The Long Term Investor

A good basic PRIMER for anyone.

Here’s a decade-by-decade guide to building wealth

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/07/heres-a-decade-by-decade-guide-to-building-wealth.html

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"Key Points

• Don’t let stock market volatility and talk of a possible recession dissuade you from trying to build wealth and ensure a comfortable retirement, financial advisors say.
• How you approach building wealth and a retirement nest egg depends on your age, of course.
• Here’s a decade-by-decade look at how to get started, or keep going, with wealth building.

Stock market volatility and talk about a possible recession may have people anxious about investing.

However, that shouldn’t dissuade anyone from trying to build wealth, whether you are just starting out in your career, are middle-aged or are nearing retirement.

“We can’t predict the future, but by thoughtful spending and saving throughout your lifespan, you can create financial peace and resiliency for whatever the world and markets throw your way,” said certified financial planner Carolyn McClanahan, an M.D. and founder and director of financial planning at Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida.

Of course, how you go about building wealth depends on your age. Here is a decade-by-decade guide to growing your money.

Starting out in your 20s

The first thing to do is make sure you have enough cash stashed away for an emergency. If your job is secure, set a savings goal of three to six months’ worth of expenses. If it is insecure, such as a commission-based sales job, strive for six to 12 months, said McClanahan, a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.

You should also start planning for retirement. If your employer has a 401(k) plan and offers a match, contribute enough to get that match.

After that, open a Roth individual retirement account, if your income qualifies, McClanahan said. You can contribute a maximum of $6,500 in 2023. Then, if you still have money to invest after maxing out your Roth, contribute more to your 401(k) plan, she said. In 2023, you can put as much as $22,500 into the account.

When it comes to the balance of your portfolio, you can have more equities than fixed income since you have more time to recover from any down markets.

In addition, make sure you are insured appropriately, especially with auto and disability insurance, since one accident or health issue could wipe out any savings you may have.

This is also a good time to take on a side hustle, said Winnie Sun, co-founder and managing director of Sun Group Wealth Partners, based in Irvine, California, and a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.

“It may not be generating a lot of income, but it is something they can create more income from,” she said.

In your 30s

As your career grows and you begin to earn a higher salary, don’t fall victim to the “lifestyle creep” and start spending that newfound money, warned CFP Matt Aaron, founder of Washington, D.C.-based Lux Wealth Planning, an affiliate of Northwestern Mutual.

Instead, put that extra money into your 401(k) plan.

The rule of thumb is to put aside about 10% of your income, if you start young, but a financial professional can help you work out the numbers, he said.

After you max out those contributions, start investing outside of your retirement account. Your portfolio should be diversified, with a mix of stocks and bonds.

You may also be thinking about buying a house, getting married or having children.

CFP Elaine King strongly recommends considering a home purchase in your 30s. It’s OK to start small, she said.

“It doesn’t need to be a big house, just something that in your future can be your rental income to diversify your assets,” said King, founder of Family and Money Matters in North Miami, Florida.

When you start saving for those events, don’t invest in stocks — unless your time horizon is longer than five years, McClanahan advised.

If anyone is counting on your income, such as a spouse or child, it’s also time to buy life insurance. For those with kids, you may want to start putting money aside for college.

The busy 40s

You may now be in your peak earning years and may also be raising children.

If possible, try to start a college savings account if you haven’t done so already. If you can’t afford to, don’t divert savings from your retirement account.

“You can borrow for college, but you can’t borrow for retirement,” McClanahan said.

For those who haven’t begun saving for retirement yet, setting aside 15% to 20% of your income is considered a general rule of thumb at this age, Aaron said.

You may also have aging parents, so be sure to check on their financial planning, McClanahan said. If they aren’t prepared, it is another financial obligation that may be suddenly thrown on your lap.

Sun said she’s had many clients in their 40s start to inquire about long-term care, with Covid pushing care concerns to the forefront. Traditional long-term care insurance is expensive, but there are other policies that are a hybrid — combining life insurance and long-term care coverage.

“It is really figuring out how much you can afford, and if you can’t afford it right now, at least have the discussion so you are prepared,” Sun said. “You may have to self-insure, or look for it through work.”

