In January 2012, the Fed outlined its 2 percent goal for inflation. But despite buying more than $4 trillion in bonds since 2008, inflation has remained stubbornly below that goal. Because of this I am beginning to wonder if the Fed will consider turning quantitative easing back on for another round of asset purchases in 2015.
Wednesday Wangdoodles
My favorite baseball writer Rob Neyer had a ongoing segment at ESPN.com called “”Wednesday Wangdoodles”” where he provided links to interesting articles around the web that he felt one should read about America's pastime. In my homage to Neyer, I will breathe life back into Wangdoodles from an investment perspective. I will help point you to interesting investment and financial articles that are worth a few minutes of your time. Hope you enjoy.
5 Tips to Keep Thieves Out of Your Bank and Brokerage Accounts
Today, data breaches at major retailers like Target have made cybercrime front page news. It is unsettling because nobody knows when or what will happen once the personal information of tens of millions falls into the wrong hands. With ubiquitous computing, you cannot let your guard down for even a moment, especially when hackers are increasingly targeting bank and brokerage accounts. According to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network, illegal wire transfers are outpacing cases of identity theft. In fact, wire-fraud cases in the securities industry are up tenfold over the past decade.
Top 10 Blog Posts (Q1 2014)
If you do not have time to read everything that we publish, at least read these 10. “Best” is rarely the same as “popular,” but here we let the market decide. According to our readers, these are the best Runnymede blog posts of 2014:
Protect Yourself from IRS Tax Scams
With tax season upon us, taxpayers are not the only ones preparing for tax filing day. The Internal Revenue Service warns consumers that there are sophisticated scams targeting taxpayers throughout the country.
You cannot let your guard down because scammers are staging a multimedia assault using email, phone, fax, websites, and/or mailed notices posing as the IRS.
Will you benefit from Obama’s “MyRA” retirement accounts?
During President Obama's State of the Union speech, he offered up a new kind of retirement account called “MyRA.” While details are somewhat limited right now, here is what Obama said, It's a new saving bond that encourages folks to build a nest egg. MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in.