Local Wealth Manager Brandon Bowen Reacts To Fed Jerome Powell's Comments

Local Wealth Manager Brandon Bowen Reacts To Fed Jerome Powell's Comments

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Charleston's Morning News with Kelly and Plays.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
The Israel Defense Forces is confirming it opened fire in
Gaza as Local authorities reported six people were killed. According
to an IDF post on axit opened fire on what
it described as several suspects approaching troop positions in northern Gaza,
and it's urging residents in Gaza to follow instructions and
keep their distance from IDF troops. The gunfire came a

(00:29):
day after President Trump's visit to the region declaring an
end of the war between Israel and Hamas. Under the ceasefire,
Hamas has released the last remaining living hostages, but is
slow rolling the release of dead bodies still being held.
They released four dead bodies yesterday but continue to hold
twenty more.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
This is horrific and disturbing. Some of the videos that
came out almost immediately of people being assassinated in the
streets at the hands of Hamas, and the President actually
discuss some of this yesterday in the Oval Office and
a press gaggle at the White House.

Speaker 4 (01:04):
Well, they're going to disarm, because they said they were
going to disarm, and if they don't disarm, we will
disarm them.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
He also talked about the remaining hospitem.

Speaker 4 (01:13):
Presented because we were told they had twenty six twenty
four of dead hostages, if we could use those terms,
and it seems as though they don't have that.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
No, it's just horrific the details that are coming out
about the remains.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, I mean, this is kind of a tenuous situation
for everybody involved, including Hamas, because there are people that
don't agree with this peace process that want to see
the destruction of Israel that you know, are on the
side of the Palestinians, and at the end of the day,

(01:48):
it comes down to the destruction of Israel, and their
goal is not a two state solution. Their goal is
to wipe Israel off the map. And they're just not
automatically going to stop. Because even if Hamas goes along
with it, and you know, and all of these other
Arab nations and the United States and Israel all agree,

(02:09):
there's still going to be cells of people that disagree
and are going to do everything they can to prevent
that from happening. So look at it from a terroristic
threat point of view.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well, I think the President clearly when it came to
this twenty point plan understood that we needed these Arab
nations to be on board with this, you know, this
ending of this conflict, with the disarmament, with all of
these things. Because if slash win now that we're talking
about now Hamas doesn't disarm, we have you know, the

(02:45):
other nations on our side. I mean, it's to me
that this is the step that had to happen because
I'm sure, like you, Blaze, I continue to get calls
since you know this was inked, you know, of people
saying do you really trust and think that this is
going to be the end? No, Hamas can't be trusted.
They're terrorists.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
No, they can't be trusted. But my point being is
that Arab nations aside, like I said, despite this agreement,
there's going to be people that are trying to disrupt
this peace process. So you know, what do you do
about those people? And that's why I said, frame it
as like terroristic threats. So even if Hamas is acting

(03:23):
in good faith, there's going to be cells of whatever
you might call them, I would call them terrorists that
are going to do what they can to disrupt this
peace process and get people to throw up their hands
and say never mind, and then you're at full out
war again, and then they're back to their goal of
trying to wipe Israel off the map.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, in the meantime, what do you do gaza with
a Gaza eight? Israel has cut it in half with
the latest moves here because of the whole slow go
of releasing these bodies of these hostages. So we'll see
what else comes.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well. Obviously they still want to hold onto some leverage
because the real leverage that they had was with the
living hostages. They gave that up, So they're still clinging
to some kind of leverage. So we'll see how all
this works out. But you know, you can't expect this
to just all of a sudden magically be okay after

(04:23):
you know, the signing of these agreements and whatnot. So
this is an ongoing process and it's not going to
be a particularly clean one. During the ongoing government shutdown,
Federal Reserve chair in Jerown Powell warned that the lack
of official economic data made the fence job of setting
monetary policy more challenging. Speaking in Philadelphia yesterday, Powell said,

(04:45):
there's no risk free path for policy as we navigate
the tension between our employment and inflation goals. If we
move too quickly with lowering rates, then then we may
leave the inflation job unfinished and have to come back
later and finish it. Powell said, if we move too slowly,
there may be unnecessary losses, painful losses in the employment market.