Getting serious in your 50s

Retirement is potentially a decade away, so it’s time to get serious about how much you are truly spending, and whether you are on track to save enough to support you throughout your life, McClanahan said.

Once you hit 50, you can also set more aside into your 401(k) or IRA with so-called catch-up contributions. In 2023, the limit is $7,500 for 401(k) plans and $1,000 for IRAs.

If you don’t use a financial planner, at least get an hourly one to determine if you are on track to support your lifestyle in retirement, McClanahan recommended.

Assess your assets and make sure your portfolio is balanced to your needs. As you approach retirement age, experts typically recommend reducing risky assets, such as stocks, and increasing fixed income, such as bonds.

However, it’s important to maintain stock exposure since it gives you a greater return, Aaron said.

In your 60s and beyond

At this point, you need to have a retirement distribution strategy. That means understanding the different income streams you’ll have coming in.

“We need to build an investment strategy based on a proper asset allocation, taking on only as much risk that is needed for the income you require and your legacy goals,” Aaron said."

MY COMMENT

Simple and basic stuff. But this is how we all start the financial journey.

NO....this does not take a village.....it is ALL on you and no one else. YOU have to take charge of your financial life......and....the earlier the better.

 

WELL said Smokie in the two posts above.

In the end NO ONE cares about......"YOU"......it is all up to each of us individually to manage and control what we do in life. The media.....forget it......simply worthless. The politicians.......worthless. Government......simply a JOKE. Social Media......a massive waste of time and focus. Etc, etc, etc.

I know it sounds CYNICAL......but....you simply have to be totally focused on one thing.....YOUR FAMILY. There is little to nothing you can do about anything else.

 

I see that the markets are in the middle of a nice little come-back. If we can keep them moving forward I might just end the day in the GREEN.

All you meme investors and others.....BUY SOMETHING.

 

The GREAT DIS-EMPLOYMENT of human workers continues.

Walmart chases higher profits powered by warehouse robots and automated claws

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/11/walmart-warehouse-automation-powers-higher-profits.html

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"Key Points

• Walmart is accelerating its use of automation across its supply chain as it chases higher profits.
• The company showed off an automated distribution center in Florida at an investor day.
• CEO Doug McMillon said he anticipates the retailer’s workforce will stay about the same size, but said its composition will change.

"BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — At first glance, this warehouse looks like many: Forklifts unload pallets from the back of dozens of tractor-trailers. Canned soup, soda and cleaning supplies whiz by on conveyer belts. Store-bound merchandise gets sorted by department and store aisle before getting stacked high like an elaborate game of Tetris.

The difference? Tasks are powered by giant automated claws and rolling robots, instead of people. The driver’s seats on the forklifts are empty.

Welcome to the future of Walmart.

The big-box retailer at an investor event last week previewed how it plans to use automation to more quickly and cost-effectively manage inventory, stock shelves and keep up with online orders. The company took investors on a tour of an approximately 1.4 million-square-foot facility in Brooksville, Florida — the first automated distribution center for packaged foods and other shelf-stable household items.

Walmart plans to add that same automation from Symbotic— a warehouse technology company that Walmart took a majority stake in last year — to all of its 42 regional distribution centers, though it didn’t share a timetable for doing so. By the end of January, roughly a third of stores will get distribution from the automated facilities, the company said.

Walmart’s automation is a piece of a broader plan to drive profits higher. CEO Doug McMillon said in the coming years the retailer’s revenue will grow about 4% year over year — a slower growth rate than the approximately 8% it saw in the past three Covid pandemic-fueled years, but still faster than growth of 3.1% and 3.6% the retailer posted in the three years prior to the pandemic.

McMillon added that he expects profits to grow at a quicker pace than sales over the next five years as Walmart adds automation and grows its higher-margin businesses like advertising, last-mile delivery and fulfillment services.

He said Walmart has given customers more ways to shop online and get those purchases faster. It offers more general merchandise, including exclusive brands in categories like apparel. And it has more sellers that have joined its third-party marketplace, too.

“We’re now in a phase that is less about scaling store pickup and delivery, e-commerce assortment, and e-commerce FC [fulfillment center] square footage and more about execution and operating margin improvement,” he said.

