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Investors Still Blindsided Despite Doing The Right Things

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A new poll reveals that the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 had the most profound impact on investors—but they continue to struggle with the financial fallout of the COVID-19 Pandemic—driving their desire for guided advice and need for comprehensive financial planning.

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The Social Security Administration has issued a notice, published in the Federal Register on Oct. 22, 2021, entitled "Cost-of-Living Increase and Other Determinations for 2022". The notice was issued by Faye I. Lipsky, Federal Register Liaison, Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs, Social Security Administration. Under title II of the Social…

Melone Private Wealth has created a breakthrough way to understand behavioral investing and how to avoid' behaving your way' out of significant returns. Over 25 years of research and financial planning experience has led to this innovative model of behavioral investing. Lou Melone, CFP ® started to build his model of The Anatomy of Investor Returns years ago…

Generally speaking, investing is a long-term process. You invest in your IRA and 401 to reach a long-term goal retirement. You may invest in a 529 education savings plan for many years to reach another long-term goal college for your children.

Empower Retirement, the nation’ s second largest retirement plan provider 1, has added approximately $100 billion 2 in assets under administration and 3,000 plans to its platform in the 12- month period ending Sept. 30, 2021. The $100 billion in AUA represents funded organic sales. Assets from Empower’ s new clients helped increase its defined contribution…

Q: I have often been hammered with the taxes on my investment in mutual funds. Even though I have not taken distributions from the funds, I have had to recognize a substantial amount of taxable income. I once switched from one fund to another within the same family of funds and had to pay a lot of tax on the capital gain I did not receive.
Employees value benefits and are looking to employers to deliver more.

Employees (62%) are also very satisfied with their employment-based retirement savings plans. In fact, 60 % of them say that their retirement plans continue to be an anchor of financial well-being, which is a 5% increase from 2020.

DPL Financial Partners’ 2021 RIA Retirement Planning Survey looked into the ways this era of low interest rates is impacting the way advisors look at various retirement income strategies and how they put those strategies into practice for their clients.
Generation Z workers were the most likely to be affected by the pandemic, with 59% reporting a negative financial impact.

Almost half of American workers said their financial situation has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but that impact varies among the four generations who are in the workforce.
More work is needed to close the racial wealth gap, experts say.

The president of the Ford Foundation called for a national mobilization of private capital and public policy to invest in underserved communities and help close the racial wealth gap.

When I chaired the Senate Finance Committee off and on from 2001 to 2013, I both lowered and increased taxes. Fair to the people who sent us to Congress, whether they voted for us or not. The president and Congress are engaged in a Herculean effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, boost our infrastructure and tend to enormous social needs.

In the public discourse around taxes, there is a conflation of big and small business interests, but in reality their situations are far different. To pay for infrastructure investments that will strengthen our economy, President Joe Biden has proposed tax increases that ensure corporations and the wealthy are contributing their fair share to the effort.
Retirement requires strong planning to pull off well.

Thinking holistically about your clients’ retirement security and developing and executing a strategy aligned with their goals may help free them to enjoy one of the most rewarding times of their life.

Emergency preparedness experts recommend that you have a“ go bag” and a“ stay bin” for disasters: kits with supplies to help you survive a few days if you have to evacuate your home or shelter in place. Preparing your finances for natural disasters is also smart. Insurance consumer advocate Amy Bach recommends keeping at least $2,000 in a safe place somewhere in your…

Just when many people thought the pandemic was over, the COVID-19 delta variant has threatened fall and winter travel plans. Protections usually kick in when events that affect your trip are out of your control, said Nick Ewen, travel rewards expert at The Points Guy, a consumer travel website. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers cancellation/interruption…
Benefits will likely be a bigger factor in employment decisions in the future, employees say.

Most employees expect their workplace benefits to play a larger role in their future job selection (68%) and in their household financial decisions (61%), according to a survey by Voya Financial.
The COVID-19 pandemic has many Americans changing their retirement plan.

New research from Northwestern Mutual shows that COVID-19 has changed many Americans’ retirement plans, with over one-third saying it has either moved up or pushed back their target retirement age.

Hispanic clients are a big demographic for advisors going forward.

Hispanics are the most likely demographic group (26%) to say they feel “motivated” when thinking about financial planning in the current environment, according to a survey by Lincoln Financial Group.

NORTHBROOK– The Allstate Corp. said it has obtained all regulatory approvals and closed the sale of Allstate Life Insurance Company of New York to buyer Wilton Re for approximately $400 million. "Closing on the sale of ALNY is a significant step in Allstate's strategy of increasing personal property-liability market share and expanding protection…
Prudential created a new business to consolidate all of its retirement products under one umbrella.

When asked if they would prefer an annuity that pays 6% guaranteed income for life, while retaining cash value (until depleted by withdrawals) or a bond portfolio yielding 1.5%, the vast majority of respondents said they would take the annuity.

