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Clearly, Not Everyone Is Getting Rich Off The Stock Market

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Well, the NY Fed was out today with its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for Q4 2017. Clearly, Americans are in a lot of debt. Take a look. Just a couple of quick hits from the report. Total U.S. household debt rose $193 billion in the 4th quarter, to a new all-time peak of $13.15 trillion. That's 17.9% above the most recent trough in Q2 2013. Broken down by segment, what do you suppose was the largest gain in percentage terms? Credit cards, with a 3.2% increase. In the picture above, the widening gap represented by the red arrows reflects the fact that non-housing debt is rising at a faster pace than housing debt. Here's what's troubling about that. Below is a picture of the stock market, as represented by the S&P 500 index, over that same period; from the most recent credit trough in Q2 2013 to the end of 2017. And thus, the title of this article. Over that period, the S&P 500 index rose by 75%; from roughly 1,600 to 2,800. Apparently, ho
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Index - 'ETF Monkey Focus' Series

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Welcome to the index for the ETF Monkey Focus series of articles I have written for Seeking Alpha.

First, here is a link to the introductory article for the series. In this article, I present helpful information concerning both the basic structure, as well as helpful common features, that I plan to put in each article.

Here, in alphabetical article by symbol, are all ETFs on which I have at least commented to-date. Check back often, as new ETFs will be added as they are covered.

If you want to be sure not to miss anything, I suggest taking a minute right now to follow me on either Twitter or Facebook. I post regular updates in both places.


         Symbol    ETF Name

  1. AGG ------ iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF
  2. BND ------ Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF
  3. BNDS ---- SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Aggregate Bond ETF
  4. IEFA ----- iShares Core MCSI EAFE ETF
  5. IEMG ---- iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF
  6. ITOT ----- iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF
  7. IXUS ----- iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF
  8. IWV ------ iShares Russell 3000 ETF
  9. SCHB ---- Schwab Broad Market U.S. ETF 
  10. SCHE ---- Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF
  11. SCHF ---- Schwab International Equity ETF
  12. SCHZ ---- Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF
  13. THRK ---- SPDR Russell 3000 ETF
  14. VEA ------ Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF
  15. VEU ------ Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF
  16. VTHR ---- Vanguard Russell 3000 ETF
  17. VTI ------- Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF 
  18. VWO ----- Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF
  19. VXUS ---- Vanguard Total International Stock ETF     

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Clearly, Not Everyone Is Getting Rich Off The Stock Market

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