Financial Matters

By Nancy Schultz | Nov 14, 2009

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Recent Posts by Nancy Schultz

• What a difference a year makes

  By Nancy Schultz - Mar 14
  "How the Market Got Its Groove Back," read one headline. Others marked the one-year anniversary of this recession's apparent market low by wishing ...
  
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  Estate planning update

  By Nancy Schultz - Mar 08
  As you may know, the estate tax situation in 2010 has raised several important questions about the validity of some existing estate plans. At the ...
  
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  Markets discount Fed move, close at new February highs

  By Nancy Schultz - Feb 28
  U.S. and European financial markets shrugged off an early case of the jitters over a surprise Federal Reserve move to hike its seldom-used ...
  
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  A day of thanks for good fortune

  By Nancy Schultz - Nov 22
  Thanksgiving Day traditions today bear only a passing resemblance to that original three-day harvest celebration at Plymouth Plantation in 1621. ...
  

• Markets respond to upbeat economic growth numbers

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Nov 09
  Investors, cheered by encouraging gross domestic product figures, drove market indices back toward their October highs Oct. 29. The Commerce ...
  

• Roth IRA conversion could mean tax-free retirement income

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Oct 26
  There can be advantages to holding your retirement funds in a Roth IRA instead of a traditional IRA. Your contributions (which must be made with ...
  

• Charmed third quarter spurs visions of new bull market

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Oct 11
  The continuing uptick in the financial market averages during the third quarter of 2009 charmed those investors and analysts who expect a new bull ...
  

• A year after Lehman: rebuilding as the dust settles

  By Nancy Schultz - Sep 19
  Possibly, only people heavily involved in the financial industry will recall Sept. 15, 2008, as the day investment banker Lehman Brothers filed ...
  

• Realistic withdrawal rate can determine retirement success

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Aug 12
  Determining the rate at which to draw down your wealth can be among the more agonizing decisions facing anyone in or entering retirement. Even if ...
  

• Markets race ahead of modest economic outlook

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Aug 05
  While economists debate whether U.S. and global economies are already in what all agree will be a slow recovery, investors have seized on sprinklin...
  

• Widows outnumber widowers four to one – planning for widowhood

  By Nancy Schultz - Jul 22
  It is a cold fact that most married women will one day be widows – U.S. Census figures indicate that, on average, widows survive their spouses by ...
  

• Clever scams can snare unwary investor

  By Nancy Schultz - Jul 14
  Investment scams used to – and sometimes still do – arrive in the mail or over the telephone, but these days the typical scam artist is likely to ...
  

• Investment risks: lessons from the subprime ooze

  By Nancy Schultz - Jul 01
  As the subprime crisis continues to take its toll on the world’s financial institutions – and those they were meant to serve – it’s worth pausing ...
  

• Setting a date with prudence

  By Nancy Schultz - Jun 24
  It is clear that few American households subjected themselves to strict budgetary controls during the past few years, as free-spending consumers, ...
  

• Structuring philanthropic goals

  By Nancy Schultz - Jun 17
  When the economy is clearly in the doldrums, it’s not unusual for givers to think about scaling back their philanthropic contributions. At such ...
  

• Plan ahead for active, happy retirement years

  By Nancy Schultz - Jun 10
  You may have excelled in planning a secure financial foundation for your ideal retirement, but you may still have some work to do if you haven’t ...
  

• Good habits promote success

  By Nancy L. Schultz - May 26
  Analysts are constantly trying to find common threads that connect successful people, so it’s not unusual to find ongoing attempts to identify the ...
  

• Is it springtime for the financial markets?

  By Nancy Schultz - May 13
  If good news follows bad -- the definition of what happens in economic recoveries -- investors may take solace in the particularly dreary gross ...
  

• Averaging methods could be a way back into the market

  By Nancy Schultz - Apr 30
  Investors have every reason to be skittish about the current, uncertain markets. Some merely sit on the sidelines and wait for a definitive turn ...
  

• Reconcile your goals for a mutually pleasing retirement lifestyle

  By Nancy Schultz - Apr 08
  While many know exactly how to spend their working years, their plans for retirement can be vague and unformed. For the sake of retirement ...
  

• Not easy investing in green

  By Nancy Schultz - Apr 01
  There is no question that it is always difficult to decide how to embrace attractive ideas that may prove to be passing fads rather than solid new ...
  

• Skinny ties and the global economic meltdown

  By Nancy Schultz - Mar 25
  A London tailor notes that during economic downturns in Britain in the 1930s and 1980s, fashionable men’s neckties were reduced to as little as an ...
  

• Reshuffling the retirement cards

  By Nancy Schultz - Mar 11
  If you’ve found yourself rethinking your projected retirement timetable in light of investment losses over the past 18 months, you have a lot of ...
  

• Flash! Instant financial news may distort view of long-term plans

  By Nancy Schultz - Mar 04
  You’ve undoubtedly watched the financial media circus for the past decade. You can recognize the electronic players by the volume of their voices ...
  

• Restive markets await positive stimulus, financial stability results

  By Nancy Schultz - Feb 25
  While investors weighed the likely impact of the Obama administration’s massive $790 billion economic stimulus bill and considered how Secretary ...
  

• Planning a retirement ‘paycheck’

  By Nancy Schultz - Feb 11
  Even if you have made all the adjustments necessary to enjoy your ideal retirement, at least one aspect of it may vex you: the absence of a ...
  

• Convert to a Roth IRA?

  By Nancy Schultz - Feb 04
  Even if you qualify to convert your traditional individual retirement account to a Roth account, it doesn’t mean you should. The right answer is ...
  

• Plan limits up, but not IRAs

  By Nancy Schultz - Jan 28
  After a year in which many thought the cost of living increased noticeably -- and because of which the Social Security Administration announced a ...
  

• Moving into 2009 – it’s a matter of trust

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Jan 13
  It wouldn’t be surprising if more than a few investors mumbled “good riddance” as the crowds sang “Auld Lang Syne” to show 2008 out the door. It ...
  

• Closely watching the economy

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Dec 24
  Whether it was irrational short-term excitement or not, both U.S. and world markets reacted positively to the Federal Open Market Committee’s ...
  

• Extra cash? Protect it, but give it freedom to grow

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Dec 11
  Keeping some cash in reserve for emergencies is a wise strategy, but allowing too much of it to sit idle is to ignore opportunities to improve ...
  

• Calm investors, raging markets

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Nov 12
  Fear and loathing took over the financial marketplace in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst week ever, closely followed ...
  

• In retirement planning, divide-and-conquer couples fare best

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Oct 29
  “And even though we ain’t got money I’m so in love with ya honey And everything will bring a chain of love And in the mornin’ when I rise You ...
  

• Is too much of your life savings going to Uncle Sam?

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Oct 15
  One common misconception about taxes is that retiring will help relieve your payments. However, retirement does not always mean moving into a ...
  

• Conservative investing doesn’t always equal 'safe'

  By Nancy L. Schultz - Oct 01
  The well-documented tendency of women to invest more conservatively than men often serves them well. Conservative investments by definition carry ...