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Economic data releases — payroll and jobs reports, CPI and PPI — have lagged during the government shutdown and likely will take some time to get rolling again.
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Kevin Curry, a food influencer and a former SNAP recipient, explains where SNAP recipients can get the most up-to-date information on their benefits, and how anyone can find free or affordable food.
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Airlines have canceled more 9,000 flights across the U.S. since the Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight cuts late last week, mostly to ease demand on control towers that are short-staffed during the federal government shutdown.
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At its annual UnBoxed event, the retail giant unveiled new AI ad tools and a centralized hub called Campaign Manager
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Anyone newly retired or nearly so must feel like they have the worst timing in the world. A portfolio tends to be largest near retirement, just before those savings are about to be drawn down. These days, however, most portfolios have lost value; the S&P 500 is down about 20% so far this year.
The financial industry has a name for this scenario: sequence of return risk. "It matters most at retirement when you're selling assets for income," says Wade Pfau, a professor of retirement income at The American College of Financial Services in King of Prussia, Pa. "You need to sell a larger number of shares to get the same amount of money. Those shares are then gone so even if the market bounces back, your portfolio won't recover as much."
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The newly retired are particularly vulnerable because they're "relying on this pot of money to finance the next 20 to 30 years of their life," says Amit Sinha, head of multi-asset design at Voya Investment Management in New York City.
Sequence of return risk is less of a concern for someone further along in retirement because retirees typically shift to safer, more conservative investments and have fewer years to pay for. Plus, these investors may have benefited from portfolios boosted by strong returns early in retirement.
Similarly, if retirement is a decade or more away, what happens to markets today is mostly irrelevant. "You just allow the compounding to work for you and recover over those years," says Sinha.
Someone retiring now, of course, doesn't have that luxury. If this describes you, there are several things you can do to minimize the damage, but first, assess what it's likely to mean for your portfolio long term.
Depending on how you react now, t
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After two years of a red-hot market, it's time real estate and mortgage professionals get ready for what could be a slowdown in their business.
Earlier this summer housing prices were on fire. Now there is talk of a "housing recession." Due in part to higher mortgage rates and more people vacationing this summer, U.S. existing home sales fell in July for the sixth straight month, the longest streak of declines in more than eight years.
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One of my clients in the Midwest put his home up for sale recently and has had no interested buyers - none. A few months ago, we were certain it would sell in days. The plan was to sell the house and pay off their construction loan on their new home before it converted to a permanent mortgage. Now, that plan may need to change.
Several mortgage companies have already let go thousands of employees, and one company, Sprout Mortgage, based in East Meadow, N.Y., shut down in early July. Real estate brokerage companies, such as Compass and Redfin, have also slashed their workforce.
Real estate is cyclical, and while sales will not totally dry up, anyone tied to the industry should get their finances in order now in case the current downturn lasts another several months.
Here are a few moves to consider:
Build an Emergency Fund Twice as Big as a Salaried Worker's
No one wants to get caught borrowing money to pay their bills. While putting away enough money in a savings or money market account to cover six months of expenses is normal, it's best to plan for a longer period if you work in a cyclical industry.
Consider keeping six to 12 months of r
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