A Wealth of Common Sense
SEPTEMBER 1, 2024
I enjoy slicing and dicing historical stock market returns. I’m not naive enough to assume this helps predict the future. However, studying the past can provide a baseline to help set expectations when it comes to risk and a potential range of outcomes. Here’s a different way to look at returns over various time horizons for the S&P 500 going back to 1993: This is how to read this chart: Pick a starting.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
The Social Security Administration will announce the 2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) on Oct. 10, 2024. Until then, you can only make your best guess as to what it's going to be. The existing data suggests the COLA will be lower than what program recipients have seen in recent years. That's disappointing for seniors who are struggling with rising costs and few other sources of retirement income.
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The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Warren Buffett has a 70-year track record of producing market-trouncing returns for anyone willing to invest alongside him. His Buffett Partnership Ltd. produced an annualized return of 31.6% from 1957 through 1968, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average compounded at a rate of 9.1%. He ultimately folded BPL into Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) , which he took over in 1965, continuing to produce returns that left the rest of the market in the dust.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
In light of lingering economic challenges, it doesn't come as a complete surprise, but seeing it in writing has nevertheless jolted investors. Shares of carmaker Stellantis (NYSE: STLA) are deep in the red Monday, down 12.9% as of midsession after the company lowered its operating margin and cash flow guidance for the current fiscal year. The company's announcement echoes similar warnings recently issued by rival European automakers Volkswagen (OTC: VWAP.Y) and Mercedes-Benz (OTC: MBGY.Y).
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Image source: Getty Images The last few years have been painful for would-be home buyers. House prices have soared, driven in part by limited supply. Mortgage rates reached 20-year highs and sky-high inflation only exacerbated things. If you're hoping our housing market predictions will promise a swift end to the pain, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. 2025 will bring small changes and a shift toward improved affordability.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Social Security serves as a critical source of income for millions of retired seniors. And for those who rely on those benefits heavily to pay the bills, annual raises often spell the difference between being able to make ends meet and struggling financially. Each year, Social Security benefits are eligible for a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. COLAs are supposed to help recipients keep up with inflation so they don't fall behind as living costs rise naturally over time.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Historically, certain technologies have played a pivotal role in driving the stock market higher. That includes the internet in the 1990s, mobile devices in the 2000s, and cloud computing in the 2010s. Artificial intelligence is shaping up to the next decade-defining technology, and these Wall Street analysts are extremely bullish on Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR).
Private Equity Central brings together the best content for private equity professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Image source: Getty Images The Fed's recent half-a-percentage-point rate cut will ideally be good news for the U.S. economy and your personal finances. But will the Fed's rate cut help reduce the cost of mortgages ? Many Americans who would love to buy a home have been frustrated by a "frozen" housing market for the past two years, with rising interest rates, high home prices, and limited supply of housing for sale.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
October brings lots of things. Columbus Day. Halloween. Major League Baseball playoffs. Breast cancer awareness month. But for anyone who receives Social Security benefits, there's another big event next month. The 2025 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will be announced in October. Here's what that means for retirees. Image source: Getty Images.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) soared after the company reported strong results and offered upbeat guidance. Ironically, more than half a dozen Wall Street analysts lowered their price targets in the weeks ahead of its earnings report, with many scrambling now to increase their targets following its results. With the stock up over 25% on the year, let's look to see whether it is too late to buy Micron stock or if this could be just the beginning of its rally.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Picking winning stocks is challenging, requiring extensive research into regulatory filings, competitive landscapes, company value propositions, and management effectiveness. A simpler, more efficient alternative is investing in low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Among these, Vanguard's stock ETFs have consistently demonstrated their ability to build wealth for shareholders over time.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
The stock of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has been on fire this year, but not because of its Metaverse efforts , as the companies' new name implies. Rather, Meta's core social media ad business has recovered nicely from the 2022 slump, helped along by smarter artificial intelligence algorithms. Speaking of AI, Meta's open-source Llama large language models (LLMs) have also made headlines this year.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Dividend stocks offer a path to steady passive income, but not all are created equal. The key to long-term success lies in dividend sustainability, not just high current yields. The payout ratio serves as a critical tool for assessing sustainability. This metric, representing the percentage of earnings distributed as dividends, reveals a company's ability to maintain and grow its dividend.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Image source: Getty Images I'm a big fan of getting rewarded, so I use rewards credit cards to pay for everyday purchases. Many people redeem their credit card rewards for cash back or as a statement credit to their credit card account. But for many credit cards , this isn't the only redemption choice. Travelers may be able to get more value from their rewards by avoiding cash back redemptions.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Most people spend their lives working toward retirement, their final financial destination. There are many ways to get there, but which road you travel ultimately depends on your preferences and personal finances. One fork in the road is choosing how to invest your savings. Two common choices are the Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and the employer-sponsored 401(k).
