Parents are dipping into emergency funds to buy their kids Christmas presents
Parents are dipping into retirement savings for their kids' holiday presents (Think Advisor)
62% of parents of 8- to 14-year-olds said they spent too much last year. Perhaps more strikingly, 7% of parents dipped into their retirement accounts for holiday spending, and 9% turned to their emergency funds, according to the 2015 "Parents, Kids & Money" survey.
"People generally look at goals in isolation, so when they're thinking about how much they're going to spend on the holidays, they're not necessarily making the connection between [that decision and its] effect on things like retirement or college or even a vacation they'll be able to take next summer," Stuart Ritter, a senior financial planner at T. Rowe Price, told Think Advisor.
The economy should bumble along next year (Financial Advisor Magazine)
"We're not flashing red as far as the recession goes and I think the next 12 months will be kind of more of the same," said MFS Chief Economist Erik Weisman at the MFS Year End Investment Roundtable.
"MFS officials said that gasoline and other energy costs as a percentage of disposable income is now about half of what it was in 1960. And it is about a third of what it was at the end of the 1970s. All that means, they added, is that the expansion will continue in 2016," reports Gregory Bresiger.
"Increased doubts about EU solidarity could threaten even the perceived future of the euro" (Advisor Perspectives)
The EU as a whole has experienced a bunch of political and economic stresses over the year. And subsequently, there have been increased tensions between countries - and even between political leaders within a given country - about how best to respond to them.
"Rising Eurosceptic feelings and voting power are storm clouds for international investors. Increased doubts about EU solidarity could threaten even the perceived future of the euro, now the world's second currency. Signs of weakening EU cohesion could affect the value of many investments within the EU and around the world. In particular, absent their ECB subsidy, the prices of sovereign bonds of highly indebted periphery EU nations could come under intense pressure and thereby cause liquidity problems for EU banks," argues John Browne of Euro Pacific Capital.
Millennials like to disclose their income to others... but they also think it's rude to talk about money (Ally Bank)
59% of millennials disclose their amount of income, savings and debt to other people. About 45% of them disclose their income to other people, 38% disclose their amount of savings, and 37% disclose their amount of debt, according to a recently commissioned study by Ally Bank.
However, somewhat paradoxically, 61% of millennials think that it's "rude or inappropriate to talk about money in a social setting."
A pair of Merrill Lynch brokers managing $500 million jumped ship to start their own practice (WSJ)
A pair of advisers managing about $500 million in client assets, Paul Squarcia and Erik Wallin, left their gigs at Merrill Lynch in order to launch their own investment advisory practice.
"Mr. Squarcia pointed to the ability to offer more comprehensive services to clients as a chief reason behind the move, something dozens of advisers leaving the major firms have also said," reports Michael Wursthorn.