(05:07):
He said, many investors speculate that there will be another
interest rate cut at the end of this month, and
possibly another one coming up in December.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
So it almost if you you know, just listening to that,
doesn't it almost sound as if he's you know, absolving
himself a bit of responsibility and sort of pointing fingers on, Oh, well,
the shutdown is really not helping here, and so whatever happens,
it's really on politicians and these reports in the government

(05:36):
not giving us what we need. It's a little bit
of a week. I don't know. He came across as
week to me in this address.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Well, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, the
uh before jumping all over him on this. What he
says can move markets. So he has to be very
careful in measured in his remarks, and I think that's
what he was trying to do. And yes, it can
come off as Mealy mouthed. It can come off as weak,

(06:04):
it can come off as however you want to frame it.
But think about if you're in his position and everybody
is hanging on your every word, and if you misstep,
there are serious consequences. So I understand why he's trying
to be measured and why he lays things out the

(06:27):
way that he does.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Well, we'll see what comes of this. I mean, we
already know the president's chied at him in many ways,
you know, saying that they're lowering these rates, you know,
too slow, too late. But what will come of it?
I mean the more he talks, people are and I
get what you're saying, why he has to choose his
words wisely, but I mean he's sort of leaning towards
we're going to see a bubble burst, you know, in

(06:51):
the stock market is trouble brewing. And you know you
can't say that he talked a lot about inflation remaining
somewhat elevated relative to this whole two percent number. He
continues to hang on this long run goal you know
that he talks about he I mean, then out of

(07:11):
the other side of his mouth, I mean, there's with
regards to the stock market, and well finances in general,
and I would say I don't know the personal consumption
prices he brought up. I mean, I made a lot
of notes on this, and the more I go down

(07:33):
the rabbit hole of these numbers are good, these numbers
are bad. Is our bull marker going to get a bubble?
I mean, it's it's it's it's frustrating. I'm glad. I'm
not him. I would never want his job. It's just
that I can see why the president is frustrated that,
you know, we're so behind the eight ball, and then
listening to him talk about a government shutdown not getting

(07:56):
the numbers that they need, well, we these government numbers
have been messed up for quite some time. So I
almost felt like it was just an an absolving of
some responsibility in case things, you know, don't go the
way some would like, whether it's the president or you
as an investor.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Well, in essence, he's saying that the economy's sending mixed
signals in that they have to tread carefully, and as
he said, if we move too slowly, they might be
unnecessary losses, painful losses in the employment market. If we
move too quickly, we may leave the inflation job unfinished
and have to go back later and finish it. So
he's trying to walk a fine line. Like I said,

(08:37):
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I agree
that he probably waited too long in lowering interest rates,
but it's a monolith. It's like trying to steer a
freighter out in the ocean, right, So you have to
just do it in tiny, little degrees rather than quick
abrupt motions or or something bad's going to happen. So

(08:58):
I don't envy him his position. And after all, this
was not an address to the nation. This was an
address to an economic club in Philadelphia that he knew
eyes were on and would be reported on. And so
I think, you know, he's taking a safe approach, So
I'll give him that benefit of the doubt.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
So joining us live Charleston's retirement coach Brendan Bowen Hurd
weekends at eleven actually on Saturdays right here on ninety
four to three w SC. What are we to make
of this is trouble brewing Brandon.

Speaker 5 (09:29):
Well, I would I would say no, as far as
you know, what he said yesterday wasn't that consequential. It
was more of you know him them unwinding and how
fast they're going to unwind some of the bonds that
they bought back, you know, back a year ago. But
that really blazed. Just like you just said. That really

(09:49):
is the role of the Fed here is to try
to do this balancing act, you know, with our with
our markets and with our or with our economy, I
should say. And it's a lot like our thermostat for
those listeners. You know, if you have your thermostat set
on auto at home, you know with right now in
the fall, you want to get hot days during the day,
we want the air to cut on, but then maybe

(10:09):
at nighttime some heat. And so yeah, I mean he's
trying to Powell is trying to control that and not
cool down too much or heat up the market. But
what we're starting to see now is the risk of
a recession if you know, if they don't if he
doesn't start low lowering interest rates.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Brandon, there's a lot of talk in several different circles
about the stock market and the stock market being overvalued,
and you know, there may be a big correction coming.
I've even heard some people saying they're approaching retirement age
they want to start taking at least some of their
money out of their retirement accounts just to have it

(10:48):
sitting there in case they need it so they don't
have to pull it out in a down market. What
says you about that?