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Although Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) is a busy company, on Monday its stock moved because of external news. A pundit reiterated his bullish take on the clinical-stage biotech, boosting sentiment on its shares and sending them nearly 3% higher in price. That was more than good enough to top the rising S&P 500 index, which closed the trading session up by 0.4%.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
Once you enroll in Social Security, you typically don't have to do much else related to the federal program. Sure, if your address, bank account, or marital status changes, you'll want to update your information with the Social Security Administration. If you decide to withdraw your application (perhaps to continue working), you can do so within 12 months.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
Image source: Getty Images Costco is a great place to buy everything from hot dogs to TVs to vacations -- but what if you could live at Costco, too? An innovative new housing development just broke ground in South Los Angeles, and it's combining Costco's affordable prices with new affordable housing. And the rent at the new Costco apartments might be less than many people's monthly credit card bill.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
Image source: The Motley Fool/Upsplash Savers were lucky enough to enjoy certificate of deposit (CD) rates at or near 5.00% APY for over a year. It was a small silver lining amid painfully high inflation. But now inflation is cooling, and those high CD rates are slowly starting to disappear. It's disappointing for those who were hoping to lock in a high rate for the long term, but you still have a lot of great options left.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
Despite a few hiccups, the S&P 500 bull market isn't slowing down. The stock index most often used to reference the U.S. large-cap stock market has climbed over 20% through 2024 as of this writing. But not every company has participated equally in the current market rally. Just a handful of the largest companies in the market have driven the vast majority of returns for the S&P 500.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
Finding a stock that can increase in value more than 50% in a single year doesn't come easy. What's more, just because a stock has the potential to grow quickly doesn't mean it will. Any number of factors could influence the future stock price for a company: not just the company's financial results, but ongoing market sentiment, not to mention the outlook for the economy as a whole.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) continues to reign as the world's top cryptocurrency, and it's not close. With a massive market cap of $1.3 trillion, Bitcoin is nearly four times larger than its next closest rival, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH). In fact, Bitcoin now accounts for a whopping 57% of the market cap of the entire crypto market. But a number of challengers are gaining on it, and the one that has the most upside potential over the next five years is Solana (CRYPTO: SOL).