In three years, Walmart anticipates that about two-thirds of its stores will be serviced by some kind of automation, about 55% of fulfillment center volume will move through automated facilities and that unit cost averages could improve by about 20%.

Workforce shifts

For Walmart, the country’s largest employer, the automation push means rendering obsolete some of its 1.6 million roles.

At the Brooksville facility during the investor tour, few people appeared to be on the distribution center’s floor, though Walmart said its overall head count at the facility hasn’t changed.

David Guggina, executive vice president of Walmart U.S.′ supply chain operations, said automation is about increasing capacity, not cutting jobs. He said retention has significantly improved, since work is not as physically demanding. He declined to share specific turnover numbers, but said the first year after the Brooksville facility became automated, no employees left the job.

In an interview with CNBC, McMillon said he anticipates the retailer’s workforce will stay about the same size. But he said its composition will change. For example, he said, Walmart may need fewer people to unload pallets at warehouses, but more people to deliver online orders to customers’ doors.

Walmart recently laid off hundreds of workers at e-commerce facilities across the country. McMillon said those layoffs came after a surge in online sales during the early years of the pandemic, as the company tried to understand what its sales trends would look like beyond the holidays.

Walmart has not shared how much it will spend on the automation projects. At last week’s investor event, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said the company expects its capital expenditures will be slightly higher than last year, at roughly 2.5% to 3% of sales.

He said about 90% of the company’s capex will be in “high-return areas” like e-commerce, supply chain and store investments.

As Walmart plans for the bigger rollout, some employees have already had a change in their routines. Jose Molina, who shared his experience as part of the organized tour, began working at the Brooksville distribution center in 1995. For years, he said, he kept track of inventory with a pen and paper. He grew tired from lifting heavy boxes with a pallet jack or operating a forklift.

With the automation, Molina watches the robots unload the truck and intervenes if they run into a problem, he said. Scanners keep count of each item, so he can skip the pen and paper or mental math. He leaves work without feeling exhausted and coaches high school soccer at the end of his day.

“I even kick the ball sometimes,” he said.

Bearing fruit

Brad Thomas, a retail analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, took a tour of the Tampa-area facility during the investor event. He said he was sold on the investments after seeing real-world results in the back of a nearby store.

Thomas referred to two trailers, packed with pallets and ready to unload from the distribution center. One was packed manually by employees and included a bunch of items from numerous departments piled in a haphazard stack. A box of Pop-Tarts precariously propped up other items at the bottom of the towering pallet.

The other trailer was packed by a robot, organized with the help of automation for fast and easy unloading for workers. Like items together, heaviest at the bottom.

The contrast, Thomas said, helps highlight what he views as a significant transformation for Walmart — the company’s “most exciting setup that it’s had in the past 10 years.”

“Ten years ago, Walmart was still playing catch-up in areas like e-commerce, and I think that many of the investments they have made are bearing fruit,” he said. “We’re actually seeing areas like automation where arguably Walmart is more of a leader than a follower.”

Other retailers are pushing into automation, too. Grocery giant Kroger is opening huge, robot-powered sheds with U.K.-based Ocado to expand its online grocery business, including one that allowed it to break into the Florida market without building a single store.

Amazon has increasingly automated the picking and sorting of packages in its warehouses. Its $775 million acquisition of Kiva Systems in 2012 was a pivotal moment in that transition, giving Amazon access to robots that can carry shelves of goods from worker to worker, speeding up the fulfillment process.

Walmart is banking on automation to help get more online orders to customers next day or with two-day shipping. The retailer currently picks, packs and ships orders at 31 fulfillment centers across the country, and it has plans to build four automated fulfillment centers, including one that’s already opened in Joliet, Illinois, 45 miles southeast of Chicago.

The retailer has an additional 46 distribution centers to support the fresh side of its grocery business and has an automated grocery distribution center in Shafter, California. It has plans to open another in Lancaster, Texas, later this year and one in Spartanburg, South Carolina, next year.

It’s also testing mini fulfillment centers in the back of stores where employees work side by side with automation to get online grocery orders ready."

MY COMMENT

This is just the start of the most revolutionary period of corporate productivity in history. Profits will skyrocket as companies are able to lay-off massive numbers of employees. This is how profits increase. Profits dont increase if the number of employees remains the same.

