Market Minute

March 2022 – Scott Rosenquist, CFA®

Financial markets have been volatile this year as investors watch for updates on the war in Ukraine and clues from the Federal Reserve regarding the future path of monetary policy. This is a lot of uncertainty for the markets to digest causing volatility across global financial markets. The range of outcomes appears wide at the moment, and we hope there is a quick and peaceful resolution. We continue to monitor the situation with the rest of the world. 

February 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought overwhelming grief to many. At FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), their mission is to help people before, during and after disasters. They are dedicated to helping ease some of the financial stress and burden caused by the virus. FEMA is providing financial assistance for COVID-19 related funeral expenses incurred on or after January 20, 2020, under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Learn more below and at https://www.fema.gov/disaster/coronavirus/economic/funeral-assistance

Market Memo

January 2022 – By Bob Veres

The good news is that American workers saw their average hourly wage rise $1.46 an hour, a 5.8% increase that brought the average up to $26.61 an hour worked.  The only one-year wage gain to compare with this was in 1981, when wages rose 7.2 percent.  Meanwhile, the Conference Board’s latest survey found that executives at large businesses are budgeting 3.9% salary increases for the current year, which would be the highest growth rate in budgeted raises since 2008. 

January 2022 – By Bob Veres

One of the biggest differences between attending college in the pre-1980s era and today is the enormous cost difference, to the point where virtually every college student has to take out student loans in order to matriculate.  These loans then sit on the graduates’ balance sheet for years and sometimes more than a decade, reducing their standard of living in the early years of employment.  In the 1980-81 school year, tuition at a private, non-profit four-year college cost an average of $11,810 in today’s dollars.  Last year that cost had risen to $38,780.  Tuition at public four-year universities rose from an average of $2,620 to $10,980—again, in today’s dollars.