In today\u2019s Steady Investor, we take a look at key factors\nthat we believe are currently impacting the market, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is the U.S. Headed\nfor Another Debt Ceiling Showdown? <\/strong>Back in 2019, Congress voted to suspend\nthe debt ceiling until July 31, 2021. With that date fast approaching, the U.S.\ngovernment needs to take action to either increase the debt limit or suspend\nthe limit for a set amount of time. If Congress does not act, it is possible\nthe federal government could run out of the cash needed to pay debt\nobligations, perhaps by October or November of this year. The timeframe gives\nCongress a bit of wiggle room to take action, but politicians appear to be\nposturing for a debt ceiling showdown, much like the \u201cfiscal cliff\u201d scare of\n2013. Absent Congressional action, the U.S. Treasury would be inhibited from\nselling bonds (Treasuries) to raise cash for paying bills, which at worst could\nmean defaulting on debt payments for the first time ever. History tells us that\nCongress will likely wait until the 11th<\/sup> hour to take action, with\nplenty of drama and fanfare between now and then about the debt.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n _________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n Market Volatility Can Be a Good Thing – Use it to Your Advantage!<\/a><\/strong> If you have $500,000 or more to invest, get our free guide, \u201cUsing Market Volatility to Your Advantage,\u201d<\/em> and learn our insights, based on decades of experience, about how a volatile market may be able to help investors refine their strategies and potentially generate solid returns over time. Download Our Guide, \u201cUsing Market Volatility to Your Advantage\u201d<\/a>2<\/a><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n _________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life Expectancy Falls\nin the U.S. \u2013 <\/strong>According to the\nCenters for Disease Control, life expectancy in the U.S. fell by a full 1.5\nyears in 2020, to 77.3. The Covid-19 pandemic of course had an outsize impact\non this figure, and 2021 is likely to see a bump higher. But the largest\nsingle-year decline since 1943 (World War II) has some economists and\npublic-health experts concerned, as rising life expectancies are generally a\nsign of vibrant and improving socioeconomic conditions. The Covid-19 pandemic\nwas also seen exacerbating crises in other troubled areas of American life,\nsuch as overdoses, homicides, and chronic diseases. This type of data matters\nfor retirees and planners, as life expectancy is a key component of\nestablishing an appropriate asset allocation for every investment portfolio.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Homebuilders Struggle\nto Meet Demand \u2013 <\/strong>The U.S. housing market continues to exhibit supply and\ndemand imbalances, where demand is firmly outweighing supply and putting\npressure on prices nationwide. Homebuilders are responding by ramping up\nproduction, but the slack in the market is seemingly too large to overcome in a\nshort amount of time. According to the Commerce Department, housing starts rose\nfrom May to June, 1.16 million of which were for single-family homes. This\nproduction boost is the biggest jump since March and is an early signal that\nhome builders are actively trying to respond to sustained demand. Even as\nsingle-family housing starts to increase, they are still below the averages\nseen during the 1990s, when the U.S.\u2019s population was about 20% lower than it\nis today. Homebuilders want to capitalize on rising demand but are also\ncontending with higher input costs \u2013 by some estimates, the jump in softwood\nlumber prices have added nearly $30,000 to the price of a new single-family\nhome over the last 15 months. Consumers are recognizing these price pressures,\ntoo. According to the University of Michigan\u2019s consumer sentiment survey,\nAmericans largely believe now is a bad time to buy a house. The last time\nconsumers were this skeptical was in 1982, when the average 30-year fixed-rate\nmortgage was around 14%.4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n There will always be times like these, where the market is\nvery volatile and investor\u2019s uncertainties are high. Did you know that there\nare positive aspects of volatility that can affect your long-term financial\nhealth? We recommend finding ways to manage volatility instead of overlooking\nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To give\ninsight into ways to manage volatility, I am offering all readers our guide\n\u201cUsing Market Volatility to Your Advantage\u201d5<\/sup>. This guide can\nhelp you learn about our insights, based on decades of experience, about how a\nvolatile market may be able to help investors refine their strategies and\npotentially generate solid returns over time. If you have $500,000 or more\nto invest, download this free guide today by clicking on the link below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Government must act on debt by July 31, Covid-19 shortens U.S. life spans, home building supply\/demand imbalance<\/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-9736","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\/9736","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=9736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10350,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9736\/revisions\/10350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Downside volatility can be a hassle for almost every investor and we understand how the ups and downs in the market can be hard to manage. Even through the feeling of discomfort, do you know that volatility may have useful, positive benefits to better navigate your investing decisions? We encourage investors to learn how to handle volatility instead of avoiding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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You\u2019ll get our ideas on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nYou\u2019ll get our ideas on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n