Blog - North Light Financial Services

How Much Health Care Reform Will We See By 2014?

How Much Health Care Reform Will We See By 2014? Can the federal government follow through on its ambitions? In 2014, we were supposed to see profound health care reform per the 2011 Affordable Care Act – but how much of that reform will roll out on time? The federal government has already conceded that it can’t enforce the employer mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act by 2014. On July 2, the Obama administration gave businesses with 50 or [...]

By info@northlightfinancialservices.com|2017-03-28T08:17:28-04:00August 22nd, 2013|Business/Economic News, Congress, Health Insurance|Comments Off

How Financial Planning Has Changed for Same-Sex Couples

How Financial Planning Has Changed for Same-Sex Couples Retirement & estate planning strategies are being greatly altered. When the Supreme Court affirmed the legality of same-sex marriage in June, its ruling profoundly altered the financial planning landscape for gay and lesbian couples resulting in some night and day differences. Yet in looking at the financial before and after, same-sex spouses and their advisors must also consider the when and where because the Supreme Court ruling only applies to [...]

By info@northlightfinancialservices.com|2017-03-28T08:17:29-04:00August 8th, 2013|Estate Planning, Personal Finance, Social Sercurity Planning, Uncategorized|Comments Off

How Impatience Hurts Retirement Saving

How Impatience Hurts Retirement Saving Keep calm & carry on – it may be good for your portfolio. Why do so many retirement savers underperform the market? From 1993-2012, the S&P 500 achieved a (compound) annual return of 8.2%. Across the same period, the average investor in U.S. stock funds got only a 4.3% return. What accounts for the difference?1,2 One big factor is impatience. It is expressed in emotional investment decisions. Too many people trade themselves into mediocrity – [...]

By info@northlightfinancialservices.com|2017-03-28T08:17:29-04:00July 25th, 2013|Investing, Retirement, Stock Market|Comments Off

Where Did Inflation Go?

Where Did Inflation Go? Shouldn’t it be rising with all this bond buying? Consumer inflation just hit a 50-year low. So indicates the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge – the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index maintained by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.1 Besides tracking consumer inflation, the PCE price index measures household purchases, a major factor in GDP growth. The core PCE index does the same thing without including volatile food and energy prices. The broad PCE index hit [...]

By info@northlightfinancialservices.com|2017-03-28T08:17:29-04:00July 11th, 2013|Business/Economic News, Personal Finance|Comments Off

Could the Bulls Still Run Without the Fed?

Could the Bulls Still Run Without the Fed? If the central bank ceased easing, could stocks continue their ascent? Could this bull market last with less help from the Federal Reserve? Is it propped up by the Fed’s stimulus, or strong enough to sustain itself if the central bank reduces its efforts? Some factors hint that the economy and the market may have a bit more strength than assumed, even with Q2 GDP projections being tempered. The real estate comeback [...]

By info@northlightfinancialservices.com|2017-03-28T08:17:29-04:00June 26th, 2013|Business/Economic News, Stock Market|Comments Off