#194 Year-End Retirement Planning with Ed Slott

What a treat to have retirement plan expert Ed Slott CPA join the show to help make smart year-end financial decisions! Ed is a nationally recognized IRA expert, television personality and best-selling author who has dedicated his life to educating Americans on saving for retirement and the intricacies of IRAs.

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Among his many pearls of wisdom, delivered with his awesome Long island accent, Ed reminded us to do the following before the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 2014:

• Make your 2014 Roth IRA conversion
• Be aware of new IRA rollover rules
• Max out your retirement accounts
• Take Required Minimum Distributions
• Check / Update Beneficiary Forms
• Be aware of stealth taxes
• Consider donating your IRA distributions to charity
• Use Your Gifting Limits

In the first hour of the show, we had a terrific call from Mike in Texas, Sharon in CT and Mike in Maryland, all of whom needed guidance on financial advisors.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. If you have a financial question, there are lots of ways to contact us:

• Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 

• Send an email: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

Peak Oil Pukes

Remember when energy analysts were scaring everyone with the concept of “Peak Oil”? The theory was that global oil production had peaked and as a result, prices would shoot up to $200 a barrel and the cost at the pump would top $10 per gallon. Flash forward to this past week, when West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and North Sea Brent Crude touched new four-year lows. (The Energy Information Agency provides a good description of the two benchmarks here.) The combination of the U.S. shale boom and weakening Chinese and European demand has pushed down oil prices 30 percent since June. And according to the International Energy Association, lower prices are likely to continue into the first half of next year. Short of a geopolitical flare up, the IEA believe the we are entering “a new chapter in the history of the oil markets.”

The Energy Information Agency said that US oil production reached 8.9 million barrels per day in October, the highest monthly production since July 1986. The agency is forecasting that production will average 9.4 million barrels per day next year, which would be the most since 1972. As a result, the government cut its forecast for global oil prices next year by $18 a barrel to $83. The EIA notes that a $1-per-barrel change in the price of crude oil translates into a change of about 2.4 cents per gallon of gasoline (There are 42 gallons in one barrel, and 2.4 cents is about 1/42 of $1) and so the agency also predicts that the average price of gas will be below $2.94 a gallon next year, a 44-cent drop from an outlook issued a month ago.

If that holds, consumers will save $61 billion on gas compared with this year. That may not seem like a lot in the context of a $17.5 trillion U.S. economy, but economists say it matters because it immediately gives consumers more money to spend on other things…like holiday shopping!

Before we get too ahead of ourselves with visions of sugar plum fairies and the like, you may wonder if there is a downside to the drop in oil. A recent Sanford C. Bernstein report noted that oil at $80 a barrel makes one-third of U.S. shale oil production uneconomical. If that’s the case, there is a fear that state economies like Texas and North Dakota which combined, account for about half of the nation’s oil production, could take a hit to their energy-dependent economies.

But any pullback on the local level is likely to be outweighed by a more general increase in economic growth. Estimates range from a 0.3 to 0.5 percent bump in fourth quarter GDP from lower oil and gas prices. That might not seem like a lot, but it sure would come in handy for the holidays and kick US growth into a higher gear.

There was one other piece of good news for US consumers: College costs are still rising, but at a slower pace. According to a report from the College Board, tuition and fees for four-year public colleges averages $9,139 for in-state students, an increase of less than 1 percent after inflation (Room and board adds $9,804 to the total bill). In 2009-2010, the annual increase at public institutions was 9.5 percent. Tuition and fees for four-year private nonprofit colleges were $31,231 ($42,419 with room and board), up 1.6 percent after inflation, down from the recent peak in price growth of 5.9 percent in 2009-2010.

The College Board issued a separate report, which found that students and parents borrowed $106 billion in the 2013-2014 academic year from the federal government and other sources, down nearly 8 percent from the previous year after accounting for inflation, and down 13 percent from 2010-2011 peak of $122.1 billion.

