The firm expects the correlation between equities and bonds to turn positive in coming years, which means it’d be tougher to get foolproof diversification by reallocating between the two asset classes.
Now Bernstein is warning about passive *asset allocation* decisions, too – (FT Alphaville)
Gundlach thinks that earnings will go up, but “with an expensive market, it’s kind of tough.”
GUNDLACH: Here’s how we’ll know the bond bull market is dead – (Business Insider)
What Mr. Whitehouse and other proponents didn’t anticipate was that the tax-deferred savings tool would largely replace pensions as big employers looked for ways to cut expenses. Just 13% of all private-sector workers have a traditional pension, compared with 38% in 1979.
The Champions of the 401(k) Lament the Revolution They Started – (The Wall Street Journal)
At a minimum the IRA contribution ceiling should be tripled to $15,000 a year, and indexed to inflation, and the 401(k) limit should be doubled to $36,000 a year.
Raise the IRA/401k Ceiling! – (Ritholtz)
It should come as no shock that, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security, currently 45% of all households have a grand total of zero saved for retirement!
The 401(k) Road To Serfdom – (A Teachable Moment)
Here’s an amazing statistic from BlackRock showing the huge amount of cash that investors hold:
The Cash Freeze – (Prag Cap)
The Fed chairman’s record is a case study in cognitive dissonance
The Greenspan Legacy – (The Economist)
“Prices are low, bins are full, and the dollar is strengthening as we speak and that’s just making the export thing a little more challenging,” says Paul Burgener of Platte Valley Bank in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
Down times in farm country persist, but not yet a ‘crisis’ – (Harvest Public Media)
Under Cordray’s leadership, the CFPB has returned $12 billion to 27 million people caught up in various scams, passed pro-consumer rules on issues like mortgage disclosure, proposed a mandatory arbitration rule that is being finalized, and hit banks for conning customers into paying for expensive add-on products that don’t do much. The agency was central in exposing the large-scale checking and credit card fraud at Wells Fargo.
Trump Moves Closer To Gutting Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Watchdog – (Huffington Post)
Appointing Vilsack to lead the department was arguably the biggest farm policy decision made by the outgoing president: The massive Department of Agriculture runs everything from nutrition policy to farm conservation programs.
The exit interview: Ag Secretary Vilsack on Obama’s food legacy – (Grist)
Unsurprisingly, housing expenses have almost always been the largest area of spending in America for over 70 years
How Americans Spent Their Money in the Last 75 Years – (How Much)
It predicts that even if everything works as planned, 2,800 square miles of coast still could be lost in the next four decades, and about 27,000 buildings may need to be floodproofed, elevated or bought out, including about 10,000 in communities around New Orleans.
Coastal flooding may force thousands of homes in Louisiana to be elevated or bought out – (The Lens)
22% (95% CI, 16% to 27%) of gun owners who reported obtaining their most recent firearm within the previous 2 years reported doing so without a background check.
Firearm Acquisition Without Background Checks: Results of a National Survey – (ACP)
Just for Fun:
does Appalachia really extend all the way to the Atlanta suburbs, central New York, Lake Erie’s shores, the edges of Cincinnati, Mammoth Cave National Park, and practically the Mississippi River? We seem to be over-defining the region here.
Where Is Appalachia? – (Medium)
Denise Mueller, a 43-year-old mother of three, pedals hard atop the Bonneville Salt Flats in western Utah, making a run at an eccentric land-speed record—the fastest bicyclist on earth.
The World’s Fastest Woman – (The Wall Street Journal)
There are thousands of getaways to explore this year. Here are some ideas to get you started.
52 Places to Go in 2017 – (The New York Times)
“Blogs are vital for firms that want to use their websites to grow their businesses,”
Blogs key to driving traffic to adviser websites, but what topics resonate best? – (Investment News)
