Last week’s economic data included many reports but a similar message: Continuing growth, but a touch less than hoped for. The big news came from the energy markets and the plunge in oil prices after the OPEC meeting. The knee-jerk reaction was to sell anything related to energy. This is surprising for several reasons: The…
It’s back-to-school time. Why not take a page from the kids’ books and do some learning of your own? QuickBooks is easy to use, intuitive and flexible. But it is not an accounting manual or class or tutorial. If your business is exceptionally uncomplicated, you might get by without knowing a lot about the principles of…
Today’s Outside the Box is special, because I’m about to give you a preview of things to come at Mauldin Economics. For months now I have been saying to my partners that we need to develop a service for the professionals who read me – the financial advisors, portfolio managers, family offices… you know who…
The average family selling a home for the first time and moving on to another home or newer town will not need to worry about capital gains. According to the IRS, when you sell your primary residence (the key word here is primary residence or the home you actually live in), you can realize up…
The US dollar has been consolidating for the past couple of weeks, and that phase appears to be coming to an end. Next week’s economic data and events will likely underscore the divergent theme, which works in the dollar’s favor. We do not expect the ECB to announce a sovereign bond purchase program at next…
(First off, to any American readers, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving season gorgefest and good times with your families. You will need the energy as we all prepare for the coming onslaught of decorating, carols, and Christmas shopping in the coming weeks!) Now, as I’m sure all are aware, Thanksgiving week was…
As the stock market continues to make new highs with each passing week, some of our stalwart core portfolio positions begin to get overlooked as we seek out new relative bargains in the market. It’s no surprise that energy and material stocks have been very popular among the dividend growth bloggers as of late, since…
In the aftermath of OPEC’s failure to cut oil production, Russia has been acting surprisingly sanguine, perhaps as a result of less leverage in its system as compared to America’s own high yield-funded shale complex – now that it is a race to who will default first and be forced to take production offline –…
These charts tell a story. Ignore it at your own peril. This means war. An empire is dying.
When it comes to estimating defined benefit (“DB”) plan costs, it is critical to use inputs and assumptions that make sense. Longevity is one such important factor that demands attention. Getting good answers to questions about life span differences among age, income and health cohorts is necessary for decision-makers. The assessment of how to redesign…
