Finance Tips and Hidden Costs For Snowbirds
Heading south to avoid the winter chill? Before adopting the snowbird status take into consideration these financial tips and hidden costs.
Economic Perspectives: Consumers Start to Expect Lower Interest Rates
The University of Michigan publishes a monthly Survey of Consumers that assesses the confidence and expectations of U.S. consumers. It asks questions about current economic conditions, expectations for the future, and consumers' attitudes toward making big purchases. There was a notable development in the December 2023 survey, as the percentage of consumers expecting lower interest rates over the next 12 months rose to nearly 30% from 12% the prior month. This expectation for lower interest rates is connected to easing inflation and the view that there is no need to keep interest rates at current levels with inflation falling back to 2%. Consumers and investors both expect rate cuts in the first half of 2024, and the Federal Reserve is hinting at the potential for rate cuts if inflation continues to ease this year.
Warren Buffett's Best Quotes
This blog will share some of the best quotes from Warren Buffet, one of the world’s most famous investors and businesspeople.
It's Time to Revisit Your Annual Financial Goals. How Did You Do?
This blog will give a wrap-up of financial goals over the year and prompt the reader to look back on how they did on their goals and reflect for the upcoming year.
How to Set a Budget for the Holidays
This blog will give tips on how to set a budget for the holidays as a piece for a healthy financial landscape.
The S&P 500’s Concentration Offers a Lesson on Diversification
The odds are high that you have read or heard about artificial intelligence or Chat GPT this year. In the stock market, there is a small group of stocks known as the “7 Tech Titans”, which includes leading technology firms exposed to the AI theme. The group of stocks has significantly outperformed this year due to growing excitement about AI, which has in turn increased its weight in the S&P 500. The five largest companies in the S&P 500, which are all part of the 7 Tech Titans, account for 22% of the entire index’s total market capitalization. These five companies include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, NVIDIA, and Alphabet (the parent company of Google).