June 2017 Newsletter to Clients

Enjoy this month’s edition that features an update on company earnings and the consumer. In addition we have included a reminder regarding protecting your information security and identity and a recent client experience. 

 

Earnings: The most recent difference between earnings estimates at the beginning of reporting season and the actual results at end of the season was 5.1%. The previous 5-7 years have given us about a 3% difference.

 

Personal Income & Personal Consumption: Both figures increased in April by 0.4%. This puts personal income up 3.6% and spending up 4.3% in the past year. Incomes are showing the strongest start for a year since 2014. In other good news, the financial obligations ratio, which compares debt and other recurring payments to income, is near the lowest levels seen in thirty years. Although household debts are at a new record high, debts relative to assets are at one of the lowest points since 1990. 

 

Summary: Company earnings are improving and personal finances are gaining strength, both support our continued confidence in the strength of the stock market and your investments. 

 

Information Security and Identity Theft Prevention: We encourage each of you to never respond to emails asking for confirmation of user identification and passwords. Always follow up any such request with a telephone call to confirm validity. 

 

Client Experience: A client who recently retired called last month to tell us she had put an offer on a house and wanted to know if we could help her use the Required Minimum Distributions from her retirement account to help pay the mortgage. We responded that we would help in any way she needed, began to ask questions about the purchase and her plans for paying for the purchase. She was pleasantly surprised when we explained that we would like to help her navigate the financing process. In fact, when her offer wasn’t accepted by the seller, we offered to help her plan for her home search by determining how much house she could afford, whether to pay cash or obtain a mortgage and even review mortgage rates, if necessary. 

 

She was very pleased that we would do all that for her as she simply thought of Moneywatch Advisors as the people who handle her investments, period. As her and your financial advisors, our responsibilities are much broader than just your investments. In fact, it’s our job to make sure you realize we care about the whole you and are here to help you navigate any and all financial issues to help you reach your goals. That’s why we take such care with your financial plan when you become clients and why we structure your portfolio to support the goals in that plan. It’s why we care when you buy a new home or a new car or plan to put a child through college. It’s also why meeting regularly is so important. We need to know your hopes, dreams, goals and, when they inevitably shift through life, we need to know so we can help you shift your plan and, possibly, your portfolio too.