Female Breadwinners Becoming Normal in America

Thanks to Wendy Wang, Kim Parker and Paul Taylor at the Pew Research Center for giving us this report. Here is an excerpt: A record 40% of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The share was just 11% in 1960. These “breadwinner moms” are made up of two very different groups: 5.1 million (37%) are married mothers who have a higher income than their husbands, and 8.6 million (63%) are single mothers. Here is a Marketwatch article about it.

Retirement Balances Significantly Increase with Stock Market Advance

For some investors 55 and older–a group “most vulnerable during the last market downturn given their short timeframe to retirement,” according to Fidelity–the gains have been even better. On average, investors in this category who have at least 10 years’ service at their current employer saw their account balances rise 95%, from $130,700 in March 2009 to $255,000 at the end of this March. (The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index roughly doubled over that same stretch.) Here is the full article.