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Webinar: Virtual Currencies Basics— consumerfinance.gov
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Virtual currencies, like Bitcoin, have attracted significant attention lately. What are virtual currencies, though? Where can a consumer find accurate information? This Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection webinar will help library staff better understand how virtual currency markets operate, how to identify reliable resources they can share, and how to help patrons avoid fraud. This webinar features speakers from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the North American Securities Administrators Association. Each organization will shares free and unbiased materials available for use in libraries and elsewhere to help consumers get a better understanding of virtual currencies.
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Mapped: The 50 Richest Women in the World in 2021 0 Rating 14 views 0 likes 0 comments
View the full-resolution version of this infographic Mapped: The 50 Richest Women in the World in 2021 ...
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Weekly Economic and Market Commentary Herb W. Morgan https://service.ringcentral.com/recording/share/Tb8PyFP3ojkzvNr5pGMNI13vgqAKpEKtH6CL7AJZM_iwIumekTziMw?startTime=1611069616000
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Dear Marci: Am I eligible for a transition refill?

Transition refills are not for new prescriptions. You can only get transition fills for drugs you were already taking before switching plans or before your existing plan changed its coverage. The following situations describe when you can get a transition refill if you do not live in a nursing home (there are different rules for transition refills for those living in nursing homes): 1. Your current plan is changing how it covers a Medicare-covered drug you have been taking.   •    If your plan is taking your drug off its formulary or adding a coverage restriction for the next calendar year for reasons other than safety, the plan must either: o    Help you switch to a similar drug that is on your plan’s formulary before January 1 o    Or, help you file an exception request before January 1 o    Or, give you a 30-day tran sition fill within the first 90 days of the new calendar year along with a notice about the new coverage policy. 2. Your new plan does not cover a Medicare-covered drug you have been taking. •    If a drug you have been taking is not on your new plan’s formulary, this plan must give you a 30-day transition refill within the first 90 days of your enrollment. It must also give you a notice explaining that your transition refill is temporary and informing you of your appeal rights. •    If a drug you have been taking is on your new plan’s formulary but with a coverage restriction, this plan must give you a 30-day transition refill free from any restriction within the first 90 days of your enrollment. It must also give you a notice explaining that your transition refill is temporary and informing you of your appeal rights. •    In both of the above cases, if a drug you have been taking is not on your new plan’s formulary, be sure to see whether there is a similar drug that is covered by your plan (check with your doctor about possible alternatives) and, if not, to file an exception request. (If your request is denied, you have the right to appeal.) Note: If you file an exception request and your plan does not process it by the end of your 90-day transition refill period, your plan must provide additional temporary refills until the exception is completed. Remember: All stand-alone Part D plans and Medicare Advantage Plans that offer drug coverage must provide transition fills in the above cases. When you use your transition fill, your plan must send you a written notice within three business days. The notice will tell you that the supply was temporary and that you should either change to a covered drug or file an exception request with the plan. - Marci Dear Marci is a free e-newsletter from the Medicare Rights Center (www.medicarerights.org), the nation’s largest independent source of information and assistance for people with Medicare. For more free answers to your Medicare questions, visit Medicare Interactive (MI) at www.medicareinteractive.org. Subscribe to Dear Marci by registering for your free account on Medicare Interactive.   For more postings by Medicare Interactive, click HERE Receive a 20% discount on Medicare Interactive courses with code:  "WCC20" Website:  https://www.medicareinteractive.org/wcc WealthCare Connect may receive a referral fee from Medicare Interactive for purchases make through these links.
