Published: Fri, 15 Oct 2021 20:02:04 +0000
Market Blog Friday, October 15, 2021 Index Performance View enlarged chart. U.S. and International Equities Major U.S. and International Markets Finished Higher The major equity markets finished solidly in the green this week as we head into the genesis of … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 15 Oct 2021 15:58:12 +0000
Economic Blog Friday, October 15, 2021 The U.S. Census Bureau reported overall retail sales grew 0.7% month over month in September vs. forecasts for a 0.2% decline, while retail sales excluding autos and gas also saw solid gains, rising 0.7% … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 15 Oct 2021 12:00:08 +0000
Market Blog Friday, October 15, 2021 LPL Research is excited to bring the second episode of our new video series: 5 Charts with LPL Research. This week, LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick, CMT and Technical Strategist Scott Brown, … Continue reading →
Published: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 18:44:59 +0000
Economic Blog Thursday, October 14, 2021 The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report this week revealing that the number of American workers who are voluntarily quitting their jobs is … Continue reading →
Published: Wed, 13 Oct 2021 15:58:09 +0000
Economic Blog Wednesday, October 13, 2021 The characterization of inflation as ”transitory” by Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell—which has been the subject of debate for months—is likely to come under renewed pressure after the most recent inflation data release. … Continue reading →
Published: Tue, 12 Oct 2021 15:58:37 +0000
Market Blog Tuesday, October 12, 2021 The week of September 20 was notable for monetary policy as there were eleven central bank meetings, including the U.S., E.U., U.K., Turkey, and Norway, to name a few. While many of these countries … Continue reading →
Published: Tue, 12 Oct 2021 12:25:34 +0000
Market Blog Tuesday, October 12, 2021 LPL Research is excited to introduce a new weekly video series, 5 Charts With LPL Research. Each week, LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick, CMT and Technical Strategist Scott Brown, CMT will review … Continue reading →
Published: Mon, 11 Oct 2021 18:00:28 +0000
Market Blog Monday, October 11, 2021 Index Performance View enlarged chart. U.S. and International Equities This quarter provided mostly negative results for the major market indices. The top performer and standout was the bellwether Dow Jones Industrial Average. The international … Continue reading →
Published: Mon, 11 Oct 2021 15:58:52 +0000
Market Blog Monday, October 11, 2021 We have used most of the superlatives we know to describe corporate America’s stunning performances over the past two earnings seasons. Despite lofty expectations, results exceeded estimates by huge margins. We expect solid earnings … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 08 Oct 2021 20:10:34 +0000
Market Blog Friday, October 8, 2021 Index Performance View enlarged chart. U.S. and International Equities Major U.S. and International Markets Finished Higher The major equity markets reversed course from last week to finish higher. The international markets results were mixed … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 08 Oct 2021 15:58:17 +0000
Economic Blog Friday, October 8, 2021 The September payroll report likely created more questions than it answered. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its September employment report this morning, revealing that the domestic economy added a disappointing 194,000 jobs … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 08 Oct 2021 12:00:16 +0000
Market Blog Friday, October 8, 2021 There is no reason to panic with all the big news about the bull market—October is known for volatility. As LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick discusses in the latest LPL Street View, … Continue reading →
Published: Thu, 07 Oct 2021 16:15:27 +0000
Economic Blog Thursday, October 7, 2021 Based on recent readings of manufacturing and service sector activity, business demand remains strong, further damaging the “stagflation” narrative. At the same time, barriers to meeting demand continue to limit businesses’ ability to respond, … Continue reading →
Published: Wed, 06 Oct 2021 15:58:03 +0000
Market Blog Wednesday, October 6, 2021 And just like that, the calendar turned to October and volatility picked up in a big way, with three consecutive 1% moves for the S&P 500 Index to start the month. As we noted … Continue reading →
Published: Tue, 05 Oct 2021 15:58:44 +0000
Market Blog Tuesday, October 5, 2021 The debt limit—commonly called the debt ceiling—is the maximum amount of debt that the Treasury Department can issue to pay its, already committed, financial obligations. The amount is set through Congress and has been … Continue reading →
Published: Mon, 04 Oct 2021 16:00:51 +0000
Market Blog Monday, October 4, 2021 Index Performance View enlarged chart. U.S. and International Equities September has been the worst performing month over the past 10 and 20 years. Looking at the prior year, the S&P 500 pulled back over … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 01 Oct 2021 20:01:49 +0000
