- Mercer Advisors, Formerly Epstein & White

Navigating Market Volatility: What Retirees Should Know About August’s “Japanese Carry Trade”

In August of 2024, the financial world was abuzz with discussions about the Japanese carry trade and its impact on global markets. For retirees and those nearing retirement, understanding these developments may help you understand why markets are moving, but it's equally important to maintain a focus on long-term financial security rather than reacting to short-term market fluctuations. Regardless, the more you know about why markets are moving, the better you can tell when to change [...]

Rebecca Mack2024-10-24T14:57:31+00:00October 24, 2024|Economy, Stock Market|

The Fed Speaks, Earnings Release, and the Market Drops… But Your Retirement Finances Shouldn’t Care

In recent months, the financial landscape has been marked by unpredictability. The Federal Reserve's recent announcement to maintain interest rates at their current levels has left many investors on edge. While the Fed has signaled a cautious approach, it has not ruled out the possibility of economic struggles ahead, indicating a readiness to lower interest rates if necessary. This uncertainty has coincided with a notable drop in the stock market, particularly following disappointing earnings reports from [...]

Rebecca Mack2024-09-10T15:59:02+00:00September 10, 2024|Economy, Federal Reserve, Retirement Income|

Today’s Interest Rates and Your Retirement

The Federal Reserve makes a monthly statement about its interest rate policy, which is based on the data it tracks and analyzes to understand the state of the economy. This includes data regarding inflation, employment, and more. These statements are important for the rest of the nation to understand how the economy is doing as well as what the Fed’s strategy for dealing with inflation is—namely their interest rate decisions, which can affect people’s finances in [...]

Rebecca Mack2024-07-26T15:11:45+00:00July 26, 2024|Economy, Federal Reserve|

What 2025 COLA Predictions Mean to You

In 2022, the United States experienced the most significant inflation in four decades, primarily due to macroeconomic disruptions and supply chain issues following the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to an 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security beneficiaries in January 2023, the largest increase since the early 1980s. However, despite this, many retirees continue to struggle financially, as revealed by the 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Lack of Confidence and [...]

Rebecca Mack2024-07-12T15:53:32+00:00July 12, 2024|Economy, Financial Planning, Social Security|

What to Know When Retiring into Uncertain Times

There has been a lot of chaos in the market over the last few years, and you may find yourself worried that you’re retiring at the wrong time. You may be worried that you could retire right before the markets and economy potentially turn sour. These are both legitimate concerns, but there are strategies that you can employ to help protect yourself against retiring during a bad market. Why can it be bad to retire while [...]

Rebecca Mack2024-01-25T16:47:10+00:00January 25, 2024|Economy, Financial Planning, Retirement Planning|

Inflation Can Affect Your Finances, Even In Small Amounts

There’s been a lot of news about inflation lately. As of July, the inflation rate was around 3.2%.[1] This means that the cost of goods and services, including but not limited to items such as groceries, housing, and gas, has gone up by 3.2% since this time last year.[2] You might think 3.2% is a pretty small number, and maybe you haven’t noticed a huge jump in the costs of the things you purchase every day. [...]

2023-09-29T04:15:13+00:00September 29, 2023|Economy, Retirement Planning|

Inflation May Finally Be Slowing Down!

Inflation has been a hot-button issue in finance and politics lately. You may have noticed changes in inflation yourself if you went to buy something and it was much more expensive than you expected. Eggs are a great example of this. In 2022, the price of eggs went up by 59.9% due to an outbreak of avian influenza.[1] Another factor was the pandemic, which caused disruptions to supply chains across the globe, causing inflation and increasing [...]

Rebecca Mack2023-07-26T05:26:10+00:00July 26, 2023|Economy, Financial Planning|

Current Market Risks and Your Retirement

Our current economic situation is complex and, in some ways, unprecedented. Because of the pandemic, we have seen massive changes in how the market behaves, and we are having to readjust how we approach retirement planning. Government Payouts One of the major changes that we saw during the pandemic was the government directly stepping in to help with the economic downturn. The issue with this is that federal payouts can increase inflation, and when that is [...]

Rebecca Mack2023-03-30T15:53:09+00:00March 30, 2023|Economy, Retirement Planning|

What Does a Rolling Recession Mean for Your Retirement?

What Is A Rolling Recession? You may have noticed that the economy after the pandemic has been very up and down. And while there has been talk of a possible recession for a few years now, we have yet to completely enter a recession. A recession is traditionally defined as a consistent, widespread downturn in the economy. [1] And although there have been major market downturns recently, there have also been major rallies. Instead of qualifying [...]

Rebecca Mack2023-03-23T12:59:25+00:00March 20, 2023|Economy, Stock Market|

2 Ways the 2022 Economic Woes Affected Your Retirement Accounts

The 2022 economic climate has been bumpy for most, and in some cases even bumpier for retirees. Americans and the world at large dealt with the economic ramifications of the Russia-Ukraine war, post-pandemic industrial effects, and rising inflation and interest rates. As the year ends, it is important to understand how these factors affected your finances as a retiree. Inflation Pinched Pockets Between 1991 and 2021, annual inflation averaged 2.5%, close to the Federal Reserve’s desired [...]

Rebecca Mack2023-01-13T15:32:15+00:00January 13, 2023|Economy, Retirement Planning|