Let's Talk Money

September 20th, 2025. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, folks, Stephen Boucha. I'm here live talking with you
and I would love to talk with you. Anything that
you want to talk about. Give me a call.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
You know.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm here every Saturday at ten, every Sunday at eight am.
Today you have me. I have some great colleagues, but
today you have me. I'm Stephen Bouchet and you know
I love doing the show. You know that. So if
you have any questions, any questions whatsoever, give me a
call because I would love to get you pointed in

(00:33):
the right direction. You get one opportunity to retire. I
want to do my best to help you make those
decisions as best I can. One eight hundred talk WGY
one eight hundred eight two five five nine, four nine
Any questions whatsoever, folks. One eight hundred eighty two five
fifty nine forty nine. So I had a great week

(00:56):
this week, folks. I so we crossed the milestone in
our firm. We hit one point five billion dollars in
assets for you know, has of September first. And believe me,
you hear me say often how much I appreciate the
colleagues that I'm surrounded by. They are so talented, so smart,

(01:18):
so amazing, and we wouldn't be as successful as.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
We are without all the colleagues. Everybody, everybody from.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
The newest colleague to Angelo who's been with me twenty
seven plus years. Everybody in between means the world to me,
and our success is based on that. So I took
everybody on Tuesday up to Manchester, Vermont. We stayed at
the Kimpton Taconic Inn in Manchester Center. We had a

(01:46):
firm wide meeting, then we all went out to launch
across the street. It was a beautiful, gorgeous day, sat outside.
Then I had activities planned. We had fly fishing, driving
range rovers in the forest, hiking, bike riding, you name it.
Our colleagues and their spouses could choose an activity. And

(02:08):
then that night we had a beautiful celebratory dinner on
the lawn over you know, basically I should say, the
mountains overlooking us, and finished on Wednesday morning with the breakfast,
and I was so proud, so proud looking at each
and every one of my colleagues that I work alongside with,

(02:29):
and I can't thank them enough. So I just wanted
to share that with you. It's really when when you're
blessed to have good people that you work with in
that you consider friends. It doesn't get much better than that.
Even her newest associate, Emily, started on Monday and already
she was going on a retreat on Tuesday, so for

(02:50):
her it was a pretty good deal. One eight hundred
eighty two five five nine, four nine. So what a
week in the markets, folks, Oh my god. The SMP
up one point two to two percent, Russell two thousand
up two point one six percent, and both Nasdaq Composite

(03:11):
and Nasdaq one hundred QQQ, the best performing major index,
up two point two percent. Does it get any better
than that? Year to date, the SMP is up thirteen percent,
Russell two thousand up almost ten percent, NASDAK both up
seventeen percent, the Composite in QQQ seventeen point two. You know, folks,

(03:38):
it doesn't get It doesn't get any better than that.
So with that being said, let me give you the
good news because I always guarantee you that the markets
will go down, and the markets did go down. Remember
back in the spring, Remember some of you got nerve

(04:00):
issue were worried that the world was coming to an end,
And I always tell you the world never comes to
an end. It just feels that way if you're an investor,
because you look at your statement, you're.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Down a little bit in value.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
But as long as you don't sell, you really haven't
lost any money. You only lose money when you sell.
So the markets, you know the drum roll, and thank
you Deliah and Ashley for playing that drum roll for me. Thursday,
the Russell two thousand hit in all time high. Would
we ever think that hit an all time high? Came

(04:37):
back a smidgeon on Friday, so it didn't close the
week out at an all time high, but the S
and P all time high on Friday sixty six sixty five,
NASDAK an all time high QQQ twenty four six twenty six,
and also the Nasdaq Composite twenty two six thirty one

(04:59):
all time highs. Even the Dow. And I don't like
to talk about the Dow because it's just thirty stocks,
so very seldom do you hear me talk about the doll.
But let me say the Dow hit an all time
high as well, forty six three fifteen. So all the
major indexes hit all time highs on Friday in Russell

(05:19):
two thousand and one. Thursday, now that's pretty good news.
You know, if you sold out in the spring, you missed.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Out on that rally, and what a rally it's been.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
And listen, folks, if you're a long term investor, don't
get scared in the markets. Volatility is part of being invested.
The markets go up, the markets go down.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Over the last.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
Forty four years, the average swing in the market's fourteen
percent high to low, Pete Ta truck fourteen percent. The
markets swing. I'm average year in year out, and the
markets were up I think thirty five out of those
forty four years, the market is up more than its down.
Don't be afraid of the stock market. And I'm not

(06:02):
here to sell stocks. Believe me, I don't sell anything.
I'm a fiduciary. We do what's best for our clients.
But we have a lot of clients that are invested properly.
And I can honestly say every client we have has
equity stock in their portfolio somehow, some way. We don't
have any clients that are just fixed income bounds, none whatsoever.

