These 6 states have the worst taxpayer return-on-investment
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These 6 states have the worst taxpayer return-on-investment (WalletHub)
WalletHub recently released its latest analysis of the US tax landscape, including a close look at the states with the worst and best taxpayer return on investment, based on a comparison of each state's overall tax burden with government services provided.
North Dakota has the worst taxpayer ROI overall, according to their study. It was followed by Alaska, Hawaii, New York, Delaware, and California. Notably, Alaska has the highest violent-crime per 1,000 residents, while California has the highest proportion of major roads that are in poor condition at 51%.
On the flip side, the six states with the best taxpayer ROI are New Hampshire, South Dakota, Colorado, Virginia, Florida, and Utah.
The financial education in American schools is not good (PwC)
A new study released by PwC found that even though 92% of K-12 educators believe that incorporating financial education into their classrooms is important, only 12% of them actually do so.
Moreover, only 31% of teachers surveyed feel "completely comfortable" teaching financial literacy, while 51% feel just "moderately comfortable," and 18% don't feel comfortable at all.
Oil and the dollar might continue driving performance in the second quarter (Charles Schwab)
"Despite the stark differences in the first and second halves of the first quarter, a few themes dominated the performance trends. In the first quarter, many stocks were boosted by the turnaround in oil and the dollar while the broadening adoption of negative interest rate policy weighed on the performance of others," observed Jeffrey Kleintop.
"Looking ahead to the second quarter, more volatility is expected. The trends that may drive second quarter performance could again include the price of oil and the value of the dollar, along with changes in inflation expectations," he argued.
Brazil will ultimately rise above the turmoil (Advisor Perspectives)
Franklin Templeton Investment's Mark Mobius recently visited Brazil, which is currently struggling with an economic and political crisis. Nevertheless, he observed that "things seem to be slowly changing, and some of our company visits in Rio painted a more optimistic future."
"Our company visits included the headquarters of a large retail chain ... They proudly told us that they didn't make excuses for periods of bad performance and didn't hide behind bad weather or macroeconomic problems as reasons for poor sales," he reported on the trip.
"This is inspiring to me as an investor and is just one example of how companies are continuing to work hard and can, in fact, surmount the negative economic and political environment. I believe the country will rise above the current turmoil and emerge again in the future as a high-growth, reformed country," he wrote.
83% of consumers miss over 15,000 travel miles on average because they sign up for credit cards at the wrong time (NerdWallet)
A new report from NerdWallet found that 83% of Americans apply for credit cards at the wrong time, thus forfeiting an average of 15,338 miles or points. Consumers lose an average of $177 worth of rewards when they miss out on applying for travel cards during special promotions and other time-based offers.