Cash Flow

Living With The Realities Of A Flat Economy

Sep 28, 2026

For three years, clients have been asking me when the economy will get back to normal. I have started answering that this current flat economy may be the newest redefinition of normal, one of many I’ve seen in 40-plus years of writing about money. Home sales, auto...

How Fed Interest Rate Increases Could Raise Your Household Debt

Sep 14, 2026

For most of my career I’ve heard predictions that the federal debt would end in collapse. The warnings have come from both parties, usually from whichever one is not in power. Not having seen a collapse yet, I’m skeptical of new warnings. A recent one...

How Might Declining Population Affect Your Social Security?

Aug 31, 2026

If you are under 50, will Social Security still be there when you retire? The answer starts with a number, 2.1, that demographers call the replacement rate. When women have an average of about 2.1 children, a country’s population stays level. Below that, without...

The More Often You Check Your Portfolio, The More Volatile It Seems

Aug 24, 2026

On the last Wednesday in July, I got several phone calls from clients. On the last Friday in July, nobody called. Why the difference? On Wednesday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.52 percent and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.74 percent. On Friday, the S&P 500 gained...

Fact-Checking the Social Security Commissioner’s Email

Jul 13, 2026

A client called me last week wanting to know how to claim a $7,500 tax refund he thought he’d missed. His question was based on an email sent in early July to Social Security recipients from Frank J. Bisignano, commissioner of the Social Security Administration....

What’s Your Financial Freedom Number, and What Would You Do With It?

May 11, 2026

When you think about building wealth or financial success, what’s your “freedom number?” This is the term that financial planner and therapist Prudence Zhu uses for what is often called “financial independence.” It means having enough passive income to live on without...