(06:27):
And when you look, you know, the US ten year
Treasury note almost hit five percent.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Earlier in the year.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
The low was three point six percent. Today we sit
here at four point one percent. Came down a little
bit because the FED cut rates Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday
when they came out and Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
made his his you know, infamous speech where he kind
of goes over what the Board of Governors decided on.

(06:58):
They cut rates a quartable point, no surprise. Some people
were hoping for a half point cut. You have people
that feel that the Fed should be a little bit
more aggressive, but right now it looks like they're doing
a decent job. They cut rates, which I felt they
should cut rates. I actually thought they should have cut
rates maybe at the last meeting, but at least they

(07:18):
cut rates this meeting. Who knows how many more rate
cuts will have. I'm pretty sure we will have some.
You know, the FED is data dependent, so they look
at every report that comes out on the economy, the
jobs reports, and you know, before you know it, I
feel like we're still just getting through second quarter earning season,

(07:39):
and in a couple of weeks it doesn't seem possible.
Doesn't that today is September twentieth, Monday is fall. It
doesn't seem right. You know, the leaves we went up
to Vermont, as I said, Tuesday and Wednesday, the leaves
are already falling, changing color. And you know, the weather's
been absolutely gorgeous, asn't it, folks, gorgeous. So let's take

(08:01):
advantage of all that Mother Nature is giving us right now.
These mother natures being pretty kind to us. And she's
not always kind to everybody. There's people around the country,
people around the world that have been devastated because of
mother nature. But Mother Nature has been good to us
since June. Really June, we had kind of a wet

(08:22):
soggi June. But after that, the weather's been pretty pretty
gorgeous out there, pretty remarkable. One eight hundred eighty two
five five nine four nine. If you have any calls,
any calls, I'm here to take the calls. If you
have any questions, give us a call. I'm going to
take a quick fifteen second break. Don't go anywhere. The

(08:43):
phone lines are open, folks, give me a call. One
eight hundred eighty two five five nine four nine, any
questions whatsoever. I would love to talk to you. So
what happened this past week, Well, I'm you know, the
beginning of the week you had an appeals court refused
to remove Lisa from the Federal Reserve. And you know,
that's something that President Trump feels should happen because supposedly

(09:08):
she created or caused some fraud, you know, mortgage fraud.
So we'll see what happens there. You had to sendate confirmed.
Stephen Moran is the run up to the FED rate
cutting meat meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. So he's there
and he's you know, he kind of sides with Trump.

(09:29):
He feels that there should be more rate cuts, in
bigger rate cuts. So President Trump was able to put
him on there. President Trump, this is a biggie. He
called for replacing quarterly earnings with half yer corporate reporting. Now,
you know, I just got done saying that. Here we're

(09:50):
just finishing the announcements for the second quarter earnings, and
already we're looking at just in a couple of weeks,
we're going to start seeing third quarter earnings come out
at the beginning of October, probably the second week of October, though,
come out. President Trump thinks that managers and you know,
these companies should be more focused long term and to

(10:14):
be preparing quarterly reports every three months. You're getting a
new report, a new report, a new report, the stock
market looks at it. They don't like surprises, so that's
really interesting. He wants to replace the quarterly reporting with
half year corporate reporting every six months instead of every
three months, so we'll see what happens there. I think

(10:36):
the SEC may be in favor of that, so that'll
that'll change things up a little bit. You had August
retail sales, rows stocks. You know, as I said, is
the Fed cut a quarter point on Wednesday and basically
said there's more to come. All the major indexes hit
all time highs on Thursday, and on Friday, the Dial

(10:59):
as He and Nastac all went on to hit new
all time highs, and the Russell two thousand came off
a little bit on Friday, but it did hit a
new all time high on Thursday. And remember the Russell
two thousand has been lagging. Those are the mid cap,
small cap companies, and it's nice to see the Russell
two thousand hitting an all time high because in order

(11:21):
for this market to go anywhere, you want all companies,
not just the Magnificent seven, not just the big boys.
You want all companies, big, mid size and small companies
to take part in it. So that was great news
seeing the Russell two thousand have a pretty stellar week
and hitting an all time high. Now, as far as

(11:42):
company news, China said Navidio may have violated anti trust rules.
They launched an anti dumping probes into analog chip makers
Texas Instrument analog devices on semiconductor you know, urged tech
Pleas not to buy new Navidia chips. So there's a

