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Consumer debt – student loans, auto loans, and revolving credit such as credit cards and personal loans - but excluding housing-related debts such as mortgages and HELOCs – jumped...by 4.7% ($187B), to a record $4.2 trillion in the fourth quarter 2019.

Do you know how to use the different stock indexes? The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 indexes are 3 of the best measurements of trading activity and give investors a clear picture of the overall health of the economy. Each represents a different type of index, calculated and tracked in their own way, reporting real time movements of stock price and market capitalization. I created this infographic to demonstrate the unique features of these indexes and how they can help you along in investing.

Research has found that investors using technical analysis had some performance advantage over those who didn’t use these methods. The research also found that the performance advantage was more evident during down markets. If that has piqued your interest, read on to learn more about a few of the more popular types of technical analysis.

The graphs below show that silver prices are too low based on five decades of history and via comparisons to national debt, the S&P 500 Index and gold. Expect silver prices to rise far higher in coming years as the over-leveraged financial system resets and rebalances.

Investors are not only worried about the effects of the U.S. - China trade war on global trade, they are also concerned it is weighing on global economic growth. What can shipping statistics tell us about where the economy is heading? What effect would a slowing economy have on equities. This article answers those questions and more. Read on.

Many people assume they aren't rich because they don't earn enough money. If I only earned a little more, I could save and invest better, they say. The problem with that theory is they were probably making exactly the same argument before their last several raises. Becoming a millionaire has less to do with how much you make, it's how you treat money in your daily life. The list of reasons you may not be rich doesn't end at 10. [Here are 10 more.] Words: 842

In the past few decades, the concept of home ownership has been completely turned on its head. Previously, homes were considered a very long-term consumption good...[No one] ever considered tripling the value of their homes by retirement time and selling them to move beachside yet, somehow along the way, this became a reasonable investment expectation. Even today, home buyers still make their purchases with the hopes of escalating prices. [It begs answers to these questions: Is a house just a home? Should a house be expected to behave like an investment? Is the housing game nothing more than a Ponzi scheme where the end buyer before the market corrects becomes the "greater fool"? Let's try and answer those questions.] Words: 935

I will prove in this piece, the people who believe in the “low inflation” myth are being fooled by the fact that inflation in this unusual, central bank-driven economic cycle is concentrated in asset prices rather than in consumer prices...

It now looks that inflationary pressures are starting in earnest...In the last two years, inflation has gone from 0% to 2.5% which is a 5-year high...and could easily reach 10% in the next couple of years and ultimately a lot higher as inflation turns into hyperinflation. That will have an explosive effect on metal prices.

As more and more investor education and information is freely available online... investors now have an important choice to make. Should you go it alone, stick with your financial advisor, or fire him and find another, perhaps this time a fee-only planner? Words: 740