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is the second-most valuable company in the world, has rewarded long-term shareholders with monster gains, and has been one of the leading players in two revolutionary trends -- cloud infrastructure and integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into software. So it's not necessarily a company that needs interest rates to be lower to thrive.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
After months of speculation, the Federal Reserve has finally started cutting interest rates. Furthermore, the Fed has indicated that it will continue to reduce rates. Falling rates have vast implications. You might have already noticed that your bank lowered the interest rate on your savings account or that the rates on CDs and U.S. Treasuries aren't quite as attractive as they once were.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
On Wall Street, important data releases are a common occurrence. Monthly inflation and jobs reports, coupled with Wall Street's leading businesses reporting their quarterly operating results over a six-week stretch every quarter, can make it easy for a key data release to slip under the radar. Aug. 14 marked what can arguably be described as the most important data dump of the third quarter.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
We're only a few days away from the announcement of the 2025 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). It's a big deal for seniors who have been battling high inflation over the last few years. But it's unlikely that the COLA is going to be life-changing. The latest projections from the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League are for the COLA to come in around 2.5%.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
Anyone crafting a bull case for the pharmaceutical giant Merck (NYSE: MRK) should include Keytruda as the company's best asset. The cancer drug has been Merck's top-selling medicine and its biggest growth driver -- by a mile. And last year, it became the best-selling drug worldwide, taking over from the immunology superstar Humira. However, Keytruda won't hold that title forever.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
If you're thinking of relocating in retirement , you might want to give Oregon serious consideration. It features abundant natural beauty, with Douglas fir and Western hemlock trees and many miles of coastline. Oregon has a moderate climate, with temperatures usually not too cold or hot. It does get a lot of rain, though -- averaging between 60 and 120 inches or so per year, which means there is less sunshine than in many other states.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
Shares of New York Community Bancorp (NYSE: NYCB) have lost roughly two-thirds of their value over the past year. Meanwhile, the average bank stock, using the SPDR S&P Bank ETF as an industry proxy, is up over 40% over that same timeframe. This is not a stock that will be a good fit for most investors. But that doesn't mean all investors will want to avoid it.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
In this video, I will talk about four interesting companies worth your attention, especially in these uncertain times. I chose a mix of companies in different industries, all of which could provide significant upside for long-term investors. *Stock prices used were from the trading day of Sept. 27, 2024. The video was published on Sept. 30, 2024. Should you invest $1,000 in CrowdStrike right now?
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 28, 2024
One of the clearest secular tailwinds of the past couple of years is the advent of artificial intelligence (AI). Recent advances in the field have helped power the ongoing market rally, as these next-generation algorithms promise to increase productivity by handling mundane tasks and streamlining productivity. It should come as no surprise then that many of the world's most valuable companies are at the forefront of AI development and have embraced the potential of generative AI.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 28, 2024
On Sept. 13, 2024, history repeated itself. For the first time in 16 years , contract negotiations between Boeing (NYSE: BA) and its International Association of Machinists (IAM) labor union broke down and ended in a strike after the union demanded a 40% wage hike (spread over three years). Boeing countered with an offer of 25% spread over four years.The union called a strike instead.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 28, 2024
The crypto market is poised for serious price gains over the next year or two. In particular, many investors look forward to a significant price jump for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC). But the oldest and largest cryptocurrency is already worth about $65,000 per coin. You can buy a very small fraction of a full Bitcoin, but the digital currency itself looks overwhelmingly expensive.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 28, 2024
For most retired Americans, Social Security provides more than just a monthly check. The income they receive forges a financial foundation during their golden years. Over the last 23 years, national pollster Gallup has surveyed retirees to gauge their reliance on America's leading social program. Consistently, between 80% and 90% of respondents noted they need their Social Security check to cover at least some portion of their expenses, including 88% of those surveyed in April 2024.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 28, 2024
When most investors look at Altria (NYSE: MO) what they see is a huge 8% dividend yield backed by a dividend that has been increased for years. That is the type of story that most dividend investors will find attractive. But there's a big risk here because the company's core business is in long-term decline. That risk has to be understood, but there's another subtle twist that you may have overlooked.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 28, 2024
When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Nvidia is rightly the center of attention. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) for the data center are the best in the industry for developing AI models, and they have helped the company add a whopping $2.6 trillion to its market capitalization since the start of 2023. But the AI landscape is rapidly expanding, and other semiconductor companies are also experiencing significant demand for their hardware.
The Motley Fool
SEPTEMBER 28, 2024
Buying dividend stocks is an excellent way to make passive income. However, with so many companies paying dividends, it can be hard to know where to start. The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (NYSEMKT: SCHD) makes it easy. The exchange-traded fund (ETF) lets you invest in 100 of the top dividend stocks through one easy-to-buy package. And it charges an ultra-low expense ratio, which lets investors keep more of the dividend income these stocks produce without giving too much back in fees.
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