MARKETS: With stock indexes at record highs, investors are feeling good. The latest survey from the American Association of Individual Investors found that bullishness spiked to a four-year high of nearly 58 percent. Bearish sentiment, or expectations that markets will fall over the next six months was at 19.3 percent, below the historical average of 30 percent. If you believe that investors are often happiest at the wrong times, this could be seen as a warning… 

• DJIA: 17,634, up 0.4% on week, up 6.4% YTD
• S&P 500: 2039, up 0.4% on week, up 10.4% YTD
• NASDAQ: 4688, up 1.2% on week, up 12.3% YTD
• Russell 2000: 1174, up 0.05% on week, up 0.9% YTD
• 10-Year Treasury yield: 2.32% (from 2.30% a week ago)
• December Crude Oil: $75.82, down 3.6% on the week (7^th consecutive weekly loss)
• December Gold: $1185.60, up 1.3% on the week
• AAA Nat'l average price for gallon of regular Gas: $2.88 (from $3.21 a year ago; longest decline in gas prices since 2008)

THE WEEK AHEAD: Freddie Mac said fixed mortgage rates are hovering near 2014 lows, with 30-year fixed-rates averaging 4.01 percent, down from 4.35 percent a year ago. Will those low rates spur housing activity? We’ll learn more this week, when reports on Housing Starts and Existing Home Sales are released.

Mon 11/17:

Urban Outfitters, Tyson, Agilent

8:30 Empire State Manufacturing Survey

10:00 Industrial Production

Tues 11/18:

Home Depot, TJX

U.S. Senate may vote to approve the Keystone XL pipeline

8:30 Producer Price Index

10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index

Weds 11/19:

Target, Staples, Lowes, Williams-Sonoma

8:30 Housing Starts

2:00 Fed Minutes

Thurs 11/20:

Best Buy, Dollar Tree, Gap

8:30 Weekly Jobless Claims

8:30 Consumer Price Index

10:00 Philadelphia Fed Survey

10:00 Existing Home Sales

Fri 11/21:

Ann Taylor, Foot Locker

#193 Help Our Veterans!

In honor of the recent Veterans' Day holiday, guest Ann Marsh, Senior Editor and West Coast Bureau Chief of Financial Planning Magazine joined the show. In a must-read article, Ann highlighted how financial problems are weighing on our servicemen and servicewomen, and in some cases, contributing to suicide.

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If you want to help, contact your favorite lawmaker and encourage him/her to support the Holt Amendment, which designates $1 million to study the links between financial stress, financial abuse, and military suicide and to generate recommendations to address these issues.

The two organizations that Ann mentioned are: www.giveanhour.org, which is in the process of considering launching a financial planning arm of its services and www.psycharmor.org, which is putting together a new network of private sector professionals to help soldiers and vets, including financial planners.

Your calls and e-mails are always great-this week was no exception. Kurt from Alaska is considering selling his home, just one year after buying it; Cheryl needs help allocating her investment accounts; Michael wants to know about buying real estate inside his IRA and a Petty Officer was wondering about the impact of rising mortgage interest rates on his VA loan.

When a complicated estate planning question arises, like one from Keith, I recommend consulting an attorney. I know it costs money, but these are thorny issues that require an expert. Edward is weighing a lump sum pension pay out versus an annuity and Philip wanted to know whether he should invest in an insurance policy on his mother.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. If you have a financial question, there are lots of ways to contact us:

• Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 

• Send an email: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

ACA Open Enrollment, Part Deux

On November 15 (and through February 15, 2015), the second open-enrollment period will begin for individual health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Despite a dreadful rollout, during the first Open Enrollment period, 8 million individuals signed up for non-group coverage through federal and state Marketplaces. If you didn’t sign up for coverage in the first go-round, you will be able to enroll for 2015 at HealthCare.Gov, which has been revamped for the new season. Note: If you want coverage starting January 1, you must enroll by December 15. If you signed up last year, use this time to renew or change policies and to ensure your current plan is still the best choice for you, especially if you are one of the approximately 85 percent of Marketplace enrollees who is receiving premium tax credits to make coverage more affordable. (Remember that you claim the credit by filing a federal income tax return.)

