Real Estate

Is a nasty inflation brewing or is the U.S. facing a prolonged deflationary period similar to what Japan has experienced for the past twenty years? Billions of dollars and major public policy decisions are currently positioned for both scenarios. The need for further deficit spending and low interest rates is advocated by Paul Krugman's "Phantom Menace" comments and a recent piece by Teresa Ghilarducci . The inflation is imminent camp is represented by gold bug and hedge funds that are building...

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College maintains a national retirement index that measures the percentage of Americans who are at risk of being unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement. The most recent index results, which incorporate the impact of the financial crisis, reveal that 51 percent of Americans are at risk of being unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement. This is a 7 percent increase from the previous index results. Factors attributing...

There is a very good article in Investment News about retirement planning and, more specifically, devising appropriate withdrawal and income strategies in retirement. The author discusses the nature of various income requirements and makes the entirely appropriate point that all income needs are not created equal. For example, travel desires obviously differ from essentials such as food and shelter. There are also different inflationary characteristics that need to be taken into account. Health...