Market Blog Friday, October 1, 2021 Index Performance View enlarged chart. U.S. and International Equities Major U.S. and International Markets Finished lower The major equity markets finished the week, along with the month of September, lower. The international markets were … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 01 Oct 2021 15:58:17 +0000
Market Blog Friday, October 1, 2021 The latest weekly data from the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) show a continued increase in the percentage of individual investors who are bearish (40.7%) about short-term market expectations and a decrease in … Continue reading →
Published: Thu, 30 Sep 2021 15:58:14 +0000
Market Blog Thursday, September 30, 2021 “October: This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.” Mark Twain Well, it was bound … Continue reading →
Published: Wed, 29 Sep 2021 15:58:41 +0000
Economic Blog Wednesday, September 29, 2021 Stocks have come a long way since the S&P 500 bear market low way back on March 23, 2020, but despite the general strength of the bull market we’ve seen two very different types … Continue reading →
Published: Tue, 28 Sep 2021 15:58:10 +0000
Market Blog Tuesday, September 28, 2021 The municipal market continues to be a relative bright spot for core fixed income investors. While most of the other “safe” parts of the core fixed income universe have generated negative returns this year, … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 24 Sep 2021 20:06:23 +0000
Market Blog Friday, September 24, 2021 Index Performance View enlarged chart. U.S. and International Equities Major U.S. Markets Finished higher while International Markets Selloff The major markets finished the week higher, with the Dow Jones Industrials leading the averages. Moreover, … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 24 Sep 2021 15:58:04 +0000
Economic Blog Friday, September 24, 2021 On Thursday, September 23, the Conference Board released its August 2021 report detailing the latest reading for the Leading Economic Index (LEI), a composite of ten data series that tend to lead changes … Continue reading →
Published: Thu, 23 Sep 2021 15:58:34 +0000
Economic Blog Thursday, September 23, 2021 The Federal Reserve (Fed) ended its two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting yesterday and, as expected, there were no changes to current interest rate or bond purchasing policies. However, the Fed continues to … Continue reading →
Published: Wed, 22 Sep 2021 16:25:30 +0000
Market Blog Wednesday, September 22, 2021 Few had even heard of distressed Chinese property development giant Evergrande a week ago and now it’s the biggest headline for markets. This week in the latest LPL Market Signals podcast, Ryan Detrick and … Continue reading →
Published: Tue, 21 Sep 2021 15:58:52 +0000
Market Blog Tuesday, September 21, 2021 Well that was fun while it lasted. Yesterday, the S&P 500 closed below its 50-day moving average for the second consecutive day, breaking a streak that had held for the duration of 2021 and … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 17 Sep 2021 20:02:16 +0000
Market Blog Friday, September 17, 2021 Index Performance View enlarged chart. U.S. and International Equities Major Markets Finish Lower Amid Delta and Earnings Growth Concerns The major markets finished lower for a second straight week. Friday’s quadruple witching where individual … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 17 Sep 2021 15:58:13 +0000
Market Blog Friday, September 17, 2021 Chinese property developer Evergrande’s liquidity crisis has sparked fear and massive selling in Chinese property stocks over the past several weeks. The big question is could this be the first domino to fall, sparking … Continue reading →
Published: Thu, 16 Sep 2021 15:58:05 +0000
Economic Blog Thursday, September 16, 2021 U.S. consumers shocked economists in August with their willingness to spend in the face of recent jitters over the economic outlook. This morning, the U.S. Census Bureau released August retail sales data showing overall … Continue reading →
Published: Wed, 15 Sep 2021 15:58:22 +0000
Market Blog Wednesday, September 15, 2021 With summer (un)officially over, investment-grade corporate bond sales are ramping up again. Despite a four-day week last week, thirty-eight investment-grade companies sold $60.5 billion in the first two sessions, breaking a record for the … Continue reading →
Published: Tue, 14 Sep 2021 17:41:57 +0000
Economic Blog Tuesday, September 14, 2021 After a crazy summer of nosebleed inflation readings, we may finally be starting to see signs of transitory inflation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the August Consumer Price Index (CPI) data this morning, … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 10 Sep 2021 19:59:12 +0000
Market Blog Friday, September 10, 2021 Index Performance U.S. and International Equities Major Indices Show Modest Weekly Declines as Delta Worries Mount All major markets finished lower as the investor concerns over the Delta variant, Federal Reserve (Fed) tapering, … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 10 Sep 2021 15:58:02 +0000
