Category: personal finance

FICO Changes That Could Impact Credit Availability

March 28, 2023
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In 1989, the Fair, Isaac, and Company (FICO) established FICO scores. It provided an industry standard for scoring creditworthiness. It was fair for both consumers and lenders. Before FICO, there were many different scores with various calculating methods, sometimes including gender or political affiliation. Changes now are coming to the way FICO is calculated. You…

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Closing Prices for Crude Oil, Gold and Other Commodities (Mar. 27)

March 27, 2023
Benchmark U.S. crude oilBrightBusiness & MarketsgoldGold and CommoditiesinvestingMarketspersonal finance
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Benchmark U.S. crude oil for May delivery rose $3.55 to $72.81 a barrel Monday. Brent crude for May delivery rose $3.13 to $78.12 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline for April delivery rose 9 cents to $2.68 a gallon. April heating oil rose 7 cents to $2.77 a gallon. April natural gas fell 13 cents to $2.09…

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Closing the Retirement Income Gap

March 27, 2023
AnnuitiesBrightFixed Incomeinsurancepersonal financeretirementWealth Management
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By Sandra Block From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance By the time you reach your 50s, you should start to get a handle on how much you’ll have in savings when you retire, and whether the money will last as long as you do. Most financial planners say you should plan on replacing 75 percent to 80…

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Is There Really a Labor Shortage?

March 27, 2023
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You’ve probably seen the “help wanted” signs in shops and restaurant windows. Owners and managers complain that they can’t find help. And you know it’s true because it usually takes twice as long to get served as it did before COVID-19. There doesn’t seem to be enough people to fill the jobs. But is that…

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Is Being a Landlord Worth It?

March 25, 2023
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Real estate has been a popular investment for a very long time—for those who can afford it. But in recent years, trends such as house flipping, “house hacking” (living in one room of a property while renting out the others) and short-term vacation rentals have made real estate investment much more accessible, especially for millennials…

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Investing: Buy Food Stocks? We All Gotta Eat

March 25, 2023
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By James K. Glassman From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance In a terrible time for most stocks, a few sectors have done awfully well. One of them: food. Archer-Daniels-Midland, the giant food-processing company, surged 39.7 percent in 2022, and General Mills returned 27.6 percent. Indeed, the food sector—which includes agriculture, manufacturing, packaged goods and grocers—has outperformed the…

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The Fed’s Dilemma: Fight Inflation or Save Failing Banks

March 25, 2023
bank failuresbanking crisisBusiness & MarketsCredit SuisseDeutsche Bankeconomic policieseconomyinflationMarketsmonetary policypersonal financestocksSVB Collapsethe fedUS
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The Federal Reserve has painted itself into a corner with its fight against inflation, and some experts say it now has no coherent plan for how to get out of it. Having kept interest rates near zero for more than a decade and expanded its balance sheet to $9 trillion to stimulate the economy, the…

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Closing Prices for Crude Oil, Gold and Other Commodities (Mar. 24)

March 24, 2023
Benchmark U.S. crude oilBrightBusiness & MarketsgoldGold and CommoditiesinvestingMarketspersonal finance
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Benchmark U.S. crude oil for May delivery fell 70 cents to $69.26 a barrel Friday. Brent crude for May delivery fell 92 cents to $74.99 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline for April delivery fell 2 cents to $2.59 a gallon. April heating oil rose 2 cents to $2.70 a gallon. April natural gas rose 7 cents…

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American Households to Dump $750 Billion in Stocks This Year: Goldman

March 24, 2023
Business & Marketseconomic policieseconomyhouseholdsinflationInvestmentinvestorsMarketspersonal financerecessionstocksUS
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American households are expected to dump $750 billion worth of stocks this year in favor of less-risky assets. This is the first annual drop in demand since 2018, due to higher bond yields and lower savings, reported Goldman Sachs Group strategists, led by Cormac Conners and David Kostin, on March 22. The strategists said that…

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Billionaire Investor Warns Economy Heading for ‘Train Wreck’ After Fed’s Latest Move

March 24, 2023
bank crisisBusiness & Marketsdeposit guaranteeeconomic policieseconomyInvestmentJanet YellenMarketspersonal financerecessionUS
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Billionaire investor Bill Ackman said that the Federal Reserve’s latest decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, combined with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s remarks that there are no plans for unlimited deposit guarantees, was a “big mistake” that puts more pressure on smaller banks and sends the economy toward a “train wreck.” Ackman…

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