Bob's Journal
Found 589 Articles.
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Bob’s Journal for 9/16/21
Investment Lessons from 9/11 Much of the country marked the 20th anniversary last Saturday of the attacks of September 11, 2001. There are some investment lessons to learn from that period. At the time I was on the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). The VRS had a firm policy of rebalancing […]
Bob’s Journal for 9/9/21
It’s Past Time for Congress to Fix Social Security The Trustees of Social Security and Medicare last week finally issued their 2021 annual report. The news wasn’t good, but not as bad as many expected. Normally, the trustees issue their annual report sometime in the spring, but they took extra time this year for further […]
Bob’s Journal for 9/2/21
Be Sure Your Tax Person Is Serious About Data Security The cyber thieves changed targets over the last few years, and you need to protect yourself from their new strategies. For a long time, the cyber thieves would steal data from individuals using various schemes. Then, they’d file income tax returns in the names of […]
Bob’s Journal for 8/26/21
Older Adults Less Likely to Need Senior Care Residences Technology, medical improvements and better habits combined to make older Americans more independent than 10 years ago, causing a lower percentage of them to move to nursing homes or assisted living facilities in 2019 than in 2010. Those are the results of the annual National Health […]
Bob’s Journal for 8/19/21
How Stock Sectors Fared in the ETF Revolution Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of the S&P 500 sectors began trading on December 22, 1998. We can look at the returns to see how the different sectors have done. Unlike published stock indexes, these are real returns available to investors after expenses and in real-time trading. It is […]
Bob’s Journal for 8/12/21
Consumer, Business Spending Strong and Likely to Remain Strong Recent reports showed household spending has been strong, but it might be stronger and more sustainable than the data show. Household spending, as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures report, rose by 1% in June and was well above the pre-pandemic spending level. Some economists expect […]
Bob’s Journal for 8/5/21
What Inflation Means for Medicare and Social Security Beneficiaries The numbers won’t be final for a few more months, but it looks like this year’s rise in inflation will affect beneficiaries of Medicare and Social Security. Social Security, as you know, gives beneficiaries an annual cost of living adjustment, or COLA. The COLA is based […]
Bob’s Journal for 7/29
Today’s Great Inflation Debate Are the recent high inflation rates transitory, as the Federal Reserve says, or are we at the beginning of a long inflationary period, perhaps one like the 1960s and 1970s? That’s a major debate among economists and market watchers. Regular readers of Retirement Watch know that, over the last few years, […]
