Whew…. that was easy…. NOT!
Finally we can say goodbye to 2019 taxes … Wednesday Marked the due day for personal Federal Income Tas Extensions.
Luckily (where work and opportunity cross – neat saying heard recently) in the fall of 2019 we went through EVERY taxable portfolio and confirmed tax basis – both reported and unreported to the IRS…. never knowing what this year would bring. This exercise effectively minimized tax documents to one report per account.
Glad we are done!
A Nerd Incident with Robert Kaplan and the Dallas Federal Reserve
On Wednesday of this week, yours truly attended a Virtual Town Hall chaired by Robert Kaplan (pretty big Fan, here is a link to nine articles we have written for those interested).
In true nerd multitasking form, the Zoom meeting started, on the Cell, why not listen while jogging? Cell inserted into runners band on arm and away we go!
Expect comments on the talk, it was very good and interesting…..
Post jog, cell back off runners arm band and onto the couch as the live question and answer session had commenced.
Then this:
“Next Question is from John! “
Quick glance to the cell and an Unmute flashing button was covering my entire screen! Yikes
“John you must Unmute your device“
Twice from the moderator then twice from Robert Kaplan
With no question, the Unmute button was not going to be touched! Finally after what was likely 5 seconds, but felt like 5 awkward minutes, the moderator and Kaplan moved on!
Whew, embarrassing moment averted… or was it!
A question or two later and then this:
“Ok, that was our last question, let’s go back to John and see if we can get his question answered!“
Oh No!!!!
This time the Zoom video was shut off before the Unmute logo hit the phone screen….
Can’t make this up!
Hope you enjoyed a nerds chance encounter with Robert Kaplan and maybe even got a chuckle.
Enjoy your Friday, and your weekend …. going to be chilly for the first time in our neck of the woods…. 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.
Kaplan Town Hall Review … Second Most Recent FOMC Update Meeting Last Week… Procrastination Leads to Lucky Update
As mentioned in our embarrassing post here recently The Dallas Federal Reserve had a Town Hall meeting with special guest speaker Dallas federal president reserve Robert Kaplan.
One of our favorite things to do is listen to people like Robert Kaplan in less public venues in order to try and get their candid or less guarded opinions.
This will make the 10th article talking about Kaplan and as such you may notice that we are pretty big fans.
Kaplan Town Hall Candid Comments
What was interesting about this town Hall meeting was that Kaplan for the first time since his tenure at the FOMC dissented about the federal reserves decision due the fact the the FOMC made a three pronged approach for their interest rate movement decisions.
What do we mean? In the released report from the FOMC chaired by Jerome Powell but with Robert Kaplan a voting member at the meeting they released the following unique statement
1. We intend on having interest rates lower for longer – In Kaplan’s opinion and ours, that was enough
2. We will keep interest rates lower even if inflation ticks up – this is the comment that Kaplan had an issue with and we do as well as we have written multiple times ( here here here and here ) that inflation may actually raise its head , Kaplan agreed!
3. Until a very lower rate of unemployment. is established we will also wait to raise rates
Maybe the reason we like Kaplan so much is he seems to think very much like we do and have similar concerns. By attaching these three points together future Federal Reserve board members are being bound by a multi point limitation that could cause problems. What if one of these points gets dramatically above target but another is not thereby limiting the increase in interest rates?
Kaplan … like us, believes that there is a time in the not too distant future where interest rates will need to be raised and normalized not only for inflation limitations but also for industries that rely on higher interest rates.
Kaplan also mentioned that low interest rates for too long of a period of time may cause people to take greater risks than they otherwise would.
Lastly, Kaplan once again seeing eye to eye with our beliefs, said that low interest rates for too long of a period of time becomes not only helpful but a stimulus that is unneeded once the economy gets rolling.
Time will tell but once again we like Kaplan’s thoughts on higher interest rates potentially sooner rather than later but likely a year or so out!
Updated Thoughts From More Recent FOMC Statement
So time flew past us on getting this post to you, but in true making Lemonade out of Lemons fashion, something neat occurred….
Our Procrastination lead to a Lucky Update!
Last week, the FOMC released their latest statement here and guess what?
No strings like the prior meeting, just simple slow economy stuff and, Kaplan voted FOR the opinion… no dissenting this time.
Maybe the FOMC members have already backed down from their prior “Strings Attached” discussion!
Have a Great “Kaplan FOMC” Update!
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
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Posted in Economy, FOMC, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Political
Tagged Dallas Federal Reserve, Dallas FOMC, FOMC, Robert Kaplan