(12:03):
little bit of a war going there.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
You know.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
They also dropped at Google anti trust probe alphabet, which
is Google their market cap broke three trillion dollars. The
big news of the week Walt Disney. You know, ABC
pulled Jimmy Kimmel alive over comments on the Charlie Kirk murder.
And then, last but not least, you have a short

(12:27):
term federal funding plan failed in the Senate as the
deadline came and went. And we'll see what happens next week.
This coming week, on Tuesday, you have the Manufacturing and
Services Purchase Managers in DEX being released for September. Consumer
estimates are for about a fifty one point nine reading

(12:49):
fifty three point nine for services, so we'll see what
happens there. Wednesday, the Census Bureau reports new homes sales.
We're looking for a product six hundred and fifty homes
to be sold annually. And then on Thursday, the National
Association and Realtors report existing home sales for August. We'll

(13:12):
see what happens there with mortgage rates coming down when
the Fed cuts interest rates, mortgage rates come down, and
believe it or not, mortgage rates were coming before the
Fed cut rates because they anticipated.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
That there was going to be a rate cut.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
This makes buying a home more affordable, folks. Every every
tick down on the mortgage rate is good news for consumers.
Anybody who's borrowing money, they want lower, lower interest rates.
So that'll be interesting to see just how low will
the mortgage rate go. The national average for a thirty

(13:50):
year right now it's about six point three to two percent.
That's better than the you know, almost seven percent that
we had fifteen year mortgage about five point six two percent.
And you know, lower interest rates mean lower mortgage rates,
and lower mortgage rates mean more people can.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Afford a home.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
And then to round out this coming week, on Friday,
the Bureau of Economics Analysis releases the Personal Consumption Expenditures
Price index. For August, the consensus call is for two
point seven percent year over year increase, one tenth of
a percentage point more than in July. The core PCE

(14:32):
price index is expected to rise two point nine, basically
matching the July figure. This is the Fed's preferred really
what they look at closely. It's a broad reading of
the economy and where inflation is, so you know the

(14:52):
FED will have all eyes focused on that. One eight
hundred eighty two five five nine four nine one eight
hundred eight two five fifty nine forty nine. If you
have any questions, folks, give me a call. I would
love to talk to you. Last, but not least, Crypto.
I said to you a couple of weeks ago when
bitcoin was one hundred and eight thousand, that I felt

(15:14):
it was a good bye for those of you that
want to play. I have a sandbox account, I have
some bitcoin in it, and I thought that at one
hundred and eight thousand, I said, if you're looking to
add crypto bitcoin right now at one hundred and eight thousand,
is it drop from one hundred and twenty thousand, maybe
a good good place to enter. And here we are

(15:35):
just a couple of weeks later, it's at one hundred
and sixteen thousand, So bitcoin, you know, up nice little
bump there over the last couple of weeks. We'll see
where it goes. A lot of people are still scared
of crypto, especially bitcoin. I'm not I think it's here
to stay. In the beginning, I wasn't sure. But I
do think bitcoin is here to stay, and I think

(15:58):
bitcoin will will, you know, do just just just find
over time. And as they said, if if you have
a sandbox account, you don't want to get crazy, you know,
no more than five percent of your overall investable assets
should be in something like a bitcoint so be careful.
That's what we call an alternative asset, and it's you know,

(16:24):
there was a day when people weren't sure if if
crypto was here to stay or not. But I think
it is here to stay. I see more and more people.
You're going to be able to buy it in your
four own case. Who'd ever think that? But as they said,
don't get crazy. One eight hundred eighty two five five
nine four nine one eight hundred eighty two five fifty

(16:46):
nine forty nine, give me a call, talk to me
about what's on your mind with regards to your portfolio,
or maybe you're looking at buying something you're not sure
if you should or not. I'll give you my prof
national opinion. I'll give you you know how I feel
about it. It doesn't mean that i'll be right, but
I can tell you, with all the experience I have,

(17:08):
I'm probably going to give you some good things to
think about. I'll be a good devil's advocate for you,
that's for sure. One eight hundred and eight, two, five, five, nine,
four nine are the phone numbers. Well, gold is hot,
you know, I just I never expected gold to, you know,
the be this hot. I mean, here we are. Gold

(17:31):
is sitting at thirty six seventy one announce record set
earlier this week thirty six eighty eight almost thirty six
ninety nine. So gold has done well, you know, believe
it or not. Is gold is up forty percent year
to date, just about. But silver is up forty four
percent year to date. It's you know, their highest level

