This post will make the 1304, yes, THIRTEEN HUNDRED AND FOURTH post. Never thought it would be so much fun to inform, define views, hold folks accountable, and just speak our minds occasionally.
Big Data on our Blog, Searching for Information
Constantly we look back at our posts for information, not only our views, but in almost every post we have a link to sources, the initial data, and peripheral information making a review of the deep dive we did to present you the post easily accessible.
How to search http://www.street-cents.com for information, two easy ways:
Both search methods are simple and near the same area of the page on our street-cents home page.
Broad Search by Topic
A Broad Topic Search can be completed by scrolling to the “Category” tab on the right side of the main page of our blog and clicking the topic of your choice. The results will be all posts related to the topic.
Specific Search by Word
A more specific search can be accomplished by again scrolling to the right side of our blog site and entering a key word in the “Search Our Posts” section.
Example 1. By searching in Category > “Estate Planning” you will get our most recent posts which are :
- Just How Complicated is the Probate Process?
- Job Change or Retirement? Here is a great reminder checklist
- Coming Soon ANOTHER Sizzling New Vault Feature – Estate Planning Flow Chart (Clients)
And if you continue scrolling, the auto update feature of our blog site will continue to bring up tons of historical posts, all about Estate Planning.
Example 2. By entering “401k” in our “Search Our Posts” section, you will get the following:
- What to do if you overfund your 401k/Retirement Plan and how to prevent it from happening!
- 401k Reminder – Friday – Travels Abound
- Time to confirm you are maxing your retirement plans — 401k, 403(b), 457 type plans!
And once again by scrolling down, you will see literally dozens of articles, sources, data and links to the details we researched when presenting the post originally.
We utilize these search features constantly ourselves, and thought it would be handy to share our secret with you! Hope you enjoy … Happy easily research/reviewing!
Have a great “Searchable Information” Monday!
John A. Kvale, CFA, CFP
Rates Rise and No One Blinked, Report Cover Letter
The once dreaded and feared interest rate raise seems to have run its course from a fear standpoint. Just a few quarters ago when Ben Bernanke was the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) chairperson, the whisper of a long-awaited rate hike lead to market calamity and many to believe rates would be permanently artificially low.
Near the end of this most recent quarter, current FOMC chair Janet Yellen raised rates to the 1% level, a level not seen in almost a decade and without much capital market trepidation. Longer term the short-term interest rate controlled by the FOMC may not go all the way back to the higher levels once seen historically, however a 2-3% rate would still be stimulating from our perch. It is possible the gradual move higher will extend this current economic expansion.
Speaking of rates, in our Q3 2017 Quarterly Newsletter we do a complete deep dive on interest rates, among many other items, that may have changed Residential Housing Prices movement for the foreseeable future. While so many argue of reasons for Housing volatility, the answers are less vivid than many may think.
Continued optimism from company executives seems to have given them confidence to expand their businesses dropping the unemployment rate to levels many thought not possible via hiring’s of workers. It is possible an employed consumer is a happy consumer who is also a consumer who spends more. With consumer spending making up over two thirds of Gross Domestic Production (GDP) this bodes well for domestic and world growth, as long as it continues.
Given low but rising interest rates (finally) a happy higher price valued Home Owner (again full details in the Newsletter), a happily employed consumer, it is no wonder many assets and most capital assets, especially the US markets are priced to perfection (high compared to historical values). The fantastic news is that our overseas counterpart capital markets are not priced as high and it looks like investors are finally beginning to warm to their markets. Our good friend diversification keeps us exposed to these markets as the possibly reawakening occurs. Look for more on this on our street-cents.com blog.
Summer doldrums?
Maybe, but we always keep our guards up as risk can happen fast, even if the less tenured folks are at the wheel of the capital markets.
Have a Great Summer!
John A. Kvale CFA, CFP
Q 2 2017 Cover Letter
Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
www.jkfinancialinc.com
www.street-cents.com
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Posted in Interest Rates, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Performance Report Cover Letter, Political
Tagged GDP, Q 2 2017 Cover Letter, Rates