Posts by Sue Hickey

The transition from growth to value and back to growth stocks often accelerated during the pandemic. Growth-oriented stocks usually outperform when the economy is on the rise. Therefore, growth stocks took the path of the coronavirus: They tanked during the lockdown, they rose again when the economy reopened and then stumbled again until vaccines were…

Some people have no trouble saving money — they stash away any cash they don’t need, and their account grows and grows. These people usually aren’t very materialistic and don’t have a lot of goals that require money to fulfill. That’s a wonderful trait, in some ways. However, there’s nothing wrong with setting up specific…

There are moments in history when people have claimed investment choices don’t matter because if the market is up across the board, you cannot fail. That is not true. In fact, that should never be guiding financial advice. However, there is no doubt that the market has been up for many years — notwithstanding the…

Inflation is a steady rise in the price of goods and services over time and actually signals both good and bad economic conditions. On one hand, as prices rise, someone living on a fixed income cannot purchase the same amount of goods, so they tend to reduce spending or buy cheaper alternatives. On the other…

While extreme weather events typically affect only certain parts of the country, there is increasing concern that climate change will affect the overall economy – including our investment portfolios. For this reason, the federal government is making composition changes to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), the retirement plan for federal employees. The TSP currently holds…

Over the past 20 years, America’s young adults have experienced significant unemployment, massive student debt, extreme weather events, a global pandemic, a contentious political environment and dramatic socio-economic turmoil. Not that these things didn’t happen in previous generations, but today’s young adult is far more involved and aware due to the 24-hour news cycle and…

The mid-year U.S. economic recovery numbers look strong. On Wall Street, analysts predict that our economy will expand by trillions of dollars and create 2 million good-paying jobs throughout the next 10 years. However, despite nearly 1 million jobs reported in July alone, the White House cautioned that the resurgence in COVID-19 cases among unvaccinated…

Last year, the Setting Every Community Up for Security Enhancement (SECURE) Act increased the age for required minimum distributions (RMDs) from 70½ to 72. The purpose of RMDs is to spread out the tax burden associated with the years of tax-deferred earnings investors accrued in qualified retirement plans.1 If you expect RMDs to be an…

Young adults have weathered difficult times the past two decades: mass school shootings, extreme weather conditions, student loan debt, and a global pandemic. But now they’re witnessing an unprecedented job market, where even those with little to no work experience can dictate their own terms. It’s important that we steer our young adults to good…

This year, investors are making record-high margin investments against their accumulated assets. According to FINRA, margin debt had reached $847 billion by the end of April.1 Much of this activity is fueled by low interest rates and rising stock prices, making leverage investing more appealing. However, investing on margin poses significant risks. You can purchase…