…Money is a popular graduation gift – and with good reason. College grads in particular will likely be leaving school with overwhelming amounts of student debt and not much knowledge of how to pay it off. Sure, you can simply hand them a wad of cash; that's probably what students would prefer. But if you want to be more thoughtful about your gift, here are some other ways to give.
"…. A true fee-only financial planner accepts compensation only from clients. You'll want one who has an appropriate credential such as Certified Financial Planner (CFP). The planner should be willing to be a fiduciary and put that in writing. "Fiduciary" means the planner promises to put your interests first……."
….In an industry where members often talk of acting as a fiduciary in the best interest of their clients, most investors still believe that their advisors fail to fully disclose conflicts of interest and the fees they charge, a new survey by the CFA Institute finds.
During the short nine days of trading from late January to February 8, the S&P 500 fell like a skydiver leaping out of a plane: fast and down. In a classic flight-to-quality response, investors pulled their parachutes, socking billions into the largest ETFs tracking the widely-watched Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (the “Barclays Aggregate”). This time, though, it didn’t work.
…..It's almost April 1. That means it's required minimum distribution (RMD) time for senior Americans. Those who turned 70 1/2 last year face the deadline for taking RMDs from their qualified retirement plans. Their older cohorts should be considering their RMD strategies for the year…
