The tax collector is coming! The calendar year is coming to an end and that is a deadline for most tax reduction/tax deferral strategies. In regard to taxes the usual attention getting date is April 15 which is the filing date. However, in order to impact the tax filing for 2022 that you will submit in 2023, the calendar year is more important. Although we are not tax preparers or tax experts, if you find...
Market Now Inflation outranks politics-at least this week. We have a rule to not invest based on politics, so this week’s market behavior confirms that approach. It is no longer election night but election week. This is true in California, as counting continues. Markets seemed to be disappointed on Wednesday that early voting indicated that Republicans were not meeting expectations of a Wave election and in fact, did much more poorly than raised expectations. Markets...
Market Now Planet Killer Asteroid Spotted Hiding in Sun's Glare. Stock markets and interest rates really don’t matter anymore . We are all gonna die! Well, I guess that’s not going to happen and more mundane events seem more important like the Federal Reserve, employment, consumer spending, savings, interest rates, real estate and inflation! This week, with October ending with a very positive month in terms of market performance and boom, the November Federal Reserve...
Market Now We have seen a bounce back in market averages after approaching year to date lows earlier in the month. Market’s higher moves have occurred even as interest rates continue to increase across the yield curve. The US Treasury yield curve continues to be inverted indicating an economic slowdown ahead, but investor sentiment is off its lows indicating slightly more “bullish” optimism among individual investors. However, the increase in bullish sentiment is modest with...
Market Now “There are two kinds of forecasters: those who don’t know, and those who don’t know they don’t know.”– John Kenneth Galbraith Predicting the future has been a fascination for humans since time began. Some predictions have actually turned out to be true. For instance, you could say economists are correct with their forecasts 50% of the time. We just don’t know which 50% are correct. Each year the Wall Street Journal surveys economists...
Market Now The big day this week is Thursday when the latest CPI numbers are released. In this case, if CPI is lower than expected that should be good news all the way around. Right now, economists expect a reading of 8.1% down from 8.3% in August. There is no doubt that the impact of the Fed raising rates at a record pace is having a significant impact on the economy however it is delayed...
Reminder: focus on what you can control. Markets are one area that we cannot control. Look at this week so far: the first two days of this week we had two of the biggest market gains of the year after a miserable market decline for September. Markets are not under our control. Regarding market behavior, what we can control is our response to market moves. Emotions do not play an adequate role in making decisions...
FAFSA Season starts October 1st, 2022 The majority of Americans pay for college with a mix of current parent and student cash flow (work income), savings, student aid, scholarships, gifts, and student and private loans. Most importantly, student loans have an impact on students and parents. SAS usually recommends parents prioritize a plan for funding their own retirement before prioritizing paying for college, due to the fact that a student can obtain loans to pay...
Uptick in Rates The Federal Reserve meeting ended Wednesday this week with an announcement of a .75% increase in the Fed funds rate from 2.25-2.5% to 3.00-3.25%. This certainly was not unexpected as interest rates had been rising in anticipation. 30-year mortgage rates are now above 6% and not surprising mortgage refinancing and home sales have slowed down dramatically. More signs are increasing that the economy is slowing down. Layoffs are increasing and the unemployment...
Markets This week’s inflation report caused a monumental drop in stock market averages due to expectations for a decline in prices as a result of a decline in the price of gas. The results were disappointing leading to confirmation in markets that next week’s Fed meeting will result in a ¾% increase in the Fed funds rate making borrowing rates increase and decreasing the value of earnings growth in the future. Increasing interest rates cause...
Markets September is historically a tough month for the stock market. Historical patterns can be a valuable tool for certain investors who have figured out timing markets, but extensive research says execution and consistent outperformance is very, very difficult. Missing a handful of the best days in the market over long time periods can drastically reduce the average annual return an investor could gain just by holding on to their equity investments during sell-offs. Now...
Markets As August ends with a decline in the stock market and increase in interest rates, the economic uncertainty continues. The life expectancy rate has fallen again this year for Americans. We are closer to a bottom in the stock market than we were last month and negative sentiment along with headline negative sentiment is increasing. Short term interest rates are providing a safe haven for cash although inflation rates far surpass interest rates on...
