What Does the Dow’s Record High Really Mean? Does it signal anything more than bullish sentiment? Next stop, 15,000? As the Dow Jones Industrial Average settled at a new all-time high of 14,253.77 on March 5, the psychological lift on Wall Street was undeniable – the market was finally back to where it was in 2007. Or was it?1 For many Americans, the Dow equals the stock market, and the stock market is a direct product of the economy. It [...]
Gauging the Sequester’s Impact Where and how soon might the cuts be made? As there was no last-minute agreement between Congress and the White House to postpone federal budget cuts scheduled to take effect March 1, the ax now falls. Unless a bipartisan effort somehow undoes them, assorted federal government agencies will have their budgets reduced by $85 billion between now and October 1, as the initial step in a planned $1.2 trillion deficit trimming over the next ten years. [...]
Social Media Life After Death What happens to our online presence after we pass away? Are profiles immortal? Are memories lost? How do the major social media sites handle a death among their users? Facebook adopted a policy of “memorializing” the pages of deceased users. If you pass away, your page won’t disappear – unless you or your loved ones decide that it should. Once memorialized, no one can log into it any further. The page is taken out of [...]
An Estate Planning Checklist What to check (and double-check) before you leave this world. Create a will if you don’t have one. A valid will may save your heirs from some expensive headaches linked to probate and ambiguity. A solid will drafted with the guidance of an estate planning attorney may cost you more than the will-in-a-box, but may prove to be some of the best money you ever spend. Complement your will with related documents. Depending on your estate [...]
THE DEBT CEILING DILEMMA Tension eases for the moment, but contention remains. Global investors watch America anxiously. In late December, the U.S. technically reached its debt ceiling of approximately $16.4 trillion, with the federal government taking what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called “extraordinary measures” to avert a default.1 Even as House GOP leaders announced plans Friday to approve a three-month increase in the federal debt limit, tension remains - and that tension could provoke a debt ceiling battle on [...]