7 biggest personal finance stories of the year
Jill on Money
It’s a new year, and that makes it a good time to look back on what happened last year. Here are the seven stories that had the greatest impact on personal finance.
The stock market rally: The post-election rally continued throughout 2017. Early in the year, investors bought on the hope of potential infrastructure spending, tax cuts and a reduction of regulations across a wide swath of industries. What many had not priced in was a surge in global growth, which propelled corporate profits. The rising market was a fairly consistent and quiet one, without the usual gyrations on the up or downside.
Federal Reserve policy: Two years ago, the Fed embarked on a new policy, raising shortterm interest rates. There was one 0.25 percent increase in 2015, another in 2016 and then three more in 2017. New to the Fed policy this year was the unwinding of the bonds that it had purchased during the financial crisis, recession and recovery. Despite fears that the actions would shatter the stock and bond markets, investors cheered the methodical approach that Fed Chair Janet Yellen employed.
Federal Reserve personnel: As expected, President Trump did not re-nominate Yellen to a second term as Fed chief. He chose current Fed governor Jerome Powell to lead the central bank. He also appointed Randal K. Quarles as vice chairman for supervision, leaving three more openings to fill next year.
Regulation: The Trump administration’s regulatory rollback has had a profound impact on consumers. For example, the Department of Labor delayed the full implementation of the fiduciary rule, which would have required anyone who handles retirement assets or gives financial advice to retirement savers to work in their clients’ best interest and to provide disclosure of conflicts, when they exist.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the independent watchdog agency set up six years ago, was put in limbo after the former director, Richard Cordray, stepped down in 2017. There are currently two interim leaders of the agency: current head of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney, who was selected by President Trump to oversee the consumer watchdog until a permanent replacement could be found, and Leandra English, former CFPB chief of staff turned deputy director, whom Cordray had appointed. The court system will determine who wins the battle.
Equifax: The massive data breach at the credit monitoring company Equifax exposed names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and more from a whopping 143 million Americans. The concept of a credit freeze became more well-known.
Bitcoin: The cryptocurrency started the year at 1,000 and charged up toward 20,000 by the end of the year. As competing cryptocurrencies cropped up, so too did the analogies to the 1990s tech bubble and bust.
Republican tax plan: The GOP passed the most sweeping overhaul to the tax code in more than three decades. Among the losers are many taxpayers because the majority of their cuts will expire after 2025; homeowners in high-tax states, whose state, local and property tax deductions will be capped at a total of $10,000; and the remaining people who are insured through the Affordable Care Act, whose insurance premiums could rise 10 percent.
Jill Schlesinger, CFP, is a CBS News business analyst. She welcomes comments and questions at askjill@moneywatch.com.