• Episode 3: what happens if i get sick in retirement?

  In May, we held a pre-retirement webinar that touched on five main questions to answer as you prepare to move in to retirement. Last week, Barry touched on the question, "How much money do you need to retire?". In this episode, we address the question, "What happens if you get sick in retirement?" We hope you enjoy!

• Retail Sales Easily Beat Expectations In May:

For the month of May, forecasters were expecting a record-setting increase in retail sales. As it turns out, sales rose 17.7%, easily beating the consensus expected 8.4%. While every category experienced significant gains, automobiles were up 44.1%. Car sales are now down only 3.9% in the past year. Restaurants (+29.1%), clothing stores (+188%) furniture (+89.7%), and department stores (+36.9%) were also big winners during the month of May. Retail sales are still down 6.1% versus a year ago, but this is a strong start to recovery.

• Housing Starts Increase 4.3% in May:

  Even though housing starts increased by 974,000 million in May, they were lagging the consensus expected 1.1 million. Starts are down 23.2% versus a year ago. In addition, starts rose in the West and Northeast, but fell in the South and Midwest. Builders' ability to start new projects remain constricted through a combination of supply-chain disruptions and social distancing measures for workers. As far as single-family home purchases are concerned, applications are up nearly 20% compared to last year. Here's a graph from CNBC showing the fall and rise in mortgage applications: 

• And You Thought Your Dog Was Well Trained.....:

On Tuesday, robot maker Boston Dynamics put it's robot dog, Spot, on the market for general sale. Any US business may purchase the dog for an affordable $74,500, the same price as the luxury Tesla Model S. The robot can go essentially anywhere humans can and has no "accidents" in the house. According to The Verge, Spot has been used to create 3D maps of construction machines and hunt for machine faults in offshore oil rigs. It was also used to work with a police bomb squad. Boston Dynamics will continue upgrading Spot as it gets feedback from customers. The jury is still out on when they will offer a Goldendoodle option. 

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