The Economy and Your Financial Security

Our articles library is a great way to learn about issues that can impact your financial security.

Overall Financial Security

• How Life Choices Affect Your Financial Future: There are a lot of aspects to your life that impact your financial security, including career choices, debt, and housing costs.
• A Two-Minute Economics Course:  Get a brief discussion of the components that make up and impact the economy – and ultimately your financial security.
• Economic Outlook:  Read our monthly outlook for the economy.
• To Your Health: Confused about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? You're not alone. Read our white paper for an overview.

Retirement

• Bonds And Your Retirement Plan: Stocks aren’t the only investment available. Get an understanding of “the other” investment.
• What To Do If You’re Offered An Early Retirement Buyout: Here’s an outline of common issues and decisions you may face with a buyout offer.
• Your Retirement Plan – Time For Some Good News: Learn about the security an employer-sponsored retirement plan offers.
• Retirement Planning In A Volatile Market: Retirement planning isn’t easy in the best of times; it’s more of a challenge during times of market volatility. Here are some pointers to keep in mind.
• Your Retirement Time Horizon: Experts say you’ll probably need 75-80 percent of your working income during retirement, and your retirement income will likely come from a variety of sources.

Investments

• A Market Cycle Primer:  A simple explanation of bear and bull market cycles.
• Risk And Investing: There are more risks in investing than a falling stock values, including inflation and interest rates.
• A Sensible Approach: Stay Invested: A discussion of the dangers of market timing.
• Dollar Cost Averaging—Taking The Guesswork Out Of Investing: Dollar cost averaging is an easy way to invest and can make your investment decisions easier.
• Stock Market Recoveries: Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results when it comes to investing, and there’s some interesting history on past recoveries in the stock market.
• Rebalancing Your Investment Portfolio: It’s easy for your asset allocation to get out of balance, and that can put you at more risk than you want.
• The ABCs of Bonds: Learn the basics about bonds.
• What’s In Your Investment Portfolio?: Here’s a brief discussion on the importance of diversification.
• Emotion Versus Reason: In an up market, it can be easy to make money. But when the tide turns, emotions often lead to serious investing mistakes.
• How We Select Mutual Funds: Our CoMPAS investment management accounts are invested in mutual funds. Learn about the process we follow to select those funds.