(17:55):
since twenty eleven. And you know, a lot of people
feel that silver still has more room to grow. Investors
have been piling into both gold and silver, you know,
between the recucling of shuffling of global trade, you know,
a threat to the Federal Reserve independence coming from President

(18:15):
Trump and a weakening US dollar. Silver. Silver is a
key component of semiconductors, so you know, silver probably has
more use than gold. Gold you can't do much other
than maybe wearing around your neck or in a you know,
earring or belly ring or wherever you have rings. You know,

(18:39):
gold doesn't have any really intrinsic value. It doesn't pay
a dividend. Neither does silver. But you know, I think
only eleven percent of gold I haven't looked it up recently.
There's eleven percent of its usefulness is used. You know,
sometimes you get gold fillings or you get the picture

(19:00):
outside of outside of jewelry. So you know, gold up
forty percent, its best year since nineteen seventy nine. And
as they said, some people think that silver may be
undervalued relative to gold. The gold to silver ratio measures
how many ounces of silver takes to buy an ounce
of gold. The higher the value the cheaper silver is

(19:23):
to gold. And since the Fed Reserve cut interest rates,
it's right now the ratio is running around ninety above
the eighty seven that we saw in August of twenty
nineteen to March of twenty twenty, and much higher than
the fifty nine during you know, if you remember that
financial crisis September of two thousand and seven to December

(19:48):
of two thousand and eight. Although the market ended it's
it's it's you know, bear market status in March of
two thousand and nine. The average over the last fifty
in twenty years is sixty three and seventy respectively. That's
according to dal Jones Market data. So as I said,

(20:08):
almost again, if you have a play account, or if
you want commodities in your portfolio, no more than five percent, folks,
it's an alternative. Vans is as great as gold is done.
Remember goes years not doing anything, then all of a
sudden it gets a little shot in the arm and.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Gold has done well. Gold is done very well.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
So gold is hot, hot, hot hot. That's not anything
I made up. That comes right out of this week's parents.
I was at Stuart's bright and early, and they are
so friendly. The young man behind the counter really wanted
to sell me a freshly made brownie fudge brownie at

(20:51):
seven o'clock this morning. He said, it's only I think
he said, it's only two dollars and sixty nine cents there,
And you know, I just I could not eat a
fudge brownie at seven o'clock this morning. He told me
to come back later today and get that fudge brownie.
Maybe I will.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
I've been trying to eat healthier, watch what I eat,
and you know, just kind of cutting out the sugars
and desserts and trying to take care of myself. I
feel like I have a new lease on life, and
I'm feeling pretty good. Working out with the trainer three
times a week.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
I go to hot.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yoga a couple times a week. And you want to
talk hot. Hot yoga is hot, baby hot. You know,
it's really hot. I think it's somewhere between one hundred
and five to one hundred and ten degrees. And when
you sit there for sixty or ninety minute classes and
you're stretching, you know, believe me, I'm getting better, but

(21:48):
I'm far from being really good at it. I look
at some people in the room and they are really, really,
really good. I got a buddy who I never knew
did hot yoga, and I'm watching him to do handstands
with with no support I'm saying, Jesus Christ, John, You're
you're making me look bad.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
I'm lucky.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
I could stand on my feet and here you are
standing on your hands fully extended. But he's obviously got
a lot more experience with yoga than I do. I'm
just getting into it, just you know, this year. But
it feels good. It feels good to take care of yourself.
You know, we we get one, you know, one life, folks,

(22:27):
And if you don't have your health, you really have nothing.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
I can't I can't stress that enough.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Your your health, health is everything. It doesn't matter how
much money you have, you know, even even you know,
as I like to say, when you have your health,
you really you're you're pretty lucky. And if you're fortunate
enough to have your loved money in your life and
he or she has their health, you're really really lucky,

(22:58):
even luckier and financially if you can do things, don't
mess around because you never know when your health will
be taken away or your loved one. So take care
of yourself, folks.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Your health is everything.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
We're coming up to the bottom of the hour. We're
going to take a break for the news. You are
listening to let's talk money brought to you by Bouchet
and Andrew Gup, where we help our clients prioritize their
health while we manage their wealth for life. I would
love to talk with you. If you have any questions,
give me a call. One eight hundred eight two five
five nine four nine. That's one eight hundred eight two

(23:34):
five fifty nine forty nine. Either Ashley or Delia will
pick up the phone and put you on the board
and you and I can talk whatever you want to
talk about, folks. One eight hundred eight two five five
to nine four nine. I'll be back right after the
news break. Hello, folks, thank you for tuning in for

