« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »
" The Subprime mortgage crisis that began in August of 2007-and a series of other financial sector events that battered stocks for months - will likely be remembered as a very turbulent time for investors. But, there is more than a century of proof that despite periodic downturns in stock prices, ....."
To view the he rest of this article from Oppenheimer, please click on the link below:
This is an article from the Seattle Times discussing one of the reasons why housing prices are so high. To see this article, please click on the link below:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004181704_eicher14.html
Tax Freedom Day® will fall on April 23 in 2008, according to the Tax Foundation's annual calculation using the latest government data on income and taxes. That’s three days earlier than in 2007. Stimulus rebates and a projection of slow growth in 2008 are the principal reasons for the earlier celebration.
According to the latest report “Americans will work longer to pay for government (113 days) than they will for food, clothing and housing combined (108 days). In fact, Americans will work longer to afford federal taxes alone (74 days) than they will to afford housing (60 days). As a group, Americans will also work longer to pay state and local taxes than they will to pay for food.”
Tax Freedom Day® came as soon as April 17th under Ronald Reagan, moved all the way back to May 3rd in President Clinton’s final year, and improved to a recent best of April 16th in 2003 before giving back a number of work days. Residents of Washington and California will have to wait for their day of freedom as both states are in the five highest taxed in the nation, partially because of the high incomes earned. Washington residents will be free on April 29th, and California residents on April 30th. Remember also that lower income Americans individually celebrate an earlier Tax Freedom Day ® than higher income Americans, which can easily find they are working to pay taxes well into May.
You can read the full report and see the methodology used here http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/sr160.pdf .
So what can a firm that helps people with their finances do to celebrate Earth Day? Actually, we ask ourselves this question all year around and what follows is what we have come up with. Maybe it will encourage you as you think through your choices. Liz and I are avid backpackers and students of the natural world, as are a number of people here in the firm, so environmental issues are very important to us.
Apart from the politically divisive debates about creating new environmental laws, reducing waste has always made sense and considering the total long term cost of a decision, including the waste and energy required is simple common sense. We are continually focusing people on the long term impact of their life decisions, and environmental concerns are part of any long term cost and benefit structure. Like ignoring health care costs or lower risk tolerances as we age, not calculating in environmental costs is a big mistake.
We are very fortunate in that we don’t produce any physical products so our pollution output is tiny compared to most businesses. No factories, no cups, no shopping bags, no products in the refuse bins, no oil and no gas. I wish we could stop the copious amounts of annual reports and proxies we all get and we will continue to push for that, but we do not control that process. We do however consume electricity to run our computers so we look to buy Energy Star rated machines and either power them down or leave them in sleep state depending upon which is recommended for energy efficiency. We use e-documents where possible and when we do print documents and plans all are printed two sided when possible. We shred and recycle all possible paper and carry home other recyclables that our building does not handle.
The most unusual thing we do to help the environment is that every single person in the office carpools or takes the bus. As a firm, for the past five years or so we have bought unlimited King County Transit bus passes for all employees and we have 100% participation in bus riding or carpools and have for a few years. We also donate money regularly to organizations including the Nature Conservancy and the Wilderness Awareness School.
These are small things really, in the scope of our work, but it truly is small decisions like these that add up to big results over time. That’s the power of compound interest that we are always teaching. C.S. Lewis, the Oxford don, put these concepts together brilliantly when he wrote,
“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little
decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.The
smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which,
a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed
of”.
~ from Mere Christianity
"Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement. This movement can cite some important successes. Environmental efforts established many years ago are paying off with ....... "
To see the rest of this LPL article on how how climate changes affect investors, please click on the link below:
"Residents of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho cut per capita gasoline consumption by 11 percent from 1999 to 2007, or nearly a gallon a week on average, according to a new report by Sightline Institute, a sustainability think tank".
To see the rest of this Puget Sound Business Journal article, please click on the link below:
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/04/14/daily27.html?f=et80&ana=e_du
LPL Insured Cash Account Program - FDIC insurance up to $2 million for joint account holders
The LPL Insured Cash Account Program offers you a high level of FDIC insurance coverage by spreading your cash deposits over a network of well-capitalized banks (FDIC insurance up to $1 million for single account holders and $2 million for joint account holders). Let us know if we can assist you with your money. Attached is more information about the Insured Cash Account.
