July 6, 2015 Weekly Market Update from Maier & Associates Financial Group

Stock markets closed the holiday week on a sour note for the second week in a row. While several domestic indicators have been favorable, such as housing and unemployment, the markets across the board continued to lose value on the heels of Greece closing its banks for a week and missing a debt payment, coupled with China cutting lending rates in an attempt to support its sagging economy, while Puerto Rico has indicated it can't pay its bills. The S&P 500, the Dow, Nasdaq, the Russell 2000, and the Global Dow all lost more than 1% compared to their respective closes last week. Year-to-date, the Dow has reached negative territory, down 0.52%.

The national average retail regular gasoline price decreased to $2.801 per gallon on June 29, 2015, $0.011 under last week's price and $0.903 below a year ago. Gold closed Friday's trading period selling at $1,167.80, down $5.40 from a week ago ($1,173.20).

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June 29, 2015 Weekly Market Update from Maier & Associates Financial Group

Bolstered by very favorable housing news and heightened consumer expectations, the economic news was generally good for the week ending June 26. Unfortunately, the markets, which had experienced gains the prior week, can be described as mundane at best. Both large-cap benchmarks dipped this week, while small caps were not immune to a slight skid as the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 closed in negative territory. Possibly influencing the weak domestic market returns is the situation involving Greece and its creditors, who have not yet reached an accord regarding terms of a bailout. However, on Friday Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a referendum for July 5 on bailout terms proposed by the country's creditors as deadlines loom.

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At Maier & Associates, we are committed to helping you manage your finances as you strive to achieve your financial goals today, tomorrow, and many years down the road. Your financial success is important to us, which is why we create a wealth management strategy designed to meet your personal financial goals and dreams. Visit our website at http://maierandassociates.com/ or simply give us a call at (800) 282-4503.

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June 22, 2015 Weekly Market Update from Maier & Associates Financial Group

The markets responded favorably following the Federal Reserve's announcement that interest rates would not be raised next month. Both the large-cap Dow and S&P 500 closed ahead of last week. But the biggest weekly gainers were the Nasdaq, which gained 1.3%, and the Russell 2000, which closed the week 1.55% better than last Friday's close. The national average for gas prices was $2.835 – up $0.055 from last week. Gold finished the week up $21 from last week, selling at $1,200.20.

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At Maier & Associates, we are committed to helping you manage your finances as you strive to achieve your financial goals today, tomorrow, and many years down the road. Your financial success is important to us, which is why we create a wealth management strategy designed to meet your personal financial goals and dreams. Visit our website at http://maierandassociates.com/ or simply give us a call at (800) 282-4503.

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Deadline for Planning a Truly Happy Retirement? 5 Years Before

If you’re looking to put the finishing touches on your retirement plans, a study from MassMutual has a suggestion on timing. “Retirees who expressed the highest levels of satisfaction in retirement are also those who took concrete steps to put both their emotional and financial lives in order at least five years or more before retirement.”

Unfortunately, only 31% of U.S. adults heading toward retirement “carefully research and plan every detail of their retirement plans,” MassMutual says. And only 11% map out “every detail” of their retirement, while 36% admit to “winging it” with their financial strategy. (MassMutual points out that U.S. adults are three times more likely to wing their retirement than their vacation plans.)

There is some good news for future retirees, who could use some at a time so many struggle to cobble together a decent retirement fund. A majority of retirees say they are happy in retirement and that pre-retirement anxieties about being bored or financially strapped are significantly overstated.

“Our research on retirees and pre-retirees tells us that retirement can be and should be an extraordinarily happy time in our lives as long as we start to strengthen our emotional bonds and exercise financial planning discipline well before we plan to retire,” says Elaine Sarsynski, executive vice president at MassMutual Retirement Services. “The happiest retirees provide us with a road map for success, which is especially instructive for those who are close to embarking on the journey.”

The study has more “lessons learned” from retirees on how they found happiness in retirement:

• Retirees who took steps to “build stronger connections” to their loved ones and “pursued new interests” were far more likely to enjoy their post-career years.
• Retirees who laid out a careful plan for the financial side of retirement (such as calculating the best time to start collecting Social Security), and who accelerated retirement savings as they neared retirement, appeared “most satisfied.”
• The biggest good retirement surprises included having no time constraints, keeping busy, and having enough money; bad surprises included suffering an illness or weak health and having unexpected cash problems.

Maier & Associates Financial Group is here to help!

At Maier & Associates, we are committed to helping you manage your finances as you strive to achieve your financial goals today, tomorrow, and many years down the road. Your financial success is important to us, which is why we create a wealth management strategy designed to meet your personal financial goals and dreams. Visit our website at http://maierandassociates.com/ or simply give us a call at (800) 282-4503.

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June 15, 2015 Weekly Market Update from Maier & Associates Financial Group

Reports from this past week revealed that the number of job openings is increasing, and the federal deficit and crude oil inventories are shrinking, while consumers are spending more of their hard-earned money. Unfortunately, news out of Europe is that negotiations between Greece and its creditors are regressing with default seemingly inevitable. The Dow, which had crept above 18000 during the week, closed at 17898.84, while the S&P 500 moved very little from last week's close. The Nasdaq lost 0.34%, but remains ahead of the major indexes year-to-date. The Global Dow closed the week ahead of last week, while the euro remained relatively stable against the dollar, finishing the week at $1.1268. Crude oil closed ahead of last week at $59.94 as did gold, which reached $1180.50 as of the end of trading on Friday.

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At Maier & Associates, we are committed to helping you manage your finances as you strive to achieve your financial goals today, tomorrow, and many years down the road. Your financial success is important to us, which is why we create a wealth management strategy designed to meet your personal financial goals and dreams. Visit our website at http://maierandassociates.com/ or simply give us a call at (800) 282-4503.

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June 8, 2015 Weekly Market Update from Maier & Associates Financial Group

The Federal Reserve may be on track to raise short-term interest rates later this year, as a favorable jobs report may be signaling the start of anticipated economic growth and inflationary expansion. However, other economic indicators have not been as positive, further enforcing the Federal Reserve's "wait and see" approach. Possibly in response to a seemingly impending rate hike, 10-year Treasuries jumped 28 basis points to 2.41%, while large-cap stock indexes continued to pull back, with the Dow (-0.90%) and S&P 500 (-0.69%) both sinking a little further compared to last week.

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Maier & Associates Financial Group is here to help!

At Maier & Associates, we are committed to helping you manage your finances as you strive to achieve your financial goals today, tomorrow, and many years down the road. Your financial success is important to us, which is why we create a wealth management strategy designed to meet your personal financial goals and dreams. Visit our website at http://maierandassociates.com/ or simply give us a call at (800) 282-4503.

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June 1, 2015 Weekly Market Update from Maier & Associates Financial Group

After experiencing positive gains the past few weeks, the short holiday week closed with all the major indexes experiencing losses. Both the S&P 500 and the Dow ended the week in the red, as did the small-cap Russell 2000 and Nasdaq, although each of the latter performed a little better than their large-cap peers. Favorable economic news may have driven the market decline in response to fears that the Federal Reserve would be raising interest rates sooner rather than later.

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Maier & Associates Financial Group is here to help!

At Maier & Associates, we are committed to helping you manage your finances as you strive to achieve your financial goals today, tomorrow, and many years down the road. Your financial success is important to us, which is why we create a wealth management strategy designed to meet your personal financial goals and dreams. Visit our website at http://maierandassociates.com/ or simply give us a call at (800) 282-4503.

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