(23:55):
the news. All right, I should say thank you for
hanging in through the news. Thank you for tuning in
this morning. A little tongue tied there, and I've been
up for a while, up and out. It's absolutely gorgeous,
A little nip in the air this morning. I have
my coffee on the bench in front of Hotel Adelphia
every morning, and you know, I'm in my workout gear

(24:19):
and my legs were a little cold. But boy, as
a day gets going, it's going to get warmer out
and it's just going to be beautiful, gorgeous out there, folks.
Enjoy this weather and enjoy this show. I hope by
tuning in you're getting a lot out of it if

(24:40):
you have any questions. One eight hundred eight two five
five nine four nine one eight hundred eight two five
fifty nine forty nine. I'm going to go to the
Fall Nines where we have Chuck from New Jersey. Hello, Chuck,
how are you Stave?

Speaker 3 (24:55):
Chuck from Morristown, New Jersey doing well? Hope you're well
in the area visiting today. So we have a two
part question for you and your listeners. Let's talk about tariffs.
So what is your view and assessment of what the
tariffs that are in place now? What have they done
overall to the economy?

Speaker 1 (25:16):
Good?

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Bad, and different? And second part is the Supreme Court
has agreed to hear a law a lawsuit on whether
or not the executive has the authority to do the
tariffs that have been done. And if they overturn it
and say that he did, President Trump did not have
the authority to do the tariffs, it will also void

(25:37):
any of the existing trade deals that have been signed
to date. So if that happens, what's the overall impact
on the economy as well. And I'll take take my
answer off the phone. I'll listen on the radio, and
I hope you're well.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Perfect, perfect, Chuck. So you know, how are tariffs affecting
the country. I've been saying this for weeks months, Chuck,
You've been listening. But you know, I'm not afraid of
tariffs like a lot of people were.

Speaker 4 (26:07):
And right now, you know, we've had quarterly earnings coming
out and record earnings from companies that are affected by tariffs.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
They seem to bewithstanding it. But let me tell you what.
You know, what people are afraid of. One, if you
look at the consumer, tariffs probably mean higher prices. You know,
if you're going to buy Porsche from Germany or BMW
or you know, you know, Toyota from Japan, you know

(26:38):
you're going to pay a little bit more for that
because of tariffs. There's a lot of goods that are
being excluded from the tariffs, but for the most part,
for everyday goods electronics to groceries, it's going to get
a little.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Bit more expensive.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
I'm hoping that a lot of companies absorb this. You know,
if you look at past tariffs on steel and aluminum.
You know, basically they raised costs for cars, appliance as
construction materials. So that's the impact on consumers. For businesses,
there's winners and losers. Obviously, the winners are domestic producers

(27:16):
and protected industries like US steelmakers benefiting from higher prices.
And the losers are companies relying on imports for parts
or materials that are going to face higher costs. Farmers,
you know, retaliatory tariffs from other countries like China often
hit the farmers. You got soybeans, poor dairy exports have

(27:38):
faced steep declines when other countries retaliate, and that's going
to happen. Impact on jobs you got to mixed. Look there,
you got some US manufacturing jobs are being preserved or added,
even others were lost basically in industries that faced higher

(28:00):
input costs. And impact on inflation. You know, listen, tariffs
are inflationary. They're adding pressure to consumer prices. You know,
inflation we know is near three percent. That FED would
like to see it near two percent. I hope they're
able to get it near two percent, but tariffs are

(28:20):
going to affect that.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
At the end of the day.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
You know, beyond economics, tariffs are used as leverage in
trade negotiations, and this president, whether you like them or not,
this president wants to put our country first. He feels
that we have been paying more than we should and
other countries have been kind of you know, thank god,
we're the greatest country in the world. But he hasn't

(28:44):
been happy that other countries aren't paying their fair share.
So he basically rolled up his sleeves and you know,
put his fists down and said, hey, we're going to
have tariffs until other countries start treating us fair. At
the end of the day, I'm not, as I said that,
I'm not really really afraid of terrors. I think it'll

(29:05):
all play out as far as the the legal aspect
of it. If it gets reversed, well obviously that'll be
good news for consumers, some businesses. The President will get
his message across, and I'm pretty sure he's stubborn enough
where he'll find a way to get what he wants
one way or another. Whether you like him or not.

