Opportunities to Boost GDP and Jobs

Opportunities to Boost GDP and Jobs

A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) identifies five large-scale investment opportunities that have the potential to increase GDP by over $1 trillion and create millions of new jobs by 2020. MGI came up with these by first analyzing the structural (that is, long-term) causes of the lackluster Great Recession recovery. According to…
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Municipal Bankruptcies: It’s Not Just the Pensions

Detroit has recently joined Stockton and San Bernardino in filing for bankruptcy.  It’s the largest city in the U.S. ever to go this route.  How Detroit resolves its inability to pay in full the promises it has made to creditors and retirees will affect municipal bond holders, the insurers that guarantee such bonds, state and…
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CBO Paper Says Don’t Buy Annuities

It seems there’s been a lot of news recently around annuities. The latest is a working paper published by Felix Reichling of the Congressional Budget Office and Kent Smetters of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. It concludes that most people should not buy annuities. This is a controversial finding that is bound to spark…
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Small Business Owners Not Saving for Retirement

I wrote a blog not too long ago about how much we need to be saving for retirement. It turns out that small business owners are among those most at risk. A recent AP report posted by MarketWatch shared the stories of a number of business owners who simply ignored their own future and focused…
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Beware the Fine Print in Your Variable Annuity

I wrote a blog last month explaining why it’s so difficult to get good advice on annuities, especially the more complex ones like variable annuities. We’re now starting to see the risks associated with failing to read all the fine print in that fifty page annuity contract. AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. notified clients last…
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Do You Really Want to Sell Your Bonds Now?

Back in February I wrote a blog about whether or not it makes sense to avoid bonds today (https://www.cognizantwealth.com/2013/02/14/should-you-avoid-bonds-in-todays-environment/). My conclusion was that bonds remain a critically important part of an investment portfolio, but that bond buyers need to be more selective in the current environment.  Last month the Fed announced that it is considering…
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