Please click on the link below:
http://www.mwboone.com/blog/Insured_Cash_Account_Program.pdf
Copyright © 2008 MWBoone and Associates All Rights Reserved. MWBoone and Associates is a Registered Investment Advisor Investment Management services are not available through this web site but are described at www.mwboone.com. Securities offered through LPL Financial Member FINRA/SIPC.
On Friday March 14, 2008, King5 News did a piece on the current market situation and interviewed MWBoone's & Associates own Aimée Huff, CFP, CFA for the piece. Please click on the link below to see the full clip:
http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=227257
LPL's John Canally has put out his weekly economic update. To see this article, please click on the link below:
Well, one of my least favorite days of the year – April 15 – is approaching. So if I sound a little grumpy, it’s because of our looming tax deadline, poor equity performance over the first quarter, market volatility, high oil prices and further revelations of egregious behavior by some big banks and mortgage originators. The S&P 500 stock price index fell 9.9% over the first quarter, with all 10 sectors down. Employment also fell over the quarter, with payroll employment down 232,000 and the unemployment rate up slightly to 5.1%. Does this data signal the onset of a recession? Possibly, but if so, I continue to expect it will be mild. The Federal Reserve has been very aggressive with interest rate cuts and really big balance sheet operations to take risk off bank and primary dealer balance sheets.
I continue to think the year will turn out better for the economy and financial markets than the scary headlines suggest. I have heard a large number of what I consider to be silly comments and forecasts. No, I do not think we are returning to the Great Depression. No, I do not think this is the worst economic crisis since then. And no, I do not think that the last nine years constitute the “lost decade”.
Yes, the S&P 500 stock price index has only recovered to Q1 1999 levels. However, behind the still obviously lagging stock performance, we have seen the Price/Operating Earnings ratio for the S&P 500 cut nearly in half due to S&P earnings nearly doubling over the last nine years. That, to me, represents an enormous reduction in market risk. A lot of hard work by U.S. companies and their workers produced this rise in earnings, and it has been done with generally careful attention to staying competitive and controlling costs. I consider that to be a big plus for economic and financial market prospects. Certainly, we have serious problems on some big bank balance sheets because of very poor business decisions. However, even if mortgage security related write-downs were to rise to a trillion dollars (unlikely in my opinion), the two trillion dollar improvement in the aggregate non-financial company balance sheet over the last nine years provides a huge offset.
And then there is the real world. Real GDP is up 26% over the last nine years. Employment has increased by 10 million. Labor productivity, the engine behind real wage gains and staying competitive in the global economy, has increased 26%. Real after-tax income per capita has increased by 17%. Even home prices, down lately, are still up 44% from nine years ago. And real U.S. household net worth is up 20%. Lost decade, my foot. I remain guardedly optimistic on U.S. financial market performance and will continue to monitor the economy closely for further signs of recession. As always, please call me with any questions or concerns.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult me prior to investing. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.
Copyright © 2008 MWBoone and Associates All Rights Reserved. MWBoone and Associates is a Registered Investment Advisor Investment Management services are not available through this web site but are described at www.mwboone.com. Securities offered through LPL Financial FINRA/SIPC..
MWBoone & Associates, LLC, presents: Prepare for Your Power Years. This is a workshop that is aimed at helping you learn how to live your dream.
“I have been helping clients for over two decades and this is the best life planning presentation I have seen
~ Michael W. Boone, CFP, CFA
There are still many reasons to like Tech, though heightened recession risk warrants some caution. To see these reasons and the rest of the article, please click on the link below:
LPL's Lincoln Anderson has put out another weekly commentary. To see this article, please click on the link below:
http://www.mwboone.com/library/articles/lpl_lincoln_Anderson_4_1_08.pdf
March 2008 — This column is produced by the Financial Planning Association, the membership organization for the financial planning community. pyright © 2008 MWBoone and Associates All Rights Reserved. MWBoone and Associates is a Registered Investment Advisor Investment Management services are not available through this web site but are described at www.mwboone.com. Securities offered through LPL Financial Member FINRA/SIPC.