While it may seem easy to renew coverage without updating, unless you update your income data, you won't have accurate information about how much you are eligible for in tax credits and what your out-of-pocket premium contribution for a plan actually is. Additionally, if your income has increased, you may no longer be entitled to the credit, a fact that you don’t want to discover when you file taxes and have the nasty surprise of owning the government money!

Even if your personal circumstances have not changed, the cost of your plan may rise next year. PriceWaterhouseCooper’s Healthcare Institute found that on average, premiums for individual insurance plans are expected to increase by 6 percent in 2015, though actual changes and premium prices vary significantly across states.

Your cost of healthcare is not just measured in premiums, but in out of pocket expenses like deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance. All Marketplace plans are required to set a cap on total out of pocket spending for in-network services in a year. The maximum out of pocket cap for 2015 will increase to $6,600 for an individual ($13,200 for a family policy), compared to $6,350/$12,700 in 2014.

Another change for 2015 is the penalty for not having health care coverage. The fee is the higher of: two percent of your income or $325 per adult/$162.50 per child, with a maximum penalty per family of $975. You’ll pay the fee on the federal income tax return you file for the year you don’t have coverage. If you don't pay the fee, the IRS will hold back the amount of the fee from any future tax refunds, but there are no liens, levies, or criminal penalties for failing to pay it.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, you may be exempt from the requirement to maintain qualified healthcare coverage if you:

• Can not afford coverage (defined as those who would pay more than 8 percent of their household income for the lowest cost bronze plan available through the Marketplace)
• Are not a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, or a resident alien lawfully present in the U.S.
• Had a gap in coverage for less than 3 consecutive months during the year
• Will not file a tax return because your income is below the tax filing threshold (In 2014 the tax filing thresholds are $10,150 for individuals and $20,300 for married filing jointly)
• Are unable to qualify for Medicaid because your state has chosen not to expand
• Participate in a health care sharing ministry or are a member of a recognized religious sect with objections to health insurance
• Are a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe
• Are incarcerated

Kaiser also notes some exemptions must be obtained by applying directly to the Marketplace and those who may be eligible for exemptions and who have not yet applied for one can still do so before the end of the year. Some exemptions can be claimed on the income tax return with IRS Form 8965, though the exemption for people who don’t earn enough to file taxes is automatic.

Finally, if you need help, you can call the health insurance marketplace for assistance, at 1-800-318-2596, where one of 14,000 customer service representatives (an increase of 1,000 from last year), can answer questions.

Long-Term Care Awareness

November is Long Term Care Awareness month, which gives me an opportunity to discuss this important subject. I know people hate thinking about getting old and sick, or becoming a burden, but not addressing the issue could have a significant impact on your life and the lives of your family. According to the 2014 Medicare & You, National Medicare Handbook, at least 70 percent of people over 65 will need long term care services and support at some point in their lifetime. Unfortunately, many do not realize that Medicare and most health insurance plans, including Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) policies, don’t pay for this type of care, sometimes called “custodial care.”

Only those with limited resources qualify for coverage through Medicaid, which is a joint federal and state program that helps pay for certain health services. If you qualify for Medicaid, you may be able to get government assistance for nursing home care or other health care costs.

And those costs are breathtaking. Genworth Financial’s Cost of Care Survey for 2014 shows that prices for care have steadily increased, though the cost of facility-based providers has grown at a much greater rate than that for home care. In 2014, the national median cost for a private room in a nursing home was $87,600 (prices vary widely across the country), which represents a 4.19 percent compound annual growth rate over the past five years – that’s more than twice the annual rate of inflation during the same time period of time. (Note: bunking up doesn’t save as much as you might think: the cost of a semi-private room is a whopping $77,380.)

