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You may be familiar with the classic symptoms of burnout. When colleagues feel overwhelmed each time a new request comes their way, they’re not engaged in office culture, and they’re uncharacteristically underperforming – it’s likely they’re experiencing burnout. You may even be suffering from your own symptoms of burnout. Reaching this point of chronic stress may take months or even years, but it could also come on quicker, stemming from overwhelming stress at work or in…

Now, more than ever, the pressure is on for single parents who work full-time while caring for their children. Eight percent of full-time employees are single parents, while 60 percent of American households are supported by two incomes. Although single parents might make up a relatively small portion of the full-time workforce, offering better support and flexibility could make full-time work possible for more of them and make life more manageable for those single parents already employed…

For many employees, work is not limited to the workday and expands to include the role of caring for loved ones at home before, after, and often during their jobs. Not surprisingly, organizations who offer caregivers more empathetic benefits policies and programs are viewed more favorably. The end result being a more loyal, committed, caregiver workforce.   Caregivers are a growing part of the American workforce About 23 million Americans provide ongoing care for anill or…

Nearly 23 million Americans work a full- or part-time job while also providing care for an ill or disabled parent, spouse, or child. As the COVID-19 pandemic closes schools and childcare facilities, even more of the US workforce is caring for a child or family member while working. Now more than ever, employer support and workplace benefits that address caregivers’ needs are necessary for this growing segment of the US workforce. Here are strategies that employers…

Long-term care planning is important for everyone, but it is arguably most important for women. Why? Longevity and caregiving.   Women live longer than men. Women outlive men by about five years on average. Women who are married tend to outlive their husbands. A woman born in 1960 has a life expectancy of 73 years, compared to 67 years for a man born in the same year. Women who reach age 65 can expect to live…

We are about to embark, once again, on Joe Namath season! That is the “open season on seniors” when people enrolled in the Medicare system are bombarded with information, phone calls, fliers in the mail, and random salespeople walking up to their doorsteps. It’s a frustrating season for the consumer and Medicare Insurance agents alike. Our clients see the commercials and always have the feeling, “What am I missing out on?” The commercials are full of…

In any crisis, “playing it safe” to avoid losing your money can seem like the only rational strategy. However, in the past 60 years, we’ve seen repeating patterns of crises. Despite these crises, the market has been resilient. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose from 679 points in 1959 to over 36,000 in January 2022.* Regardless, of the type of crisis, history shows that long-term investors who stayed the course through crises and didn’t lose sight…

A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales (National Bureau of Economic Research). We’ve already seen one quarter of economic decline, but whether we cross the technical threshold of a recession is inconsequential. For most investors, recession fears are rooted in their association with downward markets. Historically, a bear market has accompanied,…

The Social Security Statement Gets a Makeover – The personal Social Security statement, created to help Americans understand the Social Security benefits they might be entitled to, has been redesigned for the first time. The new statement is shorter, uses visual elements and plain language, and includes fact sheets tailored to a person’s age and earnings history. Page one contains personalized estimates of retirement, disability, and survivor benefits, along with a bar chart showing projected monthly…

Inflation: What’s Next? Inflation is on a tear, notching the fastest 12-month increase in almost 40 years.  From November 2020 to November 2021, inflation — as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or CPI-U — increased a total of 6.8%, with the highest monthly increases coming in April, June, October, and November. U.S. Monthly Inflation over the course of one year: November 2020 – 0.2%, December 2020 – 0.2%, January 2021 –…