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Smart Financial Moves in Your 40s and 50s

These crucial years call for action. Today, retirement may seem nearer to you than it once did. The following moves might be worth making—and soon. Catch-up contributions to your retirement accounts. Starting in the year you turn 50, you may make a total of $1,000 in catch-up contributions to your IRAs each year and put an extra … Read more

Asset Allocation

Asset allocation is a common strategy that you can use to   construct an investment portfolio. Asset allocation isn’t about picking individual securities. Instead, you focus on broad categories of investments, mixing them together in the right proportion to match your financial goals, the   amount of time you have to invest, and your tolerance for risk. … Read more

Are Clos a Systemic Risk?

What is a Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO)? Collateralized loan obligations (CLO) are portfolios of leveraged loans, a type of below-investment grade loan usually taken out by more heavily indebted companies. Each CLO is divided into a series of tranches with different degrees of risk. The more senior tranches receive their interest payments first, and therefore, have … Read more

Leading Indicators Turn Positive

Yesterday, The Conference Board released last month’s reading for its Leading Economic Index (LEI), a composite of leading data series, which showed a month-over-month increase of 2.8%. As seen in the LPL Chart of the Day, the return to positive territory follows three straight months of negative monthly growth. ”We noted that the pace of … Read more

Next Hike We See May Be 2023

The Federal Reserve (Fed) completed its third scheduled policy meeting of the year Wednesday, June 10, and continued to signal strong support for the economy, committing to keeping rates near zero until it is confident of a recovery and maintaining bond purchases (“quantitative easing”), at least at the current level. “Despite some early signs of … Read more

Best 50-day Rally Ever

In many ways, what we’ve seen so far in 2020 has been both record-breaking and devastating. From the S&P 500 Index peak on February 19 to the bear market lows March 23, stocks lost 33.9%. Now, 50 trading days later, stocks have gained 39.6%, for the largest 50-day rally since the S&P 500 moved to … Read more

Beige Book Shows Suppressed Sentiment

Despite the gradual reopening of the economy in several states, sentiment on Main Street remains suppressed, as the effects of COVID-19 appear to be keeping a lid on American optimism in the most recent Federal Reserve (Fed) Beige Book. In the Beige Book, the Fed presents qualitative observations made by community bankers and business owners—or … Read more