Your Financial Future: A difficult year has ended
2020 did not end soon enough for many people. It was a year full of bad economic news.
Many long time retailers went out of business. Many others filed for bankruptcy including such giants as JC Penney. We never experienced such wide spread shutdowns ordered by the government to try and slow the spread of COVID-19.
Students missed large amount of in school interaction. Many events such as sports and proms were cancelled. Movie theaters, sporting events, amusement parks and other activities operated on very limited basis. Who would have thought there could be Steeler football without 50,000 fans waving Terrible Towels inside Heinz Field?
Restaurants were very restricted about indoor dinning. Many will close permanently. Small stores were closed for months and the cultural district in Pittsburgh and others around the country have been dark for most of the year. Airlines and hotels have seen their sales destroyed.
We had huge shortages of personal protection gear, masks, hand sanitizer, gloves ventilators, wipes and toilet paper because the world runs on just in time deliveries and we usually don鈥檛 need such massive quantities for normal times. The country invoked the Defense Protection Act, which is normally only used in times of warfare, to help elevate the shortages.
Hospitals have been overrun, and food banks handed out tons of needed food. The government has distributed trillions of dollars of unfunded aid, while the federal deficit has exploded. We experienced one of the most hostile elections in the history of the country. There have been big waves of civil unrest and the country remains very divided. This is not just a United States problem, but is affecting the whole world.
Yet, the stock market has reached all-time highs.
The vaccines that were developed in record time make a light possible at the end of the tunnel. We will come out of this. Maybe not until summer. There are still many questions that need to be answered about the virus, such as will you need a yearly vaccination and can you be infected a second time? Scientists still have a lot to learn, but they will figure it out. We need to do common sense things to mitigate the spread.
We should concentrate on what we can control.
The pandemic showed that many people need to reevaluate their financial lives. Many did not have enough emergency money or had too much debt. The stock market is still due to have a correction and some of the biggest growth stocks are currently valued way more than is normal or maybe reasonable.
The need for estate planning was brought into focus by the pandemic. Taxes are almost certainly going to go up dramatically. CDs and bonds are paying very little interest and this is not likely to change anytime soon when you consider that 30-year government bonds are only paying around 1.5% interest.
Next week we will discuss some things you can do to put your family in a better position. We will also talk about some ways to keep New Year蘑菇视频 resolutions. We made it. 2020 had ended. Take a deep breath. I wish you and your family a safe and happy New Year.