(29:26):
You know, I'm not I'm a blank, I'm not a Republican,
I'm not a Democrat. But I'm not afraid of of terrffs.
Hopefully that helps you. Chuck on eight eighty five, five, nine,
four nine. Let's go back to the phone lines. We
have Elmer from Kuksaki Elmer. Did we lose Elmer? I

(29:54):
think we lost Elmer. Give a call back, Elmer. Somehow
we lost you. You're not coming through one eight eight
two five, five, nine four nine. Any questions whatsoever, folks,
Any questions, what's anything on your mind about investing or
the economy or whatever. I'll do my best to give

(30:16):
you a good answer and honest answer as best as
I can. So you know, the big news this week was,
you know, the Fed cut rates by twenty five BIPs.
That's point two five percent, a quarter of a point
two between the range of four to four point twenty
five percent. This marks the first rate cut since December

(30:37):
twenty twenty four. So we went all year without a
rate cut, almost nine full months, and I there was
no surprise there. I think most people were expecting a
rate cut. I think a lot of people are expecting
more rate cuts.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
And the.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
With ray cuts comes good news, lower mortgage rates, lower
borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. Also, the other side
of the quired bad news for savers. As they said
on the first half of the show, the US ten
year treasury was almost near five percent. Earlier in a
year dropped as low as three point six percent. Today

(31:17):
we're sitting somewhere around four point one four point two percent,
so you're still I'm very good with that, listen, folks.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
We had interest rates for you.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
Know, after the federal collapse of seven to March ninth
of two thousand and nine, interest rates were near zero.
So having interest rates in the four percent to five
percent range, I think it's pretty good. In that US
ten year treasury is really some of the safest paper.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
In the world.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
Actually, in my opinion, it is the safest paper in
the world.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
And you get.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
A state tax break on the interest you earn, so
you're getting a little bit more interest.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
We'll see what the Fed does. We'll see there.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
As I said, there's more cuts that are expected. But
when we'll see, you know, we we we just don't
know what that means, folks. I'm gonna take a quick
fifteen second break to wet my whistle. Give me a
call if you have any questions. One eight hundred eight
two five, five, nine four nine. Here I am folks,

(32:26):
I'm back, you know, because of some crazy law, we're
not allowed to play music anymore. I missed the music,
you know. It's the music used to be a nice filler, right.
Sometimes there'd be good songs and I would take my
time getting to you because the songs are so so good.

(32:47):
And Ashley and Delia and my producers are doing a
phenomenal job of managing the show and getting the callers on.
And if you have any questions one eight hundred eighty
two five, give me a call. Love to talk to you. So,
as I said on the first half of the show,

(33:08):
the SMP up one point two percent for the week,
and as that composite up two point two percent. All
three including the Dow, closed the week at new highs
on Friday. That was the sixth record high for the
Dow this year, the twenty seventh record high for the SMP,
and the twenty eighth for NASDAQ. Small caps joined the party.

(33:32):
Uh you know on Thursday the Russell two thousand, hitting
its first record for the year. So hey, a record
is a record, folks, and you know I love it.
Whenever the markets correct and investors get scared, I always
remind them guess what. One don't ever sell unless you
want to sell to get into better holdings because you

(33:54):
you found something you like better than what you own.
But don't sell. Don't be scared. You know, if you're
a long term investor, listen ups and downs of the market,
just that's all part of being an.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Investor, and.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
It's going to happen over and over and over again.
You know, the world is not coming to an end.
But as I like to say, guess what does happen?
And historically speaking, I can say every market correction, every
market that hit a bear market territory, every recession that

(34:31):
we've felt, guess what. The markets have always come back,
gone on to make new all time highs. How is
that a bad thing? The key is when you see volatility,
when you see corrections. Like I said a couple of
weeks ago, bitcoin went from one hundred and twenty thousand

(34:52):
down to one hundred and eight, and I said, if
you want a bitcoin in your portfolio, I think it
was a good nibbling point. Here we're sitting at about
one hundred and sixteen thousand now, but wait, bitcoin by
Monday could be at one hundred thousand. Who knows, But
I do have a play account. I do play with bitcoin,

(35:13):
not play. I basically buy it and I hold it,
and I think it's going to go higher. But you know,
this week we just had you know, you had the
FED cutting interest rates. No surprise there. We'll see if
we get we get more. You had the FED chair

(35:34):
Jerome Poull expressed confidence in the current state of the
US economy and financial conditions. That's his quote, not mine.
So that's good news that he feels good about the economy.
And I feel good about the economy too. I'm pretty optimistic.
I think I think the stock market has has ways
to go. You know, I think you're going to see

(35:55):
the financial sector do well. And you know, listen, if
you want to buy finance, buy the financial sector of
the SMP. Xl F is the symbol. Don't don't. Don't
worry about whether you should buy Berkshire Hat the way, JP,
Morgan V's A, master Card, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman, Sachs, Morgan, Stanley,

(36:17):
American Express, City Group. They are all great companies. But
you could buy the xl XLF financial sector of the SMP,
and all those are the top ten holdings folks of XLF.
So you get all of those great companies wrapped up
in a nice tidy package for you to sit back

(36:41):
and hopefully make money. There's nothing wrong.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
With making money.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
So if you want to invest in financial holdings, if
you think with lower interest rates the financial sector will
do well, why not. Heck I you know nothing wrong
with it. You got some dynamite, dynamite companies in there,
and when you when you look at the top ten holdings,
you know they they account for a lot of the portfolios.

