Tape Talk | Investing, Business, Wealth, And Your Money

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel dissect the recent market volatility on the heels of the news of US tariff hikes. Agreement Hurdles The United States and China have had an increasingly difficult time finding agreement on trade. Recent revisions to the deal by China led to President Trump implementing a new 25% tariff on a basket of goods from the country. This prompt shift from closing in on a deal to the negotiations entering rough waters left US stocks navigating increased volatility in an attempt to discern what lies ahead. Managing Rough Waters When it comes to managing through periods of volatility, it all comes down to your risk temperament and risk tolerance. Investors must strike a balance between the amount of volatility that will allow them to sleep soundly at night with the amount that their portfolio can tolerate on the path to their goals. Both knowing and implementing these two are key to long-term success in reaching your financial goals. Sticking to a Plan The final pi

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel discuss the volatility transpiring in the market over the past week and what the might mean to investors. Tweet Storm Investors spent the weekend digesting tweets from President Trump alluding to a "no deal" with China on trade after the country attempted to make major revisions in the ongoing agreement. This news caused markets to drop Monday as investors had clear expectations that a trade deal was on the horizon. Volatility is Back One of the core truths of investing is that volatility never goes away, it simply takes a short vacation. After a great start to the year, investors may be getting painfully reminded of this fact as they were shaken from their complacency with the market moves this week. Risk Tolerance and Rebalancing This week illustrates the importance of two key pieces of your investing puzzle. The first is truly understanding the risk you can tolerate when the markets are volatile, not just when they're good. The second is regularly re

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel discuss an edge that "professional" or large investors have in investing markets as well as some ways the individual investor might benefit. Headlines One of the major stories making headlines this week was Warren Buffett’s backing of Occidental Petroleum in its attempt to acquire Anadarko Petroleum after the company announced plans to be acquired by rival Chevron. An article by Bloomberg illustrates the benefits a large and well-connected investor such as Warren Buffett has in ensuring that potential opportunities literally come calling. Big Investor's Moves Aren't Secret Even though large investors get the first mover advantage in many circumstances, their moves and investments are hardly shrouded in secrecy. In fact, as Quint and Daniel discuss, many of these investment managers are obligated to report their investments and changes on a quarterly basis. While this data is delayed, it does give investors insight into what some of the large money manage

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel take a deep dive into investors' required rate of return. What is it? Why is it important? And, how does it factor into your financial plan? Headlines Before going too far into our topic of the week we take a look at news hitting headlines over the past week. One, in particular, has caught investors' attention, the annual update on the Social Security Trust Fund. This report highlights two important numbers for retirees to consider. First, the date when Social Security is estimated to start using its reserves to pay benefits. Second, when those reserves will be depleted and benefits may need to be cut if Congress doesn't act beforehand. While these dates may seem far off, they are important to incorporate into your financial planning now to minimize the potential impact later. Required Rate of Return Your required rate of return is the return you need on your investments based on starting value, contribution, and time to your goal. This number is importa

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel interview Paul Lountzis of Lountzis Asset Management and listen to his insights about risk in the investment markets here. Worldwide Liquidity As we dive into where markets are today we discuss the tremendous liquidity that has been provided by central banks around the world. While this has helped stabilize much of the world economies it has also forced investors to take on undue risk as they search for yield. Since the Federal Reserve here in the US still doesn't seem ready to hike rates further any time soon investors may get a little too complacent in these risky assets by the time future rate hikes come. Time Horizons Matter Investing has major distinctions from trading. Investors often are required to have patience and perseverance while waiting for their thesis to unfold. Paul Lountzis talks about how this manifests at his firm and what it means as he looks to take on new investors, pointing them to the fact that they need to have a time horizon me

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel tackle the recent headlines about the inverted yield curve and what that might mean for investors' portfolios. What's A Yield Curve? While you might not often talk yields at your regular cocktail party, the topic may just come up more as it sprinkled news headlines recently. Unfortunately, though it is critical to the understanding of inversion, the yield curve may be unfamiliar to some. Daniel takes some time to explain just what we're talking about when we mention this curve in yields. Just What Inverted? Over the past couple of weeks, you might have read the news about the inverted yield curve as well as how inverted yield curves are reliable indicators of recession. However, Quint explains just what points in the current yield curve actually inverted and why that might not indicate what many are thinking. Federal Reserve, In Control? Looking at yields on the short-end, such as 3-6 months, is a good indication of the Federal Reserve's influence in ra

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel look at the ways clients might become their own worst enemy when it comes to their financial plan. Here are four ways we see people sabotaging their plans. Undisciplined Spending Coming off some of the highest earning years of your life and likely with the least amount of dependents left in your household, you may have gotten used to spending what you want when you want to. One of the things you'll face in retirement is the paycheck stopping and your spending now relying on a fixed pool of assets. This means that your plan requires some discipline to create a budget, monitor your spending, and stick with the plan. Unspoken Goals If you have goals in mind for life and retirement that you're not talking about with your financial planner, that's simply not good! Your financial plan attempts to incorporate the many knowns and unknowns about your current and future financial life. If you have any ambitious goals which require financial resources it is better

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel break down the recent headlines about the Federal Reserve's outlook and interest rate forecasts for the year. Rates Steady The FOMC very expectedly kept rates unchanged after their latest meeting. However, the more newsworthy bit out of the meeting was their lowered economic forecast for the year. Further, they sent a clearly dovish signal to maintain rates are their current level for the rest of the year. How Interest Rates Work Supply and demand is the law of nature on both Main Street and when it comes to interest rates. Quint breaks down how supply and demand are what the Fed uses when it tightens and eases policy to influence interest rates. Quantitative Easing Primer The Fed had recently been unwinding its largest balance sheet in history. Quint looks at what this means for the economy and why the new reality of a heavily invested Fed means that this balance sheet won't be dramatically shrinking any time soon.

