One Major Country Posted\nEconomic Growth in 2020 \u2013 <\/strong>It was China. The country\u2019s strict national\nlockdowns and travel restrictions squashed the virus in a matter of months, and\nthe economic engine was flipped back on by summer. While the rest of the world\nreeled from the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, China was expanding its role in\nglobal trade and strengthened its position as the world\u2019s factory headquarters.\nChina\u2019s exports hit a record $2.6 trillion in 2020. China also pushed further\ninto the global financial markets, by accounting for a record share of IPOs and\nsecondary listings last year \u2013 driving major capital inflows into stocks and\nbonds. In all, China\u2019s 2020 GDP accounted for 16.8% of total global GDP, which\nis up from 14.2% just four years ago. Meanwhile, it is estimated that the U.S.\ncontributed 22.2% of global GDP, which is flat from 2016 levels.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n ___________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plan Your Retirement Without Making Investment Mistakes <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Many investors may be wondering how to prepare for what\u2019s to come, especially when it comes to retirement planning. Feeling uncertain is normal, but making rapid decisions due to uncertainty could lead to a snowfall of mistakes for investors who don\u2019t take their time when planning their future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While there are many unknowns at present, we believe there are nine common mistakes that many investors make when planning for retirement. In our guide,\u00a09 Retirement Mistakes to Avoid<\/em>, we outline these mistakes and how you can potentially avoid them. Learn About the 9 Retirement Mistakes to Avoid!<\/a>2<\/a><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ___________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal Budget\nDeficits Swell, and are Likely to Get Bigger \u2013 <\/strong>From October to December,\nwhich marks the first three months of the federal government\u2019s fiscal year, the\nbudget deficit swelled by 61%. The growing deficit was predictable \u2013 the\nfederal government continues to spend in an effort to stabilize the economy,\nand the new $900 billion in fiscal stimulus sets the stage for even higher\noutlays. Meanwhile, with many businesses posting lighter earnings and the\nnumber of unemployed Americans remaining elevated, tax receipts are materially\nlower \u2013 hence the budget gap. Indeed, for the 12 months ending December 31, the\nfederal government ran a $3.3 trillion deficit, or approximately 15.8% of GDP.\nAs you can see in the chart below, total federal spending (blue line), has far\noutpaced total federal receipts during over the last year.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. Budget Deficit Soared in 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis4<\/sup><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Eyeing U.S. 10-Year\nTreasury Bond Yields \u2013 <\/strong>The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has been rising of\nlate, crossing 1% for the first time since March 2019. One of the forces\ndriving 10-year Treasury yields higher is expected inflation. The Fed\u2019s balance sheet\nexpansion has in large part been to finance business loans (PPP and Main Street\nLending), direct payments to Americans, and expanding unemployment benefits.\nThese dollars are not being parked in bank reserves \u2013 they are being directly\ntransferred into the real economy. President-elect Biden has also stated that\nmore stimulus is on the way, and the 50\/50 split in the Senate should make\nanother short-term spending package all but assured. The end result is\nthat the M2 money supply is rising at an unprecedented 25% year-over-year rate,\nwhich is much faster<\/em> than during the\ninflationary period of the 1970s. It makes sense, in our view, that 10-year\nU.S. Treasuries would be ticking higher as a result. We expect this trend to\ncontinue in 2021.5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis6<\/sup><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Avoid Making Mistakes During Retirement Planning<\/strong> \u2013 In times like these, there are common mistakes that investors make while planning retirement \u2013 like forgetting to take a diversified approach. We believe that there are strategies that investors can use to help guide their investments to succeed in the long term. To help you understand some of these mistakes and how to avoid them, we have created the guide, \u201c9 Retirement Mistakes to Avoid.\u201d<\/a>7<\/a><\/sup> China only major country to grow last year, deficits likely to grow with higher Fed spending in 2021 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-private-client-group","category-steady-investors-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10473,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236\/revisions\/10473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u00a0
If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn more, click on the link below to get your free copy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/9_pic1-2-1024x395.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/5_pic2-1-1024x395.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In this guide, we provide our thoughts on what we believe are nine of the biggest retirement mistakes investors should avoid. If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn more, click on the link below:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"