Funds Promising Shelter From Wild Swings Are Booming. But Do They Deliver?
Americans have poured money into funds promising shelter from the stock market's wild swings. They don't always work as expected.
Assets under management for so-called equity hedged exchange-traded and mutual funds tracked by Morningstar have surged to $56 billion this year, roughly double the figure just five years ago. More than two dozen have launched since the start of 2024.
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Gold Holds Gain as Soft US Data Bolster Bets on Fed Rate Cuts
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29 minutes ago
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Plans for nation's largest ICE detention center halted amid DOGE review
The federal government has paused a plan to issue a $47 million contract for an expanded immigrant detention center in Georgia amid a review of the contract by the U.S. DOGE Service, according to a local official briefed on the matter and documents obtained by The Washington Post. An official from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement informed local officials in Charlton County, Georgia, on Wednesday that the agency was unable to move forward with a plan to reopen a former prison as an immigrant detention facility, County Administrator Glenn Hull said in an interview. The county has scrapped plans to hold a vote on the contract that had been scheduled for Thursday evening. The sizable contract was flagged for review under a federal policy that requires all Department of Homeland Security contracts worth more than $20 million to be reviewed by DOGE, which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency, according to notes from a May 28 meeting of federal agency officials obtained by The Post. The scrutiny of DHS is relatively new for DOGE, the group formerly led by Elon Musk, which has made sweeping changes to the federal government resulting in billions of dollars in canceled contracts and the departure or dismissal of thousands of federal workers. The new detention contract would have created the largest immigrant detention center in the country and a potential hub for housing immigrants arrested throughout the southeast. It would have combined Folkston, an active ICE detention center that can hold up to 1,100 detainees, with D. Ray James, an idle former prison located on an adjacent property that can hold around 1,870 detainees, according to an agenda item posted on the county's website. 'This is a big blow to Charlton County,' Hull said of the paused proposal, which he said would have brought 400 additional jobs to the area. He said the deal is not canceled but would require a 'federal policy change' to resume. The plan's disruption by a DOGE contract review has not been previously reported. DOGE's action also deals a blow to Geo Group, ICE's largest contractor and owner of the Georgia facility. The firm has been expecting a dramatic expansion of its detention business under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Tom Homan, the border czar at DHS, was previously paid consulting fees by Geo, according to an ethics disclosure first reported by The Post last week. A spokesman for Geo deferred questions to ICE. A spokeswoman for ICE could not immediately provide a comment. 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CBS News
31 minutes ago
- CBS News
Couple faces retirement fears amid market swings: "We don't have do-over time"
Dinner at the Gomez home outside Boston provides a textbook image of the sandwich generation: three sets of relatives living under one roof. "A club sandwich has a lot of layers, and we have a lot of layers," 57-year-old Alicia Gomez said. It's not the easiest way to save for retirement, as Gomez and her 59-year-old husband, Chu, told CBS News during an interview last year. Back then, their nest egg was healthy and growing. Stocks were climbing, hitting an all-time high by February of this year. But they cratered as the trade war started, only to climb back and recover most of the losses. "I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster," Alicia Gomez said. "You just hope that if we're gonna be on the downturn now, will we be on the upturn when we decide to retire?" Like millions of Americans, the couple is experiencing waves of an uncertain, see-sawing market. These gyrations can trigger rash decisions, said labor economist Teresa Ghilarducci of the New School for Social Research. "We have a name for living through that kind of volatility, and it's called scarring," Ghilarducci said, stressing the importance of asking the experts in times of financial crisis. "Do not talk to your friends or your family about what to do. Take a breath, take a minute and rely on expert advice," Ghilarducci said. Alicia, who holds down two jobs, had thought maybe she'd cut back work at 62. Chu, who works in logistics, thought it would be at 65. Now, they've adjusted that mindset. "It's probably gonna be 67 at least, but you know, I think there's still a lot of unknowns," Alicia said. Right now, the couple is maxing out their retirement accounts, Chu said, but that could change if they needed to pull back. Adding to their anxiety is the fear that the Social Security system could run dry. There's been a 13% jump this year in people claiming retirement benefits early, despite the reduced payouts, according to the Urban Institute. Ghilarducci strongly advises against that. "Wait for the maximum benefit that you can get. Don't haircut yourself now, anticipating it'll be cut later," she said. The Gomezes say their retirement investments are up by about 3% this year, so they'll simply sit tight and work hard to hold onto their jobs. "A lot of us have been through a lot within, you know, just less than a year. We don't have do-over time," Alicia said.
