Category Archives: Monthly Review

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

Posted on October 2, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Here is our August 2017 Monthly review. If you are too busy to read, feel free to listen as we describe our post and thoughts in friendly podcast format.

Enjoy!

September 2017 Video

 

Financial Planning Tip(s)-

Equifax breach

One of our most popular posts this month was here on the Equifax Breach.

Update, it appears the site Equifax set up, after entering some of our individual information to see if our privacy was compromised, defaults to yes for everyone.

The good news was this breach occurred months ago and if we have not had problems yet, at least the aggressive hackers are not using our information.

As mentioned in our post, it is not a matter or if, but when our personal information we be divulged. We need to all act accordingly and protect ourselves to prevent the eventual problems a loss of our information may create.

Real Estate Wire Fraud Issuesfraud-2695269_960_720

Briefly, this important  post about Real Estate Wire Fraud is worth noting again. While after the fact, this type of fraud looks easy to detect, in the throws of what is a stressful time (buying a new home or the like) fraudsters are taking advantage of our vulnerabilities.

If there are any last minute changes to your closing, BE SURE to contact the receiving party to confirm they are legitimate.

Capital Market Comments

United States Dollar Talk

With a few “Sky is Falling” US Dollar headlines, we addressed these concerns front and center in this Post and also in our coming newsletter with the chart below from our fellow blogger and former economist  Scott Grannis and Bloomberg.

20170907_150433563_iOS

Not only is the Unites States Dollar not undervalued, its still too strong using recent history as a guide!

See you at the end of October.

Happy Fall Season!

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

Leave a comment

Posted in Cyber, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Monthly Review, Video

Tagged , , , ,

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.

img_0889

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

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , , ,

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

Posted on August 2, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Here is our July 2017 Monthly review.

July 2017 Video

Financial Planning Tip(s)-

Why NOT to add After Tax funds to your IRA

We carefully reviewed the disadvantages of AFTER tax funds in and IRA as we ALWAYS want good savings habits, but there are more and less efficient ways to save funds.

Here are the key challenges with after tax funds in an IRA:

  • Upon eventual distribution you must calculate a distribution basis which will be different from your actual distribution – Easy for the IRS to confuse
  • You must carry the basis on your tax return- forever- IRS Form 8606 must be filed to keep up with your basis
  • Your heirs may also have to deal with this basis upon your death

1 Minute New Vault Videos

The fun summer New Vault Videos have begun. Holding them to just one minute has been a formidable challenge, but so far we have done pretty well…

Resetting the password of Our New TOTAL Vault

Here is the post of one of the most common questions for our New TOTAL Vault….

Resetting or Acquiring a New Password

Remember you can always easily email us for a quick reset… but if you want to do it yourself… here you go

 

Capital Market Comments

Janet starts Shrinking “The Balance Sheet“

In this lengthy post, we take a complete dive into not only what is meant by “Shrinking” the Balance Sheet, but also how it was bulked up and what the next step may be.

img_0874

 

The line on the far right should begin to drop soon, moving back towards a more normal size Balance Sheet, like it was prior to the “Great Recession of 07-09” , shown by the far left of the chart.

See you at the end of August.

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

Leave a comment

Posted in FOMC, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Monthly Review, Tax Related, Video

Tagged , ,

June 2017 Podcast Video, Financial Planning Tax Review and Earnings Update- By John Kvale

Posted on June 28, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Here is our June 2017 Monthly review.

Hard to believe we are ALREADY at the half way point of 2017 … A little early due to the Holiday schedule.

Here we go!

June 2017 Video

 

Financial Planning Tip-

Safely Hand Off VERY Important Documents

Vault Add View W Arrows for private and Full View

With a few services still showing too much confidential information such as social, bank and date of birth, in our post here we reminded everyone of how to easily hand-off that VERY confidential document.

Also as a reminder, one of our projects over the latter part of the summer will be a set of 1 minute videos on how to use the New Total Vault and feature such as this one … Looking forward to completing them !

Capital Market Comments

Rates are Rising

Libor 1 month 6-27-17

This chart shows does a great job of showing the rate increases as they have occurred. So far, market participants are taking the rate increases in stride.

We continue to believe higher/more normal rates are a good thing!

Happy Mid-Year point!

Let the 100 degree days begin !

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,

Leave a comment

Posted in General Financial Planning, Interest Rates, Investing/Financial Planning, Monthly Review, Video

Tagged , ,

May 2017 Podcast Video, Financial Planning Tax Review and Earnings Update- By John Kvale

Posted on June 2, 2017 by | Leave a comment

The School years are finally finishing up…

Summer is beginning across the country…

While moving slower, business is still going on…. let’s review!

But First our 22cnd Annual Holiday Party Announcement!

November 18, 2017 at The Dallas Texas Arboretum from 1-3 PM – Food and Fun – Enjoy the park until 5 pm!

12Nights1

 

Here is the review!

May 2017 Video

 

Financial Planning Tip(s)-

Credit Reportcredit-40673__340

With today’s technology, it’s no surprise more data is being used by everyone from our Mortgage companies to our Insurance carriers to set rates charged to us.

