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Bob's Journal

Found 589 Articles.
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Bob’s Journal 5/29

May 29, 2025

International Stocks Continue to Leap Ahead Many investors are heartened by how U.S. stock prices bounced higher each time higher tariffs were postponed or modified. But U.S. equities still are laggards this year. International equities started 2025 by surging ahead of U.S. counterparts, marking a small reversal in the exceptional performance of U.S stocks since […]

Bob’s Journal 5/22

May 22, 2025

The Costs of the United State’s Perpetual Deficits Increase The federal government no longer is a triple-A credit risk, according to all three prominent credit rating firms. Triple-A is the highest credit rating and implies debt issued by the debtor is as close to risk-free as possible. S&P Global Ratings downgraded U.S. debt from triple-A […]

Bob’s Journal for 5/15

May 15, 2025

Asia Sends a Quiet Warning About Trade Conflicts Currency markets in Asia indicate that central banks and investors in Asia might respond differently than expected to the tariff wars. President Trump complains that the trade deficits the United States has with other countries mean America is being taken advantage of, but those countries don’t sit […]

Bob’s Journal 5/8

May 8, 2025

Key Corporate Earnings Give First Clues to Economy’s Health Data issued by the government and some private sources receive the most attention. Economists, analysts, the media, and individual investors pore over the employment reports, gross domestic product data, Consumer Price Index, and more. They also dive into surveys of consumers and businesses. All that data […]

Bob’s Journal 5/1

May 1, 2025

News and Rumors About Social Security Social Security has been in the news a lot lately. Change definitely is afoot there, but there have been many rumors and allegations that aren’t accurate. Early this year, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced that 10 offices would be closed and some employees would be laid off. […]

Bob’s Journal 4/24

April 24, 2025

International Stocks Surge Ahead Again Following a brief pause, non-U.S. stocks are back to handily outperforming U.S. equities in 2025. After years of lagging, international stocks began 2025 by delivering significantly higher returns than U.S. stocks. The superior returns were broad-based. For example, iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA) had a total return in the first quarter […]

Bob’s Journal for 4/17

April 17, 2025

A Few Retirement Myths Explored The myths that surround retirement and retirement planning make it harder for many people to have successful retirements. Some widespread myths address when people retire and how much of their employment income they need to replace in retirement. Actual experience in these areas differs from many people’s beliefs and expectations, […]

Bob’s Journal for 4/10

April 10, 2025

Financial Moves That Ease the Pain of Market Declines A sharp, sudden market decline can create financial opportunities for alert investors. Market declines can present opportunities for those who put emotions aside, ignore the headlines, and consider which long-term actions might be best for them. One strategy to consider is to convert a traditional IRA […]

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