September marked a much weaker month for financial markets. Here are 3 things you need to know: Inflation moderated across a few major categories that have been the most impacted by supply chain shortages and pent-up consumer demand, such as used cars, airlines and hotels. However, energy prices surged during the month with WTI oil increasing +9.5% for the month.Expiring extended federal...
By: Arash Navi, CFP®, CPA, Controller & Wealth Manager Our goal is to help our clients build and grow their wealth and tax planning plays an important role in this process. We recommend that you mark your calendar to review your finances in the first week of October, annually. Take this time to review your income for the year from employment, businesses, investments, or any other sources....
By: Steven L. Yamshon, Ph.D., Managing Principal The Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) bank knows that there is too much liquidity in the system but has mixed feelings about reducing it. My sense is that the Fed will need to see that the following five factors are in place before they do anything: An unemployment rate in the neighborhood of 3.8%;Prime-age (25-54) labor force participation close to...
BFSG’s Senior Financial Planner, Paul Horn, CFP®, CPWA®, was invited to be a guest speaker for the “It’s Your Money!” workshop series. For this session, Paul focused on two of the most heavily sold products by financial brokers/dealers: #annuities and #mutualfunds. Learn the basics and what to look for by clicking the link https://youtu.be/yl7yxCQZ-Ho. Is an annuity right for you? Find out by...
By: Thomas Steffanci, PhD, Senior Portfolio Manager A series of margin calls and OPEC’s reiterating its ongoing 400,00 barrels/ per day increase in output lit a further surge in natural gas and oil today. Hedge funds and large traders have been making bets that natural gas prices in the U.S. would rise faster than in Europe. So, they shorted natural gas futures in Europe (via a futures exchange...
October is the kickoff season for financial aid. That's when incoming and returning college students can start filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, for the next academic year. The FAFSA is a prerequisite for federal student loans, grants, and work-study, and may be required by colleges before they distribute their own institutional aid to students. How do I submit the...
By: Thomas Steffanci, PhD, Senior Portfolio Manager The Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting last week finally put some meat on the bone by concluding they would start the tapering of their $120 billion monthly purchases of government securities. Though they were inexact as to the precise timing, it appears the program will begin in November and finish up by mid-2022. But there were a couple...
“If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.” - Otto von Bismarck Over four long days and through 66 amendments, the House of Ways and Means Committee, the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives, wrapped up the mark-up of the Build Back Better Act. The recommendations for spending and/or revenue...
By: Michael Allbee, CFP®, Senior Portfolio Manager The most popular estate plan is doing nothing. In fact, according to USA Today, 55% of Americans with children die without a will (known as dying “intestate”). However, if you have not done your own estate plan, the probate code has one for you. Probate is a court-supervised process with the courts following state statutes at death to...
Last month was an interesting month for the markets and below is the economic summary for August. As always, if you have any questions or want to discuss more in-depth do not hesitate to give us a call! Sources: Sources: J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Economic Update; Bureau of Economic Analysis (www.bea.gov); Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov); Federal Open Market...
The IRS has released the 2022 contribution limits for health savings accounts (HSAs), as well as the 2022 minimum deductible and maximum out-of-pocket amounts for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs). An HSA is a tax-advantaged account that's paired with an HDHP. An HSA offers several valuable tax benefits: You may be able to make pre-tax contributions via payroll deduction through your...
Source: www.behaviorgap.com By: Michael Allbee, CFP®, Senior Portfolio Manager We sit here today, reflecting on the recent bull market in stocks, bonds, and housing. The Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, gave a dovish speech last week and didn’t give a timetable “to take away the punch bowl” and the bull market party continues. As the ex-Citigroup CEO, Chuck Prince, stated, “When...
Phone scams are on the rise, costing Americans over $20 billion in 2020.(1) In the US, 27% of aging adults live alone,(2) and they’re the most likely to be targeted for scams.(3) Unfortunately, many people don’t discover scams until it’s too late. If you find yourself on the other line with a fraudster, will you hang up or be swindled out of your hard-earned savings? Learn some tips to protect...
By: Thomas Steffanci, PhD, Senior Portfolio Manager The stock market (1) has reacted bullishly today to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s prepared remarks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, WY. It was his first public admission of where he stood on tapering that pushed stocks higher: “At the FOMC’s recent July meeting, I was of...
By: Steven L. Yamshon, Ph.D., Managing Principal James Carville, President Clinton’s political consultant said at the time when Clinton was President, "I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or as a .400 baseball hitter. But now I would like to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody." Back in the early...
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