Speaker 5 (10:58):
That's what I say every weekend here on on the
radio show. Is exactly what you said. So for those listeners,
if you have maybe five years or more before you retire,
then I say, hey, you know, just keep buying. If
the markets come down, you're buying on sales, so stay aggressive.
But yes, if you're within five years, or if you're
listening and you're already retired, you have got to This week,

(11:21):
I want you to pick up the phone and call
your financial advisor, you know, talk to him or her
and ask for a retirement plan because just like you said, Blaze,
is you know, when you start to need income in retirement,
you've got to have some money that is not in
the throes of this stock market that can go up
and down. Yes, we might be on an AI bubble.

(11:43):
There could be something coming and brewing. There's a lot
of talk that we're seeing there. But you know, a
lot of people want to sleep eight hours a night.
They don't want to be too stressed. And so what
we do, what a lot of US advisors do, is
we help you see that Okay, the money that you
need for income near term that needs to be more protected,

(12:04):
more defensive. Okay, so a market crash doesn't doesn't make
that go down ten twenty thirty forty percent. So yes,
so pick up the phone. That's that's the value that
US advisors bring. Yesterday's conversation was great, Blaze when you
guys were talking about financial advisors and can we pick
better than monkeys on there?

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yes, thank you, Bri.

Speaker 5 (12:28):
I know, I know, and who knows right, you know
some picking stocks that could or monkeys could do better
than us. We don't know. But where we bring our
value is in putting the plan in place to help
people know where their income's coming from, reduce market risk,
and have some tax efficient strategies.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
So, Brenda, I'm curious because the president's been chiding Jerome Powell.
We know that he's part of a larger group, but
that these interest rates are coming you know, too late,
it's too little, too late. I'm just curious your thoughts
on that.

Speaker 5 (13:00):
I would agree, right, because you raise interest rates to
try to you know, if you've got high inflation, which
everyone listening can can agree. We see that. We see
the high inflation. The cost of things, prices are so high,
so you raise these interest rates and you try to
cool it down, to try to cool the rising of
inflation and things. And so if you leave it too high,

(13:21):
too long, that's why he was calling him too late
Powell or whatever many nicknames. But you know, if we
leave it up there too high, well there's a lot
of problems. And we're seeing it in the in mortgages. Right.
The housing market is just at a standstill a lot
of times unless you're coming to the table with cash.
So so yes, there is a lot of pressure that

(13:43):
they want to get rates down so that it starts
to really bring that back to life here, bring the
housing market back to life. A lot of Middle America,
you know, have a lot more spending power and a
lot more access to move things around.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Friend, let me ask you about gold. Is it a
record high? Why is that?

Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (14:04):
That is that is a sign of people not trusting
the stock market. Also crypto, right, you've seen bitcoin, a
lot of these alternative asset classes here that can't be manipulated.
A lot of people don't like the idea that someone
behind the curtain can can start moving things around and rise,
you know, changing interest rates, and that the big guy

(14:28):
has different information than the little guy than us day
to day people. A lot of people don't like that.
So we're seeing people run to gold things where you
can't just come up with more gold. Things like that
ways too and and we like it in our portfolios
for our clients, you know, some of these alternative assets.
Diversification is the is the big key here, you know,

(14:51):
of different asset classes, bonds, things, as they start lowering
interest rates, that is one good thing to have. Bonds
have been you know, bond funds and things that have
been abysmal for a lot of people. But we're starting
to see here in the fall, and we're hoping for
through the winter in the spring yields for our bond
funds to really come back and recover a bit because
of those high interest rate.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Now on gold, let me just follow up quickly on that.
So do you think there's any room left? Should you
still be looking at getting into gold or should you
let it go down some first?

