Category Archives: General Financial Planning

Real Estate Transactions Wire Fraud Alert!

Posted on September 20, 2017 by | Leave a comment

It is no surprise the creative bad guys sitting behind computer screens somewhere have found another weak spot in the system. The problem with this one is, it is usually of size.

Real Estate Fraud Alertfraud-2695269_960_720

One of the larger financial transactions many of us make are the purchase of some type of Real Estate. With money, paperwork, and stress sloshing around, it is no wonder the bad guys have squeezed into this arena.

Here is what is going on:

  • After a hack into the system somewhere-
  • Email is sent to one of the parties, stating there is an updated wire account number-
  • In the foray of movement one party fails to verify the new account information-
  • Bam, the funds are wired and disappear-

How to stop it:

  • Confirm ANY email change with your opposite party-
  • Call one last time and check “In Person” with the other party before wiring – just to be safe
  • Get your Fed wire number confirmation after the wire-
  • Confirm your receiving party did in fact, receive the funds

If it is convenient, a cashiers check may be easier/safer– but hold on tight to that check after issue and double confirm how to make the check payable if this is the way you choose to go.

While the above steps look simple, and the bad guys easy to spot, in the heat of the moment, things can slip through the cracks.

Measure twice, cut once!

Have a great “Less Fraud” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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 Cyber, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning

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Best wishes to our Floridian family and friends … Friday

Posted on September 15, 2017 by | Leave a comment

It’s hard to believe two huge devastating hurricanes in about as many weeks. Most of our family and friends are ok but certainly misplaced in one way or another. We wish a fast recovery and always admire the unity such a disaster creates.

Florida

Today is a Friday and with a Newsletter in the works we will share more next week.

Be Safe and enjoy your Friday and your weekend!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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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Most and Least Trusted Media Sources

Posted on September 13, 2017 by | Leave a comment

We did not make this, so please do not yell at us if you disagree…haha

We do find this very interesting.

This chart was part of a report from our friends at Visual Capitalist, who were actually reviewing a study completed by the Donald W Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri.

According to 8,728 people in 28 different areas… Here are the results !

Media - trust-news

Have a Great “Trusting News” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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 General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Political

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Equifax breach and what to do about it?

Posted on September 11, 2017 by | Leave a comment

On Thursday of last week Equifax announced it had a breach of possibly 143 million people who may have a credit report on file.

Before you jump off a cliff, understand this ranks only as the Fourth largest breach in history…. big, but not even close to the largest from yahoo, about 1.5 billion from 2013-2014.

This is again a modern day Bonnie and Clyde!

Breach Occurred in JulyEquifax

Here is the website Equifax is giving for information that also contains a link to a page that will allegedly check to see if your information has been compromised.

Before you jump in and check your information on the Equifax site, read the following:

The website they have given to check to see if your information was compromised says yes to any inquiry according to a  New York Times reporter… hmmmm

What to do? – Calmly take actions

Assume your information has been compromised !- It will most likely be eventually anyway, if it was not already …. so again no jumping off a cliff, it’s better than be held up at gunpoint “Modern day Bonnie and Clyde”

Monitor your credit from now on- Credit.com, credit karma and many others that guard your credit are a good place to go. Many credit card companies and mortgage companies send your soft, high level score monthly, keep an eye on your report for fluctuations.

Check your credit annually,  here in our article on how to safely do this in what is called a soft check so as not to hurt your credit.

Have all of your credit cards send you an email after every transaction- its easy and a good safety net.

You can opt for the free Equifax year, if you do you must do this by November 21st. We would not recommend the monitoring after the free year unless you have an incident. There will likely be a large number of people who forget about the free year and actually become a paying client to Equifax after their breach… real irony !

Expect more breaches in the future, but if you have done the preventatives above, you will be fine.

This too shall pass and likely not nearly the incidents many are calling for!

End of our all our credit?  …. nah … pesky modern day Bonnie and Clyde, and a need to heighten our radars from now on? … YEP !

Have a Great “Less Worrying Credit” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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 Cyber, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning

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August 2017 Podcast Video, Financial Planning and Capital Market Update- By John Kvale

Posted on September 6, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Here is our August 2017 Monthly review.