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel welcome spring with some tips for spring cleaning your financial life. Rebalance and Review Investment Allocations If you didn't already do so at the end of the year, it's time to rebalance your accounts which don't automatically do so themselves. This is an important part of any investment strategy to ensure you stay aligned with the investment objectives you set out for yourself. Additionally, it's important to take this to review your investment allocation and ensure it is in line with both your risk tolerance and your risk temperament. IRA and Roth IRA Contributions With one month left to go before the 2018 tax filing deadline, it is a good time to consider any last minute 2018 retirement account contributions. Additionally, while taxes are on the mind and all your paperwork is handy it is the perfect time of year to review your retirement savings strategy for 2019 and how it can be best optimized. Review Your Will (or make one!) While you already h

On this week's shortened episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel take a look at the recent stock rally through the lens of the past couple months of volatility. Consolidation Is The Theme Stocks as a whole are now up significantly for the year, yet they are only back to the levels they started as this past December, prior to the pre-holiday decline. This means two things. First, stocks have entered a very logical area of technical consolidation where gains may slow and buyers and sellers may battle each other for the next trend. Second, the short term moves have been sharp in both directions and some digestion of these moves would be healthy if investors hope for a longer term trend higher from here. Dividends In Play Daniel takes a little time to discuss what the dividend growth strategy has been looking at throughout this volatile market to provide growing income for dividend-focused investors. Then, Quint considers how dividends may be a significant piece of investor returns in the near future if this mar

On this week's short episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel talk about the what's been happening in the markets lately and why the recent moves may make it the perfect time to assess your investment risk. Volatility and Emotion The recent moves in stock (and bond) markets have given investors a prime opportunity to take an honest assessment of how content they are with their allocation here. Because we've experienced both sharp declines and sharp gains over the past three months, investors have been exposed to the potential for a revolving door of emotion. However, with markets about back where they started their rollercoaster moves it may be a good chance for investors to own their emotion and make any necessary changes.

This week Tape Talk is podcast only and Quint takes the opportunity to walk listeners through the specifics of a trade in GDX. While the equity markets continue to baffle those looking at company fundamentals, there is one area of the market that makes sense to Quint and that is Gold. With the Fed on hold and inflation increasing, Gold is shinning and moving higher. Quint takes listeners into a deep dive regarding the rationale behind the investment and the actual trade itself including how to calculate risk, and where to place an appropriate stop. 

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel review the recent rally in the market and examine the headlines to examine if this latest move is a trend reversal or simply a bear market rally.  Markets Move Higher As the major indices reached a year-to-date gain of over ten percent recently, it begs the question of what has changed in the past two months. Investors likely remember the market turmoil going into the holiday season which saw stocks violently decline into Christmas. Yet, in a few short weeks, the market has all but shrugged off the concerns it seemed to have in the recent past. While trade tensions seem to be quieting and government shutdown negotiations seem to be on the upswing, it might behoove investors to question whether we are completely out of the woods on either of these issues. The Federal Reserve Backstop The Federal Reserve, with its program of quantitative easing, has supported riskier assets for a decade now. Much of the recent market volatility might easily be credited to

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel look at some of the current earnings reports coming out of companies this quarter and what it means for the markets now. Slow Down Fears One of the recurring themes from some recent earnings reports is of the economic slowdowns overseas as well as here at home. Companies seem to be finding that demand growth that had been growing steadily is poised to take a breather here in the near term. This can be seen in some of the recent forecast revisions as well as earning misses coming out of key companies in various sectors. While this doesn't necessarily mean a recession is imminent it might mean that stocks will need to continue to reprice to account for updated earnings expectations. The Power of a Plan Planning helps navigate choppy waters and this time is no different. If you've prepared your retirement and investment plan then you likely know your required rate of return and can sleep better knowing that following the plan is your focus, not timing the m

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel review the recent action in the stock market to assess whether or not December's decline may have come to an end. Then, look forward to what might be in store for 2019. Bull or Bear To start off we examine the recent multi-week rally in US stocks. Is the strength we're seeing in stock markets of late an all-clear signal for investors? Or, is this simply just a case of another bear market taking a breath before continuing its trend? Volatility Regardless of where the market goes from here, one of the themes both Quint and Daniel agree will stick around into 2019 is the volatility we've been seeing in the markets lately. Between headline risks, trade risks, and interest rate risks, there are plenty of variables for investors and traders to consider as they position their portfolios. This multi-dimensional headwind may mean the sharp moves we saw in 2018 are here to stay. Earnings In Focus In recent history, investors were quick to assume that growth in ea