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Government finances are in a perpetually sorry state. That's not news; everywhere you turn, you'll hear all about it.
But what doesn't grab many headlines is the crisis in Americans' personal finances - problems that make the Treasury seem tightly squared away in comparison.
There's the retirement crisis, where one in five American adults have nothing socked away for retirement. You've got the cash crisis, in which nearly 40% of American adults can't meet a surprise $400 expense, like a mid-range hot water heater repair or doctor bill.
And then there's the "unbanking crisis." A stunning 7 million homes in the United States don't use a bank for anything at all; 18% have "minimal interaction" with the banking system.
It's grim, no doubt, but it's a fairly easy problem to solve; however, it won't be a traditional banker type that does the solving.
Interestingly, I think the company that actually has what it takes to fix this looks a lot more like Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) than Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC).
About the Author
Tim Melvin is an unlikely investment expert by any measure. Raised in the "projects" of Baltimore by a single mother, he never attended college and started out as a door-to-door vacuum salesman. But he knew the real money was in the stock market, so he set sights on investing - and by sheer force of determination, he eventually became a financial advisor to millionaires. Today, after 30 years of managing money for some of the wealthiest people in the world, he draws on his experience to help investors find "unreasonably good" bargain stocks, multiply profits, and build their nest eggs. Tim tirelessly works to find overlooked "hidden gems" in the stock market, drawing on the research of legendary investors like Benjamin Graham, Walter Schloss, and Marty Whitman. He has written and lectured extensively on the markets, with work appearing on Benzinga, Real Money, Daily Speculations, and more. He has published several books in the "Little Book of" Investment Series and a "Junior Chamber Course" geared towards young adults that teaches Graham's principles and techniques to a new generation of investors. Today, he serves as the Special Situations Strategist at Money Morning and the editor of Peak Yield Investor.