Fri, October 15, 2010
As expected, the Social Security Administration announced today that there will be no increase in Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits in 2011 for the 59 million retirees and others receiving monthly benefits. No cost-of-living-increase (COLA) can be given because there has been no increase in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' cost-of-living index from the third quarter of 2008 (the last year a COLA was made), to the third quarter of 2010. Under current law, the absence of a COLA also means that there can be no increase in the maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security tax. Read the full article
Wed, October 06, 2010
As the cost of nursing home care approaches $400/day in some parts of the country, more attention is being given to the concept of insuring against the need to pay for long-term care. Some employers offer long-term care (LTC) insurance as an employee benefit. A recent premium hike by the nation’s second-largest provider of LTC insurance has raised a lot of eyebrows. Read the full article
Sat, September 18, 2010
Last week I attended a talk by Boston Federal Reserve Bank research economist Chris Foote. His subject was the Great Recession, but Foote also dropped a fairly big hint about the likely direction of short-term interest rates for the foreseeable future. Read the full article
Mon, September 13, 2010
In recent years the financial health of the states has been a source of concern, especially in light of their growing pension liabilities. A recent paper by a couple of Northwestern University finance professors indicates that these concerns are well-founded. Read the full article
Thu, September 09, 2010
With all the hoopla over the consumer protections in the July financial reform bill, a permanent increase in the FDIC deposit insurance limit went into effect with relatively little notice. Read the full article
Wed, August 25, 2010
Fidelity Investments today released its 4th annual College Savings Indicator study, in which it calculates the percentage of future college costs that parents are prepared to meet. In addition, Fidelity offered guidelines on the amounts that families need to save for college as a % of household income. Read the full article
Fri, August 20, 2010
The Bay State’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported today that despite the loss of 6,000 census jobs, the state added a net 13,200 workers to its rolls in July, marking the sixth straight month of employment gains in Massachusetts. Read the full article
Sat, August 14, 2010
Credit cards are convenient and they effortlessly provide a record of every purchase you make. But using a credit card doesn’t feel like spending money. Consequently, it's easier to overspend with one than it is if you only use cash and checks. Unless you constantly monitor your purchases, there’s no easy way to stay aware of how whether your spending out of control. In a few months, though, Citigroup will introduce a credit card that lets you define a monthly cap for different purchase categories: instant budgeting for credit cards. Read the full article
Fri, August 13, 2010
According to a recent analysis of retirement income prospects, Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) have a probability of running out of money in retirement that ranges from 43 to 47 percent, depending on their age cohort. Read the full article
Tue, August 10, 2010
New rules taking effect August 15th mean two things if you have a checking account: (1) you must make explicitly authorize your bank to enroll you in their overdraft plan if you wish to make debit card overdrafts, and (2) expect changes in your bank’s fees and checking account rules in the near future. Read the full article
Fri, August 06, 2010
After taking a one-year hiatus, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is again joining several other states in giving consumers a two-day “sales tax holiday.” Read the full article
Wed, August 04, 2010
Owners of small businesses are upbeat about their own chances for success, yet most believe that we will still be in a recession a year from now. Read the full article
Sat, July 31, 2010
This past May, sales of new homes plunged to the lowest levels seen since such data began to be recorded in 1963. June and July sales have been tepid. Are home sales likely to remain in a funk for a few years? Some demographers think it’s likely. Read the full article
Wed, July 21, 2010
About a year ago I noted that a hodgepodge of state laws enabled some parents to keep their post-college-age children covered under an employer-sponsored health plan. This spring the IRS issued new guidelines under the Affordable Care Act allowing employers to provide coverage for children under the age of 27 as a tax-free employee benefit. Read the full article
Fri, June 25, 2010
At last, the financial regulatory bill resulting from months of activity in the House and Senate contains language that might result in the implementation of a standard requiring broker-dealers to act as fiduciaries. Read the full article
Tue, December 29, 2009
A report released this month on indicates that while average college debt levels reached $23,200 for the graduating class of 2008, there is an extremely wide range of variation among student debts loads in different parts of the country and at different school. It’s not very enlightening to speak of an “average” college debt when average debt levels at specific institutions vary from $5,000 to $106,000. Read the full article
Thu, December 24, 2009
This past summer I wrote about the novel Macroshares trusts released this year that enable investors to speculate on the direction of housing prices. Earlier this week, MacroMarkets announced that instead of terminating in 2014, the trusts will terminate next week. Read the full article
Wed, December 16, 2009
Last Friday, the House passed the the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a measure hailed as the biggest reform of financial services in half a century. Already, though, some interesting exceptions have been spotted in the bill, which weighs in at 1200-plus pages. The bill does a number of laudable things, including the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to oversee financial products and services.
Read the full article
Mon, November 23, 2009
The big guns in the securities industry have expressed a desire for a “harmonized fiduciary standard” for broker-dealers and investment advisers. That sounds good, but as the details emerge, it looks more and more as though this "harmonized" standard is actually a "gutted" standard, tailored for the benefit of large financial companies.
Read the full article
Thu, November 19, 2009
I've learned from Newstex, which syndicates this blog through its Authoritative Blog Content service, that the FFS Blog's content can now be accessed using an Amazon Kindle. Read the full article
Mon, November 16, 2009
Construction-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar recently announced its willingness to settle a lawsuit in which it was accused of charging excessive fees in four of its employee 401(k) plans. Read the full article
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