Category Archives: Economy

All Eyes on the Federal Reserve – Will they LOWER (yes you read that correctly) Rates? Audio from Local Fed President, Robert Kaplan, on how the decision is made!

Posted on June 17, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Ok…so the Social Security event forced us to pull together new audio equipment – we never knew how quickly we would utilize these new tools for events such as what follows – We hope you enjoy these pertinent comments directly from the horses mouth!

Unthinkable just a few quarters ago…. Market Participants are thinking there may be a FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) LOWERING of rates – yep lowering!

This week the FOMC will announce their decision, based on many factors as you will hear from the attached audio – what makes this weeks meeting special is the slight expectation of a lowering of rates and this meeting includes the FOMC estimates of the economy and an interview with chief Jerome Powell post announcement –

Now – what they are looking at to make the decision!

At our recent CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) sponsored event, we were fortunate enough to have an hour with Robert Kaplan, Dallas Federal Reserve President. We were also fortunate enough to get audio of the event…

What the Fed Watches to make rate decisions20190528_170905120_iOS

According to Robert Kaplan, Audio below, he along with his fellow FOMC chiefs watch the following, just to name a few items:

Cyclical Factors – Short Term Indicators – Less important to Kaplan – I.e. CPI, Earnings, Interest Rates, Employment rates – basically all the items we read on a daily basis or are bombarded with in “Breaking News! Like format – Interestingly and very correctly from our perch, Kaplan is not a big advocate of placing much weight on these factors – see next as he mostly ignores the short term noise – Wisely in our opinion – see audio below

Structural Factors – Longer Term Trends – MORE important to Kaplan and becoming more important to the entire FOMC board due to his repeated review – I.e. Population growth/demographics, Government Debt, Corporate Debt, TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION (huge importance), World Growth – Again, totally agree – see audio below

Individual Company Response – Kaplan talks to over 30 large and small company CEO’s monthly along with continued in- person visits with companies to help determine, just what the economy is doing along with longer term Structural disrupting factors – see audio below

Group Input – With multiple chiefs from a dozen districts bringing their collective input to the table, a theme hopefully develops!

Here is the Audio in different formats for different devices – with three different types we hope at least one works on your device!

MP3:

Wave File:

OGG File:

Our Thoughts

Our bet is no lowering of rates, which may be met with disappointment (lower markets)!

Have a Great “FED Decision Week” 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

Leave a comment

Posted in Audio, Economy, FOMC, Interest Rates, Investing/Financial Planning

Tagged , , , ,

May 2019 Podcast Video, Financial Planning and Capital Market Update – By John Kvale

Posted on June 3, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Hello and Welcome to our May 2019 Financial Planning and Capital Market Update!

If you are too busy to read, feel free to listen as we describe our post and thoughts in friendly podcast format as well as Video!

Newbies – We like to articulate our thoughts and review on a Monthly basis our Financial Planning Tips, Capital Markets and current events!

May – 2019 Video

Financial Planning Tip (s) –

Why Reading the Fine Print is Still Important

img_2797

Here in this post we discussed the need to keep an eye out for tricksters as the still find their ways into our lives…. this post was created after stumbling on to an offer of 99% annul charges on what looked like a request for a donation to a charity… can’t make this up.. even took the blurry (bad photographer) picture for proof…

 

Sharpening the Saw – Personal Income Tax Bracket Review

In our Sharpening the Saw post here, we posted from a local conference we were attending and grabbed our favorite Tax Chart as a reminder of the new tax law changes.

This chart, which is also making an appearance in the Q 3 Newsletter is a great review/update on the new tax brackets, especially those who are retired:

Tax Bracket Chart

 

Capital Market Comments –

Yield Curve Inversion is back, as we had a brief few days in March, but as of the end of May we had a much more distinct inversion with the 10 year at 2.15% and the 90 day near 2.40%-

The following chart is from our own trading system and is the 10 year yield less the 19 week yield or the equivalent 90 day yield… the black line marks the zero point – anything below the zero is inversion !

6-2-19 10 year versus 13 weeks Rate - Thinkpipes

It’s inverted now for sure…. Again, LOT’s more to come!

Have a Great Day – Talk to you at the end of June!

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
street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Education, General Financial Planning, Interest Rates, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Monthly Review, Podcast, Retirement Planning, Video

Tagged , , ,

Earnings Matter, ultimately the most, let’s take a peek at how they are doing

Posted on May 15, 2019 by | Leave a comment

With earnings being the ultimate driver of Capital Markets it’s always good to stick our heads down into the weeds occasionally to see how corporate managers are navigating the waters.

