Author: Press Room
President Joe Biden’s signature student loan forgiveness plan has been blocked by federal courts since last fall. The fate of the program is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, with a formal ruling expected this summer. If the Supreme Court winds up striking down Biden’s student debt relief initiative, advocates have pointed to a potential backup option that could allow the administration to essentially reissue the program under a different legal authority. But a new legal development could scramble that plan. Here’s the latest. Supreme Court To Determine Fate Of Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Biden’s student loan…
Why are there significant differences in U.S. life expectancies by state? Answers to this question can potentially be found by digging into the underlying influences on this basic measurement of well-being in a broad population. The life expectancies discussed in this post were published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January 2023 and collected by Assurance, an insurance technology platform. Below are the top 10 and bottom 10 states by life expectancy according to this set of rankings: Top 10 States By Life Expectancy 1. Hawaii (80.7 years) 2. Washington (79.2 years) 3. Minnesota (79.1 years) 4.…
Thought you wanted to be a millionaire? The “Billionaire Tax” might cause you to reconsider. All American earners are subject to federal income taxes, but not everyone is subject to the same tax rate. While middle-class Americans pay, on average, roughly 14% in federal taxes annually, the wealthiest American families frequently use loopholes to avoid paying these tax rates. The question of whether or not the richest Americans pay enough in taxes for the amount of money they have compared to the average American’s net worth has been a hot topic of debate, in all likelihood, since July 4, 1776.…
Many advisors in your firm may believe the best way to deliver personalized service to high-value clients is to be as “hands on” as possible. That often translates into spending lots of time constructing, monitoring and adjusting portfolios for important clients. While it may seem oxymoronic at first, the automation that technology provides can actually enhance the personalization and “high-touch” service that advisors want to deliver. Advisors sometimes have doubts about how easy implementing new technologies will be. Still, you can make a compelling case that the right technological solutions enable advisors to spend more time on the areas of…
Independent furniture designers face many challenges today. Between the creative process, physically producing their work, and the entrepreneurial aspects of marketing and selling, an artist needs to be a “jack of all trades.” However, Jean Lin, founder of Colony has found a way to mentor emerging talent and help them cultivate their careers. With a gallery located in downtown Manhattan Lin’s unique co-op model truly makes it possible for artisans to thrive. Products feature a mix of unique furniture, lighting, textiles, and decor, Colony is the ideal place to source unique items for the home. In April 2023, the company…
Mortgage rates slid for the fourth week in a row, but buyers may have their hands tied by other challenges arising in the housing market, according to Freddie Mac. The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 6.28% for the week ending April 4, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. That’s down from the previous week when it averaged 6.32%. Mortgage rates, however, remained well above last year when the average was 4.72%.Last week, the average rate for a 15-year mortgage was 5.64%, up from 5.56% the week before and from 3.91% last year. The continued decline in the 30-year…
According to the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Denver is now the 19th biggest city in the United States, with a population of 711,463, as of 2021. Denver has witnessed dramatic growth in recent decades. From 1990 to 2021, Denver’s population increased by 52.1%, from 467,610 to 711,463. As with cities of the Pacific Northwest and West Coast in general, much of Denver’s growth over the course of the 2000s and 2010s was due to a large influx of Millennials. Given this substantial growth, the Denver housing market experienced a striking rise in home prices and demand.…
Fed Using The Wrong Rulebook When the Federal Reserve started hiking interest rates to fight inflation two years ago, I worried. My professor alarm flashed red; the tactic it seemed to be using—to create a recession to discipline workers—is flawed, costly and outdated. Workers’ wages have lagged productivity for decades, as the Economic Policy Institute has faithfully reported. This is because employers have power to set wages. They aren’t the passive agents you learned about in baby economics class operating on a knife edge to keep prices at a minimum and forced to pay market wages. Employers protect profits by…
The United States has a long and complex history with guns dating all the way back to colonial times. There is continuous debate surrounding the rights to gun ownership and what regulations should or should not be implemented. Ratified in 1791, The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. While gun laws vary by state Florida has a long history of relatively relaxed gun regulations. On Monday April 3, 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 543 into law. This bill, strengthening the second amendment, eliminates the requirement that an individual…
The IRS has released its strategic operating plan for spending $80 billion in extra funding over the next decade. Here’s a look at what it does—and doesn’t—include. What’s Not Included When flipping through what the IRS calls an “ambitious effort to transform the tax agency and dramatically improve service to taxpayers and the nation during the next decade,” it might help to know what’s not in the plan. There is no 87,000 agents statistic-that-wasn’t. In fact, the report is surprisingly scant on numbers. That may well be purposeful—newly installed IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel has made clear that he intends to…
