We can’t assume market movements are tied to the narrative of the moment. There’s a lot of noise trying to find answers to the volatility. Let’s reflect on 2022.

Dropping from a 9.62% interest rate, Series I Bonds have been reset to 6.89%. Bondholders are getting a lower rate because inflation growth is slowing.

This year has been tough for most retirees who aren’t earning wages to invest more. Diversification hasn’t worked because both stocks and bonds sold off. Exacerbated by easy money policies over the past decade, savers had to stretch their risk budgets to earn meaningful yield.

Lots of companies offer stock options, stock awards, or match 401k contributions with stock. Employees will build these positions over time and may not realize how much of their worth is tied to a single company.

Microsoft has led the tech industry by consistently improving the benefits that it offers employees. One such benefit is the Microsoft Giving Campaign. This provides a one-to-one match up to $15,000 per year, to a non-profit 501(c)(3) of your choice. This means that an employee can donate $15k to a charity that they care about, and Microsoft will match the full donation, dollar for dollar.

October ended with a slew of pretty bad news. On the flip side, the market went up. Read more to learn what to expect for November’s market outlook.

Interest rate risk is the component that bondholders are experiencing now. The Fed is currently raising rates to slow spending, therefore, reducing inflation to more acceptable levels.

This year has experienced more sellers than buyers. When there are fewer buyers, stocks and bonds will experience lower prices.

These grants are broadly similar to RSUs, but they are typically given out after an initial RSU package to keep compensation levels consistent over time. They’re also offered to encourage employees to stick with their current job (aka “golden handcuffs”).

The Fed hiked rates by 0.75%, as expected, in its September meeting. The market all but rolled out the red carpet for another jumbo hike (jumbo because a normal hike is 0.25%). The futures market priced in about an 80% probability that it would happen before it was announced.

Many people are unaware of the impact updating beneficiaries can have on their financial plans. A beneficiary is a specific person(s) that can be listed on the account, by the account owner, who will inherit assets upon the passing of the owner.

To get the most out of your RSUs, you’ll need to understand the nitty-gritty of this form of compensation, including when and how your units will vest. Read on for four facts about RSU vesting everyone in the tech industry should know.

We’ve never had a scenario where inflation went down without a recession. The current Fed tried to navigate a soft landing (cooling the economy without going into recession) by hiking rates with the plan of bringing them back down once inflation goes away.

Whatever “this” is in 2022—the post-pandemic inflation where things are good, but also not so good. We’ll look back at this period and say, “I should’ve done this,” because we’ll benefit from hindsight. “In this economy?” covers so many things, and I won’t be able to use it forever.

There’s a saying, “It’s a recession when my neighbor loses his job, it’s a depression when I lose my job.” Technically a recession is six months of falling GDP (gross domestic product).

It might seem odd that stocks do well when the real-world economy looks ugly. The divergence is more common than you might think. Both the stock and bond markets rebounded during a slew of bad news.

During the Great Depression, deflation was one of the biggest issues. At the time, many thought removing the gold standard would be inflationary. Bank runs were common and hoarding gold became outlawed. Money itself became valuable, not goods and services. That’s one of the dangers of deflation.

Money tends to find a home. When financial conditions are loose, those homes go from strong and sensible to shaky and speculative. When financial conditions tighten, the shaky investments tend to go first.

Direct indexing is a strategy that involves purchasing the individual stocks that make up an index, rather than buying the index fund or ETF to track that same index.

Many tech companies use restricted stock units (RSUs) to compensate their employees. This form of compensation can present meaningful upside over traditional cash if the company’s underlying stock performs well.

Changes in supply & demand have reached a new era—now we have too much stuff. This shift means stores and warehouses have no space to store all of the excess inventory.