Long Term Care Is Becoming a Crisis In The U.S.

Long Term Care Is Becoming a Crisis In The U.S.

Last year the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) surveyed about 1,500 adults regarding their financial preparedness for Long Term Care (LTC). The results were sobering. Less than 40% of the respondents were prepared to cover the cost of help with the various activities of daily living (dressing, bathing, eating, etc.) if needed. And only 28% of…
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Can AI Be Used to Pick Winning Stocks?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage these days. Ever since ChatGPT was introduced by OpenAI and Microsoft, companies are falling over each other to find ways to apply AI to all kinds of activities. You may not recall it but IBM was actually one of the pioneers of AI. They designed a chess-playing computer…
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Spot Bitcoin ETFs Are Here. Should You Buy In?

Last year I wrote about the progress being made on the Bitcoin investment front (https://www.cognizantwealth.com/2023/07/07/is-bitcoin-almost-ready-for-prime-time/).  At the time there were only two ways to invest in Bitcoin: through a private exchange or via an ETF holding Bitcoin futures. Last week the SEC authorized eleven spot (current price) Bitcoin ETFs to begin trading. Is this the…
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A Review Of 2023 Stock Market Predictions

“It’s hard to make predictions. Especially about the future.” That’s one of my favorite aphorisms attributed to Yogi Berra. At the beginning of every year hundreds of economists, strategists, and self-proclaimed pundits announce their annual predictions for the capital markets, blithely ignoring their own past history. Let’s take a look back to see how well…
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Is Inflation Bad For Stocks?

Although inflation has been mitigated over the last couple of years, it’s still on the minds of many investors. Should we avoid stocks when inflation is high? Can inflation be used for market timing in some way? Unfortunately the answer is “no” in both cases. There is no demonstrable connection between periods of high inflation…
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Can I Retire Today Using Only Cash & Bond Interest?

A reader writes: Now that bonds are yielding over 5%, can I fund my retirement just from the interest? This is a great question that goes to the heart of retirement planning strategies. The first requirement is that you have managed to save enough money. If you expect to spend $100K per year in retirement,…
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