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Happy Friday, MarketWatchers.
The focus was on the stock market this week, thanks to the Federal Reserve’s decision to pause interest rate increases (for now), consumer price data for the month of May that showed cooling inflation, and lots of discussion about whether we were in a “new” bull market. Brett Arends unpacked what that might mean for 401(k) investors and splashed some cold water on the bull-market hype. He also took his critical lens to the BofA fund manager survey and noted that investors might get richer betting against the picks of the top money managers instead of following their advice.
With the news that consumer prices and inflation are easing, Jessica Hall wrote that estimates for Social Security’s cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) are coming down as well. The COLA for 2023 was a whopping 8.7%, the highest in four decades thanks to soaring inflation, but for 2024 seniors could see a bump of just 2.7%, according to calculations from the Senior Citizens League. Last month the group estimated a 2024 COLA of 3.1% for this closely watched metric.
A 54-year-old MarketWatch reader wrote in to Alessandra Malito to say he feels professionally exhausted and wants to downsize his career in the coming years but is concerned about how to pay for healthcare. He has some options, Alessandra reported, and is right to be concerned. There’s so much unknown when it comes to our health in the future and the costs can be astronomical.
In the good news/bad news department, Beth Pinsker heard from a MarketWatch reader who earns $75,000 a year and inherited $250,000 – that’s the good news. The bad news is that they have two kids headed to college and were hoping for financial aid, and they’re scared college will now eat up the entire inheritance, which they hoped to use to pay off debt and bolster their retirement investments. Can they protect that money from FAFSA? Beth reports that this scenario is somewhat common and finds some solutions, from spending the money quickly to filing an appeal to chasing merit scholarships.
We’re reading more about artificial intelligence and how it may change our lives in the future. The technology is already being harnessed by criminals to scam seniors. Jessica reported that AI-driven scams aimed at older people – usually presented as romance scams, ransom calls and fake government collections notices – could cost victims as much as $100 billion over the next 18 months. Never far from the scam beat, Paul Brandus wrote about two pieces of legislation designed to better protect citizens from Social Security scams moving through Congress, although you shouldn’t wait for them. He has some advice to use right now.
And let’s not forget Father’s Day on Sunday. Jessica wrote about what your parents’ generation got right – and wrong – about retirement.
And if you have questions about retirement, Social Security, where to live or how to afford it at all, write to us at HelpMeRetire@marketwatch.com and we may use your question in a future story.