NY Post ^ | Dec 30, 2017 | John Aidan Byrne
Happy New Year, Wall Street — pop that Champagne cork because 2018 could be another great year for massive wealth creation.
With rising 401(k)s expected to push average balances back into solid six figures — and US equity prices forecast to surge as much as 15 percent — more Americans are over the moon about the coming 12 months than there were in the previous year.
The number of Americans who say they’ll be better off financially in 2018 has climbed to 82.5 percent, up from 72 percent who were bullish over 2017, according to a survey by LendEDU, an online financial marketplace. “Americans are much more enthusiastic about their finances heading into 2018,” Mike Brown, a research analyst at LendEDU, told The Post. “Astronomical market growth is once again the catalyst for this excitement,” he added, “and one can also (credit) the tax cuts that will hopefully create more jobs, which will lead to more money in the pockets of Americans to pay down debt.”
Those GOP tax cuts for corporations and individuals — a combined $1.5 trillion — are anticipated by analysts to ignite more domestic household consumption, and to lift capital spending by corporations.
That fiscal rocket fuel comes as US gross domestic product grew by more than 3 percent annualized in the two most recent quarters reported.
It’s the first time the economy has had back-to-back growth of 3 percent or more since 2014.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
