MONTHLY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE RETIREESPRESENTED BY MARY BETH HOFMEISTER, CFP ® - APRIL 2022 QUOTE OF THE MONTH  “To me, retirement means doing what you have fun doing.” -DICK VAN DYKE A SPRING CLEANING FOR YOUR RETIREMENT STRATEGY Spring cleaning: you tidy up, organize, and put things in order. You can take a "spring cleaning" approach to your retirement, just as you can with your home or garage. It may be helpful, especially if retirement seems near. This is a good time for a review of your retirement accounts. As you get older, you may want to accept less risk in those accounts, and specific business, career, or…

In this month’s recap: Stocks rallied as the Fed provided greater clarity on monetary policy, and investors became more upbeat about the economic outlook. Presented by Mary Beth Hofmeister, CFP ®, April 2022 U.S. Markets Greater clarity on monetary policy and improved investor sentiment on the economic outlook propelled stocks to their first monthly gain of the year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index led, gaining 3.58 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 2.32 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 3.41 percent.1 Rough Start, Strong Rebound The month started out with the same anxieties that dragged the stock market lower in January and February: rising bond yields, slowing economic…

MONTHLY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE RETIREESPRESENTED BY MARY BETH HOFMEISTER, CFP ® - MARCH 2022 QUOTE OF THE MONTH  “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.” -OPRAH WINFREY A STRATEGY FOR MONETARY GIFTS FOR FAMILY Have you ever thought about giving financial gifts to your kids or grandkids? Many affluent retirees and pre-retirees do this, often with an eye toward furthering family wealth. First, the basics. The Internal Revenue Service for 2022 increased the yearly gift tax exclusion to $16,000, so as an individual taxpayer, you can gift up to $16,000 this year to a child, grandchild, relative (or any other…

In this month’s recap: Stocks dropped as escalating tensions in Eastern Europe upended the market. Presented by Mary Beth Hofmeister, CFP ®, March 2022 U.S. Markets Escalating tensions in Eastern Europe upended markets in February, sending stocks lower for the month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 3.53 percent while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 3.14 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 3.43 percent.1  Ukraine’s Influence    The buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border dominated the market last month, even before it culminated in a late-February invasion. Volatile stock prices turned lower as hopes for a diplomatic solution faded over the course of the month. The S&P…

MONTHLY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE RETIREESPRESENTED BY MARY BETH HOFMEISTER, CFP ® QUOTE OF THE MONTH  “You can't be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.” -TINA FEY GUARDING AGAINST THE FOUR COMMON MONEY BIASES  Our attitudes about investing, saving, spending and financial matters are shaped by a variety of influences, both early and later in life. These attitudes can foster some very good habits, ones that may promote smart financial choices, early investment, and the accumulation of assets. The downside is that they may also encourage unconscious biases about money, and like many varieties of bias, it…

In this month’s recap: Stocks fell as rising bond yields, elevated inflation, and a hawkish-sounding Fed took turns rattling investor confidence. Presented by Mary Beth Hofmeister, CFP ®, February 2022 U.S. Markets Rising yields, elevated inflation, and a hawkish-sounding Fed took turns rattling the stock market in January, with technology-heavy Nasdaq particularly hard hit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 3.32 percent, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 5.26 percent. The Nasdaq lost 8.98 percent.1  Fear of the Fed   Anxiety about the Federal Reserve’s pivot from its accommodative monetary policy toward monetary normalization hung over the market all month. Early in the month, the Fed released the minutes from…

A look back at 2021 thus farPresented by Mary Mary Beth Hofmeister, CFP ® The year in brief. 2021 has been a year of economic and business recovery – a recovery tempered by the delta variant of the coronavirus, but a rebound nonetheless.  Stateside economic indicators were largely up this year, some strikingly so. As more industries opened up fully in the first half of the year, pent-up consumer demand for goods and services grew quickly, but supply could not keep up in many sectors. Inflation made a comeback, and analysts were divided on whether it would decline in the near term or persist at elevated levels. Cheap oil became a memory,…

In this month’s recap: Stocks rally as early data suggests the health impact of Omicron was less severe than initially feared. Presented by Mary Beth Hofmeister, CFP ®, January 2022 U.S. Markets Stocks rallied in December as early data suggested that the health impact of the Omicron variant was less severe than initially feared. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 5.38 percent, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 4.36 percent. The Nasdaq Composite lagged, climbing 0.69 percent.1 Omicron Worries  Stocks got off to a volatile start in December as investors worried about Omicron’s transmissibility and severity. Markets were also rattled by Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress…

MONTHLY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE RETIREESPRESENTED BY MARY BETH HOFMEISTER, CFP ® - DECEMBER 2021 QUOTE OF THE MONTH  “Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else.” -FRED ROGERS- WHEN YOU ARE WITHIN FIVE YEARS OF RETIREMENT If your anticipated retirement date seems about five years away, think about some of the proactive steps you could take before that date arrives. Acting now could save you some stress later on when you move from your full-time career to the next phase of your life. Take an hour today to candidly assess how much money you spend in a typical month…

In this month’s recap: Reports of a new COVID-19 variant blindsided markets as a wave of late selling erased the month’s earlier gains. Presented by Mary Beth Hofmeister, CFP ®, December 2021 U.S. Markets Reports of a new COVID-19 variant in late November roiled markets as a wave of selling erased the month’s earlier gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average took the hardest hit, dropping 3.73 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.83 percent while the Nasdaq Composite managed a small gain of 0.25 percent.1 Thanksgiving Surprise The markets were blindsided by news over Thanksgiving Day of the emergence of a new strain of COVID-19, which led to travel…