Consumer discretionary spending is the major driver of the U.S. economy as household purchases make-up about 71 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).

Without growth in consumer spending, the economy would most likely go nowhere.

Since economic growth is generally considered a good thing, it stands to reason that we should be looking for things that contribute to consumer spending.

An interesting piece of research from an economist at Credit Suisse shows that health spending has been the primary driver of the growth in consumer spending over the past 50 years.

As reported in a Bloomberg piece, consumer spending has increased from 61 percent of GDP in the 1960s to roughly 71 percent today.

When health expenses are excluded, though, the growth in consumer spending is basically unchanged over the past half century. 

So if we remove healthcare expenses from the equation, the surge in consumer spending and a good portion of GDP growth disappear.  And as our society ages and retires over the next several decades, the strong relationship between health spending and economic growth will almost certainly continue.

Given these facts, it makes sense to ask why the growth in health spending is considered by many to be such a problem.  We are constantly bombarded with messages about how healthcare expenses are out of control, unsustainable and need to be reigned-in.

If spending trends are any indication, people consider it more important to spend on their health than on clothes, cars, or houses.

Shouldn’t we be encouraging health spending since it is such an important factor in economic growth—particularly at a time when the economy faces the prospect of prolonged Read all post…

I just talked with the daughter of a deceased client regarding a trust established a few years ago. When I worked with her father on his estate planning a few years ago, his three children were all happily married and doing well financially. I encouraged him to leave each child’s inheritance in a trust just in case one of the children had marital difficulties and/or creditor difficulties.

My client was somewhat unsure of my recommendation, but agreed to establish separate trusts for his three children, with each child being the Trustee of their own trust. Each child has discretion to make distributions to the child and descendants of the child for their health, education, maintenance, and support. The child also has a testamentary limited power of appointment which gives them the power to decide how the trust will be distributed following their death.

The daughter has had a bad run of luck. The business owned by the daughter and her husband has done poorly due to the economy. Furthermore, her husband had a stroke and she has been recently diagnosed with cancer. T

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We all know that song with the little kid singing, All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth! Well, as we get older we start wanting things a little more complex than that. All we want for Christmas are his-and-hers Kindles! Check out what Americans went for last year and what were pining after this holiday season!

Last year, the typical US shopper spent $688.87 on gifts for others. Thats a lot of dough-ho-ho!

Digital picture frames and remote helicopters were popular in the thrifty price ranges, while vacuuming robots and Apple hardware were among the favorite expensive gifts above $50 and $100.

When in doubt, cash, gift cards, electronics, toys, clothes, jewelry, games and sporting equipment are often safe bets. Theyre the categories Americans cite most.

This year, people are hoping for a Playstation Move, CoD MW3, Apple iPods and iPads, Kindles, GPS systems, Canon digital cameras and Asus lightweight laptops.

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Many people face financial constraints in their lives and are often burdened with loans. They may seek a way out of their debt to ease their problems. Online debt consolidation services help them to minimize their debt and can erase debt in a fast, efficient way.

Online debt consolidation works by taking several large monthly payments owed and turning them in one manageable monthly payment. Creditors compensate most of the costs related to debt consolidation, because they are aware that receiving lower payments from an individual every month at reduced interest rates is more acceptable than filing for bankruptcy. Online debt consolidation can provide the creditor a way to retrieve the principal amount billed on one’s account.

Consumers who cannot make minimum monthly payments on their credit cards and unsecured debts will do well to get in touch with an online debt consolidation firm. A single monthly payment can significantly reduce payment amounts. This can reduce an individual’s anxiety and eliminate debt in a remarkably short period of time. How

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If you have more than one loan that you are currently trying to pay off at the moment, you can take out one single loan which will help you pay off the multiple loans and make sure that it is only one single lender that you will now be repaying. This process of procuring a new loan a single bank is called debt consolidation. It is usually very effective and commonly used in the cases of credit card debts. Credit cards have a system of floating interests where sometimes the interest can reach very large amounts and hence it would be viable to pay off the debt and continue payments to a different lender at a much lower interest rate. The interest rate on unsecure loans is almost always much lesser than that of credit cards. One of the most important things that one needs to make sure when they are going for debt consolidation loans is to make sure that they do not turn an unsecure debt into a secure debt as it runs the risk of increase the debt amount which needs to be repaid in this case.