Having the right mindset and positive thinking is an important part of visualizing your financial future. As much as we recognize the need to save for retirement, many small obstacles tend to get in the way of taking action. It turns out the decisions we make about financial matters, including putting off saving [...]
Follow these simple personal finance pointers to get your financial life in order. If you are just starting out, the world of personal finance can seem daunting. In particular, saving for a home or planning for retirement may seem like dreams too distant in the future to tackle now. However, there are some [...]
The yield curve flattened over the first quarter of 2017. Longer-term Treasury yields fell, as investors became increasingly skeptical about the Trump administration’s ability to enact the expansionary policies that markets had priced in during the fourth quarter of 2016. Additionally, a record short position in long-dated Treasury futures accumulated over February and the decline in rates in March led [...]
An important shift has taken place in this economic cycle. The Federal Reserve (Fed) was finally able to start following through on its projected rate hike path, raising rates twice in just over a three-month period. By doing so, the Fed showed increasing trust that the economy has largely met its dual mandate of 2% inflation and full employment, that the [...]
The minutes of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) May 2–3, 2017 meeting signaled that the Fed is likely to continue tightening monetary policy and may begin to normalize (reduce) its balance sheet toward year-end. The unwinding of the balance sheet by the Fed and the strategy it employs to accomplish this will be material to global markets. Despite [...]
Bad habits — we all have them. Some are worse than others, and some can wreak havoc on your finances. You might be doing things with your money again and again that are keeping you in a financial rut. And that financial rut can have a long-term impact on your overall financial health. If you [...]
For parents who want to help their children pay off loans, a note of caution A growing number of parents appear to want to help, as young-adult children struggle to pay off debt in an era when wages are not growing and rents are high. But parents need to be careful not to jeopardize [...]
Here are a few tips on how to keep your 401(k) working for you. As more workers plan to continue working later in life, at more organizations, the ability to preserve their nest egg and keep it growing when they leave their current company is more important than ever. Here ís an easy-to-understand guide to [...]
For many defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors, offering target date funds1 as a qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) has become almost expected. A target date fund invests based on a particular date, such as the year of a participant’s projected retirement. For many defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors, offering target date funds1 as a qualified [...]
Employee participation and deferral rates in America’s qualified retirement plans remained strong in 2015. In fact, participation was up 5% from 2010, and average salary deferrals were nearly 7%. These trends show marked improvement in defined contribution (DC) plan uptake by U.S. workers, thanks to plan sponsors who’ve implemented plan designs intended to help improve [...]
