Experience

During the fourth quarter of each year, the IRS announces the new limits for Defined Contribution Plans and IRAs, as well as COLA adjustments for Social Security and other benefits.  The announcement for the 2017 adjustments has just been released, and is as follows.

Elective deferral and catchup provisions for your 401(k)/403(b) remain unchanged, at $18,000 and $6,000 respectively.  Deferral and catchup provisions for SIMPLE IRAs remain unchanged, at $12,500 and $3,000 respectively.  IRA contributions and catchup provisions remain unchanged, at $5,500 and $100 respectively.

The 415 annual additions limit increases from $53,000 to $54,000, while the annual comp limit increases from $265,000 to $270,000.  The key employee threshold increases from $170,000 to $175,000.  These limits have to do with the amount of compensation taken into account for various maximum benefit calculations.

The Social Security Taxable Wage Base is increasing from $118,500 to $127,200, an increase of $8,700, or 7.3%.  For those of you over the wage base, this will increase your Social Security taxes by $665.55, with your employer kicking in a like amount.

www.ssa.gov

Social security retirement income benefits are increasing by 0.3%, the COLA adjustment made by thehttps://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/colafacts2017.pdf.

Social Security Administration for 2017.  You can see a full list of the Social Security related adjustments at

On the economic front, inflation, as measured by CPI, was up 0.3% in September, and up 1.5% over the last year.  The election season is almost behind us, eight days from being over as you read this.  One more thing to be thankful for as we head into the holiday season.  Most prognosticators expect the FOMC to raise interest rates in December, and again next year.

In business news, Coke reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates, though net income for their third quarter was $1.05 billion, compared to $1.45 billion in the previous year.  Snapchat anticipates raising $4 billion in its IPO, putting a value on the company of between $25 billion and $35 billion.

According to Reuters, the current administration wants states to limit non-compete agreements.  We are big fans of the concept of right-to-work.  We do have a preference for the federal government employing its bully pulpit in other ways though, than telling states and companies how to do their jobs.  It’s pretty evident that work freedom is popular.  We have only to look at migration from states who have a strong union or strong non-compete agreement environment, to states where both employers and employees have much freedom to choose how and for whom they work, as well as who, whether, and when they hire and fire.

Craig Warga | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Sterling Memorial Library on the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut.

Goldman Sachs Q3 earnings were up 58% to $2.1 billion, according to USA Today.  Per share earnings were $4.88, ahead of estimates of $3.83.  According to CNBC, Harvard, MIT, and Stanford led the list of private colleges whose graduates posted the highest earnings, ten years after enrolling.  You can read the story at http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/18/the-17-private-colleges-where-students-go-on-to-earn-the-most-money.html.

ATT has announced plans to absorb Time Warner for $85 billion, while Delta is expanding the use of RFID luggage tags, in the hopes of reducing its lost luggage costs.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. is creating startup businesses at historically low rates.  The share of private firms less than a year old has dropped from 12%, during much of the 80’s and 90’s, to less than 8% today.  The share of jobs at such firms has dropped from 4% to 2%.  Those who study such things attribute this trend to increased regulation, more time for companies to reach profitability and exit than some backers are willing to provide, and the fact that boomers are retiring just as millennials are reaching the entrepreneurship age.

Of course, as John Haltiwanger, University of Maryland economist points out, the U.S. is still a robust economy.  The U.S. economy is still more dynamic, more flexible, and more entrepreneurial than almost any other economy on the planet.  The referenced slowdown is only by comparison to what was, not to any other economy.

And now, for a bit of light reading as we wrap up.  According to the police blotter for Flathead County, Montana, a Columbia Falls horse went for a late-night stroll, but was later returned to its owner.  A late afternoon caller said a Martin City dog broke into a rabbit cage and assaulted the occupant.  The rabbit required extensive medical treatment, but is expected to make a full recovery.  Three mules and one horse made a run for it on Edgewood Drive in Whitefish.

A call at 3:17am reported a disturbance at a Kalispell trailer park.  Upon further investigation, a woman there said she had had one glass of wine, and smoked a little weed, so things weren’t going to get physical “yet”.

Quote of the week:

“The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome.  The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.”

                                                                                                                                                                                Helen Keller