Tag Archives: economic climate

Extreme Poverty: 2.8 Million Children in the U.S. Live on $2 per Day

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— One in five households with children in poverty are surviving on the cash equivalent of a half gallon of milk per person per day in a given month.

The National Poverty Center has released a new report that examines poverty trends between 1996 and 2011. The number of households with children who are in extreme poverty in a given month—living at $2 or less in income per person per day—in 2011 totaled roughly 1.46 million households, including 2.8 million kids. This number is up from 636,000 households in 1996, nearly a 130 percent increase. (more…)

Read More

Investment Risk Tolerance Affected by Age, Economic Climate, MU Study Shows

COLUMBIA, Mo. – As the U.S. economy continues to lag, many investors remain wary about taking risks with the stock market. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have concluded that this attitude toward investment risk-taking is influenced by the age of the investor and the economic climate of the time period. Rui Yao, an assistant professor of personal financial planning in the College of Human Environmental Sciences at MU, found that willingness to take financial risks, or “risk tolerance,” decreases as investors age.

“Age has a pragmatic relationship with financial risk,” Yao said. “Each additional year of life represents a shortened time horizon for recouping market losses. In addition, individuals approaching or in retirement may shift focus from asset accumulation to asset preservation. These individuals may become relatively more concerned about potential loss of money when they are closer to retirement or no longer have a steady source of income.” (more…)

Read More