If you don’t need a facility, care is more affordable. The national hourly median rate for a licensed home health aide rose by just 1.32 percent annually over the past 5 years to $20. The slower rate of inflation is attributed to increased competition among agencies and the wider availability of unskilled workers.

Everyone has heard stories about folks who plow through all of their savings, due to an extended illness, but the cost of protecting against that potential liability possibility can be steep. According to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, a typical long-term care policy for a 55-year-old couple costs about $4,000 and about 15 percent of people in their 50s get declined for long-term care insurance.

Who needs long-term care insurance (LTCi)? Generally, speaking, those who have a total net worth, including a house, between $300,000 and $1.5 million may want to consider purchasing some baseline coverage. (Those below $300,000 can rely on Medicaid, while those above $1.5 million can self-insure.) Couples are especially vulnerable, because a sick spouse can eat into assets that would dramatically change the healthy spouse’s life in the future.

I am often asked about specific companies that provide LTCi coverage. Many insurers no longer offer this product, because it is so difficult to predict how many people will need long-term care and what the cost of that the care might be.  Unfortunately, the more insurance companies that exit the LTC business, the fewer options there are for consumers. Some of the highly rated companies that are still committed to offering LTCi include: Genworth, John Hancock, Mutual of Omaha, MassMutual, New York Life and Northwestern Mutual.

What the Jobs Report Says about the Recovery

The October jobs report confirmed that the economic recovery continues, but is still battling to come back from the worst recession since the Great Depression. Employers added 214,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate edged down to 5.8 percent, the lowest level since July 2008. Although the result was a bit shy of estimates for 230,000, with revisions to the two previous months, average monthly job creation this year stands at 229,000, which puts 2014 on pace to be the best year for both total and private sector job growth since 1999.

Some complain that the unemployment rate is not a comprehensive number, but the Labor Department has a separate reading called “U-6”, a broader unemployment rate, which includes involuntary part-time workers and those too discouraged to apply for jobs. U-6 declined to 11.5 percent in October, down 2.2 percent from a year ago and now at the lowest level since 2008. The progress is great, but is still high based on historical standards. During the last expansion, the rate hovered between 8 and 10 percent.

The same pattern can be seen with long-term unemployed, defined as those out of work for more than 26 weeks and still want a job. There are 2.916 million long-term unemployed workers, down from the recession high of 6.7 million and the lowest level since January 2009, but it is still a very high number.

Despite the acceleration in hiring, average hourly wages were little changed. Earnings were up by just 2 percent from a year ago, just 0.3 percent ahead of the annual rate of inflation. In fact, most of the wage gains during the economic recovery have benefited the wealthiest Americans. Average income grew 10 percent from 20-10 through 20-13 for the top one-tenth of earners; for everyone else, incomes stagnated or declined.

That divergence probably explains why exit polls from the mid-term elections showed extreme pessimism about the state of the economy. Seventy-one percent of voters said that economy is not so good or poor and only 33 percent of voters believe that the economy is getting better.

Capital Economics offered a note of potential relief about wages, saying that “There is plenty of evidence to suggest that, contrary to what the all employees measure of average hourly earnings is telling us, wage growth is accelerating. The employment cost index shows that third-quarter wages and salaries in the private sector increased at a 3 percent annualized rate. That faster growth is being driven by strong employment growth in the trade, transportation and utilities and the professional and business services sectors.”

Until those increases kick in, economists worry that consumer spending will be inconsistent and that the holiday season may not be so jolly for retailers. There were some clues in the jobs report that retailers believe that this will be a strong holiday season. Retailers hired a record number of seasonal workers in October. According to Calculated Risk, “There is a decent correlation between October seasonal retail hiring and holiday retail sales.” According to the National Retail Federation, retailers are expected to hire between 725,000 and 800,000 seasonal workers this holiday season.

MARKETS: What correction? US stock market indexes have rebounded in recent weeks, making that near-correction in mid-October a distant memory, at least for now. But some worry that the strengthening US dollar could cause US exporters to lose market share, as they contend with cheaper imports. The stronger dollar could also be a drag on multinationals that rely on earnings of their foreign operations. The more the dollar climbs, the less those earnings are worth in US currency.