PHILADELPHIA– Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Mark Ramsey, 31, of San Francisco, CA, was convicted today at trial of insider trading charges arising from his use of non-public information provided to him and former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Marvin Mychal Kendricks by a Goldman Sachs investment banker with…

An executive for a business that produces some of the most recognizable consumer brands in the world discussed his company’s efforts to serve a diverse population and what lessons the financial services industry can take from those efforts.
Women have fallen behind in the bid for equal pay.

Women face a number financial planning challenges, led by an income gender gap that leads to a retirement savings gap. Add the caregiving challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and you have a population group at financial risk.

–Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm, today announced the results of its recent survey, " A New Approach to Volatility: The Importance of Making Better Decisions." More than 18 months since the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Aon surveyed 800 C-suite leaders and senior executives in the U.S., the EU, the UK and Canada to reveal how…

After more than a year of tabling major life plans amid the pandemic, millennials are now preparing for a new wave of decision-making. According to a new MetLife survey on open enrollment, 81 percent of U.S. millennial employees are expecting to make a major life change in the next 12 months, including buying a new home, getting a pet, changing careers, or having a…

In the chart below, the red bar in the middle is the current U.S. top rate of 29.2 percent, which is much higher than the OECD average of 19.1 percent. With state taxes on top, that would push the U.S. rate up to the highest in the OECD at 48.4 percent. The House Democratic plan would push the U.S. rate up to 37 percent, or the third highest in the OECD.
Many parents are dipping into their retirement funds to pay college expenses, a new study finds.

An October 2020 JPMorgan Chase report that analyzed the student loan debt of more than 300,000 Chase Bank customers found that “almost 40% of individuals involved in student loan repayment are helping someone else pay off their student loan debt.”

A former Virginia Beach investment advisor was sentenced today to 35 years in prison, following last week’s sentencing of his Williamsburg-based attorney to 10 years in prison, for their roles in a nationwide investment fraud scheme that resulted in over $25 million in losses.

Although we do not sell life insurance here at Samuel, Sayward& Baler LLC, we do help clients plan for their families' future and life insurance is often a part of that planning. Here are five things to consider in the context of your estate plan when thinking about purchasing, or dropping, a life insurance policy. Life insurance is an excellent planning tool for young…

When it comes to technology, the insurance industry operated under the premise, “If you build it, they will come.” But when technology platforms are built but not adopted, then what?
Insurers could do a better job serving people of color, a new survey finds.

Allianz Life’s 2021 Retirement Risk Readiness Study identifies distinct differences among ethnicities regarding retirement risks as well as interest in getting help from a financial professional.
Many Americans are looking forward to retirement. Can they pay for it?

Nearly nine in 10 plan sponsors and participants (88%), respectively, agree that income in retirement is vital to financial security, according to the Nationwide Retirement Institute’s 2021 In-Plan Lifetime Income survey.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that App Annie Inc., a leading alternative data provider for the mobile app industry, and its co-founder and former CEO and Chairman Bertrand Schmitt, have agreed to settle securities fraud charges.
Credit card balances are in good shape for many Americans.

The last time revolving credit balances were over $1 trillion was in April 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic slowed consumer spending.

For decades there have been concerns that foreign investors are buying up farmland in the United States. Our reporting of USDA data shows that in the 40 years or so that records have been kept, foreign investors have bought more than 35 million acres of U.S. farmland worth $62 billion. According to USDA staff, outside investments are on the rise.
Many Americans are looking forward to retirement. Can they pay for it?

According to a new survey from the New York Federal Reserve, 50.1% of respondents expect to keep working past the age of 62. That’s an almost 2% decline from the year before.
Americans have done very well financially as a whole over the past decade.

In April 2020, as Americans were receiving their first relief checks and many businesses shuttered their doors to the public, the saving rate hit an all-time high of 33.7%. It peaked again in March 2021, as the latest round of relief payments were received. As of June, it was 9.4%.

Robert Maron, 62, generated more than $1 million in profits by trading Illumina securities instruments based on non-public information ahead of the company's financial report in October 2016, according to the SEC. The SEC complaint contends that Martha Patricia Bustos, 33, a former Illumina accountant, tipped close friend Donald Blakstad in advance of…
Generation Z workers were the most likely to be affected by the pandemic, with 59% reporting a negative financial impact.

Crafting your client base can be a daunting task, but simplifying it to a system that’s easy to digest will streamline your search process. The “ABC” system that I use is interlinked, as each component depends on, and thrives off one another.

That's according to a new report from University of Wisconsin-Madison. The report from COWS, formerly the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, indicates Wisconsin still has 114,000 fewer jobs available as of July than it did before the onset of COVID-19. Laura Dresser, the associate director of COWS, said the problems in Wisconsin's job market came about well before…