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How—and Where—to Get a Second Passport Without Having to Buy or Inherit It
January 16, 2021 Category: Travel 25 views
By Jeff D. Opdyke If you're looking to get your hands on a second passport without having to buy or inherit it, then consider this less-costly, more-organic, nearly assured path: Move somewhere and gain citizenship—and a passport—via the naturalization process. That's not as difficult as it might sound. While lots of countries require that you live within their borders for a decade or longer before you can apply for citizenship, several impose a much-shorter timeline of between two and five years. And as a U.S. expat who's lived in Prague now for nearly two years, I can tell you those years fly by quickly. So, if you've ever given consideration to securing citizenship and a second passport, here are several countries where the process of citizenship-by-naturalization is relatively quick. Source:  https://internationalliving.com/a-second-passport-without-having-to-buy-or-inherit-it-trl/ For more International Living content, click HERE
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Inflation Is Here And It's Only Going to Get Worse
January 15, 2021 Category: Economy 21 views
Are you ready for an inflationary storm? Inflation had already entered the system courtesy of the Fed printing over $3 trillion last year while the U.S. federal government paid out over $2 trillion in stimulus checks. Then Joe Biden won the presidency. Last week President Biden suggested a stimulus program that will be in the “trillions” with a price tag that will be “twice as high.” Democrats are also proposing massive infrastructure spending, healthcare programs, as well as the Green New Deal and other climate change policies. I’m not saying I’m for or against any of this. I’m simply pointing out that all of it involves printing TRILLIONS of dollars. And that is going to unleash inflation. The Fed’s own research shows that food inflation is the best predictor of future inflation. Take a look at what agricultural food prices are doing and you’ll see a decade-long bear market that is ending. Then of course there’s Gold which has already hit new all-time highs: Not to mention emerging markets. The writing is on the wall. All three of those asset classes are inflationary in nature. All three of them are exploding higher. Simply put, inflation is already in the financial system. And as history has shown us, the longer it’s there, the worse it gets. Those investors who are well positioned to profit from it could see literal fortunes. Regards, Graham Summers Editor, Money & Crisis For more postings by Hard Asset Alliance, click HERE Website:  https://www.hardassetsalliance.com/?aff=TWC WealthCare Connect may receive a referral fee from Hard Asset Alliance for purchases make through these links.
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Charted: U.S. Unemployment Rates Over Time
January 13, 2021 Category: Economy 20 views
To say the coronavirus has taken a toll on the U.S. economy would be an understatement. At the end of 2019, the U.S. experienced the lowest unemployment levels in 50 years. But since COVID-19 swept the nation in mid-March, more than 47 million Americans have filed for unemployment and the country has entered a recession. How do today’s numbers compare to other major periods of unemployment? Our visualization illustrates how unemployment rates have changed over time in relation to major events.       The highest unemployment rate was 24.9% in 1933, during the Great Depression. The lowest unemployment rate was 1.2% in 1944. The most dramatic change in unemployment occurred between March 2020 and April 2020, representing a 10.3 percentage point increase at the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak. We gathered unemployment data over time from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is represented in the visualization by the red line graph. The horizontal axis represents the years 1929 - 2020, while the vertical access is the unemployment rate expressed as a percentage. We also included information about recessions, which are shown by the purple bars at the bottom of the graph to correspond with the years. To further situate unemployment rates in their historical context, we included major economic and political events that took place over the past 100 years. These are represented by the green circles above the line graph. Top 5 Years with the Highest Unemployment Rates   Year Unemployment Rate 1 1933 24.9% 2 1932 23.6% 3 1934 21.7% 4 1935 20.1% 5 1938 19% According to the Federal Reserve, the “natural rate of unemployment” (which accounts for the frictional, structural, and surplus unemployment that occurs in a healthy economy) is estimated to be between 3.5% - 4.5%. There will always be some unemployment because people are in-between jobs, or they are upskilling for new jobs because their old jobs are obsolete. However, the graph shows several noticeable periods when unemployment rates were much higher than the natural rate of unemployment. Not