Speaker 3 (15:22):
Right? Hold them full well, I know, I know.

Speaker 5 (15:24):
I've been saying for probably two three years that it's
a good time to be selling gold. So if you
have it, go sell it. But the price just you know,
just keeps going higher and higher and higher. So you know,
if you have some, or even if you want to
buy some, I don't think it's going to come down. Uh,
you know, maybe a little bit from the highs, but
you want to have that long term outlook, right, So

(15:45):
having some gold there in the portfolio, maybe a two
to four percent position in the overall portfolio, would be
nice to have some gold allocation.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
All right, more of this with Charleson's retirement coach Brendon
Bowen joining us live here this morning, coming up at
eleven on Saturday, right here on ninety four to three
WSC Brandon. Thank you, Thank you, guy Brandon.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Appreciate your time this morning and thanks for the sound
advice that many of us need in this uncertain market.
Actor Alec Baldwin said he and his brother Steven are
fine after they were involved in a car crash in
the Hamptons on Monday. Alex shared a video on his
Instagram account addressing the incident, acknowledging that he and his
brother were in town for the Hampton's International Film Festival

(16:29):
over the weekend. The actor said he was driving his
wife Hilaria's range Rover when a large garbage truck caused
him to veer off the road and crash into a
tree to avoid hitting him. I hit a tree, he said,
noting that his wife's vehicle was pretty smashed up after
hitting the big fat tree. Alec thanked the East Hampton
Police Department and the officer who helped him and Stephen

(16:50):
after the crash took place, while also sending his congratulations
to everyone involved in the Hampton's Film festival.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
So the roads were wet and slippery, the the the
dump truck, you know, even release the camp you know,
his own camera garbage truck. Yeah, yeah, and it was
only they apparently had a front and back view, but
I guess I don't know if the camera wasn't working.
But they only released one version or what they had
I suppose, And I mean it didn't really show a

(17:19):
whole lot other than because Baldwin was saying that the
garbage truck swerved at him or near him or into him,
which is why he left the roadway.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Well, not that it matters, but the video I watched
the garbage truck pulls out into the lane, travels down
the lane and then starts moving off onto the shoulder,
presumably to pick up some trash. And then you see
Alec Baldwin's wife's vehicle go ripping by and smashing into
a tree. So it looked to me like Alec Baldwin

(17:48):
may have been trying to pass the garbage truck on
the shoulder of the road. That's just my armchair quarterbacking
from that short video. But you know what I find
fast is that this is a guy who will never
take responsibility for anyone. He kills somebody on a movie
set and he won't even say that he pulled the trigger.

(18:10):
The gun went off right, the gun did it. And
this is indicative of how democrats act. It's always somebody
else's fault. Zero personal smashed into a tree and it
was the garbage truck's fault and some other driver. And
you know, Kamala lost the election. It's because of sexism

(18:31):
and racism. You know, the the border that we screwed
up with the border, But it's the Republican's fault for
even making an issue and being concerned about it in
the first place. And you can go on and on
and on down this list of how they're always blaming
somebody else and not taking responsibility for their own actions.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
I want to know what kind of a conversation he
had with the wife about her white Range Rover.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
They don't like when you smash up their vehicles. They
don't even like when you get them dirty.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
I mean, thank goodness, nobody was hurt, and the damage
could have been far worse. I mean, you look at
this and it's like, oh, okay, it's not terrible. And
when you hear a Range river smashing into a tree,
you can imagine a lot.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
But just hearing his excuses and the garbage truck was
as big as a huge whale, you know, and all
of these things trauma. It's like, just say I had
an accident. If you don't want to cop to the
responsibility Alec, at least just say I had an accident.
Didn't leave it at that.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
Thanks for listening to the Charleston Morning News podcast. Catch
Kelly and Blaze weekday mornings from sixty nine