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Recently around the July 4 holiday, I had the opportunity to visit with clients in the Fort Morgan,
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Recently around the July 4 holiday, I had the opportunity to visit with clients in the Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores, and Orange Beach gulf coasts of Alabama. I heard their stories of how the BP oil spill has affected their lives and their businesses. Every night on the news we learn of the oil spill and the impact it has had on the fishing industry or on tourism business. The true reality is the rippling effect it has on all businesses like the dentist, the veterinarian, the clothing store owner, the hair stylist, the car dealer… the list goes on. Granted, the subprime mortgage meltdown has already devastated this region of the country in terms of contractors, real estate agents, bankers, and many home owners.
Look at the pictures I have also posted with this blog. From July 5th through the evening of July 8th, this is how the beach looked before the cleanup crews arrived. Finally, at 10:00 p.m. on July 8th, I saw huge lights on the beach and proceeded down to the sight only to find cleanup workers.
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After rising almost 9% in the first 66 days of 2010, the market abruptly changed direction on April 24, 2010. The reasons for pullbacks are never singularly focused, but are instead a combination of things. In this case, it was the market priced for perfection running into the emerging fiscal concerns of several European countries, which was enough to reverse the market’s sentiment and thus its direction.
However, even if the economic impact of Europe’s issues become more widespread, the fact remains that the market’s assumption that the world is held hostage by the emerging difficulties in parts of Europe is misplaced. While there has been much focus on the negative effects of the crisis in Greece and other European nations, which are real concerns and real negative headwinds for the global economy, what the markets have not factored in is that positive events have also sprouted as a result of these issues.
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Don’t let your financial future dissolve before your eyes because you were told it would be provided by certain benefits. In 2008, Roger Lowenstein wrote a book entitled “While America Aged: How Pension Debt Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loomed as the Next Financial Crisis.” Lownestein explores how and why corporations and governments made disastrous pension and health care promises to American workers. These promises are now coming due and they threaten the twenty-first century America. Keep in mind that this book came out before our country experienced the financial meltdown with the likes of GM.
Fast forward now to 2010 as this month’s Economist Magazine highlights that in 2008, governments were the solution to the economic crisis. Now, they are the problem. Go ask Europe if you need additional information on that topic.
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Asking for directions….we can handle that! But when it comes to asking questions about finances, women tend to back down and garner financial advice only from social or media sources rather than actively researching or seeking advice from professionals. Most often, women tend to take a less aggressive role in planning their financial future than men. Throughout history women have been peppered with ideas of “being taken care of” or “marrying well” when, in fact, most women in their thirties and forties have careers and are financially self-sufficient or belong to double income families or partnerships. So why, as single women, do we shy away from being financially savvy and truly independent?
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Gone are the days that a woman had to be married to find her name listed on a title or mortgage. These days single women, more so than single men, are taking advantage of historical housing market changes and tax benefits to obtain a major dream among Americans, owning a home. The latest records show single women, as a demographic, are the fastest growing group of homebuyers in the U.S. In fact, the percentage of single-women buyers has increased from 14 percent in 1995 to 21 percent in 2009. These home purchasers account for the second largest share of adult households who purchase homes. Single females make up one-quarter of the first-time buyer population and 17 percent of the repeat buyer population.
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In 2004, I spoke at several conferences discussing how creative destruction had taken place in the telecommunications industry and that the financial service industry, would be next. Well, the financial meltdown, along with technology, has transformed the financial industry.
I now believe that the next industry that will be transformed by technology is higher education. With the Great Recession still in session, universities throughout the country are faced with the realities that gifting is down, endowments influx and online education coming at them in full force.
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On Thursday, May 6, 2010, the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, expanded its recent pullback with a vengeance as it dropped over 3% for the day after rallying from midday declines of almost 10%. While fear was certainly the undertone for the day, the big declines and subsequent rally happened all within an hour. Although the point damage was largely mitigated, uncertainty and concern remain entrenched in the market.
While the catalyst for the large decline was attributed to an apparent trading error that triggered a technical selloff, it was the uncertain environment regarding the fiscal crisis of several countries in Southern Europe that has created the negative backdrop for the market.
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Every May I start receiving phone calls from the children and grandchildren of our clients who are graduating seniors in college still searching for their very first job. Needless to say, this year, with the economy recovering, the calls have increased. The outlook for finding a job isn’t that good if you are this close to graduation and still looking.
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How often have you sat at your desk and wondered how wonderful it would be to retire from your career and do what you want to do? You would be amazed how many times I have sat with people who are already retired and they inform me that they don’t like being retired. I especially see this in men regardless of age. After all, you can only fish, hunt, golf, and travel so much. All too often, even if someone is financially sound and does not have to work, they really just need a sabbatical from work instead of full retirement.
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As we continue to watch the investigation unfold between Goldman Sachs and the Securities and Exchange Commission, one theme that continues to emerge is the phrase “managing risk.” Goldman Sachs executives have used this phrase often as they attempt to explain how their trading strategies should be viewed by Congressional leaders and investigators in this case.
It may very well turn out that this phrase “managing risk” may be the phrase that sums up 2010.
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