RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - Our guest Sandy Wiggins from the Actuarial Consulting Group spoke about the economic “numbers” for last month. There are some good ones out for the month of September.
Housing starts are up 15% and permits (to build more houses) are up 11.6%. Industrial production is up .4% after dropping 1.2% in August. Better-than-expected manufacturing increased .2% from a .7% drop in August.
And while Spain and Greece are still on the radar (as far as managing their debt crises, which impact US markets), Sandy says it could be much worse at this point
Sandy also talked about a new report from the Securities Exchange Commission that details a troubling lack of financial literacy by ordinary investors. Only half are actually in their companies’ retirement plan. And many of those do not understand that they are paying fees, let alone how much. They also don’t understand risk.
The good news here is that there are plenty of good places to further your education! As Sandy says, it’s like exercise: you might not enjoy it while you’re doing it, but you sure feel better afterwards!
http://www.sec.gov/investor to learn about the SEC study.
http://www.investoreducation.org to learn about investment terminology.
http://www.401kplanning.org for budgeting and contribution calculators in order to meet retirement goals.
http://www.morningstar.com for an easy way to research funds.
http://www.kiplinger.com has a great “risk tolerance” tool.
http://www.cfp.net will help you find an advisor.
And you can always go to the fund families’ website.
