We are living in unprecedented times! It's not just all the hate re: vaccines, elections, and public policy but the actual data! I try to wrap my mind around this morning's reported 6.2 percent inflation at the same time the average 30 year mortgage is funded at less than 3 percent. Both measures have intrinsic ties to the ten year treasury bond which currently trades at around 1.5 percent. That's an extremely unusual disconnect! To me, it portends trouble ahead...
I love the Chinese proverb: "The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, the second-best time is now." When I became aware of the proverb a couple years back, I began to suggest to clients and prospects that the same is true for investing as well. The best time to plant or invest is now if you didn't in the past.
What is ransomware? It is malicious encryption software which gets installed on the computer system which is intended to prevent the systems from working correctly. Criminals install this software through hacking and sometimes through phishing emails - which unwary employees click on links or open attachments. The criminals that have created this software then extort the victim for payment (usually paid via cryptocurrency) for keys or passwords which decrypt the files and enable the system function properly. Sometimes even after payment the files remain encrypted and unusable.
Do you contribute to your church or another charity annually? Do you have an IRA? Are you 70.5 years or older? If the answer to all these questions is yes – please read the remainder of this article – because I will explain how you can save thousands of dollars in taxes in the future!
In twenty-six years of work as a financial advisor I have often been asked if we are near a peak. There probably were some “peaks” during that time – a peak prior to the dot.com bust in 2000, a peak prior to the 2008 global financial crisis and a peak prior to last year’s Covid-19 induced market sell-off. At the trough of each of those sell-off’s investors would likely have regretted that they “bought at the peak”, yet with the hindsight of decades there were no peaks – just momentary blips on the path to higher prices generated by global capitalism.
I wrote an article in February warning that public policy and a convergence of events would likely produce inflation after a forty-year dormancy. It now appears that the question is not if we have inflation but when it will be gone…