Millions face spending themselves into
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Jeffrey D. Sachs say smart machines are substituting for young unskilled labor, and our children and grandchildren will be worse off as the wages of unskilled young adults decline. While a subset of young adults is tech savvy and the leading edge of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The top 4 zip codes complaining to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are two in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens. 59.6 percent of complaints originated in zip codes where the median household income is higher than the national median of $52,762. Steven Ramirez
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Congress is debating the biggest rewrite of US partnership rules in 60 years, which may increase taxes for real estate and finance businesses or prompt them to restructure operations to avoid new costs. The Camp proposal would change the rules for businesses such as partnerships that don’t
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