Of course....companies dont want to say this out loud. But the future of business.....driver-less semi trucks and perhaps only 20-40% of the current work force necessary. AND....this is the near term future......in the distant future 50+ years....welcome to the world where a corporation is a small home office....perhaps a few hundred employees....with everything else automated or outsourced.

We are at the start of a cultural and business revolution. As this stuff picks up steam and becomes more dependable and as companies see that it works....they will need far fewer workers. As I said....this is how the profits will increase....by drastically cutting employee head count.......and....at the same time lowering wages and costs of those that still have a job.

Sorry....just business. If you want a job where this can not happen.....get a government job.

 

I ended in the RED today by a moderate amount. I also got beat by the SP500 by 0.55% today.

At least I was consistent today......I was Up in the same five stocks all day long.....NKE, COST, HD, NON, and TSLA.

Pretty much a nothing day all day long for the markets.

 

The day today....after the close.

S&P 500 closes little changed Tuesday as traders await March inflation report:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/10/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"The S&P 500 ended Tuesday’s session flat as investors prepared for the release of key inflation data later this week.

The broader index was little changed at 4,108.94, inching down by 0.004%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 98.27 points, or 0.29% to 33,684.79. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite
shed 0.43% to 12,031.88.

Cyclical stocks outperformed, even as tech names lagged. Energy names led the S&P 500, with the sector up about 0.9%. On the other hand, tech stocks lagged the broader index, with the information technology sector falling by 1%.

Meanwhile, CarMax shares jumped 9.6% after the used car retailer posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit. Moderna
shares shed 3% after the biotech firm said it’s delaying its flu vaccine.

Those moves come ahead of the March readings of the consumer price index, due Wednesday, and the producer price index, out Thursday. Both inflation metrics could give further clarity into how the Federal Reserve might proceed on its rate-hiking campaign.

“The data coming forward this week is important in that it will be one of the last sets of data to inform the May 3rd Federal Reserve meeting. And, as the Federal Reserve evaluates their battle against inflation and the appropriate pace of monetary policy, market conditions have already begun to lean back towards an additional rate increase at the next meeting,” U.S. Bank Wealth Management’s William Northey said.

“This set of data will certainly provide context for the Federal Reserve to evaluate where they are in that battle,” Northey added.

Further, Wall Street is heading toward another season of earnings announcements, with several major U.S. banks scheduled to release their earnings reports for the first time since the series of bank crises in March. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are set to report Friday. BlackRock and UnitedHealth Group
are also scheduled to report.

MY COMMENT

I guess the markets are just treading water waiting for the economic data on Wednesday and Thursday. The CPI and PPI will apparently set the market tone for the rest of the week......I guess.

I really dont believe that the markets are OBSESSIVELY waiting for that data......but.....I guess we will find out this week when we see how they react when the actual numbers come out.

 

The obvious story of the day.

Inflation rises just 0.1% in March and 5% from a year ago as Fed rate hikes take hold

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/12/cpi-march-2023-.html

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"Key Points

• The consumer price index rose 0.1% in March and 5% from a year ago, below estimates.
• Excluding food and energy, core CPI accelerated 0.4% and 5.6%, both as expected.
• Energy costs fell and food prices were flat. Used vehicle prices also declined.
• A 0.6% increase in shelter costs was the smallest gain since November, but still resulted in prices rising 8.2% on an annual basis.

"Inflation cooled in March as the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases showed more impact, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

The consumer price index, a widely followed measure of the costs for goods and services in the U.S. economy, rose 0.1% for the month against a Dow Jones estimate for 0.2%, and 5% from a year ago versus the estimate of 5.1%.

Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.4% and 5.6% on an annual basis, both as expected.

The data showed that while inflation is still well above where the Fed feels comfortable, it is at least showing continuing signs of decelerating. Policymakers target inflation around 2% as a healthy and sustainable growth level. The headline increase for CPI was the smallest since June 2021.

A 3.5% drop in energy costs and an unchanged food index helped keep headline inflation in check. Food at home fell 0.3%, the first drop since September 2020, though it is still up 8.4% from a year ago. Egg prices, which had been soaring, tumbled 10.9% for the month, putting the 12-month increase at 36%.

