Tag Archives: stock market

Baby Boomers and Retirement

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I was reading an article in the paper the other day that got me thinking… yikes… our largest generation is going to be retiring soon. What does this mean and how will it influence all of us? To be honest, I am not sure – but it left me with some questions and thoughts. I would love to hear any ideas you all come up with too! Just leave them in the comment box below. Baby boomers will need to start using their retirement money. This means large amounts of stocks will be sold. Thus, the process will move money … Continue reading →

Investment Risks

My husband and I had a recent conversation the other day about investments I thought would be interesting to share. We discussed that there are two kinds of risks with investing. Most people think there is only one kind of risk… The first risk is the obvious one, market volatility. When newbie investors launch into the stock market this is the risk that scares them. Will the value of my portfolio go down? Can I lose money? With any stock investment strategy, there is the potential to lose money, yes. Nevertheless, playing it safe is also a risk. The second … Continue reading →

February 25 – March 2nd — Weekly Review

We have had a special guest blogger here on Money, so I wanted to take a few minutes to give some highlights of the week! This week started with a great article from Courtney, our guest blogger. She discusses the struggle between her husband and his opinion of credit. In Change your Thinking, learn how Courtney discovered the differences between needs and wants. With so much discussion about the stock market in the news, I figured it would benefit us all to learn a little more about the main economic indicator: the Dow Jones. No Fees is a reminder to … Continue reading →

Look for Opportunities

Where many people see dead ends, others see an opportunity. There is no truer place for this then with money. As the stock market continues on a downtrend and the housing bubble bursts, most of us see the current road to money success as a dead end. Instead, we have to learn to change our thinking. Every ending is actually a beginning. Where a financial opportunity seems to fail, actually another one is brewing. Start looking at losses as potential gains. With this attitude in mind, you will set yourself apart in terms of making money work for you. Let’s … Continue reading →

401(k) Panic

With the recent uncertainty in the economy, much of the market has been declining. As stocks slow, retirement plans can also slow their growth, even drop in value. The key with these longer-term funds is to not panic. Even with the lower stock market, it is not a time to sell out on stocks in long-range accounts. Selling is never good when a market is low, but buying is good. If you have some extra money, this would be an excellent time to add to your retirement accounts. If you have a tax return coming, putting some of it into … Continue reading →

Big Week for Money

If you have been following the news, you will note that there have been many big changes to the economy this week. There are many signs that our country is heading for a recession and the government is trying to balance. These sorts of actions are very interesting as we head into the next election. They also affect our own pocketbooks. After months of gradual decline, the stock market had a large drop this week. Since October, the S&P has dropped 16%, the Dow dropped 15% and the Nasdaq is down 20%. All three of these indicators are not good … Continue reading →

Clean House

It is 2008; do you know what your mutual funds are doing? With the arrival of the New Year, it is a perfect time to clean out your closets and check on your financial portfolios. After the year ends, mutual fund companies release their year-end distributions reports for tax purposes. This is a perfect opportunity to evaluate your current investments and their performance. The year 2007 saw a lot of profitable funds and healthy increases for many. Therefore, if you have funds that appear to be consistent losers – it could be time to look elsewhere. At the very least, … Continue reading →

Federal Reserve Board’s Rate Cut

If you caught the headlines today, you already know that the Fed made a big decision this week to cut the discount rate. What you may not know, is exactly what this means. The discount rate is the interest rate the Federal Reserve Bank charges to individual private banks when they take a loan from the Fed. Normally this interest rate is only evaluated during regularly scheduled meetings. This week the Fed stepped out of the norm to adjust the rate between meetings. This is not a typical process, and the last time it occurred was September 17, 2001 shortly … Continue reading →