ArcaMax

It’s National Estate Planning Awareness Week, an opportunity for me to goad/guilt you into addressing this tough to embrace, but necessary task.

Before you say, “that’s just for rich people,” remember that we all have possessions — they may not have huge monetary value, but they are still meaningful. We also have opinions about ...Read more

Prices accelerated in September, though the overall inflation rate continued to drift lower. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up 2.4 percent from a year earlier, the smallest 12-month increase since February 2021. Some of the details of the report were more important than usual.

Although consumers complain about food costs, food at home is up...Read more

For the 45th consecutive month, the U.S. economy added jobs, but could the streak be at risk?

In September, there were 254,000 new positions created, about 100,000 more than analysts had expected, and the previous two months were revised higher. The results put the three-month job creation average at 185,000.

The unemployment rate edged lower ...Read more

My inbox has piled up, which means that it’s time for a column devoted to your questions. If you have one — or a comment about a recent article — just send an email to: askjill@jillonmoney.com.

Question: I manage my own investments but have also hired a fee only CFP to help with my overall planning and also to keep me on track. She is ...Read more

One of the perennial questions asked during a presidential election season is: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

The answer often gets wrapped up in emotions and behavioral biases that do not always sync up with data. For a numbers nerd like me, that’s frustrating, so let me state from the top that this column is not ...Read more

As widely expected, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time since March 2020. The half of a percentage point reduction from 23-year highs brings the federal funds rate to a range of 4.75–5.00 percent, a level that is still pretty steep for anyone seeking to borrow money or for those who are trying to pay down credit card ...Read more

When it was released a month ago, the July jobs report sparked worries that the economy was careening towards a recession, which along with the unwinding of a big bet where traders borrowed cheap money from the Japanese government and reinvested it around the world to earn higher returns (aka "the carry trade"), caused a nasty sell-off in global...Read more

It’s that time of year, when millions of kids head back to school. As you settle into your routine, here’s a gentle reminder: Now is the time for parents, grandparents, caregivers, and friends of young people to talk about money. Why now? Because just like almost every hard conversation, now is a better time than later.

The goal is to help ...Read more

Recently, a number of young renters have been in touch with me to discuss re-starting their home buying journeys.

These soon-to-be-first timers were encouraged by the recent reduction in mortgage interest rates and the ability to finally find a house that they really want. As a bonus, the past two years of renting has allowed them to accumulate...Read more

Just in time for my annual column about everyone’s favorite benefit, Social Security, the government announced an overhaul to its online portal, SSA.gov.

The change impacts millions who are receiving or intend to receive Social Security retirement benefits and also younger workers who are interested in using helpful tools to calculate future ...Read more

In the category of “we like good news too,” the 2024 Medicare Trustees Report showed improvement.

Yes, there are still long-term structural problems, caused by a combination of an aging population and rising health costs, but the Hospital Insurance (HI) program deficit narrowed and “the year of depletion of trust fund reserves has been ...Read more

The July jobs report should have been dedicated to the Hollywood classic, All About Eve where Bette Davis’ character Margo Channing warned partygoers, “Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy night.”

The same could be said of the labor market, which is slowing down faster than expected and putting the Federal Reserve’s much-...Read more

When the government released its most recent update on U.S. economic growth (Gross Domestic Product or GDP), it was a classic “upside surprise.”

The economy expanded by an annualized pace of 2.8 percent in the second quarter, far ahead of expectations of 2%, and a big jump from the first quarter result of 1.4%.

The result was a joint ...Read more