A 0.6% increase in shelter costs was the smallest gain since November, but still resulted in prices rising 8.2% on an annual basis. Shelter makes up about one-third of the weighting in the CPI and is being watched closely by Fed officials.

Stock market futures rose sharply while Treasury yields fell following the report. Markets were still pricing in a 65% chance of a final 0.25 percentage point interest rate increase at the Fed’s May meeting, though that was slightly lower than Tuesday, according to the CME Group.

Excluding shelter, CPI rose 3.4% from a year ago, according to Jeffrey Roach, chief U.S. economist at LPL Financial.

“As the economy slows, consumer prices will decelerate further and should bring inflation closer to the Fed’s long-run target of 2%,” Roach said. “Markets will likely react favorably to this report as investors gain more confidence that the next Fed meeting may be the last meeting when the Committee raises the fed funds target rate.”

Used vehicle prices, a major contributor to the initial inflation surge in 2021, declined another 0.9% in March and are now down 11.2% year over year. Medical care services costs also fell 0.5% for the month.

Over the past year or so, the Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate nine times for a total of 4.75 percentage points, the fastest pace of tightening since the early 1980s. Officials initially dismissed inflation as transitory, expecting it to fall as pandemic-related factors dissipated, but were forced to play catch-up as price increases proved more durable.

One key area the central bank has targeted is the labor market. A shortage of workers had helped push up wages and prices, a situation that has eased somewhat in recent months.

In March, nonfarm payrolls increased by 236,000, the smallest gain since December 2020, and average hourly earnings rose at a 4.2% annual pace, the lowest level since June 2021.

The Fed is hoping it can calibrate policy so that the slowdown it is trying to engineer in the labor market doesn’t tip the economy into recession. Gross domestic product growth is tracking at a 2.2% annualized pace in the first quarter, according to Atlanta Fed data, though many economists expect a contraction to come later in the year."

MY COMMENT

A good report for investors. Also a good report for the May rate hike of 0.25% being the last one.

May will be a huge milestone for investors as we get out from under the thumb of the FED.

I like the last paragraph......NO indication of a recession. Although the "experts" refuse to give up on their calls for a recession. I think they actually want one to happen.

 

I have been siting here since the open watching the markets open strong...than fade a bit.....and now doing ok. By all indications it should be a good day for investors. BUT....the markets are insane over the short term.

Once we get the PPI tomorrow.....we will be done with the potential drama for this week. SO.....time for everyone to ramp up the doom and gloom of earnings.

 

I like this little article.

An Early Look at Credit Conditions

https://www.fisherinvestments.com/e...commentary/an-early-look-at-credit-conditions

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"A much-feared lending drop isn’t what it seems.

One month on from Silicon Valley Bank’s (SIVB’s) failure, headlines are on high alert for any sign of economic fallout. For once, most observers are looking in the right place: lending. If fear of deposit flight led banks to hoard cash and cut lending aggressively, the economy could be starved of fuel for new investment and growth. In the three weeks’ worth of lending data available post-SIVB, year-over-year growth rates remained robust. But two sharp week-over-week contractions have rattled headlines, as did Tuesday’s NFIB survey showing small businesses reporting tighter credit conditions in March. Ditto for a New York Fed survey reporting similar observations for consumer credit. In our view, all are worth keeping an eye on, but we don’t think the data thus far are cause for alarm given some underreported mitigating circumstances.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, total lending fell -0.5% w/w in the week ending March 22 and another -0.4% the following. Weakness concentrated in business lending, which fell -1.8% w/w and -0.6% in those weeks, respectively.[ii] The majority of that drop came courtesy of small banks, which are likelier to lend to small and local businesses, but large institutions pulled back as well. So overall, the data seem to jibe with the NFIBs survey, which showed a net 9% of surveyed small businesses reporting loans were harder to come by in the month (meaning, the margin of those reporting “harder” conditions minus those reporting “easier” conditions was 9 percentage points).[iii]

We don’t doubt conditions are a bit tighter, partly because of March’s uncertainty and partly because that has been the trend since 2022’s second half. Per the Fed’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, the net percentage of banks tightening small business loan standards jumped from zero to 22.2% in July 2022’s survey, 31.8% in October 2022’s and 43.8% in January 2023’s.[iv]