surprisingly, unemployment rates experienced a spike during depressions, recessions, and other major economic events such as the OPEC oil embargo in 1973, the Dotcom bubble in 2000, and most recently, the coronavirus outbreak in 2020. Some states are bearing the brunt of COVID-19 losses more than others. According to CNN, Nevada is the hardest-hit state, with a 25.3% unemployment rate in May. Hospitality and tourism are significant drivers in Nevada’s economy, but these sectors have suffered as a result of stay-at-home orders around the country. By contrast, Nebraska had the lowest unemployment rate in May, at 5.2%. Yet there is some hope on the horizon. Even though the nationwide unemployment rate reached 14.7% in April, it rapidly declined as the economy reopened and people on temporary furlough or layoff began to be rehired. The coronavirus outbreak is still far from over, and further effects on the economy remain to be seen. Want to read more of our coronavirus coverage? Check out our breakdown of coronavirus stimulus programs around the world, the impact of COVID-19 on the world’s major stock indexes. UPDATED: 13 January 2021   About the article Published: 2 July 2020 Authors  Irena  Editor Source:  https://howmuch.net/articles/timeline-united-states-unemployment-history HowMuch.net is a cost information website  For more postings HowMuch.net, click HERE Website:  https://howmuch.net/
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The Periodic Table of Commodity Returns (2021 Edition)
January 8, 2021 Category: Investing 28 views
By Dorothy Neufeld   The Periodic Table of Commodity Returns (2011-2020) Being a commodity investor can feel like riding a roller coaster. Take silver. Typically known for sharp, idiosyncratic price movements, it faced double-digit declines in the first half of the decade, falling over 35% in just 2013 alone. By contrast, it jumped over 47% in 2020. Similarly, oil, corn, and others witnessed either steep declines or rapid gains. The above graphic from U.S. Global Investors traces 10 years of commodity price performance, highlighting 14 different commodities and their annual ranking over the years. Commodity Price Performance, From Best to Worst Which commodities were the top performers in 2020? The aforementioned silver tripled its returns year-over-year, climbing 47.9% in 2020. In July, the metal actually experienced its strongest month since 1979. Rank Commodity Return (2020) Return (2019) Return (2018) 1 Silver 47.9% 15.2% -8.5% 2 Copper 26.0% 3.4% -17.5% 3 Palladium 25.9% 54.2% 18.6% 4 Gold 25.1% 18.3% -1.6% 5 Corn 24.8% 3.4% 6.9% 6 Zinc 19.7% -9.5% -24.5% 7 Nickel 18.7% 31.6% -16.5% 8 Gas 16.0% -25.5% -0.4% 9 Wheat 14.6% 11.0% 17.9% 10 Platinum 10.9% 21.5% -14.5% 11 Aluminum 10.8% -4.4% -17.4% 12 Lead 3.3% -4.7% -19.2% 13 Coal -1.3% -18.0% -22.2% 14 Oil -20.5% 34.5% -24.8% Along with silver, at least seven other commodities had stronger returns than the S&P 500 in 2020, which closed off the year with 16.3% gains. This included copper (26.0%), palladium (25.9%), gold (25.1%) and corn (24.8%). Interestingly, copper prices moved in an unconventional pattern compared to gold in 2020. Often, investors rush to gold in uncertain economic climates, while sectors such as construction and manufacturing—which both rely heavily on copper—tend to decline. Instead, both copper and gold saw their prices rise in conjunction. Nowadays, copper is also a vital material in electric vehicles (EVs), with recent demand for EVs also influencing the price of copper. Silver Linings As investors flocked to safety, silver’s price reached heights not seen since 2010. The massive scale of monetary and fiscal stimulus led to inflationary fears, also boosting the price of silver. How does this compare to its returns over the last decade? In 2013, silver crashed over 35% as confidence grew in global markets. By contrast, in 2016, the Brexit referendum stirred uncertainty in global markets. Investors allocated money in silver, and prices shifted upwards. As Gold as the Hills Like silver, market uncertainty has historically boosted the price of gold. What else contributed to gold’s rise? U.S. debt continues to climb, pushing down confidence in the U.S. dollar A weaker U.S. dollar makes gold cheaper for other countries to buy Low interest rates kept the returns of other safe haven assets low, making gold more attractive by comparison Here’s how the price of gold has changed in recent years. Gold faced its steepest recent declines in 2013, when the Federal Reserve bank discussed tapering down its quantitative easing program in light of economic recovery. Hitting the Brakes On Oil Oil suffered the worst commodity price performance in 2020, with -20.5% returns. For the first time in history, oil prices went negative as demand plummeted. To limit its oversupply, oil producers shrunk investment, closed wells, and turned off valves. Unfortunately, many companies still faced bankruptcies. By November, 45 oil producers had proceeded with bankruptcy filings year-to-date. This stood in stark contrast to 2019, when prices soared 34.5%. As is custom for oil, prices see-sawed over the decade. In 2016 and 2019, it witnessed gains of over 30%. However, like 2020, in 2014 it saw huge losses due to an oversupply of global petroleum. In 2020, total production cuts hit 7.2 million barrels a day in December, equal to 7% of global demand, in response to COVID-19. Source:  https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-periodic-table-commodity-price-returns-2021/ For more postings by Virtual Capitalist, click HERE Website:  https://www.visualcapitalist.com/
