Like much of the world, I was riveted by the mammoth container ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal for 6 days, 3 hours and 38 minutes. The ship, one of the world’s largest container ships named Ever Given is about as long as the Empire State Building is tall! The jam backed up hundreds of ships at both ends of the canal waiting to get through. About 20 of these ships are carrying livestock. The delays, by one estimate, cost the global economy $400 million perhour. It’s spawned some great memes. The ship was finally set free on March 29th, helped in part by Mother Nature – the moon and the tides. So what does this have to do with personal finance? Life, like giant …
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The IRS Is Not Calling You For Your Bank Information
The first of the “Economic Impact Payments” were direct deposited into recipient bank accounts this week.These payments are part of the sweeping CARES Act stimulus bill.The amount is $1200 per person, with an additional $500 for each qualifying child. To qualify the child must be under the age of 17. People who are claimed as a dependent on another person’s return are not eligible.The payments are phased out for higher income earners, with the phase out beginning at $75,000 for individuals$112,500 for head of household filers and$150,000 for married couples filing joint returns The IRS will use the information from your 2019 tax return if you have filed it already. If not, they …
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… especially in the stock market
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. So begins the Charles Dickens classic "A Tale of Two Cities". Which by the way I haven't read. Have you? Recently we've seen some good times and bad times in the stock market. On Thursday, January 3rd, 2019 the S&P 500 (an index of the 500 largest US stocks) was down 2.48% On Friday the front page headline in the Wall Street Journal read: Then the very next day, Friday January 4th, the same index was up 3.43% Saturday's headline read: So what can we expect over the next days/weeks/months? Will the markets be up, down, or sideways? Many prognosticators purport to have a crystal ball that can …
