My latest: Building Your Retirement Budget
Part Three of my Retirement Planning series explains how to accurately build your retirement budget even if you’re years away from retirement, including the detailed steps to take to track your spending.
2025 Mid-Year Outlook: U.S. Stocks and Economy by Charles Schwab Asset Management
Effective tariff rates are now 15%, highest since the 1930’s. This has led to reduced growth expectations and higher inflation expectations – that stagflation word you keep hearing. A recession is still on the table. The funny thing is though that these problems aren’t showing up in the hard data yet. It’s the inverse of 2022 when the data was fine, but sentiment wasn’t. Now the hard data is fine, but expectations and sentiment are weak. With stocks near all-time highs, the consensus is that tariffs need to edge lower, the labor market needs to stay stable, and inflation remains under control for stocks do to well.
See also: Despite Pop in Consumer Sentiment, Households Are Still Pessimistic by Wells Fargo
Consumer sentiment rose in early June but still remains consistent with a low level of optimism. Although inflation expectations came in, fluid trade policy is still driving concerns of potential price hikes which households increasingly expect to impact their ability to spend.
Early retirement: Bridging the gap until Medicare by Vanguard
Early retirement is an aspirational goal for many investors, but it often presents a significant challenge: bridging the gap in health care coverage until Medicare eligibility at age 65. This guide helps early retirees understand and address their health care needs to help ensure a smooth, secure transition to the golden years.
The Pros and Cons of Investing in China by Morningstar
China’s stock market offers compelling valuation-based opportunities . However, risks remain elevated due to geopolitical tension, economic headwinds like property slumps and deflation, and less transparent governance compared to developed markets . The takeaway: while Chinese equities could deliver outsized returns, investors need disciplined sizing and a margin-of-safety approach to manage policy and macroeconomic uncertainties. Investors often ask if they can or should exclude it from their portfolio. There are now products available to do so.
Ease Into Summer: Top Reads, Must-Listen Podcasts & One More Event! by Heritage Financial
As the days get longer and schedules begin to ease, many of our clients, partners, and friends find themselves shifting into a more relaxed gear. Whether you’re heading out on vacation or simply enjoying a slower pace, it’s a great time to catch up on some of our most popular content from the past few months.
Podcast Recommendation
Somehow, the American consumer remains quite strong. Despite higher interest rates, tariffs, general economic uncertainty and so forth, people are continuing to spend. And yet there are some pockets of weakness that you can observe, especially if you look at delinquency data for various types of credit. But even here the patterns aren’t totally obvious, as it doesn’t break down nicely among prime vs. non-prime borrowers. But there is one important divide: Do you have a ZIRP-era mortgage or not? According to Morgan Stanley housing strategist Jim Egan, there is a massive difference in how strained people are for those who locked in their housing costs prior to 2021 vs. those who didn’t. People with ZIRP-era mortgages are benefiting from low stable payments (which have declined on a real basis), as well as broad equity accumulation. Those who didn’t are much more strained in their finances. We discuss how this is playing out, as well as the state of the housing market more broadly, which has seen rising inventories, and the possibility for an overall downturn in prices nationwide.
Book Recommendation
Mark Twain by Ron Chernow
Yes, it’s a Chernow book which means it’s over 1,000 pages long, and no, I cannot tell you that every page is worth it. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and recommend it.
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow illuminates the full, fascinating, and complex life of the writer long celebrated as the father of American literature, Mark Twain
Boston Corner
What stops the bleeding? Health care gets harder to find in northern New England by Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Rural northern New England faces growing “deserts” in health access—primary care, maternity, and ambulance—forcing residents to travel increasingly long distances for even basic services, which is linked to higher rates of fatal health outcomes bostonfed.org. Demographic shifts—aging populations, low birth rates, outmigration of working-age residents—and financial pressures including hospital losses, high labor costs, and weak reimbursement have prompted facility and service closures . Experts agree that revitalizing these communities through economic development, housing, infrastructure, and incentives for young healthcare providers is essential to sustain care access