However, the hard lending data likely overstate matters. Loan growth data come from the Fed’s H.8 report, which monitors changes in commercial banks' loan and deposit balances. Most of the time, a rise or fall in those levels represents growth or contraction, respectively. But every now and then there is skew from accounting adjustments. Helpfully, the Fed reports all of these, and it shows a big one impacting results in the week ending March 22, with domestically chartered commercial banks divesting $60 billion worth of loans to “nonbank institutions.” Translating this from Fedspeak and reconciling it with FDIC reporting, this is basically the transfer of $60 billion worth of failed Signature Bank’s loan portfolio to the FDIC. In dollar terms, this accounts for over half of the drop in total bank loans the past two weeks. Not the whole amount, indicating some banks are indeed pulling back somewhat, but it does represent a very large chunk.

Seasonality could also be mucking with things a bit. The Fed adjusts its week-over-week and month-over-month data to try to iron out regular seasonal ups and downs. But seasonal adjustment factors are typically based on the past few years’ data. That is a bit of a problem right now, since March 2020 is when business lending surged as companies drew on credit lines and tapped the Paycheck Protection Program to stay alive during lockdowns. Now this historic bump is influencing the seasonal adjustment factor, creating some distortions. To wit: Last week’s seasonally adjusted decline was almost double the unadjusted decline. So that is another grain of salt.

As a result, survey data may be extra-useful in the next several weeks as we analyze incoming loan data from here. To that end, while the NFIB survey headlines focused on the reported tightening in small business loan standards, it is also worth noting that it didn’t seem to impact businesses’ ability to actually obtain loans. The percent of businesses reporting their lending needs as “satisfied” during the last three months rose from 25 to 29, while the percent reporting borrowing needs as “not satisfied” eased from 3 to 2. Next month’s report will show whether the improvement is a trend or a blip. We will also get the Fed’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey for Q1 in May, which will show how SIVB and Signature’s failures affected banks’ own assessment of their willingness to lend. And in the meantime, the next few weeks’ loan growth data should be clearer, without skew from failed banks going into receivership.

So wait and see is still the right path, in our view. In the meantime, a silver lining: The more headlines dwell on lending weakness, the more it loses its surprise power, and the more stocks are able to pre-price further negativity from here. To send stocks sharply lower, it would take big bad news that no one is talking about—a small lending decrease, skewed by technical factors, that gets mountains of attention probably doesn’t qualify. So keep an eye out, but don’t overreact."

MY COMMENT

A big media topic....for a short time. BUT.....a snooze-fest for most people. This is not going to be a big issues going forward. the banking crisis is NOW in the past and quickly being forgotten.

I dont see this as a big issue for investors regardless of what happens.....it is just too far down in the weeds for most people to care. I see the media already abandoning this issue as click-bait.

 

Not particularly relevant to investing....but I do find this interesting.

How Rich Are the Baby Boomers?

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2023/04/how-rich-are-the-baby-boomers/

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"I don’t know if this is my finance brain at work or just hitting middle age but anytime I travel now there invariably comes a point where I pull up home listings in the area on Zillow to get a sense of the local housing market.

My family was in Marco Island, FL last week for spring break so of course I had to do some channel checks on housing prices in the area:

Two things stand out here:

(1) There are tons of listings in the area, especially when you consider how tight the housing supply is for the housing market at large in this country. That surprised me.

(2) Holy crap are the prices expensive. There are no price filters in this search. Basically, all of the listings on the island were 7-figures. Granted, Marco is a very nice area and the real estate market in Florida has been on fire but I was taken aback to see the average home is selling for somewhere in the $1.5 to $3 million range.

Since Florida is home to a lot of retirees and old people, the only logical conclusion I could form from this exercise is that baby boomers are LOADED.

The people selling the houses for millions are boomers sitting on huge gains while the people buying the houses (and tearing them down to build even bigger houses in many cases) are wealthy boomers who can afford multi-million homes.

Millennials are in their prime household formation years but it’s the boomers who are the ones in the catbird seat when it comes to the housing market right now.

