An Introduction

Hi. Welcome to BourGroup and my blog. Phil

Phil Bour is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(tm) professional since 2004, a Magna Cum Laude college graduate and an accounting professional for over 35+ years. I love numbers, statistics and economic history.

I am also an Enrolled Agent (EA) to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service and to prepare tax returns.

"Phil"osophy: I believe that you can manage your money on your own (not necessarily through individual stock selection but through mutual funds, ETF's and other solutions) once you receive some one-time, professional guidance. Why pay annual fees when there may be little added value? For additional information, first read the "An Introduction" label at the left. Then move on to others.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Misery Index

The misery index was started in the 1970's and is the sum of the unemployment rate and the inflation rate. It almost reached 22 in the summer of 1980. Since inflation has been so low for so long it seems the index has not been mentioned much. As unemployment has decreased from over 10% to 8.9% (February 2011) the misery index may still not get much mention.

Why bring it up? The unemployment rate is still high and inflation, of some sort, may be around the corner.