• DJIA: 17,574, up 1% on week, up 6% YTD
• S&P 500: 2031, up 0.7% on week, up 9.9% YTD
• NASDAQ: 4631, up 0.04% on week, up 10.9% YTD
• Russell 2000: 1173, flat on week, up 0.8% YTD
• 10-Year Treasury yield: 2.31% (from 2.34% a week ago)
• December Crude Oil: $78.65, down 2.4% on the week (6^th consecutive weekly loss)
• December Gold: $1169.80, down 0.1% on the week
• AAA Nat'l average price for gallon of regular Gas: $2.94 (from $3.21 a year ago)

THE WEEK AHEAD: The big report of the week is Retail Sales, which should show that consumers used the decline in gas prices to purchase other goods and services.

Mon 11/10:

Tues 11/11: Veteran’s Day: Bond Markets Closed, Stock Markets Open

7:30 NFIB Small Business Optimism

Weds 11/12:

Macy’s

Thurs 11/13:

Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Wal-Mart

8:30 Weekly Jobless Claims

10:00 Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS)

Fri 11/14:

Eurozone GDP

8:30 Import/Export Prices

8:30 Retail Sales

9:55 Consumer Sentiment

#192 Why You Need a Fiduciary Advisor

Guest Paul Auslander the Director of Financial Planning at ProVise Management Group, LLC and the former FPA President and Chairman of the Board, joins the show to discuss why it is so important to hire a FIDUCIARY advisor--one who puts YOUR interests first!

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Paul and I discussed the startling report from the The Financial Planning Coalition, which highlighted the fact that some financial service providers “are contributing to the confusion in the marketplace by identifying themselves as financial planners but not providing financial planning services.” If you want to read more about the report, check out my post "Investors are 'Confused and Harmed'".

We love guests, but we also love your calls. Melanie is a second-time caller, seeking additional advice on how to invest her husband's retirement money. E-mailer Lupe needed help getting started with investing, while Keith is trying to juggle the income tax impact of his 10 rental properties.

Thanks to Ben and Paul who weighed in on collecting Social Security on a former spouse and to Caroline, Beverly and Gail, who wrote in about my recent article "Estate Planning Checklists".

Jan and Debbie wrote in about their retirement accounts and Rich wanted to know about 2015 limits for Roth IRAs.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. If you have a financial question, there are lots of ways to contact us:

• Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 

• Send an email: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

Investors are “Confused and Harmed”

Pity the poor consumer of financial services. According to The Financial Planning Coalition, a collaboration of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (“CFP Board”), the Financial Planning Association® (“FPA”), and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (“NAPFA”), “consumers who want financial planning services are…unable to differentiate those who are truly competent to provide financial planning services from those who are using financial planning as a marketing tool.” The Coalition recently released a white paper, “Consumers Are Confused and Harmed,” which highlighted the problem. I know that you too will be shocked, just shocked to learn that the misunderstanding is not solely our fault…it has something to do with the fact that some financial service providers “are contributing to the confusion in the marketplace by identifying themselves as financial planners but not providing financial planning services.”

The Coalition points to a Cerulli study, which found that over 166,000 financial advisors self-identified as members of a financial planning focused practice, but after conducting detailed analysis, Cerulli “determined that only 38 percent of the self-identified financial planners actually had financial planning focused practices. In other words, over 100,000 financial advisors incorrectly self-identified as being part of a financial planning practice.”

Let’s think about this in another way. Let’s say that you go to the doctor to have a knee replacement and the doctor identifies himself as someone who does orthopedic surgery. Upon further analysis, you find out that the guy is a primary care physician and not a surgeon. You sure would have liked to know that fact, before you went under the knife, right?