August 2017 Video

Financial Planning Tip(s)-

1 Minute Video Series – Six of them to be exact

Over the last six weeks we had fun recording our first series of videos on our New Total Vault …. A total of Six to be exact!

  1. Finding your Cool New TOTAL Vault
  2. Resetting the Password on your Cool New TOTAL Vault
  3. Uploading Important Docs to your Cool New TOTAL Vault
  4. Connecting outside Accounts to your Cool New TOTAL Vault
  5. Running nifty reports from your Cool New TOTAL Vault
  6. Constant Improvements coming from your Cool New TOTAL Vault

All of these can be found using our search feature on our blog here or here at our main website.

Capital Market Comments

The “Natural” rate of Employment/Unemployment

In this post during the month we take a deep look at the Unemployment rate and just why it was not different this time, but why it took so long to normalize.

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It is not to much of a stretch to think normalization took longer because it has been such a slow recovery. VERY SLOW — this recovery is the far right weak line with the lowest slope.

JPMorgan GDP expansion chart

See you at the end of September.

Happy Summer!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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 General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Monthly Review, Vault, Video

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Why we like Skepticism – Versus Cynicism …

Posted on August 14, 2017 by | Leave a comment

As a parent of a 9 year old and 12 year old, the trouble is never when you can hear a subtle or even louder than normal disturbance or any amount of noise.

The Silence is Trouble!

Why we like Skepticism

Skepticism is a valuable necessity in almost all areas of our lives, especially the capital markets. NO ONE was skeptical of the internet revolution in late 99. What followed was a tough recession, brought on by non other than the internet craze itself.

Silence, as there were no dissenters!

Fast forward to 2007, this time is was Residential Real Estate's time in the spotlight. One can never lose money in Real Estate was the themed dagger that made many over confident at that time. There were certainly other events that cumulated to lead to the Great Recession of 07-09, however the skeptics were gone, leaving the door open for the ultimate surprise we all experienced.

Oddly, there is a need for skepticism as it levels the Pro's and Con's of the situation.

Bottom line, if all is too well, no one else to enter or argue the point and we all fall on one side of the equation, leaving the other side of the event to occur.

Here is a great headline, we would call Skeptical…

North Korea threatens to turn US mainland into theatre of War!

La Times

And another good headline, again we would call skeptical…

An interview with Jim Rodgers "Of course we are in a stock market bubble"

Forbes

Versus Cynicism

In a world of overuse and excess, it is not surprising that cynicism also squeezes into the equation. There are many folks that have unfortunately made their names, especially in the financial world, but in many other parts of society as well, with Cynical statements and proclamations.

Cynicism in our minds is so constantly negative and allows no option for any other possibility… skepticism on a major extreme of sorts. The problem is frequently in a vacuum for headlines, cynical stories make their way to the top… Don't bite!

How many times was the world supposed to end?

The following review of another end of the world claim looks back at this persons claim and notes this is the multiple time for calling such event.

The Solar Eclipse is…. End of the World

CNET Review

Seems crazy right.. but caught at the perfect moment, you just might bite… nah, don't do it!

Welcoming skepticism and shunning cynicism should keep us all on even footing …. Just do it!

Have a great "Balanced" Day!balance-1172800

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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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Why we like Skepticism preview … Extended Remote Work ending …. Friday …

Posted on August 11, 2017 by | Leave a comment

We welcome Skepticism and enjoy reading and listening to almost all points of view. Frequently in today's "Breaking News" sound bites, only the most dramatic are consumed  in our busy lives day …

Next week we will discuss in great detail our view on Skepticism, cynicism and give a few fun to pokes at "Breaking News".

Remote Working Ending20170802_124105025_iOS

Thanks to technological improvements and a smaller world, our annual extended remote work, visit with family and fellow professionals, went off without a hitch again this year … sixth year… hopefully we can make it seven in 2018!

This weekend brings the journey back home, which also means the school grind is getting close to starting up… much to the sadness of a few in our household… but its all necessary and good!

One Minute Video Series Continues

Next week we continue our 1 minute fun New Total Vault Video series… which is also being posted on our New Updated Website here

Ahhhh … but that is next week, summer is not over YET… still lots of hot days for us … enjoy your weekend .. Pool anyone!

Have a Great Friday!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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 General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments

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