Category Archives: Clients/Clients Only

SLOA mailed in May – What’s a SLOA? Standard Letter of Authorization (Clients) … Friday

As a regular practice for almost every client we have instructions on file to move money back and forth between other linked accounts a.k.a. SLOA – Standard Letter of Authorization –

Side note: We can remember when every request needed a signature and then was faxed AND THEN a day or two later is was processed… Eeeekkkk – ok, digressing!

From our back office:

“Dear Valued Advisor, 

In May 2023 we will mail the annual Standing Letter of Authorization (SLOA) confirmation notices to your clients, if applicable, listing all active SLOAs that we have on record for their accounts as of December 31, 2022. …

 

…Your clients will receive a confirmation notice for each account that maintains an active SLOA with TD Ameritrade Institutional. As required, we will continue to notify your clients whenever new SLOA instructions are established for an account. “

Here is what one looks like from prior years:

Take a peek and let us know if something is incorrect… we actually do not get a copy!

Happy Friday, and Happy May aka Schools out month, Weekend – Talk Next week!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

First Quarter 2023 Review, Advanced Analysis Pilot, Tax Season, Interest Rate Anniversary

Dear Investor:

Putting Q1 of the year (2023) behind us, compared to last year at this time, seemed straight forward. recall last year at this time, we had just began interest rate hikes.

As the calendar turned we began searching for a similar series to last years’ “Back to Basics”, due to the popularity, comments, and sharing that occurred with this multiple series.

By luck or accident, we landed upon the antithesis like series called “Advanced Analysis” in part due to the current economic cycle and the nearing of the end.

Advanced Analysis Pilot

Our Pilot/Part 1 of the series was extremely timely and focused around M2 a broad economic measurement of money sloshing around the financial system. This is discussed in greater detail in our Q2 Newsletter at a very high level. Whether lucky, or preeminent, our observation, was to watch out for more high risk debt players in the capital markets and especially junk bonds. This fact seems to be occurring much faster than originally though.

Tax Season – Hints and Reminders

As we turn to Q2 of the year in what seems like expeditious fashion, it is tax season.  We once again call your attention to our Q2 Newsletter as there are some great last minute tips not only looking forward to this year, but also things available that may help last year’s taxes.

Interest Rate Anniversary – Most Likely Nearing an End

As mentioned in the intro, within the last two weeks we have just passed the start of the interest rate cycle, which was the fastest on a percentage basis we have ever seen The US economy and the global economy for that matter, operate much more like an aircraft carrier then a ski boat in their change of direction. The financial sector seems to be in the early innings with other parts of the economy much later in the economic game cycle. We will get through the slowdown eventually with all parts of the economy and move forward.

Have a great spring. Talk to you in the summer!

Sincerely,

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Enclosure (2023 Report)

Green Light on Taxes – Corrected 1099 Out – You Lucky One have already been contacted!

We are in receipt of our Corrected Tax Form (1099) and we are happy to report a total of 1 … yep only a solo….. lucky family and you have already been contacted.

This does not mean we cannot have another as there are four more corrected rounds before completion. BUT, over the last years we have found the first run gives us a good idea of the expected future.

As a point of reference we have had years when the first round was nearing triple digits, just to put the solo reported in context. Stranger things have happened, but we are most likely in the clear!

Have a Great “Corrected Tax Form” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Sudden Increase in Spam both email and text…. Reminder to complete those patches! 18 examples recorded in less than two weeks for your viewing! Do not Bite on a Spam Email/Text Could Be Hazardous!

The following is another reason to make sure your patches are being installed, both from the hardware, such as the maker of your phone, or other device, and software standpoint. Not doing your updates may subject you to more continued spam, and one slip up could cause much greater problems…

Have you experienced a sudden increase in email or text spams? If not consider yourself lucky, but not necessarily out of the woods yet!

About two weeks ago an email spam increase seem to occur. Luckily and just by chance a decision to start taking snapshots of the email spams was made as multiple emails occurred from a regular go to flight provider located here in Dallas, Southwest!

Counter Action Problems Better than the Alternative

With an electronic fax delivery system and email delivery of this post being blocked, the largest providers, most notably, Microsoft have taken note and attempted to raise the gates. This increase in their spam filters, garners unintended consequences such as a loss of the route delivery of the aforementioned items. In our case, our IT department re-issued safe acceptance of our key items, and we were back in business.

Think to yourself if you are missing a regular contact from something, your provider may have blocked while trying to attempt coverage of this new Spam attack!

Examples of the last two weeks record keeping! Do not bite!

The Golf Cart is my favorite and most clever… Not sure where the Ace Hardware came from!