(37:11):
So you're really getting a lot of bang for your
buck with that. You're getting the top ten holdings are
our account for Oh god, I'm trying to add up
quick in my head, because the number one holding is
Berkshire Hathaway at twelve percent, JP Morgan at eleven percent,

(37:33):
these at eight percent, MasterCard six point three. You know,
the top ten holdings are accounting for a good.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Chunk of that.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
So listen, that's how you want to buy it. That's
we we only have. We only have a couple a
couple stocks in our portfolio. Two to be exact. At
the moment, I'm hoping we add a third. I actually
want to add Berkshire, Hathaway. My investment committee is looking
at that now and right now. We own Apple, we

(38:06):
own Amazon, and they've been good to us. You know,
you're to date. Sure, I know Apple and Amazon haven't
been too good. That's okay. But when you look over
the last five years, man oh man, you know, Apple
and Amazon have done just fine. Berkshire's done just fine

(38:30):
as well. Over the last five years. Berkshire is up
one hundred and twenty five percent. You have you know,
the market as a whole is up about just about
one hundred percent. You know, you got some some good,
good holding. So those are the only two stocks we own,

(38:50):
but every exchange traded fund we own. So here we are.
I said on the first half of the show. We
managed one point five billion dollars and most of it's
through each exchange traded funds. And you know, I just
gave you the waiting of the financial sector of the SMP.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
So we.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
Can't stress enough that if you want exposure to whether
it be financial sector, healthcare sector technology, why why ETFs
that are specifically invested in those sectors. That's really how
you want to play that game. If you want some
tactical positions in your portfolio. That's what my investment committee does.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
They you know, like right.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Now, we're overweight technology. We've been overweight technology forever in
a day. And the saying around the office is as
long as Steve is alive and well kicking and still
coming into the office, will always.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Be overweight technology.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Technology is our future, and everything we do in the
day is based on technology. If you're wondering, yes, I
ordered the new Apple Watch, I ordered the new air pods,
and I ordered their new iPhone. Do I need it?

Speaker 5 (40:04):
No?

Speaker 1 (40:05):
But I just love technology, and I love the updates,
I love the speed, I love it all. And that's
one of the reasons why we own Apple. Not because
I am a loyal customer. Apple has one of the
most loyal customer based around the world. What eighty five
nine four nine. Let's go back to the pomons. We

(40:26):
have John and all.

Speaker 5 (40:27):
But hello John, Hello Steve. Thank you first of all
for the time that you Can you hear me John,
or can you hear me Steve?

Speaker 1 (40:36):
No, I'm Steve, You're John, and I can hear you.
You're still clear?

Speaker 5 (40:40):
Okay? All good? Thank you for the advice that you
give all your clients and non clients like me. It's
much appreciated. So I'll try to make this short. I
was looking to raise about a million dollars out of
my portfolio, which is about eight million, to buy a

(41:00):
home in Florida. And normally I always followed the rule, right,
if you need the money in twelve to twenty months,
don't have it in the market. That's kind of what
I had, That's kind of what I've lived by. But
I broke that rule a little bit back in April
when the market was down. I put a couple hundred

(41:23):
thousand of cash in mag seven and a DUHP fund
that just to you're familiar with. So I'm up about
eighty grand.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
With that.

Speaker 5 (41:34):
And the problem is is that it's short term gains
and I'm at about a twenty percent. I pay about
twenty percent federal income tax. That's the bracket that I'm in.
So I'm sitting here saying, Okay, if I can get
to April in May and then just get my capital
gains to long term, I only pay fifteen percent, Right,

(41:57):
That's basically what it is. So it's like do I
do I do? I just hold out until April. In
March and I know there's no guarantees. Everything that I'm
seeing seems like there's momentum and I hopefully should be okay.
And when that day comes where they turn long term,
I'm going to sell because I want to. I'm going

(42:18):
to need the money.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
Well that's kind of.