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The Best and Worst Performing Sectors of 2020
January 5, 2021 Category: Investing 25 views
Published by Nick Routley To say that 2020 was an unusual year in markets would be a vast understatement. In 2020, we saw the quickest and deepest bear market decline in history, trillions of dollars of global stimulus, the highest volatility (VIX) on record, negative oil prices, and the fastest recovery from a bear market ever—just to name a few of the abnormalities. And while the broader economy is still in a state of repair, investors finished the year in the black. The S&P 500, for example, ended with 16.3% gains, which was an above-average outing for the benchmark index. Winners and Losing Sectors of 2020 Today’s visualization uses an augmented screenshot of the FinViz treemap, showing the final numbers posted for major U.S.-listed companies, sorted by sector and industry. As you can see, the best and worst performing sectors generally fall into two categories: those that benefitted from COVID-19, and those that didn’t. This massive divergence is evident in the numbers. Companies in winning sectors are often up double or triple digits—while their losing counterparts were often down double digits, sometimes even halving in value from how they started the year. The Winners 1. Software Applications It was another banner year for Big Tech, but some of the top performing companies were those that acted as enablers to remote working and ecommerce. Perhaps the most notable entry here is Shopify, which rose 178% on the year and is nearly a $150 billion company today. 2. Internet Retail While Amazon is the undisputed 800-pound gorilla in ecommerce, companies like Etsy and Wayfair also had incredible years—as did many internet retail plays on the opposite side of the Pacific. Chinese company Pinduoduo, described as the fastest growing tech company in the world, gained 331% on the year as it capitalized on emerging trends such as social ecommerce, team purchasing, and consumer-to-manufacturing (C2M) sales. 3. Basic Materials It’s been a long downtrend in the commodity super cycle, but materials have come back into vogue. Copper prices are at eight-year highs, and gold hit all-time highs in August 2020. Some companies, such as Albemarle—the largest supplier of lithium for electric vehicles—doubled their stock price over the course of the year. 4. Freight and Logistics The shift to ecommerce has come faster than anticipated, and companies like FedEx and UPS couldn’t be happier. And with the transportation of ultra-refrigerated vaccines lining up to be a key need of 2021, it’s no surprise to see Cryoport up 165% on the year. 5. Semiconductors For a second straight year, semiconductor companies finished as winners on our list. The world needs more hardware to house and process the ever-expanding datasphere, and companies like Nvidia showed triple-digit gains in 2020, up 117%. Honorable mentions: Discount stores, retail home improvement, farm and heavy construction machinery, medical care facilities, and consumer electronics The Losers 1. Oil and Gas The oil sector was already struggling pre-COVID with price wars and a supply glut, but then lockdowns and the shutdown of non-essential travel provided another blow. BP finished the year at nearly half its market capitalization, falling 46% on the year. 2. Diversified Banks With record-low interest rates, shuttered physical locations, and credit risks looming from unemployed borrowers, bank stocks struggled in 2020. Wells Fargo, for example, finished down the year 44%. 3. Real Estate – Retail Many malls have not been collecting rent checks from their tenants, creating a challenging environment for many property owners and managers. Simon, the country’s largest shopping mall operator, felt the pain as its stock dropped 41% in 2020. 4. Airlines It goes without saying that less flying means less revenue for airlines. But going forward, with web conferencing now the professional norm, it’s also expected that lucrative business passenger numbers will take a hit in the future. United Airlines finished the year at less than half their market capitalization (-54%). 5. Aerospace/Defense Many aerospace and defense stocks were unable to rebound to pre-pandemic levels. Boeing, for example, finished the year down 36%. Source:  https://www.visualcapitalist.com/best-and-worst-performing-sectors-stock-market-of-2020/ For more postings by Virtual Capitalist, click HERE Website:  https://www.visualcapitalist.com/  
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