Have a Great Spam Update Reminder Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Friday Office Hours, Out but Tethered …Time Change Weekend … Spring Break … Punxsutawney Phil Spring Tree Update … Spam/Cyber Preview – Look Out they are Back!

As mentioned last Friday … with the kids completely out today, for the betterment and the safety of the streets, we are out today as well … officially starting our spring break a bit early as next week IS spring break, and we will be out of the office all week next week …. but tethered electronically as always!

Time Change Weekend!

One of our favorite days of the year occurs this weekend, the time change. Don’t forget to change whatever few clocks you may have that do not automatically change Saturday night as that leads to an irregular time read and unnecessary stress usually occurring when we’re in a hurry of course….at least in my experience!

Snapped less than 24 Hours Ago – Spring Tree

Thank you for the Spring Tree Comments…. you have personally spurred us to continue the tracking… although we are likely nearing the end of our journey… Hence the bigger picture!

The following Punxsutawney Phil Spring Tree update was snapped (used same camera and same location for better reference) less than 24 hours ago …

Now we are cooking… Hello Spring … at least in Texas!

Closing Break Reflections and Personal Thoughts

For some reason being out of the office brings clarity….

Maybe it is the slow Wifi or maybe just different location/surrounding….

No matter… we are happily “Lightly” Tethered… the keyboard is tapping with residual to do’s/Newsletter/Blog posts… speaking of which, a great Cyber related post coming Monday… worth your time… and yes, really enjoy doing this over time off…. never work!

Have a Great Friday/Weekend and if Your Spring Break… that too… Talk Next Week!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Proxy Season is Here … Why We Vote For You and What to Do if You are Receiving Proxy Information

Almost all public financial institutions of all shape and form have what is called a Proxy Vote.

The Proxy is an at least Annual Vote for various items such as approval for management salaries, mergers, company stock repurchases and just an annual approval to continue current services.

Break In – The pending fall merger has led to an increase in Schwab related deliveries mostly via email … see below for our easy corrective measures made by use!

Why We Vote Your Proxy

As a regular practice we vote Proxies for all clients. This accomplishes multiple items:

  • Much Greener – We get one statement for literally 100’s of client votes
  • We actually vote – always for management – if we disagreed we would not own the respective asset
  • We keep a permanent record of the vote
  • By voting for you, your mailbox is not stuffed full this time of the year

We try to receive electronic information as much as possible – this is once again green but much of this information is still delivered the old fashion way by snail mail

What to Do If You are Receiving Proxy Information .. Help is Here!

Occasionally Proxy directives for us to vote … for you, falls off the system …

When this occurs your mailbox will begin getting full…

No worry, just reach out and we can easily refresh your directives back to us and stop the pelting of mail.

Given the large number of collective votes, we do not know if you have fallen off the directives list, so please do not hesitate to ask us for a refresh.

Have a Great “Proxy Vote Update” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Fourth Quarter 2022 Review, Bill(s), Rates, Bills and Sunshine – Private Policy, Annual Offerings

Dear Investor:

Bill(s)

On December 20th, 2019 the Secure Act was singed into law. On December 27th , 2022 the Secure Act 2.0, a bill long in the works and a mere 4200 pages long was signed into law. The most important item in the financial world (there were a multitude of areas addressed) as the second upping of RMD’s to age 73. Look for more information soon from us.

Rates

In December the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) led by Jerome Powell raised rates to over 4% after starting the year at zero.  As mentioned in our Q1 2023 Newsletter article (Maybe a Tiger can change Stripes0, on a percentage basis this would be a possible once in a lifetime speedy move.  This may also be a return to a normal interest rate policy (hopefully) with no intention of going to the zero boundary again.  See Next point.

Bills

Not getting too wordie, but US citizens “bills” or the increase in them in the form of food, travel, energy, housing just to name a few are what is creating the opportunity of the afore mentioned speed of rates or rate increases. The CPI (Consumer Price Index) measurements continue to hold at much loftier levels than anyone thought possible (somewhat due to lagging indicators) and are allowing rates to rise and likely stay higher for longer.  This is a good thing for our safe assets aka Fixed Income/Bonds thankfully as most of the headwinds are likely behind us, again see Q1 2023 Newsletter lead article and associate graphs.

Sunshine

Last year at this time we were reviewing items such as “Anatomy of a Slowdown” and “The R” Word – Recession.

Today, from our unique “Personal Reflections” portion of our Q1 2023 Newsletter :

“Future is better

Just as we pointed out over a year ago what a slowdown looks like and that it might occur, we are now ready to point out later on this year it’s very likely the clouds of higher interest rates and two feet on the economic brakes by Powell are likely to clear.”

This is also the time we attach our Private Policy Statement for the year, along with our opportunity to offer our latest ADV filings and Client Relationship Summary (Form CRS); Requests for review will be accepted via phone, mail or email, and mailed immediately upon request.

