Category Archives: Personal

Posted in Donald Capone, Investing/Financial Planning, Jen Hill, Personal, Retirement Planning, Social Security

Tagged Birthday, Cola, CPI-W, Pension, Pension COLA, Social Security

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

HOLIDAY PARTY REMINDER … Early Friday for Collective Safety (Kids on the Streets) …CONFUSION – Off Monday, Loosely Tethered ….

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

HERE IS YOUR REMINDER FOR OUR 25TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY

DALLAS ATHLETIC CLUB FROM 3-5 PM

SATURDAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING NOVEMBER 20TH 2021

INVITATIONS GO OUT LATE NEXT WEEK

HOPE YOU CAN COME

CONFUSION ON HOLIDAY

At this moment, we think the Federal Reserve will be closed on Monday which means wires will not occur and the post office…. there is confusion on Banks…

We would plan on not being able to move money Monday, just to be safe…

Rowdy Kids Friday and Holiday Weekend

Today is a Friday, heading into a long weekend due to the local Texas State Fair Day weekend with kids off Monday and an early exit today….

For the collective safety of the local residents and a bit of a break before fall kicks in completely, we will be out early today and loosely tethered on Monday.

As a kid, sure do not recall so many Holidays…. maybe they went by so fast…. oh well!

Have a Great Friday, Super Weekend and 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.

Posted in Clients/Clients Only, John Kvale, Personal

Tagged Dallas Athletic Club, Holiday Party, State Fair

Sudden Increases in Cell Spam … Don’t Click on That Text … Don’t Answer that Call … Personal Mistake … Cyber Updates

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

About a year ago, a note was spotted that we would have a near 400% increase in the next 12 months of spam calls …. at the time seemed unreasonable….

Fast forward to today, think the estimate was low….. based on everyone’s experiences…

Cyber Update – Spam Calls and Now More Recent TEXTS

Last week we had a family get together where a reminder went out to all member NOT to answer calls that had a number very similar to any of our and more importantly to NOT click on the new relentless texts that seem to be picking up steam in volume….

Almost got me…. with our cell bill being on auto pay… a nice thank you text from our cell provider followed by a link for a special gift ALMOST got me….

“AT&T Free Msg: August bill is paid. Thanks, [name]! Here’s a little freebie for you: [link].”

Late last week our local paper, The Dallas Morning News ran the following story (think you can read the story even without a subscription…some great screen shot examples)

Here is a great article by the Federal Trade Commission on examples and how to avoid as well…

On Saturday, the family was asked to save any of their fake Texts…. in two days, this is what we ended up with…

The Call Spam filter is busier than ever but certainly does not catch all the spam calls…

Personal Accidental Mistake

Early in the year while on a conference call with two other folks, an attempt to decline an unfamiliar call turned into an accidental answer… the spam call then began recalling about 20 times before I could get off the conference call and block the number….

If it’s important they will leave a message… everyone is getting these same calls, so all will understand…

Don’t recklessly click or answer (reminding myself too) ….

Have a Great “Don’t click the bait” 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 Cyber, John Kvale, Personal

Tagged Cyber, Dallas Morning News, Federal Trade Commission, Spam Calls, Text, Text Scam

First Full Week of School in the Books … Partial Week Next Week, Labor Day ! Getting Ready for Fall Sports… Child Tax Credit Preview … Late Summer Friday

Posted on August 27, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

Whew….. the first full week of school is thankfully almost in the books…..

Always say after the first or second full week “Don’t know how we are going to make it!” But we do!

The Sleep schedule is getting better, up at least 10-15 minutes for the 13 year old before departure time

He even got the choppers brushed four out of five days!

Just when the schedule steadies… next week has an early release late in the week followed by Monday Labor Day Holiday!

As a reminder, Monday week is the official Labor Day Holiday! (Maybe that is for return to school help …haha)

Fall Sports on the Horizon…

As the days get shorter on light, the fall sports calendar starts to get in gear!

Child Credit Confusion

We have run into repeated Child Tax Credit Confusion and are planning an early next week longer post with the IRS notes for clarity…. we really have had a lot of questions and have been somewhat confused ourselves …

It’s a Friday and most of that was last week, but we are heading into a late Summer Friday on the weekend before a shortened week…

Enjoy, talk next week and have a Great 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 Care Act, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, John Kvale, Personal

Tagged Child Tax Credit, Labor Day

Home Sweet Home, Saw Sharpened, A lot of Guests! One for Eight in New Years Resolution … Last Friday Before School!