According to Kevin Keller, the CEO of the CFP Board “American consumers looking for financial planning services face an uphill battle when it comes to identifying a competent, ethical financial planner. Just as consumers expect a medical doctor to have an M.D., a lawyer – a J.D., an accountant – a CPA, they should expect their financial planner to demonstrate expertise, experience, and accountability, and be held to standards the public can understand and trust.”

Here’s the problem: there is NO uniform regulation of financial planners, which would ensure that our expectations are met. In 2011, the SEC’s “Study on investment advisers and broker-dealers advocated that the “fiduciary standard” be applied to the industry. A fiduciary duty means that a financial professional must put your needs first. (CFP® professionals are held to the fiduciary duty.) Those who aren’t fiduciaries are held to a lesser standard, called “suitability,” which means that anything they sell you has to be appropriate for you, though not necessarily in your best interest. The SEC has noted, “most [investors] are unaware of the different legal standards that apply to their advice and recommendations…and expect that the recommendations they receive will be in their best interests.”

The coalition’s white paper corroborates the SEC: “A full 82 percent of consumers believe that a financial planner is essentially the same as a financial advisor, and there is only slightly less confusion between the titles financial planner, wealth manager and investment advisor.” And the vast majority of those who are held to the suitability standard would like to keep you mired in confusion. That’s why SIFMA, the industry’s lobbying arm, has spent millions of dollars to prevent the fiduciary standard from becoming law.

Lauren M. Schadle, CEO/Executive Director of FPA cuts to the chase: “It’s really pretty simple. Consumers who seek integrated, financial planning and receive narrow advice or one-product solutions with their life savings are harmed by the lack of appropriate regulation…time and time again, consumers are misled and harmed by those who simply use the moniker ‘financial planner’ as a marketing tactic but fail to deliver actual financial planning.” NAPFA CEO Geof Brown adds that the current environment can lead consumers to purchase “investment or insurance products that are inappropriate for them.”

What’s the fix? Until the government adopts the fiduciary standard, your best bet is to come right out and ask any potential or current financial professional, “Are you a fiduciary?” If not, you may want to find someone who is.

Here are three resources to find fiduciary advisors:

• FPA Planner Search
• NAPFA Fee Only Advisors
• CFP Board Find a CFP Profesional

Near-Correction to Stock Market Highs: We Still Stink at Investing

The WSJ’s Morgan Housel gets the market-timing award of the season. On September 13^th, he wrote “With stocks more than doubling in value over the past five years, now is the time to prepare yourself for the emotional roller coaster that will come during the inevitable correction.” (Emphasis mine.) While an official correction of 10 percent did not materialize, on September 19^th, just days after Housel's article was published, the S&P 500 hit an all-time high of 2,019 and then began a 9.8 percent plunge to an intra-day low of 1,820 on October 15th. U.S. stock indexes reclaimed new highs on Friday (see the numbers below), rescuing what was shaping up to be an ugly month. Market action in October was a great lesson in a few tried and true investment mantras, like “stick to your game plan”, “being an investor means signing up for ups and downs from time to time” and “don’t let your emotions take over”.

And about those emotions…they really can mess with your investment returns, because so often, they lead you to buy high and sell low, which can cost the average investor about three percentage points a year in lost return over the long run. The proclivity to trade at exactly the wrong time encouraged Business Insider to add “YOU SUCK” to this chart from Richard Bernstein Advisors: (click on the chart to enlarge):

You’ll notice that during this twenty-year period, which includes the dot-com boom and bust, as well as the recent housing and credit boom and bust and the Great Recession, the Average Investor has not done too well. The reason is clear: people jump in and out of markets at the wrong time! The best defense against those emotional decisions is to stick to that diversified portfolio and don’t mess with it when markets move up or down.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s return to a fundamental question: How is the economy doing? The first reading of third quarter US growth came in at a better than expected 3.5 percent annual pace, boosted by a 7.8 percent surge in exports and a 10 percent jump in federal spending. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is that consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the economy, slowed to a 1.8 percent annual pace from 2.5 percent in the second quarter. As we enter the all-important holiday season, economists are eager to see whether consumers become a tad less parsimonious and open those physical and electronic wallets to spend more freely.

