Category Archives: Education

Posted in Education

Tagged Kastle Systems, Remote, Remote Trends, Remote Work, Visual Capitalist, Work From Home

How Fast is Your Internet Speed? It Depends on Where You Live!

Posted on October 13, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

With travels most likely in the throws of coming back on line (hopefully) we thought this timely graphic World Internet Speeds interesting….

Of course from our friends at Visual Capitalist ..

Can You Imaging being without the Internet for any length of time? Yikes

The World’s Fastest and Slowest Internet Speeds

Have a Great “Fast Internet” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

Posted in Education, John Kvale, Personal

Tagged Internet Speed, Visual Capitalist

Why You May Want to Register Your Name on Multiple Email Providers Even if You Do Not Plan on Using that Service!

Posted on September 8, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

With the proliferation of spam, cyber attacks and just some bad actors out there, it may be a good idea to register your name as well as your family members name for your own safety…

We have registered all of our family names on the big five at the time of registration, gmail, hotmail, outlook, yahoo and icloud…. these are no longer the biggest…see below

Even if you do not plan on using the provider, it may make sense to register so some “bad Actor” does not pose as you…

Ok, we get it, with a weird last name like ours, it was not that hard, those with more normal names may have a tougher time, but you may still want to try…. bad guys are not going away!

The Largest Email Providers

The following is a snap shot of the last frame of this neat graphic from Statics and Data…

Not sure if any of you noticed the last few videos are not coming through email notification well…but we did… and it is currently being fixed….

Hence the Snapshot, we know that will work…

Here is the actual embedded video… if you see a video, it has been fixed, if just a link, not fixed yet…

There you have it… another in our Why series AND a light, fun and hopefully helpful post labor day article!

Have a Great “Register Your Name on that Email” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

Posted in Animated, Cyber, Education, Why

Tagged Cyber, Email, email scams, Statics and Data

The US Dollar, Trading Pairs, Exchanges, Foreign Holdings …. Very Dominate!

Posted on August 23, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

This chart popped into our in box earlier this month and is a great example for those that may wonder just how dominant the US Dollar is around the world.

It is easy to find folks that worry about the US dollar and it’s reign as the world currency….

Of course, anything can happen, but the following Chart shows is dominance at this time.

US Dollar Usage, Trading Pairs, Exchanges, Foreign Holdings

From our Friends at Visual Capitalist

Have a Great “US Dollar 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.

Posted in Debt - Debt Management, Education, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments

Tagged US Dollar, US Dollar Dominance, US Dollar Strength, Visual Capitalist

A “New to Us” Term, that at First Made Us Giggle, but Due to Repetition and Personal Experience is Worth Discussing…. ShrinkFlation !

Posted on August 11, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

Over the past few quarters we have heard an interesting term that at first gave us a giggle, but upon repeated appearances, and a recent up close and personal experience, gave us the gumption to visit in greater detail here, and also set you guys out on the detective path in your own world as well.

Hearing the term repeated from different different sources it’s hard for us to give authorship correctly … but it’s certainly been added to our repertoire and likely yours after reading the following post … enjoy!

The Rise of ShrinkFlation

Burgers are a favorite, however the waist line does not like them as much as the taste buds.

With a favorite joint very close to our office, but not visited for well over a year, maybe closer to two, a recent startling visit brought our new aforementioned term into full view, and the experience gave us the go ahead to talk about it here.

The price was exactly the same, excellent news … but when the burger arrived it was about 2/3rds two maybe 3/4ths as big as the prior burger.

While this is likely good for our intake and good for our waist line … it’s a subtle way of inflation reaching into our pocketbooks or in this case our stomach but eventually our pocketbook anyway!

OK we get it … either the price is going up by 25% to 33% or the burger has to get smaller to accommodate rising prices. There certainly was no note of this change, which is fine but upon experiencing it was a bit eye/stomach opening.

For the record the prior burger easily kept one tied over until dinner … the new likely more healthy burger due to a smaller size needed a snack to go with it to make it to dinner, again probably better in the long term but interesting from an observation standpoint.

Long-term inflation rates as measured by the CPI – Consumer Price Index (the most blunt and popular Inflation Index) have been elevated in recent reports but likely to return to lower norms soon (a full talk for another time ….one which we have discussed in great deal….ok digressing.) The reports are certainly not garnering ShrinkFlation of 25 to 33%! Tried to get a before and after picture of the burger, but nada of course!

OK fellow detectives, we challenge you to keep an eye on any of your purchases especially ones that may have not occurred in quite some time and see if it’s just us or you may have experienced the same?

Break In – We ran across this neat chart, which is a bit dated from Wikipedia showing our ShrinkFlation has been going on for some time!

Any and all comments are welcome but we bet we’re not the only ones experiencing this!

It’s all good … but worth take a note and monitoring it for our collective long-term inflation/ShrinkFlation experiences!

Have a Great “ShrinkFlation/Inflation” all good Wonderful Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

Posted in Education, Investing/Financial Planning, John Kvale, Personal

Tagged Shrinkflation

Neat Story of Educational Evolution … New Email Spam Filter Reminder … Shrinkflation Preview … Friday From Afar

Posted on August 6, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

Those long time reader know jogging and walking across a neighboring University Campus is a favorite for exercise, fresh air, energy picked up by the students, and my little four legged buddy’s daily discoveries…

Speaking of little buddy, we frequent so often, the friendly security guard who drives around in a golf cart and also has a bag of nifty treats for my little buddy is likely one large source of her enthusiasm… as a side note, she thinks all golf carts have such a person…. as the pulling begins when ANY cart nears….