Given the comprehensive use of our data it has become even more important to guard our credit reports.

In our post here, we discuss the importance of watching our credit and how to check your credit report as well as getting a copy of your report, along with ways to dispute difficiences as well.

Sharing your financial life without giving up control

In this post, one of the most popular of the month, we discussed the ability to give access to your financial life, but not control, to someone.

Our job is of course to always know where everything is located and help carry the spirit of your wishes, but the sharing option of our New Total Vault may be an easier introduction to the subject matter, should you desire to bring it up on your own.

You may even want to have a subtle suggestion for the access to a special person in your life …. we have you covered with our New Total Vault.

Capital Market Comments

Employment Update

With over two thirds of our GDP (Gross Domestic Production) aka broad measure of our economic growth, being consumer related consumption, an employed and happy consumer may likely lead to better growth prospects for the US Economy. Here is the full review!

The consumer is certainly employed, as shown by this chart of the falling unemployment rate!

img_0792

Hello Swimming Pool, 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
www.street-cents.com,

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Monthly Review, Video

Tagged , , , ,

April 2017 Podcast Video, Financial Planning Tax Review and Earnings Update- By John Kvale

Posted on May 1, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Whew, that was easy…. tax season is finally mostly over ….

We wanted to look back one last time on our personal taxes before we sunset those tax strategies for the high point of the season….

As a reminder,  we started with an Audio Podcast format for those that are unable to SEE the video or just prefer to listen to the audio… this makes the review slightly longer, but more descriptive.

Enjoy!

April 2017 Video

 

Financial Planning Tip(s)-

AMT Tax Reminder

We ran across a lot of AMT or Alternative Minimum Taxes this season

Here are the key thoughts from our detailed post on AMT earlier this month-

  • Incomes between $170k and $313k joint and singles over $100k – you are in the cross hairs of AMT
  • Deferring income may be useful
  • Accelerate income

There is not a lot of planning changes with AMT, but in this case knowledge may be power!

Possible MAJOR tax reform

Late in the month an overview of major tax reform was released.

Here is a link from the White House

Here is a link from Barron’s that does a pretty good analysis

Here is our article on the possibilities earlier this month

What to do if you overfund your 401k/retirement plan

In our overfunding 401k post here, we discuss how your 401k/retirement plan can get overfunded….. here are the main points

  • Refund the extra amount ASAP
  • Apply the extra to the new year
  • If its a super small amount, its not the end of the world

Capital Market Comments

First Double Digit Earnings growth since 2011 expected

From our friends at Factset, who do a terrific job of outlining historic and future earnings.

Earnings are the ultimate driver of capital markets!

4-27-17 SP earnings estimates - Factset

What is nice about these estimates are that historically companies have been beating the street estimates … if this continues, the actual earnings may be even better double digit growth…. time will tell and we will be watching!

Hello 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
www.street-cents.com,

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Monthly Review, Tax Related, Video

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

March 2017 Podcast Video, Tax and Financial Planning Tips and Interest Rate/Economic Review- By John Kvale

Posted on April 3, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Spring has Sprung ….

March Brings warmth to most….

March Madness and Baseball season…

March also means Tax season is here!

Not to worry we have your back

As a reminder,  we started with an Audio Podcast format for those that are unable to SEE the video or just prefer to listen to the audio… this makes the review slightly longer, but more descriptive.

Last month we created a new intro and music as well…

Enjoy!

March 2017 Video

Financial Planning Tip(s)-

Tax Tips Reminders and Savings Update

The following items can be done today and still help your 2016 taxes–

  • HSA – Health Savings Account- High Deductible Pre-Tax Savings account
  • SEP- Simplified Employee Pension- Souped Up IRA for Non-W-2 Income offset
  • IRA- Oldie but goodie- Prefer using ONLY if deductible

Costly Tax Mistakes we are seeing

In our post late this month, we highlight items we are seeing missed, resulting in extra tax costs.

  • Property Tax incorrect year – make sure you get credit in the year you pay
  • General Sales Tax missing- It’s your deduction, make darn sure you get it if you itemize
  • Missing Basis- An oldie but goodie, EVERYTHING has a basis- be sure one is included on your return
  • Missing a SEP (AKA Simplified Employee Pension) contribution – Souped up IRA that offsets non-W-2 income- Great Tax Saver- You can do both a SEP and 401k if you have both incomes under the appropriate scenario

Let us know if you have any questions, we are in full tax review mode!

FOMC Interest Rate Increase

Another Rate Increase

March also marked a month where the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee)  headed by Janet Yellen and fellow members raised short term interest rates another .25%. Now at a rate .75%, slowly rates are beginning to normalize.

Overnight LIBOR (London Interbank Offering Rate) showing the Rate Increases clearly

3-31-17 Overnight Libor

 

Our friends at JPMorgan, think higher rates may help the economy, as too low of rates, in their opinion, muzzle the economy more than it helps.

jpmorgan-rates-too-low-graph

We Agree!

See you at the end of April!

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,

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Monthly Review, Tax Related, Video

Tagged , , , ,