Here’s our latest collection of interesting reads on investing, the economy, and personal finance.
U.S. economy plunges at titanic 32.9% rate in 2nd quarter and points to drawn-out recovery (MarketWatch). Consumer spending, the main engine of the economy, contracted by a record 34.6% annualized clip.
Average U.S. mortgage rate breaks the 3% threshold again (Housing Wire). And the 15-year fixed rate is near 2.50%.
14 Social Security tasks you can do online (Kiplinger via Fidelity). Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Social Security offices aren’t open for face-to-face services. But many routine SS matters can be handled online.
Goodbye, Nelnet — everything you need to know about the federal student loan overhaul (The Simple Dollar). The U.S. Department of Education is making changes to the student loan servicing system.
U.S. Mint asks for help getting coins back in circulation (CNBC). Check your dresser and under your couch cushions.
And from the bloggers and pundits...
A newfound appreciation for risk (Brendan Mullooly, Your Brain on Stocks). "Given the lightning speed with which we’ve seen the market both decline and recover in 2020...[investors have] the perfect chance to realign their portfolios based upon a newfound appreciation for what risk is."
The permanent portfolio (Michael Batnick, The Irrelevant Investor). As you may know, SMI’s DAA strategy is based on the "permanent portfolio" (but we’ve made what we think are significant improvements).
Why is gold rising? (Ben Carlson, A Wealth of Common Sense). The reasons are several.
It’s almost as if stock prices anticipate the future (Josh Brown, The Reformed Broker). Don’t ignore market trends, even if they don’t seem to make sense.
The ugly scramble (Morgan Housel, Collaborative Fund Blog). This post makes an implicit and compelling argument for maintaining a robust emergency-savings fund.
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