Whether they call it a Freedom Dividend or a baby bond, some 2020 Democratic contenders have embraced the tenets of a universal basic income (UBI). Proponents of UBI — including Tesla TSLA, -0.66% CEO Elon Musk and Facebook FB, -0.29% CEO Mark Zuckerberg — argue that it wouldRead More →
The 2020 census could have an impact, but not in the way that the government hopes. If a citizenship question does appear on the U.S. Census in accordance with President Donald Trump’s wishes, everything from advertising data to hospital and day-care placement may be off the mark for the nextRead More →
Most people think they’re above average in intelligence, relationship status and professional achievement. Social scientists call this “illusory superiority.” My business partner Scott Puritz, has found the one area where even above-average people, objectively smart, rich, successful professionals, seem to wave the white flag and admit to not understanding —Read More →
MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty Images Will more information help borrowers navigate college costs and student loans? With the growth in student loans continuing to soar, politicians and borrowers struggling with an issue that’s become both a financial and political problem. Presidential candidates are proposing to cancel student debt and make publicRead More →
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have declared a trade truce. And stock market bulls are encouraged. So this is a good time for prudent investors to look ahead and plan. Before I discuss a potential plan, let’s start with a chart. Please click here for anRead More →
Getty Images/iStockphoto There are times when maintain a certain self-image outweights financial gain. Lost wallets with more money in them are more likely to be returned, says a new study published in Science Magazine. This result goes against the conventional wisdom that reckons a lost wallet full of cash willRead More →
The Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most sensitive oil-transportation choke point, remains in focus, after U.S. and Iranian officials on Thursday said Iran shot down a U.S. military drone near the waterway. “This event is raising fears Iran and the U.S. are headed toward a military confrontation that would haveRead More →
Financial freedom costs money. One 25-year-old man living with his parents asked users of the social-media site Reddit to chime in on his mother’s advice that he save up between $10,000 and $15,000 before he moves out. He’s debt-free, earning at least $1,800 per month and planning to rent anRead More →
Doug Nordman and his wife have always talked to their daughter, Carol, about the concept of retirement, and it was when she was a teenager that she decided she wanted to be financially independent, he said. She watched Nordman, a retired member of the Navy and blogger at The MilitaryRead More →
iStockphoto Raise your hand if you want strangers trooping through your house and peeking in drawers while you’re still living there. “iBuyers,” the new real-estate companies that buy homes directly from customers, have grabbed media attention, investor dollars and consumer acceptance. Their approach offers a seemingly modern solution to theRead More →
Company shareholders are well-positioned to address income inequality by clamping down on sky high corporate pay, but new research says they’ll have to put their mouth where their money is. Shareholders — everyone from a retail investor with a 401(K) to asset management firms with vast pools of money —Read More →
You finally get to choose where you want to live. Not somewhere because of work. Not because of the kids and school. It’s time to retire and pick a place to enjoy for a few decades. Now you need to find the metro area (large, small or in between) thatRead More →
What’s our damage so far? The bullish dynamic for risk assets on Wall Street is beginning to unravel, clearly. Blame it on trade-war fears, at least partly sparked by a May 5 tweet from President Donald Trump, or peg it to worries that the global economy is facing a pronouncedRead More →
Remember those “Get a Mac” commercials that Apple Inc. ran in the mid- to late 2000s? And how they were pretty funny? Turns out, they could have been a lot funnier, if not for Steve Jobs. In a new interview with People TV’s “Couch Surfing,” actor Justin Long — theRead More →
A trade war with China that is possibly escalating is not the real reason why the U.S. stock market has performed so poorly in recent weeks — including the 286-point decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday of this week. The culprit is the remarkable complacency of short-termRead More →
Sandra Wisham had never heard of cognitive training until her senior center in Coral Gables, Fla., hosted a seminar on aging and invited attendees to enroll in a brain-fitness course. Intrigued, she signed up. “I want to remain independent as long as possible,” says Wisham, 76. She works hard toRead More →
The bad news seems to keep on coming for Tesla Inc., and one expert says this is the year the electric-car company “comes undone” — and maybe gets bought by Apple Inc. Scott Galloway, an author, marketing professor at New York University and occasional MarketWatch contributor, said in an interviewRead More →
Back in the second quarter of 2017, Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal suggested on Twitter TWTR, +0.86% that going long assets that journalists flag as bubbles would make for a great exchange-traded fund. Paul McNamara, who helps oversee $135 billion in assets as investment director at GAM Investments in London, took himRead More →
As the old saying goes, the only things certain in life are death and taxes. While death is inevitable, the quality of life you experience until death is often within an individual’s control. This is what our team at the Goldenson Center for Actuarial Research chose to focus on byRead More →
Bloomberg A loan officer talks on the phone while a customer signs for a new mortgage in Boston, Massachusetts. How do Americans come up with the funds they need for a down payment? Many of the sources are familiar: savings or family help for first-time buyers, or the proceeds ofRead More →
The potentially imminent escalation of the U.S.-China trade fight — and the threat of further tit-for-tat measures — marks a significant risk to both countries and the world economy, analysts said. The Trump administration plans to more than double tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports and extend levies toRead More →
Put in some extra time when you next select your health insurance plan, and you may find you can pay much lower premiums while also reducing your health-care costs for the rest of your life. Whether you have health insurance through your employer or purchase coverage through an exchange setRead More →
Fatal overdoses involving cocaine and other stimulants have spiked. From 2015 to 2016, the rate of deaths in the U.S. involving cocaine and so-called psychostimulants — that includes Methamphetamine, Amphetamine and Adderall and other drugs to treat attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity disorder — increased by 52.4% and 33.3%, respectively,Read More →
Since Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, announced her plan last month to wipe away the student loans of millions of Americans as part of her presidential campaign, there’s been debate in the policy community about whether it’s a good idea. But some polling data published this week indicates votersRead More →
Every time we look at households’ preparedness for retirement, we find that two-earner couples are in the worst shape. We generally attribute their status to the fact that one-earner couples receive a Social Security spouse’s benefit equal to 50% of the breadwinner’s while most two-earner couples do not. A recentRead More →
