A LITTLE MORE CONFIDENCE IN THE ECONOMY The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose 3.0 points for June to 85.2, exceeding the 84.0 consensus forecast of analysts polled by Briefing.com. Those analysts thought the University of Michigan’s final June consumer sentiment index would come in at 81.7; it climbed to 82.5 instead. In related news,…

In 1835, something financially remarkable happened: the federal government paid off the national debt. It hasn’t happened since. Through myriad presidential administrations and economic cycles, the national debt has persisted. Wars, depressions and recessions have all helped send it higher, and while it can shrink in the short term, it isn’t going away. Currently it…

Pacifica Wealth Advisors is a proud supporter of Suits for a Cause, an annual event that brought together more than 50 legal and financial firms, groups and companies in 2014. The annual clothing drive is sponsored by WHW (Women Helping Women/Men2Work), an Orange County non-profit organization that provides comprehensive employment support services for low-income men, women and…

INFLATION PICKS UP The Consumer Price Index increased 0.4% in May – the biggest monthly rise in over a year, with food prices up 0.5%. Labor Department data showed the core CPI (minus energy and food prices) up 0.3% for May; that was its largest monthly advance since August 2011. All this put the annualized…

Why sell shares when you can gift them? If you have appreciated stocks in your portfolio (and you hold them in a non-qualified account that doesn’t get special tax treatment), then you might want to consider donating those shares to charity rather than selling them someday. Why, exactly? Donating appreciated stock to a tax-exempt charity…

A first-world problem, and nothing more? Not quite. Getting rich quick can be liberating, but it can also be frustrating. Sudden wealth can help you resolve anxieties about funding your retirement or your children’s college educations, and newfound financial freedom can lead to time freedom – greater opportunity to live and work on your terms.…

UNREST IN IRAQ SENDS OIL TOWARD $107 NYMEX crude settled at $106.91 Friday, up 4.1% for the week in reaction to the Sunni-led ISIS militant movement seizing control of Mosul and other cities in northern and eastern Iraq. It was oil’s biggest weekly spike since December. While the price of unleaded gasoline fell a cent…

HIRING CORRESPONDS TO EXPECTATIONS Employers added 217,000 new jobs in May, just 1,000 less than analysts polled by Reuters had forecast. Over the past year, payrolls have expanded by average of 197,000 new hires a month. The jobless rate remained at 6.3% in May, but the U-6 rate (the unemployed + the underemployed) sank to…

Year after year, in bull and bear markets, investors make some all-too-common blunders. They have been written about, talked about, and critiqued at some length – and yet they are still made. You can chalk them up to psychology, human nature, perhaps even a degree of peer pressure. You just don’t want to find yourself…

The playing field is level – but only at the federal level. A year after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in U.S. v. Windsor, financial options have definitely improved for gay and lesbian couples who have married or intend to marry. Irritating residency issues remain, however, en route to true equality. Residing in a state…