With frequent walks and a cute little buddy, its surprising the folks you meet and get to know!

Very Interesting Story of Educational Evolution

In addition to the Security Guard, we have befriended an executive at the University who recruits Graduate students for their Grad program. At our most recent crossing … wanting an update on the fall education process and schedules, he shared a very interesting story that has occurred due to the last twelve months.

The University was forced to allow more virtual teachings and began embracing it for students across the country. One student that he had long been recruiting for a logistics grad program took advantage of the new situation. This student rides on a very large transporter ship back and forth across the ocean as his current job (some type of logistic monitoring). With the new grad virtual offering this student is finally enrolled and completing his program while on this ocean traveling back and forth…

Lemon Aid from Lemons…. Pretty neat story, hence the sharing…

Cut Over Overzealous Spam Filter

Our summer Technology improvement project is complete, as the process was finished we noted a stronger Spam Filter which we are getting settled down….

If you have sent us an email in the last few days and not heard back, please resend just to be safe!

Shrinkflation Preview

We caught wind of a new phrase that we thought is pretty clever…. “Shrinkflation”

Next week we will discuss in more details and put you guys up to some fun investigational actions!

Ahhhh… that is next week, and today is a Friday where remote working continues with slow but able Wifi…. the things we take for granted…

Have a Good Friday and Weekend!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

Posted in Education, John Kvale, Personal

Tagged Education, Shrinkflation, Virtual Pivot

Best selling Cars in the US 1978 to Present- Try to Guess Before You Look – You Will Not Get it Most Likely … Dominance Since 1999

Posted on August 4, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

In a lighter post today, what follows are the best selling car models in the US from 1978 to present….from our friends here at Visual Capitalist…

Tried to enlarge this for ease on the eyeballs…

Before you look…. try to guess the dominant car…. bet it will surprise you!

Have a Great “Surprised Best Selling Cars” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

Posted in Education

Tagged Best Selling Cars, Visual Capitalist

Plate Tectonic Evolution from 1 Billion Years Ago to the Present in 40 Seconds ….From Visual Capitalist and Earthbyte

Posted on July 14, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

Our friends at Visual Capitalist drew attention to this awesome visual, but we had to source the information for posting on our website at YouTube from Earthbyte …

Here is the Visual Capitalist

Here is the YouTube site for Earthbyte

This is worth 40 seconds IMHO

Very cool and helps understand the Earthquake frequency better!

Enjoy and thanks again Visual Capitalist and Earthbyte!

Have a “Better Plate Tectonic Shift Understanding” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

Posted in Animated, Chart, Education

Tagged Earthbyte, Plate, Tectonic, Tectonic Plate, Visual Capitalist

Interesting Fleet (Boat) Monitoring Site MarineTraffic.com – The Worlds Water Transportation

Posted on June 16, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

We continue to find very neat websites that are great for monitoring various types of population and transit….

First it was the TSA its self….

Then a VP seeing our research showed us her company website that has fancy enhanced features at Fligence.com

Then we stumbled upon the Kastle back to work monitor…

Then Indeed job openings indexes

Now another new tracker… but this time boats!

Marine Traffic – Marinetraffic.com

Last week on an Institutional Investor conference call, one of the presenters mentioned watching Marinetraffic.com

Music to our ears…. another cool way to review the Economy and world transit.

The following is from the website, but there is also a very neat downloadable cell app, that has most of the same features.

With a monthly subscription (certainly a Naval person’s must) you can slice and dice the worlds naval transit in almost any way one would want….

Without a subscription, our situation, there is still a TON of neat information— on the live site you can hover over each boat and get more information!

All Ships

Cargo Ships

Pattern is very interesting, looks like close to shore for protection?

Tankers – Oil, LNG and other similar commodity transportation

More direct and less shore line hugging- interesting – maybe they are bigger?

Fishing Boats – How neat is that!

Satellite tracks these guys …certainly in areas that would be expected- warm!

USA Coasts– Wow – Gulf of Mexico

Look for us to review this in the future….

Sure wished we would have known of this before, but better late than never!

Have a Great “Marine Traffic” Day!

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

Posted in Economy, Education, Investing/Financial Planning

Tagged Fleet, Fligence, Indeed, Kastle, Marine, Marine Traffic, Marinttraffic.com, Naval, Naval Traffic, TSA

Department of Defense Releases UFO Statements and Video, Another Full Report Due Any Day Now

Posted on June 9, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

So we always talk Economics, Financial Planning, Interest rates or other Financial “STUFF” ….

We do read other subject matters … and have a funny sense of humor (some may say weird or strange, but that is ok-haha) … We wanted to bring your attention to a soon to be released report from the Department of Defense.

In a cannot make this up manner, the December 2020 Stimulus package included the mandatory release of UFO information within six months of the bill…. that would be by the end of this month…..(Ok, so we drifted back into Financial STUFF again)

No idea why or how a UFO report release founds its way into a Stimulus bill, but again cannot make this up!

One of Many Prior Releases

In doing our research we ran across a neat release that pointed us to a video that was downloadable…..

On April 27, 2020 the Department of Defense released a Navy Pilot video…

Release statement

Here is the video:

Over the last four years, there have been a dribbling of reports released. Here is a good article from Scientific American printed yesterday that takes enough sides of UFO’s, no matter your thoughts you will be supported…

Not sure why these releases are happening …

No idea why now ….

Will be very interested in reviewing the new release, which if holds on due date has to be released in the next few weeks…

Odd this was embedded into a Stimulus Bill…

Have a Great “UFO Report Release” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.