Our favorite go-to source for this information is from our friends at Factset, a research arm that does terrific tracking …

Here are a few charts with our notes:

This following is an estimate of Earnings for the remainder of 2019 and for the year 2020 – notice expectations are positive year over year 2018 to 2019 but not much growth is expected from the analyst community – Tariff agreement would likely change this expectation quickly…

img_1243-e1557890593225.png

Next up, how the change in estimates has occurred in real time – take note of the drop near the end of the year 2018 – while it looks like a larger than normal drop, and we prefer it increasing, it is only about a 5% total expected drop but again still a year over year increase as seen from the prior chart.

img_1242-e1557890631119.png

Lastly, we had to throw one of our favorite charts in from our friends at JPMorgan – the lagging blue line, that actually looks out of place, is the current market expansion rate – note how slow this expansion (2007-current) has been. We find this very interesting as even the 2001 expansion was at a much faster pace than our current. Could we be entering an extended period of slower, but more stable growth? This would also speak to lessened concerns of inflation and lowered expectations moving forward…

img_1244.png

Overall, lets give corporate managers an A to almost A+, especially those dealing with overseas trading partners of any kind.

Have a Great “Update Earnings” 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

Leave a comment

Posted in Earnings, Economy, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments

Tagged , , , ,

Sometimes Market Movements Make Sense – but not always

Posted on May 8, 2019 by | Leave a comment

The Hissy fit that Capital Markets threw in late 2018 were puzzling, if not weird, at best.

Oddly, there are more times than not puzzling or strange market movement that the so called “Pundits” can reason why things occur, but really “Only the Shadow Knows!”

The recent market movement, although very small in context, makes sense.

Smart Market?

Over the weekend, it appears that talks broke down on the China trade deals, and Tariff threats have made the headlines again…

This is fast news and can change in a nano-second, so knee jerk reactions are NOT needed or worthy! 

This time, the market pause makes sense as increased concerns over the Tariff talks may cause slow downs in certain areas…

Here is a very short term chart that speaks to what makes some sense AT THE MOMENT!

5-7-19 SP 500

Will it turn into something more? Maybe, or Maybe not, but it does make some sense, IN THE VERY SHORT TERM!

Longer term, just a speed bump in the Parking Lot of Investing!

Have a Great “Sensible Market” 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

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments

Tagged , , ,

April 2019 Podcast Video, Financial Planning and Capital Market Update – By John Kvale

Posted on May 1, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Hello and Welcome to our April 2019 Financial Planning and Capital Market Update!

If you are too busy to read, feel free to listen as we describe our post and thoughts in friendly podcast format as well as Video!

Newbies – We like to articulate our thoughts and review on a Monthly basis our Financial Planning Tips, Capital Markets and current events!

April – 2019 Video

Financial Planning Tip (s) –

Source of Funds Entrance Into Capital Markets

Here in this post we discussed the possible ways to most comfortably enter new capital into the Capital Markets.

Super Safe sources of capital may be best suited for an entrance over time, while funds coming from the Capital Markets, may go directly back into the Capital Markets, especially if risk reduction is also part of the allocation.

Over a 5 – 10 year time frame it does not matter, but why twist an ankle in the short term!

Social Security Event – Questions

Wow – all of these great questions were sent to us for our Event this month…. all were answered, if not directly, indirectly.  We look forward to sharing actual audio (Tom speaks very fast and covered a lot of ground) from the event in a multi-part post series over the summer months! DCIM100GOPRO

 

  1. Last time we spoke you were VERY certain Social Security would be there for all of us upon retirement – With all of the changes, do you still feel this way?
  2. Can you explain the divorced verses divorced and remarried benefits?
  3. Have you ever heard of someone being offered a lump sum of retroactive Social Security benefits?
  4. November of 2015 ushered in new laws and changes, are there any neat techniques that survived?
  5. Can you explain non US citizen spousal benefits?
  6. We have been told many of the benefit statements are not always accurate, understating the actual eventual benefit, has this been your experience?
  7. How much can I earn and not receive penalties if I retire before my full retirement age?
  8. The Full Retirement Age keeps being pushed out, will this continue? Is there a schedule?
  9. How long do I have to report my Social Security earnings if they were not reported by an employer?
  10. For many years I did not draw on an ex-spouses earnings by accident – using only my earnings benefit, can I request some sort of look back to get my full benefits?
  11. If want to change my Social Security election decision after I made it and have been drawing benefits, Can I do that?
  12. Do I have to take Social Security Benefits ? What if I do not want to?
  13. Is it better to sign up in person or use the website, or does it matter?
  14. My wife is not a US citizen, does that affect her spousal benefits?
  15. Will Social Security always be there in your opinion?
  16. What percent of people take benefits early, at full retirement age and as late as possible?
  17. I am 65 and working with a good healthcare plan. I wasn’t going to sign up for Medicare until after I retire. However I am told a Medicare Part F; a supplemental plan eliminating deductibles, will not be available after 2019; Should I enroll and sign up for Part F?
  18. I was married for more than 10 years to a high income earner, if I get remarried to my new spouse who is not a high income earner, will I give up benefits?
  19. Have you seen any of the on-line Social Security Optimization Programs? If so, any you like better than others? (From JK)
  20. What are your thoughts about an income based phase out of Social Security in the future? Much like the penalty for W-2 income and having started early Social Benefits ? (From JK)

Capital Market Comments –

Happy Again

After throwing a Hissy Fit near the end of 2018, “Everybody Is Happy” again !

