Since the pandemic began, disruptions in business activity have not been uniform across regions, and often have been different from one week to the next, based on damage done by local COVID-19 outbreaks. Unfortunately, many government statistics used to monitor the health of the U.S. economy are backward-looking and somewhat delayed. Changes in gross domestic product (GDP) indicate the rate…
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American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
The latest stimulus was a $1.9 trillion (yes, trillion) emergency package, called the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which was signed into law on March 11, 2021. This includes payments to individuals and funding for federal programs, vaccines and testing, state and local governments, and schools. It is intended to help people and businesses during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic…
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Different This Time?
I was a new dad in the late 1990s, during a heady time in the stock market. Companies like Pets.com, e-Greetings, Red Hal, CMGI, Webvan all were hot, and all the other new parents talked about that at every kid birthday party. Some felt like they struck gold, and the others were feeling left out. Sound familiar? The internet was…
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Financial Literacy Zooms – Pro Bono
Financial Help via Webinars We are continuing our series of online free webinars for anyone who needs help during this pandemic and beyond. The next one is March 25 at 5:30pm, and all you need to do is send in a question in advance. We’ll then send the link to the Zoom webinar. We heard that some people are shy…
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Three Questions to Increase Happiness
Shelter-In-Place Offers Opportunity for Reflection: What makes us happiest? Our quarantines and shelter-in-place this year have been difficult for many, but it would be a shame not to use the current situation to learn more about ourselves, says Shlomo Benartzi, PhD, an expert in behavioral finance and a professor at the UCLA Anderson business school. He suggests three questions for…
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