“I know orders are due today but I need 20 more boxes of Thin Mints. I can just pay you when the cookies are delivered, right?” – the frantic last minute cookie order.
Welcome to 2021! A new year brings new opportunities… and the resumption of Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). With the combination of the SECURE Act in late 2019 and RMDs having the “R” dropped for 2020, I thought it would be helpful to provide a refresher on all things RMD.
The 2020 returns for three US large cap indices do a nice job of summarizing the wide dispersion of performance within a single asset class – 47%, 16%, 7%. Can you guess the three indices?
During this time of year, the excitement and innocence of youth abounds. But it is also present year-round. After the holiday season passes and the grind sets in, continue to recognize this and encourage them accordingly… but without “measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.”
November saw one of the strongest monthly equity returns in a very long time. For US small caps, the strongest. The election dominated the first part of the month but the key driver occurred the following three Mondays with very positive news on COVID vaccines. Hello 2021!
This is my fourth and final blog post on COVID data. Similar to my first post in early April and subsequent posts, the intent is to provide graphs of key metrics for context. Similar to my last post in mid-July, I will end on the exciting developments of promising vaccines.
The first part of October continued the strong rally from late September but peaked on October 10 weekend. Most equity indices ended down but small caps and emerging markets held on to gains. Technology definitely ended down.
The September CPI data has been stamped. The 2021 inflation adjustment for Social Security benefits will be 1.3%; the wage base subject to SS taxes will go up about 3.7%.
Welcome to fall when things cool a bit. Most markets embraced this season as well in September. The word ‘correction’ was even invoked for the NASDAQ, but recall the heat of August.
It is that time of year again - cooler air, harvest, football - and the inflation adjustment for Social Security benefits and maximum salary subject to Social Security payroll taxes. The final CPI-W data point will be released October 13th but with 2 of the 3 data points known, an early estimate can be calculated.
The usual suspects are still flying. I repeat the charts showing major asset class returns followed by the comparison of NASDAQ and growth vs. value to help visualize the almost 40% YTD returns. I then focus on a few negative monthly returns (yes Virginia, there were a few “-“'s) related to the Fed’s inflation policy.
It’s back-to-school time – no really, it is. And though not all schools will have a fall football season, they all have tuition bills. Check out the latest rates for Federal Student Loans (temporarily 0% rate!), amounts available and how it can fit in to the overall funding for college.