What Americans Think Is The Best Investment

What Americans Think Is The Best Investment

Every year since 2011 the Gallup Poll canvasses Americans about their personal finances. The most recent survey was completed in April. The findings reveal how we collectively feel about the various types of investments we have access to, as well as some interesting demographic differences. What do we think is the best investment? Real estate,…
Read more

Securities Trading Has Just Gotten Faster

You probably hadn’t noticed it but the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) just shortened the trading settlement period for securities. As of May 28, 2024 all U.S. securities must settle within one day. What does this mean and how will it affect you? Whenever you buy or sell a stock, bond, mutual fund, or other…
Read more

Worried About Social Security Going Broke?

The Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance trust funds just released their 2024 annual report. In layman’s terms these are the two sources of reserves that support Social Security (SS) and SS disability insurance (SDI). You may already have heard the bad news in the media about…
Read more

How Prepared For Retirement Are We?

The American College of Financial Services (The College) has been producing a Retirement Income Literacy Study every three years since 2014. The latest one, completed in 2023 and unveiled two months ago, paints a disquieting picture of the knowledge level of retirees and pre-retirees when it comes to the various sources of retirement income and…
Read more

Is The Stock Market Overly Concentrated Today?

That’s the title of an article that I wrote back in 2020 (https://www.cognizantwealth.com/2020/07/22/is-the-stock-market-overly-concentrated-today/) when the market capitalization of the top ten stocks in the overall U.S. stock market topped 20% (30% of the S&P 500 index). Today the contribution of the top ten stocks has climbed to 32% of the S&P 500’s market cap. The…
Read more

R.I.P. Daniel Kahneman

Daniel Kahneman (Danny to his friends) passed away last month at the age of 90. He was a psychologist and researcher who applied psychology to economic analysis with his close friend and collaborator Amos Tversky. The resultant field of behavioral economics has grown over the years to become an integral part of good financial planning.…
Read more