WAS IT THE WEATHER, OR THE ECONOMY?   For a second straight month, hiring was weak. Employers added 113,000 jobs in January, and while the unemployment rate ticked down to 6.6%, the Labor Department’s latest report came with some caution flags. Private-sector payrolls expanded by 142,000 new positions, but 29,000 federal workers were let go…

How many 401(k)s have more than $100k in them? According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), the average 401(k) balance at the end of 2012 was $63,929. Even with stocks rising last year, the average balance likely remains underwhelming. Is this enough money to retire on? No – and this is only part of…

CONSUMER MORALE, CONSUMER SPENDING IMPROVE   On Friday, the Commerce Department announced that consumer spending rose 0.4% in December, even as consumer incomes stayed flat. The University of Michigan’s final January consumer sentiment index came in at 81.2 (up 0.8 points from December) and the Conference Board’s January consumer confidence index posted a reading of…

An alternative to the common fund. People invest in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds all the time, but unit investment trusts (UITs) remain comparatively underappreciated and unrecognized. They really aren’t that mysterious, and their popularity is growing – in fact, total net assets invested in unit trusts increased 151% during 2009-12. The word “trust” may…

MORE HOMES MOVE IN DECEMBER Last month saw a 1.0% gain in existing home sales, a nice change for this key economic indicator after a few subpar months. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires anticipated sales improving 0.6%. The National Association of Realtors did revise November’s sales decline to 5.9% (it had been 4.3%). GAUGE…

INFLATION RISES IN DECEMBER Labor Department reports showed the Consumer Price Index up 0.3% last month (with core CPI rising 0.1%) and the Producer Price Index advancing 0.4% (core PPI went north 0.3%). If these spikes foreshadow greater inflation for 2014, they do little to alter the big picture of 2013 – a year in…

Financially, many of us associate April with taxes – but we should also associate April with important IRA deadlines. *April 1 is the absolute deadline to take an initial IRA Required Mandatory Distribution (RMD). *April 15 is the deadline for making annual contributions to a traditional or Roth IRA. Let’s discuss the contribution deadline first,…

Many are the stories of family wealth lost. In the late 19th century, industrial tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt amassed the equivalent of $100 billion in today’s dollars – but when 120 of his descendants met at a family gathering in 1973, there were no millionaires among them. Barbara Woolworth Hutton – daughter of the founder of…

INTERPRETING A PERPLEXING JOBS REPORT Why did the economy generate only 74,000 new jobs last month? Why did 347,000 people drop out of the job hunt to leave the labor participation rate at 62.8%, the lowest in 35 years? Was it the weather? Maybe. As a note from Capital Economics mentions, the Labor Department found…

Little things matter. When planning for retirement, people naturally think about the big things – arranging sufficient income, amassing enough savings, investing so that you don’t outlive your money, managing forms of risk. All of this is essential. Still, there are also little financial adjustments you can make at mid-life that may pay off significantly…