Happy Turn of the Calendar, and Best Wishes for the Start of a New Year!

Sincerely,

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Enclosure (2022 Report)

J.K. Financial, Inc.

PRIVACY POLICY NOTICE

Our Promise to You

As a client of J.K. Financial, Inc., you share both personal and financial information with us.  Your privacy is important to us, and we are dedicated to safeguarding your personal and financial information. 

Information Provided by Clients 

In the normal course of doing business, we typically obtain the following non-public personal information about our clients: 

  • Personal information regarding our clients’ identity such as name, address and social security number;
  • Information regarding securities transactions effected by us; and
  • Client financial information such as net-worth, assets, income, bank account information and account balances.

How We Manage and Protect Your Personal Information

We do not sell information about current or former clients to third parties, nor is it our practice to disclose such information to third parties unless requested to do so by a client or client representative or, if necessary, in order to process a transaction, service an account or as permitted by law

In order to protect your personal information, we maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information.  Our Privacy Policy restricts the use of client information and requires that it be held in strict confidence.

Client Notifications

We are required by law to annually provide a notice describing our privacy policy.  In addition, we will inform you promptly if there are changes to our policy. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions about this notice.

It’s A Party … Party Party … One Week from Tomorrow … DMA Holiday Parking Reimbursement Instructions, Coupons in the Founders Room … Friday

One week from Tomorrow, Saturday November 19th at 2 PM at the DMA (Dallas Museum Of Art) we welcome those available to attend to the 26th Annual J.K. Financial, Inc. Holiday Party…

Thank you to all who are taking time to come visit and share the Museum together….

Be sure to drop by the Founders Room so we may give you a parking pass to avoid the Museum Garage Parking fee…

Here again is the official reminder/invitation:

Ahhhh….today is a Friday here in Dallas, and Mother Nature is about to turn on the A/C and the rain… enjoy your weekend – Talk Next Week!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Holiday Party Saturday November 19th – Dallas Museum of Art – Founders Room 2 PM Meet and Greet …. Saturday Before Thanksgiving …

We really like the novelty and tradition of the paper invite…but not the formatting issues associated with the sixth revision, to make it just “Perfect!” that dropped the day of the event…. grrrrrr

Thanks for all the jabbing…. much deserved… proves our originalism… oddly, in 26 years, this was not the first time this has happened!

Have a Great Holiday Date Correction Day! See you there!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Third Quarter 2022 Review, Patience as we look back and forward

In this review, we have chosen not only to look back over the prior 90 days, like we usually do, but we also wanted to look forward as we go up to the end of 2022!

Patience is a Virtue

Jerome Powell (Chair of FOMC) and his fellow FOMC board members have continued to raise rates, much faster and much greater than many, including ourselves thought possible. Rewind back just to the beginning of the year and the federal reserve were actually pushing rates down, in a quick about face by the end of the first quarter, rates were on their way up an asset purchases by midyear had reversed and become asset runoffs. Their purpose is of course to slow inflation a.k.a. CPI (consumer price index), while with great intentions many of the inputs in the CPI index are very lagging and have likely already rolled over but have yet to feed into the actual report due to their delayed nature.

Patience is needed as mentioned in the bullet before this commentary and also greatly outlined in our Q4 2022 newsletter. In that newsletter, which you should already have in your possession, we outline the normal lengths of time that a slowdown occurs and what to expect from almost all angles. The main reason that we did this is to remind ourselves, and everyone else as well, as the last decade has garnered an unusually fast and short slowdowns and commensurate recoveries. With the FOMC on a continued rate increase, this slowdown is likely to be much more similar to prior slowdowns in both time and fatigue of the economy. Patience, we will get there.

Looking Forward but no Predictions

Using history as our guide, the fourth quarter is indeed usually one of the best. However, as mentioned above, the macro economy pulled down by the federal reserve and continued right increases may overwhelm seasonal historical blossoms and weigh down a normally sunny period on the calendar.

Contra moves in both Equity/Stock and Fixed Income/Bond

In slow downs, equity markets have an unusual tendency to slowly drip in reverse and then all the sudden make a jump forward only to slowly start dripping in reverse again.

In this economic cycle, we have a new asset class that is also participating, the Fixed Income Market. As mentioned earlier with the federal reserve and Powell on a continued increase goal interest rates on the longer end of the yield curve i.e., the 10 year (versus the very short one or two) have smartly slowly gone down only to jump backwards up again and then slowly begin their decrees again. Patience is again a virtue, a slowdown leads to lower rates eventually, even with the FOMC raising rates.  Patience really is a virtue, we will be there with you, thanks for your time and your patience

Sincerely,

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Enclosure (2022 Report)