Houston this Market has a Problem

From Mark Halbert at Marketwatch:

Based on trailing 12-month earnings, the S&P 500’s SPX current P/E ratio is 18.8. Even if we assume that all 500 companies in the index will report earnings over the next few weeks that match analyst estimates, the S&P’s P/E drops only modestly, to 17.9. Even that lower level is higher than 77% of comparable readings over the last 140 years, according to data compiled by Yale University finance professor Robert Shiller. The average P/E for the S&P 500 since 1871 is 15.5 and the median P/E is 14.5.

Read the whole article.

How to Live in Silicon Valley - Financially

Wealthfront has a great blog post talking about the financial realities facing people that attempt to raise a family, send kids to college, own a home, and retire in Silicon Valley.

4 Ways Gyms Try to Take Your Money

This is a fantastic article discussing the problems we encounter with gym memberships.

Frontline Retirement Gamble

Draw your own conclusions. Here is the Frontline piece.

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.

Boomers Not Ready to Retire

The stock market is near all time highs, yet Americans are far from being ready to retire. Here is the latest article from CNBC and the executive summary of a report from EBRI (Employee Benefit Research Institute) titled EBRI’s 2013 Retirement Confidence Survey: Perceived Savings Needs Outpace Reality for Many.