Since I turned 50, the idea of investing for retirement has taken on significantly more relevance. Not that I plan on retiring soon, but there’s something about the big 5-0 that makes you think it might not be so far off.

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that lower government spending has been a big factor in the slow U.S. economic recovery. But it’s not the only culprit. Today, we'll take a look at three major headwinds to economic growth and whether they're likely to continue going forward.

This afternoon, I’m speaking to a group of investors on the subject of worry—worry about the economy, about investments, and about meeting their financial goals. A couple of years ago, we were worried about high oil prices, China taking over the world, and a weak dollar, to name a few. Now, of course, we’re much wiser: we worry about low oil prices, Chinese collapse, and the strong dollar.

Last week’s economic reports were, once again, weaker than expected. Housing news was mixed, with industry sentiment remaining healthy but failing to improve while starts pulled back. On the other hand, sales of existing homes jumped, reversing a decline in the previous month.

Yesterday, I wrote that the U.S. economy, especially on the jobs side, remains basically healthy and even strong. At the same time, risks around the world seem to be receding. Chinese growth looks like it’s picking up, Europe also seems to be responding to central bank stimulus, and most of the things we were worried about over the past six months haven’t turned out so bad.

For well over a year, I’ve been saying that job growth is not quite in a boom, but you can see one from here. After all that time, I think that we’ve largely arrived.

In my post last week about the election and financial markets, I wrote that it was too early to worry about what the candidates are likely to do if elected. That remains true, but the New York primary results suggest it’s not too soon to think about what the rest of the race might look like—and what that might mean for the economy and the markets.

After 15-percent pullbacks in both the first quarter and the middle of last year, the market is moving up toward new highs. The Dow just ticked above 18,000 for the first time since last July, and the S&P 500 is getting close to the 2,100 level, last seen in December. All-time highs are 18,351.36 for the Dow and 2,134.72 for the S&P 500, so we are getting close.

Last week’s economic data was unexpectedly weak, with disappointing news on both retail sales and industrial production. Although forward-looking indicators are improving, the past week’s numbers suggest that the economy hasn’t yet moved beyond the slowdown.

At a conference last month, I had a discussion with a group of people who were deeply convinced that their taxes were as high as they’d ever been. I mentioned that solving the budget problems of the U.S. would require higher taxes—which wasn’t intended as a recommendation but simply a recognition of the math. The group maintained that it was impossible to raise taxes any further without crippling the economy.