Windward Wealth Strategies

12/16/2022

Read the latest about the Fed, inflation and retail sales in the latest Week in Review: bit.ly/3WjViO0

Financial Fact: Medicare provides health insurance coverage for nearly 20% of the United States population, or about 65 million people. This share will only grow larger in the coming decades due to an aging population. The percentage of the U.S. population aged 65+ is projected to grow from 17% in 2020 (56 million people) to nearly 25% in 2060 (95 million people). In 2022, the average Medicare spending for people aged 70 years old was about $10,270, for people aged 80 years old was $14,813, and for people aged 95 years old was $19,135 (sources: KFF, MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc.)

12/09/2022

Here's our take on what happened last week with inflation, China and municipals: bit.ly/3UGiKUt

Financial fact: The U.S. economy added 263,000 new jobs last month, however the unemployment rate remained at 3.7%. The leisure and hospitality, health care, and government industries all saw gains in job openings (sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc.)

12/02/2022

Read the latest about employment, inflation and Powell's speech. https://bit.ly/3VR1H3j

Financial Fact: A correction is defined as a stock market decline greater than 10% but less than 20%. In the 75+ years from 1946 through June 13, 2022, the S&P 500 Index has had 30 declines of between 10% and 20%. These “corrections” have occurred on average once every 2.5 years (source: MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc.)

11/18/2022

Read our take on what happened with the Fed, retail sales and municipals in the latest Week in Review: bit.ly/3TRYq29

Financial Fact: The U.S. inflation rate reached 7.7% in October, which was down from 8.2% in September and 9.1% in June, the highest it has reached in four decades. According to the consumer-price index, prices for most goods and services remained much higher than 2021, but the pace of those increases is starting to ease (sources: Wall Street Journal, MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc.)

11/11/2022

Read the latest about inflation and municipals in today's Week in Review:

11/05/2022

Here's our take on what happened last week with The Fed, Employment, Europe and Municipals: https://bit.ly/3UoNsBS

Financial Fact: Married participants with adjusted gross income (AGI) under $68,000 and single participants with AGI less than $34,000 may be able to claim up to a 50% tax credit, or up to $1,000 for saving in a DC plan or IRA in 2022 - but only 41% of workers with household income under $50,000 were aware of the tax credit last year (sources: Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc.)

10/28/2022

What's our outlook on the current state of inflation? Read more about rising prices in our latest blog post.

https://windwardwealthstrategies.com/retirement-planning/rising-prices

It’s all about rising prices. The markets never really like surprises and things that are new or not seen in a long time. This time it is about quickly rising prices on almost everything. It’s the “I” word, inflation. Interesting part is it seems like the markets were surprised in general. T...

10/28/2022

Read the latest about US GDP, China and municipals in today's Week in Review: https://bit.ly/3SMwZWU

Financial Fact: The annual increase applied to Social Security retirement benefits as of 1/01/2023 is based on “Consumer Price Index” inflation over the 12 months ending 9/30/2022. Inflation over the 9 months from 10/01/2021 through 6/30/2022 has been reported and is +8.7%. The Social Security “cost-of-living” adjustment has been at least +10% just twice in history: +14.3% in 1980 and +11.2% in 1981 (sources: Department of Labor, MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc.)

10/21/2022

Here's our take on what happened last week in the UK and with municipals.

10/14/2022

See what's going on with inflation, the UK, retail sales and Fed minutes in the latest Week in Review:

10/07/2022

Read the latest about employment, fed speakers, OPEC and municipals in the latest Week in Review: https://bit.ly/3fTHBp5

Financial Fact: Mortgage rates are continuing their upward climb — reaching levels not seen since 2006 — while mortgage applications for house purchases were down 37% last week compared with a year ago (source: Nathan Bomey, Axios Closer - Presented by Equitobee.)

09/30/2022

See what happened this week with income, spending, the UK budget, EU inflation and the election in Italy. https://bit.ly/3y7H35j

Financial Fact: The House of Representatives returned to Washington on Friday 8/12/2022 and passed the "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022," sending the climate, healthcare and tax bill onto President Joe Biden for his signature. HR #5376 is projected to reduce our deficit by $294 billion over the next 10 years (source: House).