Speaker 5 (42:21):
What my question was. I have other assets that this
didn't work out this way, but all of them come with,
you know, too much long term capital capital gains tax.
So I'm just curious with this, with this eighty thousand
being short term, would you just hold it and wait
or would you get out now and just pay the

(42:42):
extra tax on it? Well, that's what give me mine,
So I appreciate your time. Thanks.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
Yeah. So you know, with investing, I always say, don't
get greedy. You know, whether you pay twenty percent or
fifteen percent, paying taxes is beautiful thing. That means you
made money. It's so much better than harvesting losses, that's
for sure. Now I'm optimistic on the stock market, and

(43:10):
you know where the stock market will be in April.
I have no idea it could be one of those
fourteen percent down clients like this past April when the
S and P was down almost twenty percent. It was
nineteen points something is the official closing almost bear market territory.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
We know that.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Nasdac and and Russell two thousand were definitely in bear
market territory, down well into the twenty mid twenty percent range.
And you know that was an opportunity to buy like
you did, and now you made some good money, John,
So you did what a lot of investors don't do

(43:48):
because so many investors think with their heart. You thought
with your head, or you listen to this show when
I say opportunity comes with every correction, every bear mark,
there's opportunity to be had whenever you see volatility in
the Market's good investors shouldn't be afraid of volatility. So

(44:08):
don't you know, don't get greedy if you really need
that money, and you could work for me, because I've
been saying this. I've been in business thirty five years
and I've always had one to two years worth of
what a client will need set aside in a very
considerative conservative allocation, because you just never know when that
next ten to fifteen to twenty percent, thirty percent drop

(44:32):
may come, and it could be next March, in April,
and then you're going to kick yourself in your rear end.
But if you got money earmarked for a home and
you think you want to buy a home in Florida,
and the prices I think are cool them off a
little bit, you know, depending on what part of Florida
you go to. But you know, so that money, you know,

(44:52):
right now, with the markets at all time highs, it's
a good time. Anybody who needs money, don't get greedy.
If you need money over the next twelve to twenty
four months, right now is a good time to get
that money. I just realized my microphone my microphone, Ashley

(45:15):
was I on air.

Speaker 5 (45:19):
Yeah you're perfect, we can hear.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Oh good, John, you could be my producer too. You know,
I got nervous. I got new headphones I'm trying out
this morning, and I just realized, you know, I look
like an airline pilot. You know how you have the
microphone that's just off your lips. You can't kiss them
because they're just that far off your lips. But I
got worried. I thought maybe I was talking to myself.

(45:43):
So thanks John and Ashley and Delia for confirming that
I'm still on here. But don't get don't don't get greedy.
That's that's the prudent advice.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
John.

Speaker 5 (45:53):
Now, now I'm optimistic doing that as well. Right, I'm
gonna have to pay if it's fifteen percent capital gains,
and if I sell it now as short term ordinary income,
I'm going to pay federal and state tax. Right, so
I'm going to pay at least twelve percent. You know, get.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
Attacked that eighty That eighty thousand gain may boost you
into a higher tax practete as well.

Speaker 5 (46:20):
Yeah, so that's why I'm that's why I'm thinking, just
just old, just hold it. I know you say, don't
get greedy and take it, but I'm like, Okay, if
I just hold it and it goes down twelve percent,
I'm broken even.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
Basically, will you do me a favorite promise? You'll call
me in April and tell me what you did.

Speaker 5 (46:38):
I will, and I will tell you. I will tell you.
I was listening to your show and you're like, folks,
buy the mag seven. I'm in right now. And I
went in and I bought the Mag seven that morning,
and I bought it in the forties and that's how
five Now.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
Yeah, no, I thank you for that, John.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
I love technology. I've been overweight technology on my client's
behalf for a long time, and the technology is where
it's at. Hey, John, thank you for the call, Thank
you for the comments and compliments. Call me and April
let me know what you end up doing.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Folks.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
We're coming up to the end of the show. I'm
getting excited. I told you I was supposed to see
Pope Francis in April, and unfortunately he passed just before.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
I got there.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
I literally landed and he passed minutes before. But I
am going back. I have a Mass being said for
me at the Vatican in October, and I have a
new meeting with the new Pope, Leo, and I'm really
excited about that. I've been very faithful over the last
year and a half with everything I've gone through in
my life, and I'm hoping that the Pope recognizes that. Hey,

(47:52):
you are listening to Let's Talk Money, brought to you
by Bouchet and Andswer, where we help our clients prioritize
their health while we manage the wealth for life. We're
coming up to the end of the show. Come back
tomorrow morning. I'll be here with you eight am. Get
your questions ready. They have a great day. Folks, it's
gorgeous outside. Bye bye,