According to a telecommunications study of 50 billion telephone calls over an 18-month period, nearly four percent of calls in 2017 were fraudulent. In 2018, that number jumped to 29 percent of all calls. At that pace, the number of fraudulent calls is expected to rise to 44 percent of all calls in 2019. Continue reading
Baby boomers have long been the movers and shakers of the real estate market, but millennials are expected to be the biggest buyers in 2019. Millennials are projected to account for 45 percent of mortgages, compared to 37 percent for Generation X and 17 percent for boomers in the new … Continue reading
Where there is internet, is there more prosperity? Generally speaking, yes. It costs much more to lay fiber to outlying communities than it does in larger metropolitan areas, which may contribute to the growing geographical discrepancy between income, education and even health care. Some places, like Indiana, hope to bring … Continue reading
Can having your mind in the right place improve your health? It can’t hurt. We’re living longer, but we aren’t always prepared for what lies ahead. It’s easy to become disillusioned as new aches and pains crop up or our body doesn’t work like it used to. But just as … Continue reading
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, up to 10 million Americans lost their homes during the last financial crisis. Now, 10 years later, we’re only slightly above 2016’s low of 63 percent home ownership – at about 64 percent as of June 2018.1 While many metropolitan areas … Continue reading
Toward the end of 2018, before the midterms, Congress passed a proliferation of bills, many of which were bipartisan. The following is a roundup of recent legislation designed to provide economic stimulus and additional protections heading into 2019. The America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 directs the U.S. Army Corps … Continue reading
Newton’s laws of motion and gravity are often applied to economics and the stock market. What goes up, must come down. While this generally explains a natural path of the economic cycle, the key question for most investors is: When will it come down? While no one can predict market … Continue reading
Space: The final frontier. Or is it? The U.S. is again taking a serious look at space exploration, but there are many factors to consider. President Trump last summer called for the Department of Defense to move space operations to a sixth military branch, though funding such an effort would … Continue reading
In late September, the Federal Reserve raised its key short-term interest rate to 2.25 percent from 2.0 percent, in its third increase of the year.1 The good news is that higher rates offer the potential for higher returns on CDs, bank savings and other fixed-rated accounts that have been languishing … Continue reading
In particular, automobiles seem to be in the crosshairs of President Trump’s hard line on trade with the rest of the world. Here are a few reasons why:1 S. auto production represents about 2.7 percent of GDP. There are more jobs in motor-vehicle assembly than in computers and electronics, chemicals, … Continue reading