Boomers have a homeownership rate of nearly 80% and many of them have their houses paid off.1 You don’t need to worry about 7% mortgage rates when your house is paid off and you can use that equity to fund your next purchase.

According to the National Association of Realtors, baby boomers were the largest share of homebuyers last year for the first time since 2012. They accounted for 39% of all home purchases (up from 29% the year before) while millennials bought 28% of houses last year (down from 43% the year before).

Owen Stoneking notes there were more homes purchased with all cash last year than by first-time homebuyers.

When you look at the generational wealth divide, boomers do hold the bulk of the net worth in the United States:


As of year-end 2022, that’s more than $73 trillion for boomers, with a little more than $40 trillion for Gen X and just $8 trillion for millennials.

Here’s the breakdown by percentage share:


To be fair, millennials are doing just fine compared to previous generations at the same stage of their lives. And the forgotten generation (Gen X) is coming on strong.

However, there is no precedent for the boomer generation. We’ve simply never had a demographic this big with this much wealth live this long before.

Just look at this chart from The Wall Street Journal that shows the number of people aged 65 or older (with projections out into the future):


But things don’t line up very neatly with my boomers-are-all-rich take when you breakdown the median net worth numbers by age group:


The averages are fairly low because the wealth is not evenly distributed.


Much of that boomer wealth sits at the top of the wealth pyramid

The top 1% holds nearly one-third of the wealth in this country while the top 10% controls two-thirds of the wealth. The bottom 90% has around one-third of the wealth in the United States.

So the concentration of homes on a beautiful island in Florida is not a story about generational wealth discrepancies. It’s a story about the concentration of wealth in this country.

Sure many boomers are rich but most of that money is controlled by a small percentage of that demographic.

Unfortunately, I think the concentration of wealth is a feature not a bug in the system in which we operate.

I wish I had a better conclusion than that but I don’t really have a good answer here."

MY COMMENT

This data is just what you would expect. The generation that was the largest in USA history wold be expected to hold the most wealth at their late age.

Wait and see......the MILLENNIALS will blow these numbers out fo the water. They are now the largest generation in USA history and they are making HUGE wages and incomes compared to what the baby boomers made. by the time they reach retirement they will have HISTORIC WEALTH.

 

Here is the markets today......as the rally struggles at the moment to hold on.

Stocks rally after inflation data

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-live-updates-april-12-2023-115410661.html

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"U.S. stocks rallied Wednesdayafter inflation data showed that consumer price gains cooled in March.

At the open, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) added 0.6%, while theDow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained 0.5%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) jumped 0.8%.

Bonds yields were lower. The yield on the 10-year note ticked down to 3.38%, while rate-sensitive two-year note yields slipped to 3.95% Wednesday morning.

March CPI showed price gains cooled last month in the slowest rise since May 2021. The consumer price index rose 0.1% in March, a slower pace than the 0.4% gain in February. March's headline inflation rose at an annual clip of 5.0%, below expectations of 5.2%. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, grew 5.6%, in line with expectations.

“Today’s CPI takes some heat off the Fed, for now. Moderating price pressures combined with signs of cooling in the labor market will offer a temporary reprieve to markets," Ronald Temple, Chief Market Strategist at Lazard, wrote following the release.

"While this is good news, it does not mean tightening is over. Core inflation remains far above the Fed’s target, and the path to 2% will be bumpy. With core CPI likely to end the year above 3%, the Fed has more work to do before it can declare victory over inflation," Temple added.

Investors will continue to digest Wednesday’s CPI report as it could provide some clues to whether the Fed will continue to raise rates at its next meeting. Markets have priced in a 68% probability that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by another 0.25% in May, according to data from the CME Group. That moved down slightly compared to before the CPI report's release.

On Tuesday, three Fed speakers weighed in on the prospect of another rate hike ahead of the May meeting. New York Fed President John Williams told Yahoo Finance's Jennifer Schonberger that the Federal Reserve has its work cut out for it as the central bank tries to bring down inflation to the Fed's goal of 2% amid a strong labor market and sticky price pressure.

Separately, Philadelphia Fed President Harker said that he wanted to "get rates above 5[%] and then sit there for a while," which would imply at least one more 0.25% move.

