Source: Zor Capital
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10 years ago
On March 6, 2019, it will be 10 years since the market bottomed that month in 2009. Time sure does fly. And with that flight has come changes to equity prices that few—looking forward back then–would likely have imagined.
According to CNBC.com, the S&P 500 has delivered an annualized return of 17.8 percent since that March 2009 drop. Who knew? And pretty good, right?
Well, surprise surprise: That is the same kind of 10-years-after annualized returns experienced 10 years after the crash of 1987 and 10 years after the August 1982 bottom.
How about that!
Too bad past performance is no guarantee of what’s to come.
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The high cost of an old life that needs care
I’m getting old and no one is more surprised by that than me. It’s not that I didn’t think I’d age. Nope. It’s just that I didn’t really believe that along with aging would come a reflection in the mirror that always semms to elicit a, “That can’t be me?” response.
And, a cost of living that’s literally staggering—if not impossible to comprehend. As for preparing for that cost. Well, I didn’t think much about that. Or, what the cost of living into my senior years would be. Or, imagined that assisted living care would run around 5 grand a month, for god knows how many years.
According to Genworth’s 2018 Beyond Dollars study, the median cost of a private room in a nursing home is $8,365 a month; the median cost of assisted living is $4,600 a month; and the median cost for home health aides is $4,195 a month.
Given that women live longer than men, on average, word is that the average lady will need long-term care services for 3.7 years and the average guy 2.2 years.
Doing the math, let’s just call it 4 years for the ladies at a monthly rate of 5Gs per month and one has to have a long-term care fund with something in the neighborhood of 240,000 bucks in it. Need private room nursing home care and the fee for that care comes to more than $400,000.
Got that?
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Market Quick Glance
During the first two months of 2019 indices have reported year-to-date performances that really have been impressive —so far.
Below are the weekly and 1-year index performance results for the three major indices—DJIA, S&P 500 and NASDAQ — including the dates each reached new highs. Data is according to CNBC.com and based on prices at the close of business on Friday, March 1, 2019.
–DJIA 11.57% YTD down a breathe from the previous week’s 11.59%.
- 1 yr. Rtn 5.76% up a jump from the previous week 4.28%
Most recent DJIA a new ALL-TIME CLOSING HIGH was reached on Oct.3, 2018 of 26,951.81. The previous high was reached on Sept. 21, 2018 of 26,796.16.
-S&P 500 11.84% YTD
- 1 yr. Rtn 4.71%
The S&P 500 reached a BRAND NEW CLOSING ALL-TIME HIGH on Sept. 21, 2018 of 2,940.91. The previous closing high was reached on August 29, 2018 of 2,916.50.
-NASDAQ 14.47% YTD up from last week’s 13.45%
- 1yr Rtn 5.78% up from last week’s 4.40%
Nasdaq reached a BRAND NEW 52-week CLOSING HIGH on August 30, 2018 of 8,1333.30. The previous high was reached on August 24, 2018 of 7,949.71.
-Mutual funds
The move upward continued.
At the close of business on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, the year-to-date total return for the average stock fund under the broad U.S. Diversified Equity Fund heading was 12.98%. That’s up a bit from last week’s figure of 12.62%, according to Lipper.
Looking at the fund types with the highest year-to-date gains under the various headings shows the following:
Equity Leveraged Funds continue their march upward with an average return of 24.25%, y-t-d through 2/28/19, and Dedicated Short Bias Funds continue to rake in the poorest performance of -18.14%.
Of all of Lipper’s categories, those really are the best and worst year-to-date figures this year.
The Sector Equity Funds group averaged 11.30% and the World Equity Funds average was 10.12%.
So count yourself fortunate if your funds’ y-t-d performance figures are around 12%. And than, hope that average stays around the same or continues upwards.
Visit www.allaboutfunds.com for more information about how various equity and fixed-income funds have rewarded investors over the short-and long-term, based upon Lipper data. Short-term meaning weekly and monthly performance returns; longer-term includes quarterly, year-to-date, 1-yr, 2-yr, 3-yr and 5-yr returns.
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