INVESTMENTS

Getting into investing might be easier, and more possible, than you think.

There have been great swings in the stock market over the past year and the Dow is down about 5% since the beginning of the year.

University of Michigan’s president announced a massive change in where the school invests its money and the companies it chooses to partner with.

One trip to the Motown Museum got a group of childhood friends thinking of a master plan to create a business. After many meetings, and cups of coffee, the team came up with The Black Coffee Company. Co-founders of the company joined Tati Amare to explain how the fateful trip to Barry Gordy’s house of music led them to opening their own business, and how they work with other entrepreneurs and their companies. Not only does The Black Coffee Company sell sustainable coffee and teas, it also offers helpful business lessons and encouragement to other up-and-coming business owners who are looking for ways to follow their passions. Watch the video above to learn more about The Black Coffee Company and how the trip to the Motown Museum inspired the founders.

DETROIT – The COVID pandemic has impacted nearly everyone’s finances, but outside of that misfortune may be a silver lining. With many experiencing loss of jobs and/or businesses and lower income this year, the pandemic has forced us to take a closer look at our finances and consider new options to save money -- and a Roth IRA conversion might just be what the doctor ordered. You might be able to help yourself by taking invested assets in a pre-tax traditional individual retirement account and move that money to a Roth IRA. “You have to pay taxes when that conversion gets made, but once its in the Roth, it’s in an income tax-free investment, which is a significant benefit,” said Planning Alternatives Certified Financial Planner Nathan Mersereau. Individuals should not attempt to set up a Roth conversion on their own and are encouraged to speak with a certified financial planner or financial advisor before pulling the trigger.

DETROIT – 2020 has been a unique year with the pandemic, and yet the stock market has done well. So what are the investment prospects for 2021 and what should you do to protect the money you have already saved? It’s been more than a decade since the great downturn and auto company bankruptcies, and investors have become used to rising markets again. A focus on diversity is more important than ever as the economy recovers, but financial markets always look further down the road. “We could see some serious inflation in upcoming years, but we could also see or see some serious deflation,” Foreman said.

Understanding ROI could help you answer questions like: Is refinancing your mortgage worth the cost? For more on the subject, go here. More: Money Monday section

When it comes to this election, should we worry about the winner tanking the stock market? A look back at historic market records for more than a century shows that under Democrats, the stock market returned an 11% return. So for everything presidential candidates do to make the other side cringe, when it comes to money, the winner doesn’t matter as much as people fear. “People were predicting if Obama got reelected the market would crash,” said Nathan Larsen, of Executive Wealth Management in Brighton. It went up.”Larsen said history tells us no single president causes a market crash merely by getting elected.