Daily Archives

You should be doing both… which includes making regular payments toward your student loans and contributing enough to your retirement plan to receive an employer match (if eligible). Make at least the minimum payment on your loans for the apparent reasons (i.e., don’t wreck your credit).  Also, the employer match is an instant 25%, 50%, or even 100% return on your investment – where else can you get that?

Consider interest rates… assuming a 5% on your student loans, it would be difficult to match that return on an after-tax basis when investing. However, if you are looking out 30-40 years until retirement, a balanced portfolio may be able to outperform your student loan rate – but the higher the rate, the more difficult that will be and debt repayment is a guaranteed “return.” It may be worth looking into lowering rates by refinancing with companies like SoFi and CommonBond.

Think about taxes… because you can contribute pre-tax money to a 401(k) and IRA. Lower income savers are also eligible for a ‘saver’s credit’ on those same contributions. You can deduct up to $2,500 of interest paid toward student loans each year – and you don’t need to itemize to take advantage! But the main point is to be informed. Check out companies like Student Loan Hero and Payitoff to evaluate your options. Although it may seem like it, I promise, you are not doomed forever – start planning now!

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They aren’t going anywhere… seems to be the consensus among young investors as they jump on to ‘Robinhood’ and buy up Facebook and Twitter stock. Both companies fell 20% after posting earnings results last week. I know – two articles on Facebook, but it really is that important to talk about today.

Putting on the brakes… is what both companies are preparing to do. Facebook is investing in “privacy first,” and Twitter is cleaning up and focusing on the health of the platform. Such ambitions will undoubtedly put a damper on advertising dollars which is how both companies make their money.

Even more problems… and both companies are stalling when it comes to user growth. Everyone has heard of Facebook and Twitter, and the platforms have 2.23B and 335M users, respectively. However, people that don’t use these platforms seem unlikely to be won over at this point. Just look at Myspace, the old social media platform that now serves as an archive of your cringe-worthy pre-teen years. Will Facebook and Twitter see a similar fate?

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As you know… Facebook tanked, and Alphabet reported glowing results on earnings last week. However, many may not realize the connection between the two companies. Both are internet advertising giants and make almost all of their money through advertising. But Google is winning because they are far more diversified than Facebook.

More popular services… Google has seven services with more than a billion monthly active users, which include: Search, Gmail, Chrome, Maps, YouTube, Google Play Store, and Android. Facebook has four: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

Google is a jack-of-all-trades… and is growing non-advertising revenue with the cloud, hardware, and Play Store while Facebook relies solely on advertising (a battle they are losing, currently). If that isn’t enough, Google also has 13 independent businesses with CEOs and budgets. All of this has analysts very excited about the future of Google because everything they touch turns to gold. To tie this out – Facebook is a declining ‘5’ while Google is looking like  a solid ’10.’

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No, there isn’t another Kanye… I am talking about the Kanye West. Kanye gifted shares of stock to his lovely wife, Kim Kardashian, last Christmas and his picks managed to outperform the S&P 500 by over 40 percent! His choices included Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Adidas, and Disney.

Netflix and Amazon… were the top performers, up more than 90% and 50%, respectively since last Christmas. Netflix bested HBO in Emmy nominations and struck a deal with Barack Obama himself to produce original series. Amazon saw its biggest Prime Day in company history last week and has had an overall great year (you should know this by now).

Apple, Adidas, and Disney… are also up 14%, up 7%, and 4%, respectively since Christmas. Apple signed a deal with Oprah Winfrey for original content and created the HomePod smart speaker in February. Adidas represented 12 teams in the FIFA World Cup which proved to be great exposure for the firm. Disney won approval to buy 21^st Century Fox’s assets and is working on acquiring Sky. So, you say your stocks have performed well – but have they performed Kanye well?

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