One reason consumers may not have been as willing to spend is that wage growth has only increased at about the pace of inflation. There will be more information about that when the October jobs report is released on Friday. Economists predict that employers added 225,000 jobs and the unemployment rate remained at 5.9 percent, the lowest level since July 2008. If the numbers improve dramatically, it could actually have a negative impact on stocks, as investors may surmise that the Federal Reserve might consider raising short-term interest rates sooner than expected…higher interest rates are seen as a headwind for the stock market.

Reports on manufacturing, as well as factory orders and vehicle sales could tell us whether the combination of a global slowdown and a stronger US dollar is starting to negatively impact US exporters. Last year, manufacturers contributed just over $2 trillion to the economy, which represents 12.5 percent of GDP. But economists focus on the sector because for every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.32 is added to the economy, the highest multiplier effect of any economic sector.

MARKETS: Just in time for the holiday season and for the first time in four years, prices at the pump for regular gas have dropped to under $3/gallon nationally. Consumers are saving about $250 million a day on gasoline compared with early summer, when the national average hit $3.68 a gallon, according to AAA.

• DJIA: 17,390 up 3.5% on week, up 2% on month, up 4.9% YTD (best percentage weekly gain since Jan 2013)
• S&P 500: 2018, up 2.7% on week, up 2.3% on month, up 9.2% YTD (best two-week gain since Dec 2011)
• NASDAQ: 4630, up 3.3% on week, up 3% on month, up 10.9% YTD (highest level since Mar 2000)
• Russell 2000: 1173, up 4.9% on week, up 6.5% on month, up 0.8% YTD
• 10-Year Treasury yield: 2.34% (from 2.27% a week ago)
• December Crude Oil: $80.54, down 0.6% on the week, down 12% on month (down 25% from June highs)
• December Gold: $1171.60, down 4.9% on the week, down 3.3% on month, down 2.6% YTD (lowest level since Jul 2010)
• AAA Nat'l average price for gallon of regular Gas: $2.99 (from $3.30 a year ago, down 33 cents in October, lowest level since Dec 2010)

THE WEEK AHEAD:

Mon 11/3:

Automobile Sales

9:45 PMI Manufacturing

10:00 ISM Manufacturing

10:00 Construction Spending

Tues 11/4:

8:30 International Trade

10:00 Factory Orders

Weds 11/5:

CBS, NewsCorp, Whole Foods

8:15 ADP Private Payroll Report

10:00 ISM Non-Manufacturing

Thurs 11/6:

AOL, Walt Disney, Zynga

8:30 Weekly Jobless Claims

8:30 Productivity

Fri 11/7

8:30 October Jobs

3:00 Consumer Credit

#191 Open Enrollment Season

Ah, the change of the clocks, the never-ending temptation of Halloween candy and the mind numbing exercise of choosing new benefits! It's that time of year -- open enrollment -- and we have special guest Paul Essner of The Signature Group to help wade through the choices.

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Paul raised an important issue, but luckily it's one that you can address. As the cost of insurance rises, many are not taking into account their specific health care situations and as a result, they are not choosing the most affordable health care option.

The solution is easy: you need to understand how you are using health care and project what the year ahead will look like to determine the best plan for you. (Hint: Some may be better off using high deductible plans, paired with Health Savings Accounts!) Paul also addressed some of the nuances of the Affordable Care Act and its impact on employers, as well as how some companies are rolling out new benefits that could be advantageous.

Karen is 61 years old and plans to retire next year. Her big question is whether she will be able to supplement her pension and Social Security, to the tune of about $20K per year. The answer is yes, with a caveat…

We helped Sally figure out whether or not to take an employer buyout and discussed how Barbara and her husband should pay for long-term care.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. If you have a financial question, there are lots of ways to contact us:

• Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 

• Send an email: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio