Making Sense of Recent Market Movements and How the CARES Act Affects Your Retirement Planning
The coronavirus pandemic continues to make recent market swings difficult to follow. Are the markets recovering or not? Are we still bearish or heading back to bullish? And what do these movements mean for your retirement planning?
Today’s episode is another up-to-the-minute look at the current economic situation that we wanted to get out to you all as quickly as possible. We also just recorded a more in-depth webinar on these topics that you can view by clicking here.
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One important point to keep in mind is that although they’re all affecting each other, the coronavirus, the economy, the markets, world governments, and the Federal Reserve are not all operating in lockstep. That’s why positive news, like the hundreds of thousands of jobs companies like Walmart and Amazon are looking to fill, isn’t lifting the markets as much as you might expect. And, at the same time, some sobering unemployment data didn’t drag the markets down more because investors were expecting those figures.
Based on our analysis, the markets are currently pricing in what many experts anticipate will be a very challenging April for our country as we work to “flatten the curve” and support our health care infrastructure.
However, some help has arrived in the form of interest rate cuts from the federal reserve and a comprehensive federal package called the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act of 2020 (CARES).
While there’s a lot to unpack about the CARES Act, probably the headline item is that the federal government is giving most taxpayers a refundable tax credit against 2020 income of up to $2,400 for a married couple filing jointly. Single filers will receive a credit of up to $1,200. The credit is increased by $500 for each child a taxpayer has under age 17. Depending on your income level and how you file taxes there could be a bit more nuance to that math but in my testing this Stimulus Check Calculator from Kiplinger is pretty accurate.
For more information on the CARES Act, including some important changes to how retirees might approach their 2020 required minimum distributions, listen to this week’s episode and check out our webinar. We hope you’re safe and keeping yourself active and connected during this period of social distancing. Please get in touch if there’s anything we can do to help.
About Bill
Bill Keen is a CHARTERED RETIREMENT PLANNING COUNSELOR℠ and independent financial advisor with more than 25 years of industry experience. As the founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors, a registered investment advisory firm, he specializes in providing personalized retirement planning designed to help people thrive before and during their retirement years. With a passion for educating others, Bill regularly blogs about retirement planning, hosts the podcast Keen on Retirement, and has contributed to U.S. News and World Report, Reuters, Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, Yahoo Finance, and other publications. Based in Overland Park, Kansas, Bill and his team work with clients throughout the greater Kansas City area and across the nation. To learn more, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit www.keenwealthadvisors.com.
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