Ladies, the jig is up. You can moan all you want about how you’re not “good” at investing, or it’s too confusing. I’ve long told you those are just excuses you have talked yourself into, yet that have no logical basis.
You know I am a big believer in the value of a college education. With one catch. The cost of obtaining a degree must be affordable for the student. Yes, the student. Parents are to focus on saving for retirement; I can’t endorse parents paying and borrowing for college if it means not saving enough for their retirement.
You know I believe there is no substitute for keeping an emergency fund in a federally insured bank or credit union account. That is the best—the only way—to ensure your “what if” money is always safe and will always be there for you. Yet I know how frustrating it has been to follow my safe—not—sorry advice since late 2008. That’s when the Federal Reserve pushed safe savings rates down to zero. The Fed’s move was focused to help the economy pull out of recession and then regain some positive momentum. But that was done at the cost of savers earning pretty much nothing.
More than nine in 10 Americans think it is important for financial advisors who dispense retirement advice to act in the clients’ best interest. And more than half of Americans think this logical assumption is in fact legally required within the financial service industry.
A recent Gallup poll found that Americans are the most positive about their financial situation in a long time. Fifty two percent reported that they feel good about their finances. That’s a big jump from the 41 percent who felt the same five years ago.