This is a total index chart, note that it has not reached new highs yet, however many other indexes have.

Let’s not forget that we DID have an inverted yield curve which is a great predictor of a pending recession …. only the Shadow knows when! We have our eyes peeled!

4-29-19 Vanguard Total World Index Fund

 

Have a Great Day – Talk to you at the end of May!

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
street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Education, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Monthly Review, Podcast, Retirement Planning, Social Security, Video

Tagged , , , ,

March 2019 Podcast Video, Financial Planning and Capital Market Update – By John Kvale

Posted on March 29, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Break in Reminder for our Social Security Event

Saturday April 27th at 10 am and Dallas Athletic Club

 

Hello and Welcome to our March 2019 Financial Planning and Capital Market Update!

If you are too busy to read, feel free to listen as we describe our post and thoughts in friendly podcast format as well as Video!

Newbies – We like to articulate our thoughts and review on a Monthly basis our Financial Planning Tips, Capital Markets and current events!

March – 2019 Video

Financial Planning Tip (s) –

IRS Dirty Dozenburglar-308858__480

Each year the IRS publishes their top dozen tax scams, here in our post we cover all dirty dozen tax scams to be aware.

Our top three are their first three-

  • Phishing
  • Phone Scams
  • Identity Theft

Which are the ones we see most frequently!

For the record, we have seen way less this year than in years past!

Choose Beneficiaries Carefully Part IIbeneficiary - 42001392872_ddd235968d_m

Here in our Part II beneficiary post, we discuss the two most common types of designations you will likely see on Beneficiary paperwork, Per Stirpes (flows to heirs, irregardless of survivors) and ProRata (funds only to survivors) and once again as a reminder that Beneficiary language will over ride Wills and other types of Estate Planning documents – choose carefully!

Capital Market Comments –

Inverted Yield CurveFOMC Lowers Rates and buys longer to lower

Here we spoke of the three hour inverted yield curve in a Break In abbreviated post. As an update, the yield curve has been inverted most of this week, making is a TRUE inversion.

We will have a detailed review soon, but again the importance of this event is the recession signaling prowess.

All recessions are not equal, and we highly suspect the next one will be a shallow one, but our radars are up.

Have a Great Day – Talk to you at the end of March!

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
street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Estate Planning, FOMC, General Financial Planning, Interest Rates, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Monthly Review, Podcast, Retirement Planning, Video

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Why We don’t like to Move Money on Fridays – Break In – Inverted Yield Curve Update

Posted on March 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Break In – On Friday the Yield Curve Inverted for about three hours – we have spoken at length on this subject, but want a little more time to see market participants reactions as well as Fed officials before making a current update.

As a reminder the Inversion of the Yield Curve has a strong recessionary signal some time in the future, frequently years in advance –

Friday’s inversion triggered a series of sell programs that clearly did not do their homework on the possible eventual timing of a recession.

With a Newsletter already in print – coincidentally we had much talk about recessions, and even a definition. The two hour inversion did mess our Newsletter up a bit as until Friday it had not inverted – we will update you more with clarity soon!

Back to our regularly scheduled program/post…

Why we don’t like to Move Money on Fridaysfriday-1270362__480

As a weekend nears, specifically Friday … many’s favorite day of the week, we tend to dislike the movement of funds.

The reason is two fold:

  1. If something goes wrong, the weekend can be/seems long to determine a correction
  2. Skeleton crews frequently man the ship on Friday’s- especially during the summer

Our absolute least favorite movement of funds is sending to all new instructions on a Friday – we rarely do this – and never do before a long/holiday weekend!

There are of course times that money just HAS to move on a Friday, such as the closing of a home (in an abundance of caution, we frequently send funds on Thursday) or a last minute quick fill up of cash.

Regularly scheduled deposits are fine as the calendar determines this and being on such a regimented event, trouble is less likely.

Deposits or draws as we like to call them are a different story. When we are pulling funds from another account, we see the flow of funds from our end and can easily Shepard/see problems.

In a safe over sorry posture, look for us to recommend Thursday or our favorite day, Monday, for the movement of unscheduled funds.

Have a Great “No Friday Money Movement” 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

Leave a comment

Posted in Clients/Clients Only, Economy, Education, FOMC, Interest Rates, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Why

Tagged , , , ,