The Economy: We're in full Holiday Swing with economic news having short-lived spastic impact. Blinking is the operative word nowadays. The G-20 came and went with the usual "we saved the world" rhetoric. We blinked and the spike in asset values from the meeting disappeared. Likewise tariffs. They were on, then they were gone, then they are back. Blink twice and they'll be gone again. We looked at oil's meteoric rise, blinked and it had tanked. We blinked at real estate, which can only go up because they're not making land anymore, and its rise to infinity and beyond seems to have faltered. Macron, the French President has blinked and rescinded his fuel tax after riots forced has government into crisis. But the grand daddy of them all has been the Fed's blink. A few weeks ago Fed Chair Powell was adamant that we were far from a neutral stance and that further rate hikes were on the way. Then The Donald began to work his charm; castigating Powell in the press. Suddenly Powell is cooing like a dove with hints that hikes may be at an end. Completely apolitical. But the title holder for bringing the Fed to heel was LBJ. Upset that Fed Chair William McChesney Martin was jeopardizing the spending mania of The Great Society, LJB physically shoved Martin around the living room at the LBJ Texas ranch. Martin blinked.
Food for Thought: We specialize in retirement. And what do we know? First, blink twice and your peak earning years are behind you. Second, it's going to be much more expensive than you're expecting. Third, the vast majority will worry more about money than ever before. After all, you're done making it. The biggest mistake retirees make is taking more financial risk as they get older. When the reality of limited resources hits home many compensate by trying to increase the return on their assets. … and believe me, the retiree with a $50 million net worth is just as worried as the one with little money. In fact, more so. Imagine the horror of giving up the private jet to have to fly 1st Class or even worse, in coach with the pigs and the chickens. The adage, "You can never be too rich or too thin" is true. No matter how big your nest egg you can lose it in a blink. Contact us for a tune-up.