Most of us know that net worth, or a personal financial statement, is a report that summarizes what we own and what we owe. But why do we spend time updating this report with our advisor and inquiring about assets and liabilities? Knowing your overall net worth is an important piece of the planning puzzle and helps to shed light on your overall financial health.
Cleaning up personal finances remains one of the top resolutions every New Year. But we all know what happens to most such self-promises, so here’s a month-by-month to-do list to cultivate better financial health.
It’s a debate that will invariably take center stage during the upcoming Presidential election: taxes. And the federal tax bill – or lack thereof – from huge, profitable companies is always fodder for candidates to attack. Consider the recent headlines screaming that:
Traditional banks are haunted by financial technology – fintech – firms. Challengers such as mobile-first banks Chime in the US, Monzo in the UK and Germany’s N26 have been around for a number of years now, but big global and regional banks are still struggling to deal with the competition. While fintechs experience a goldrush of investment – US$39.6 billion in 2018, up from 120% from 20171 – banking CEOs find themselves under increasing pressure from shareholders alarmed at the slow rate of change taking place.
It's now clear that the investigations into President Trump are likely to continue through the 2020 elections. What's still uncertain is the impact that these investigations will have on the stock market.
Earnings season is under way for the second quarter. Don’t be surprised to see sudden stock price moves when companies report. But that doesn’t mean you should respond to every twitch. Each quarter, public companies open their books and disclose to the world how they performed during the past three months. It can be a time of great stress and great jubilation for shareholders. The move in the company’s share price following an earnings announcement often stems from whether the company beats or misses the expectations set by Wall Street.