Tag Archives: Fitch

August 2023 Audio Video Review – The Brain Tests the Systems- Social Security Statement/Web View Reminder – Four Downgrades Reviewed – Financial Planning and Capital Market Review – By John Kvale CFA, CFP

Hello and Welcome to our August 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 audio format as well as Video!

BREAK IN: Donald the Brain WILL BE reviewing the Schwab TDA Merger information only one of 32k folks to be asked!

Newbies –

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

Hope you enjoy!

August 2023 Video


YouTube

Financial Planning Tip(s)

Check that Social Security Statement no Matter your age

While a late delivery, we managed to remind all (including ourselves) why we need to review annually our Social Security statement, here in this post…. along with some new features from the SSA (Social Security Administration) in their updated website!

From the post:

Confirm your credits via your Earning History

Confirm you received credits for your hard earned money is very important, and easy…. here is what the screen shot look like – Below- oh, there are new drop downs for excellent help if your credits are not showing

Capital Market Comments

Not one, not two, not three …. but FOUR Downgrades with one called by ourselves – Tap Tap on the back

In this first post we commented that Fitch put a shot across the bow of the USA Credit Boat with a mild downgrade from AAA to AA+

Not to be outdone, another of the big three credit agencies, Moody’s chimed in as we discussed here

Then back into the pool goes Fitch with ANOTHER downgrade…. here we discussed Fitch’s second downgrade and mentioned we were surprised the One of the Big Three were silent….

BOOM that night of our above post, the other big three S&P Global Markets came to the party…. as we discussed here along with a timely fun YTD Bankruptcy Graph from our bud at Visual Capitalist

These downgrades among a couple of other items, not surprising, led to an upward push on rates… highlights to the far right…. already headed back to norms!

Have a Great Day, Talk to You at the End of September !

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

Moody’s Credit Agency Jumps on Board and Downgrades 10 Banks along with “Keep an Eye Out” for More ….

Just Friday we mentioned Fitch Credit Agency Played Eye Spy and downgraded the USA credit worthiness by a very small amount from AAA to AA+…. the Eye Spy was due in part to the very large government spending acceleration number that showed up in the overzealous GDP print ….

Not to be outdone, a fellow credit agency, Moody’s chimed in as well

Moody’s Downgrades 10 Banks – Keep an eye on Others

As reported here by Reuters, Moody’s jumped into the pool and downgraded a slew of banks as well as put many on watch….

As mentioned in our post on the Fitch Downgrade, the US interest rates moved up after the ratings increase…. it would be expected all banks involved to see their standards tighten as well as their borrowing costs rise as well….

Why is this important you may ask?

This second rating decrease, by Moody’s will in effect help the FOMC in their pursuit of slowing the economy. Banks will broadly tighten lending standards!!

Have a Great “Moody’s Jumps into the Pool Downgrade” 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

Fitch Downgrade… On the way home… More Resident Pictures… Happy Friday …

In true “I Spy” like format — come on, you remember the funny kids game … anyway, Fitch Ratings Company played “I Spy” in the last GDP number,(was much larger than expected due to this) noting a large increase in government spending….. tossed a warning shot over the bow of the government in a small downgrade of US debt from AAA to AA+…. Not surprisingly that has pushed rates higher….FOR THE TIME BEING…

With the first Friday in August… and coming back from our “Sharpening of the Saw” Trip…. We will keep today short….

But we did want to say farewell to a few more residents ..this time four legged ones!

Happy Friday – Back in the Saddle next week – Talk then!

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

Fitch Dog Piles, Greece, Big Ben Speaks and a Dead Cell Phone

An announcement from Fitch makes our third warning shot across the bow of the US.  Yesterday Fitch ratings issued a warning of a downgrade if the debt ceiling and financial affairs are not reviewed.  Interestingly it appears that our very first “Taps” post on the subject is proving true, oddly in two ways.

  1. “…without any adjustments the rest of the players continue into the stack and create a dogpile..” This seems to have happened with the third rating coming joining the party.
  2. “…spirited headline, while extremely important, becomes forgotten …” This also seems to have happened, as I bet you did not even hear that Fitch downgraded the US yesterday!

Last evening Greece did manage to pass austerity measures needed to receive funds for assistance.  While this is good news, it appears we have a repeat offender and may find a similar, yet more difficult vote soon.

Like many issues of this kind, Greece’s issue is not the only problem, the worry is contagion and exposure from other countries, in our opinion.  Summer days, low trading volumes, end of quarter, and shortage of interesting headlines may lead to continued capital market surprises and dramatic headlines.

Today in the early afternoon, Big Ben will give his second live post FOMC interview. In his prior/first interview, he did extremely well in our opinion. We are interested in his continued conviction in the current US economic soft patch, and also any comments on withdrawal of stimulus dollars.

Lastly, I am near the east coast on a multi-day trip. Yesterday just as I arrived via car to my third destination town, my cell phone died.  In a scene similar to Back to the Future, greater appreciation was earned for the convenience and dependence on today’s wonderful tech advances. Have you seen a pay phone lately? (They do not exist anymore!) After a four-hour stent at a local cell phone store, I am 100% back up and running, with no future complaints of a dropped call.

Thanks for your time this morning, this post was longer partially from the squashing of multi posts into one, created from my cell problems yesterday.

Have a Good Day!

JK