We're rolling out this week's Roundup a day early. Tomorrow, look for the monthly Sector Rotation and DAA updates.
If stocks entered a new bull market last October, you'd never know it by looking at small caps (Jurrien Timmer of Fidelity, via X). Small caps typically outperform on the way up. Not this time.
Higher rates catch up with home-builder stocks (Wall Street Journal). Until recently, the home building industry was one of the stock market's best 2023 performers.
Benchmark returns (Vanguard). A handy series of tables showing recent performance and average annual returns for more than 150 indexes.
Social Security for beginners, part I (John Rekenthaler, Morningstar). Do your homework before making a claiming decision.
10 things to know to prepare you for Medicare Open Enrollment (Kiplinger). Get ready to be bombarded with choices.
What are Health Care Sharing Ministries (HCSMs)? (Investopedia). A good primer on HCSMs, although it treats the fact that HCSMs don't have to follow all the mandates of the Affordable Care Act as a bad thing. Some would argue that is a good thing.
Why now is a horrible time to refinance student loans (Wall Street Journal). But there are other options.
Will you owe taxes when you sell your home? (Christine Benz, Morningstar). Maybe, but you can reduce the likelihood of a tax hit by keeping good records.
On marriage, an economist bravely states the obvious (Jason L. Riley, Wall Street Journal). "A provocative, data-driven case for marriage...showing how the institution's decline has led to a host of economic woes."
Where are the retirees? Volunteerism among retirees is shockingly low. And that hurts everyone. (Richard Eisenbergm MarketWatch). Interesting juxtaposition of stats: "Only 26% of the nation's 70 million retirees volunteer," and "the average U.S. retiree watches 47 hours of television a week."
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