Mercedes Petrellis
Why the Need for Tax Returns
February 2024 Q. Why do we have to do tax returns? Doesn’t the IRS already have all the info? I don’t have a business, so why doesn’t...
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Mercedes Petrellis
Feb 293 min read
Compound Interest
February 2024 Albert Einstein considered compound interest the "8th Wonder of the World." It is a powerful force for growing savings and...
Mercedes Petrellis
Feb 283 min read
Which is the Better Benchmark, the Dow or the S&P 500?
February 2024 As an investor you probably have often asked yourself, should I be more concerned about the Dow Jones Average or the...
Mercedes Petrellis
Feb 282 min read
Stocks Continue to Rise, While Bonds Stumble
February 2024 Despite expectations to the contrary, stocks prices have continued to climb. For the past twelve months the return of the...
Mercedes Petrellis
Jul 28, 20232 min read
Is Social Security Running Out of Money?
July 2023 Jack Bogle, Vanguard’s founder, famously said he could fix Social Security in five minutes. Unfortunately he passed on before...
Mercedes Petrellis
Jul 28, 20233 min read
ESG Investing: Opportunities and Challenges
July 2023 ESG is an abbreviation for environmental, social and governance. Investing in ESG refers to investment strategies that attempt...
Mercedes Petrellis
Jul 28, 20231 min read
Inflation at Vanguard
July 2023 Customers with an aggregate investment in Vanguard funds of at least $1,000,000 are designated Flagship. They get discounts on...
Mercedes Petrellis
Jul 28, 20232 min read
What Do You Want First? The Good News or the Bad News?Review of the Financial Markets - Summer 2023
July 2023 Government funded studies find that most people want the good news first. The good news is the economy is strong, the...
Mercedes Petrellis
Apr 25, 20233 min read
Interest Rate - What a Difference a Year Makes
April 2023 Interest rates are the cost of borrowing money or the reward for lending it. The Federal Reserve sets the federal funds rate,...
Mercedes Petrellis
Apr 25, 20234 min read
A Review of the Financial Markets - Spring 2023
April 2023 Both the stock and bond markets finished the first quarter with single digit gains. The stock returns listed in the table...
Mercedes Petrellis
Apr 25, 20232 min read
How worried should I be about the security of my bank accounts?
April 2023 Based on recent events in California, you don’t need to worry, as long as the government is willing to expand FDIC insurance...
Mercedes Petrellis
Jan 18, 20232 min read
A Review of the Financial Markets at December 31, 2022
December 2022 On the very first business day of 2022 the S&P 500 index hit its all time high of 4,797. For the next nine months it was...
Mercedes Petrellis
Jan 18, 20232 min read
The Case for Small Advisory Firms
January 2023 A friend asked me for a recommendation for a financial advisory firm and, of course, I referred her to CIM. She asked would...
Mercedes Petrellis
Jan 15, 20233 min read
Tax Credit Mayhem for Electric Vehicles
Decoding the new Clean Vehicle Tax Credit January 2023 A lot of folks are considering switching to an electric vehicle (EV). Their...
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