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

As mentioned a while back, here, at last … a working remote time in a cooler location was pulled off. Today we ready for the journey back to Home Sweet Home!

It was somewhat emotional as we just happened to step into the same place that we stayed two years ago and were very excited to be back again.

The trip was broken up by a quick turn around flight with the ailing tennis player who had multiple MRIs and a Doctors appointment that could only be set in the middle of our trip. It’s all good … and hopefully the tennis player is on the way to recovery.

Not surprisingly .. as the trip carried on even with the super weak Wi-Fi, research, reading, education and getting to those projects both professional and personal that have been pushed off, we’re brought to the forefront of the laptop screen. Saw Sharpened and Batteries Recharged … thankfully!

We were happy to have relatives, friends, and even a fellow professional and his family who were staying nearby all up over the time of our trip. Looking back at the trip, maybe we had just a little too many folks – nah! Considering the prior years events, it may be impossible to have too many friends and family over!

Those with great memories may also recall the New Years resolution for a whopping one round of golf a month was failed miserably with none prior to the trip… Happily thanks to the fellow professionals pushing we did get ONE round in…. gotta start somewhere..

Sadly for the aforementioned tennis player and the 13-year-old soon to be eighth grader this is the last Friday before school starts which occurs next week. A dash to finish the summer reading project which as of this writing has not been started is on for the 13 year old …. Audiobook on the way home anyone?

Ahhh … but today is a Friday heading into the last free Friday according to the kiddos before school starts again!

Have a Great 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 John Kvale, Personal

Tagged Summer Break

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

Cut Over Update, Almost Complete … Office Schedules on Home Stretch of Summer Break for Our Families… Last Friday of July …

Posted on July 30, 2021 by John Kvale CFA, CFP | Leave a comment

Mid this week, the official cut over of email and contacts occurred…. Fortunately we did not have any MAJOR problems, but there are some missing data…

Not to worry we have over four weeks access of the old data….

Funny thing about technology….unlike a struggling car that just barely gets you there, technology usually works or not – no in between….

Office Calendars Into the Home Stretch

Next week I will start an extended working remote/Vacation in a cooler place with Family, Friends and even some fellow Advisors and their families as well…. Likely get the July Month End Video Review from there–thank you afore mentioned Technology! The solitude usually begets great creative ideas… Lookout Blog Posts and Newsletter!

Jen lets off some steam later next week- much deserved

Donald “The Brain” gets the next week after Jen returns…. much deserved as well!

Nice staggering Guys!

New Years Resolution Broken But Try to Fix ….

One of my New Years resolutions was to play ONE (lofty goal huh) yep just one round of golf a Month…..

Current at 0 for 7 months…. with avid golfers meeting at my remote working location, an attempt at a correction will hopefully start. Newbies, I was a collegiate golfer for three years, helping with Tuition and room and board…. That was a chapter long ago though…. Ok Digressing, back to business…

Ahhhh…. Today is a Friday heading into an about to go Remote for a while Weekend….

Enjoy your Friday and your late Summer 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.

Posted in Clients/Clients Only, Donald Capone, Jen Hill, John Kvale, Personal

Tagged Cut Over, Summer, Vacations

Summer Office Technology Improvements … Friday

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

Each year, excluding last year, we tackle a technology improvement.

About a half a dozen years ago after too much coffee at a vendor related event on the West Coast yours truly came home with multiple technology improvements (New Vault, New Web site just to name a few) all at once, which turned out to be a hard lesson learned, and the team was not happy…..make darn sure the project is not too big!

New Server and Email System

In a little over a week after reviewing all of our alternatives we have decided to upgrade our server and move our cloud-based email system to a new platform.

Our IT folks have already started the process of mirroring our old server to our new one and are readying the staging of the email.

We are assured this will go without a hitch; we hope to not hear the dreaded words we have heard before …

“Wow I have not seen this before!”

The good news is we only have this project and not multiple projects as well as the hard-earned lesson of overcast caffeinated excitement.

Hopefully just steps forward and not back to go forward….

But that is a week or so away and this is a Friday almost dead middle of the summer.

Enjoy your day and your weekend …. Maybe even a little time off if the shoe fits!

Talk to you 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.