Meanwhile, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee struck a more dovish tone, suggesting that the Fed should proceed with caution when raising rates “too aggressively” until it can assess “ how much work the headwinds are doing for us in getting down inflation.”

Other key indicators from policymakers will be the release of the FOMC minutes from the March meeting on deck for Wednesday afternoon, as well as the rate decision from the Bank of Canada.

In single-stock moves, WW International, Inc. (WW) shares of the WeightWatchers parent slipped Wednesday morning following the news that the company closed its deal with a telehealth provider, which will help expand its footprint in the growing market for new obesity drugs.

Shares of Snowflake Inc. (SNOW) climbed more than 1% after the software services provider disclosed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday that executives and board members had donated and sold its shares."

MY COMMENT

We continue to see all the ducks lining up. Can you say BULL MARKET? I can.

It should be a good day for stocks and funds. The Ten Year Treasury is down and extremely low. The CPI data came in nicely.
The FED is probably at.....one and done. There is basically ZERO negative news.

So.....this year is looking great on a forward basis. That does not necessarily translate to the day to day short term. In fact the markets today are struggling to stay positive at the moment.

COURAGE......dont let the short term "stuff" sap your confidence.

 

What a MORON....this is really funny. Here is one of the so called "experts" giving their opinion about 19 hours ago. SO WRONG.

Inflation Data Will Shatter the Stock Market Calm, Goldman Partner Warns

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-data-shatter-stock-market-193035639.html

The financial media love this stuff. Pure click-bait. Unfortunately this keeps investors stirred up and on edge. No wonder people are constantly on edge these days.....they are bombarded all day long with constant negativity and.....DOOM, DOOM, DOOM.

I think it is funny if you look at this little article how this "expert" is tying to play both sides. CLASSIC.

 

I looked a few minutes ago.......only three stocks up at the moment for me today. They are......NKE, MSFT, and HON.

It is a very shallow day today....at least in my account. I have at least 5-6 of my DOWN stocks that are very minimal to the down side. SO the day is very much still up in the air.

I see two things today.....people and the markets are WORN OUT and they simply dont care. I also see the typical late morning drop happening right now which corresponds to the East Coast (Wall Street) lunch hour starting.

All in all another BORING day for the markets.

 

Of course.......the markets still have to ENDURE the release of the FED minutes later this afternoon. AND....no doubt.....the FED dummies will all be rushing to the bright lights and cameras to get their ego strokes for the day......as the financial media fawns over them and hangs on every word.

But in spite of all this........I continue to be fully invested for the long term as usual........and doing very well this year so far.

 

Oh the humanity.....these poor people have to actually work from the office.......(GASP)......five days a week.

JPMorgan asks senior bankers to return to office for five days a week - memo

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-managing-directors-asked-office-134525074.html

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)


"(Reuters) -JPMorgan Chase & Co asked its managing directors to work from the office for five days a week, the largest U.S. bank said in a memo.

"Our leaders play a critical role in reinforcing our culture and running our businesses," the bank's operating committee wrote in the memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

"They have to be visible on the floor, they must meet with clients, they need to teach and advise, and they should always be accessible for immediate feedback and impromptu meetings."

CEO Jamie Dimon, along with Wall Street counterparts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley, has been a strong advocate of in-office work. He has also expressed concern about the downsides of long-term remote work.

JPMorgan reminded staff on hybrid schedules that they were required to be in the office at least three days a week.

"There are a number of employees who aren’t meeting their in-office attendance expectations, and that must change," the bank said. Managers may include attendance as part of performance reviews and could take "corrective action" if requirements were not being met.

The company emphasized that employees should account for their time out of the office for sick days, vacation or business travel. It plans to roll out more automated attendance tracking to manage work schedules, real estate and security.

"Everyone should be able to work five days a week in the office," the bank said."

MY COMMENT

If I was an employee and wanted to really get ahead.......yes that is my personal work ethic......I would be in the office five days a week along with all the top executives.

I would not want to bet my future on being a digital cog in the machine.....just a face on a screen. There is absolutely no substitute for in-person work. UNFORTUNATELY.....we now have a whole group of people up to about age 25-30 that have spent their entire lives on a screen.