Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways More than half of retired Social Security recipients are cutting discretionary spending, according to a new survey. However, nearly one-third are also cutting spending on essentials, including medical costs and groceries.The projected cost-of-living adjustment to benefits for 2026 might not be enough for many older Americans to live off.As a result, retirees might need to reduce their expenses, dip into their savings more (if they have savings), or seek assistance with basic living expenses. Rising costs are cutting into necessities for Social Security recipients, according to a new report. According to a new Nationwide survey of retired Social…

Executive Summary:While the VIX index is often referred to as a “fear gauge” – reflecting the fact that it typically moves inversely to the SPX® index – there are times when the two either move together (“spot up, vol up” or “spot down, vol down”) or the VIX index over/under-reacts relative to expectations.This decoupling between the VIX index and the SPX index occurs because the VIX index is more accurately a measure of the bid for optionality which is often, but not always, driven by demand for protection. In fact, sometimes the VIX index goes up not due to fear…

For many people, having children doesn’t follow a straight path. I work with clients navigating fertility challenges, LGBTQ+ identity, or choosing to parent solo. The options available to them, while beautiful, are often complex and expensive. IVF, egg freezing, artificial insemination, adoption, and surrogacy each come with emotional highs and lows, and a wide range of financial impacts.  So we talk about it early. While traditional financial planning tends to assume a predictable life path (marriage → kids → retirement), reality often looks very different. For those pursuing a nontraditional route to parenthood, I help them think through the financial…

Key Takeaways Traders expect the S&P 500 to move about 0.8% in either direction through the end of the week, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday likely to be a driving force behind that move. Stocks jumped more than 1% the day of last year’s Jackson Hole speech, when Powell signaled the Fed was ready to cut interest rates for the first time in 4 years. Analysts earlier this week expressed concern that investors were overly optimistic about the likelihood of a September rate cut, but expectations and stocks have drifted lower in recent days. Wall Street was…

We recently published 10 Big Names With Surprising Gains. Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) is one of Wednesday’s best performers. Newly listed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish snapped a three-day losing streak on Wednesday, adding 5.68 percent to close at $62.89 apiece as investors mirrored an investment firm’s acquisition of a significant stake in the company. In a disclosure, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest said it acquired $21.2 million worth of additional shares in Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) on Tuesday, bringing its total ownership to $73.85 million. The transaction covered 356,346 new shares at a price of $59.51. Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) joins the roster of publicly listed cryptocurrency exchange platforms, taking…

Today we switch to an important part of the stock market ecosystem: Exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs are one of the most successful financial innovations of the last 30 years. Since their launch (in Canada) in 1990, ETFs have proliferated and their assets have grown around the world. According to ETFGI, in the U.S., there are now over 4,000 ETFs (right axis, open circles) with assets totaling over $10 trillion (left axis, bars). Chart 1: ETF asset growth from 2003 to April 2025 What is an ETF?An ETF is both a mutual fund and a stock!So, when you see an ETF ticker, like…

The Marine Economy Satellite Account statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show the marine economy accounted for $511.0 billion, or 1.8 percent, of current-dollar U.S. gross domestic product in 2023, an increase from $482.4 billion in 2022 (tables 2 and 3). The marine economy accounted for $826.6 billion, or 1.7 percent, of current-dollar gross output in 2023 (table 8). Real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) for the marine economy increased 2.9 percent from 2022 to 2023 (table 1), compared with a 2.9 percent increase for the overall U.S. economy. Marine economy compensation increased 9.4 percent, or…

At the end of last month, the US was making progress on trade deals with major economies like Japan and the European Union. This helped strengthen the and led to lower metal prices. This month, the drop in metal prices has slowed down, but there’s still a chance of a bigger market change. Since there have been few updates on peace talks in Ukraine, this topic might take a back seat for a few days. Investors should pay attention to a speech by Fed Chairman Jerome at the annual central bankers’ conference in . If he hints at the possibility…

A quieter July in catastrophe loss terms resulted in US insurer Allstate only reporting $184 million in pre-tax impacts from severe weather events, which has lifted the total for the current annual aggregate risk period for its catastrophe bonds to $2.174 billion so far.It remains a relatively heavy start to the annual aggregate year of its catastrophe bonds, in pre-tax overall catastrophe loss terms. But, it’s important to remember that not all of these catastrophe losses will qualify to erode the cat bond aggregate retentions, especially in a lighter month with numerous smaller events. Allstate’s annual aggregate year for its…

From time to time on this blog, I circle back to the question of the balance of deficits. In my mind, as our economy goes through whatever the “Trump Transition” is, the biggest risk to the bond markets is not from some fear about whether the Treasury will default or whether the US dollar will cease to be the world’s currency of choice for reserves (neither of which I think is going to happen any time soon) but that large secular changes in the balances of savings and dollar demand could lead to outsized moves in interest rates. First, let…