Market Blog Friday, September 10, 2021 Fun Fact Friday: The Dow Jones Transportation Average is actually the oldest US stock market index in existence, even older than the more-popular Dow Jones Industrial Average. Charles Dow developed the index, originally called … Continue reading →
Published: Thu, 09 Sep 2021 16:16:03 +0000
Economic Blog Thursday, September 9, 2021 According to LPL Research’s analysis of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) recently released Beige Book, business sentiment on Main Street has declined in recent months as the economy navigates the latest wave of COVID-19, but … Continue reading →
Published: Wed, 08 Sep 2021 15:58:03 +0000
Market Blog Wednesday, September 8, 2021 This week in the latest LPL Market Signals podcast, Ryan Detrick and Lawrence Gillum discussed global central bank policy, recently weakening economic data, and where stocks and bonds could go the remainder of this … Continue reading →
Published: Tue, 07 Sep 2021 15:58:58 +0000
Market Blog Tuesday, September 7, 2021 The Covid-19 pandemic was an unprecedented shock to a large majority of global economies. But the economic damage was met with an extraordinary global monetary response with the Federal Reserve (Fed), European Central Bank … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 03 Sep 2021 18:19:55 +0000
Market Blog Friday, September 3, 2021 Index Performance (as of 12:50 PM ET) View enlarged chart. U.S. and International Equities Emerging Markets Rebound The major markets finished mostly higher building on last week’s gains. Emerging markets, as represented by the … Continue reading →
Published: Fri, 03 Sep 2021 15:58:53 +0000
Economic Blog Friday, September 3, 2021 It seems to be two steps forward, one step back for the U.S. labor market. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its August employment report this morning, revealing that the domestic economy added … Continue reading →
Published: Thu, 02 Sep 2021 15:58:30 +0000
Market Blog Thursday, September 2, 2021 The Institute for Supply Management’s reading on U.S. manufacturing surprisingly accelerated in August, coming in at 59.9 versus July’s 59.5 and economists’ consensus expectation of 58.5. The solid reading does show the resiliency of … Continue reading →
Published: Wed, 01 Sep 2021 19:00:08 +0000
Market Blog Wednesday, September 1, 2021 Index Performance View enlarged chart. U.S. and International Equities All of the U.S. major market indexes finished August higher despite concerns about the COVID-19 Delta variant, with the S&P 500 Index making it seven … Continue reading →
It depends on how much you’ve earned and how long you have worked under the Social Security system. Your retirement benefit will be based on your average lifetime earnings. Don't worry if you started out as a busboy and worked your way up to executive chef—only your highest 35 years of earnings will count.
The amount you receive will also be affected by whether you start collecting benefits early (you'll get less), whether you collect benefits late (you'll get more), whether you work after you retire, whether other family members receive benefits based on your earnings record, whether you collect certain other government benefits, and whether the cost of living rises.
You can also sign up for a my Social Security account so that you can view your online Social Security Statement. Your statement contains a detailed record of your earnings, as well as estimates of retirement, survivor's, and disability benefits. It also includes other information about Social Security that will be very useful when planning for retirement.
Contact a VyStar Investment Services Financial Advisor today by phone (904) 908-2495 or email VISMarketing@vystarcu.org.
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The size of the Social Security check you’ll receive is the result of your earnings record and age when you start taking benefits. Your “full retirement age,” when you’ve earned 100% of those benefits, is 66 or 67, depending on when you were born. Collect early, before full retirement age, and you’ll pay a penalty—you’ll receive a smaller check.
The choice of your start date locks in the size of your checks. Some Americans grab Social Security as soon as they can. For widows and widowers, that’s age 60. For everyone else, it’s 62, which has been and still is the most popular age to start benefits, according to U.S. News & World Report.
If you hold off filing until after full retirement, your checks earn a bonus of 8% per year. The longer you wait, the bigger your benefit becomes, until age 70. After 70, there’s no benefit to waiting longer.
Waiting makes sense if you’re healthy and members of your family tend to live longer. A $2,000 benefit, for example, becomes $2,640 if your full retirement age is 66 and you wait four more years.
A quarter of today’s 65-year-olds will live past 90, according to the Social Security Administration. You may need those checks for a long time.
Here’s a hypothetical example of the pros and cons for someone eligible for $750 per month at 62 who waits and claims benefits at 70: