Let's Talk Money

October 4th, 2025.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, good morning, and welcome to another edition of Let's
Talk Money on ten WGY. I'm your host this morning.
I'm John Malay, and I'm glad you're with me on
this beautiful October Saturday morning. I'm a certified public accountant
and I'm the chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and
a wealth advisor at Bouchet Financial Group. I want to

(00:23):
thank you for taking time out of your busy Saturday morning.
I know, with this beautiful weather, there's a lot of
things you can be doing, and you may be out
working in the yard right now, or driving somewhere, or
just at home having some coffee and listening. I appreciate
you tuning in. We'll have another show obviously tomorrow morning,
but appreciate you being here.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
With me this morning.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
You know we have this You look at the weather
forecast and it just mentioned in the news segment there
we have the upcoming stretch.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Of weather is just beautiful.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Here we are, you know, early October, we're looking to
be in the eighties today, eighties.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Tomorrow, and I think the same on Monday.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
So hopefully you get out there get an opportunity to
take advantage of this beautiful weather. A lot of things
to do here in the Northeast, whether it's apple picking
or just going for a hike. I'll tell you I
did a last weekend, went to my hometown of Whitehall,
New York, which had an annual Sasquatch Festival. So it

(01:25):
was my first time attending the festival. It was a
great event. You know, Whitehall's a great community. It was
a great town to grow up in, a lot of
great people, and it was a you know, very lively festival.
I think they had over three thousand people attend. And
you know Whitehall if you've never been, it's a birthplace
of the US Navy, right at the mouth of Lake Champlain,

(01:48):
right along the Lake Champlain or the Champlain Canal.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
So it was a great event.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
It was a beautiful day, similar to today, just a
beautiful sunshine. Trees are starting to turn. It's right near
the bar. So it's a lot of fun. And you know,
you you certainly had some attendees who took that very serious.
And you know, there was a day long. Some some
speeches and and other things from some experts, but most

(02:16):
of it was there. I think there was close to
one hundred vendors, a couple of bands playing just a
lot of fun, a great way for the community to
get together and to bring tourists into just just a nice,
beautiful town. And you know, I should say, although you
know birth Whitehall is the birthplace of the US Navy.
My my nephew Andrew likes to remind me who Andrew

(02:36):
actually went to the Naval Academy that uncle John, the
Navy does not recognize Whitehall as the birthplace. So certainly, uh,
you know, Whitehall claims that and with some great historical
context for sure, and if you're a military historian, you
know the story, and you know, if not, I also
recommend getting out to the Saratoga Battlefield. It's very much connected.

(03:00):
What It's a beautiful spot, beautiful spot whether you're just
looking to go for a walk or you can actually
drive through the tour So, you know, great history in
this area, great history in my hometown. So hopefully this
great weather, this great weekend, you get the chance to
get out there before we you know, get into the
market update and really the guts of the show you

(03:21):
don't want to talk about, you know, an upcoming event
that our firm is participating in. And if you go
to our website Bouchet dot com. It's b o U
c h eu y dot com. You'll find a link
to it. It is a being referred to as a
Women in Wealth Seminar, and this is something that Steve
has really over the past years put a lot of

(03:44):
initiative in and it's really you know, recognized recognizing that
there's differences sometimes that women face in investing in life transitions,
and so we've put a lot of I will tell
you we have a phenomenal group women advisors and so
we put some some energy behind this. And so you know,

(04:06):
one of our superstar advisors, Harmony Wagner, is going to
be a speaker on this event with two other professionals,
Claire McCrae from Levery Griesling and she is in a
state attorney and Leah Henderson, CPA from Telbecker. So it's
an event going to be held in a couple of

(04:26):
weeks October twenty second. Really you know they're calling the
event you know, her legacy navigating Life's Transition. So highly
recommend check it out if you think it's something that
would interest you. Register you can register rate online. Be
great event. So appreciate you checking into that again, I
want to encourage listeners. You can reach me here at

(04:48):
eight hundred talk WGY. That's eight hundred eight two five
five nine four nine. A lot to talk about this week.
Certainly active week in the March markets uh and uh
and also government shutdown. You know here we are entering
day four. So you know, despite all of that, this week,

(05:09):
Wall Street locked in record highs.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
UH.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Friday's closed record highs with the S and P five hundred,
and the Dow Nasdaq flirted with record highs during the week.
So just you know, the markets delivered this week, no question.
And that's despite the US shutdown. You know, the government uh,
you know, as of Friday was in this third day
of the shutdown. Today it's his fourth day. But still
the markets, uh, not pausing at all. Markets continuing and

(05:36):
certainly I think showing some you know, expectations that the
FED is going to continue to cut interest rates. So
certainly some of those in those expectations, you know, causing some.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Of the market growth for sure.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
You know, the Nasdaq slipped a little bit on Friday,
gave up about point three percent, but still a great week.
And you know, again all this uh, you know, despite
being in a US government shutdown. I'll talk a little
bit about that in a second. Certainly, you know, shutdowns
can be you know, you hear a lot of hype
in fear about them, but typically they do not have

(06:14):
a big impact on market. So, you know, as we
rounded out the week, positive week across each index. S
and P was up a little over one percent, Nasdaq
was up about one point three percent, Dow was up
one point one and the small cab Russell two thousand
index up over one point seven percent. So solid, solid

(06:36):
week for each of the indexes. And again here we
are in the midst of a government shutdown, and this
is you know, you know, again sometimes heading up to
a government shutdown, there's a lot of hype and it's
a lot of fear being sold, but traditionally not a
major impact on markets. And as we've seen, you know,

(06:56):
over the last you know, twenty plus years, you know,
the most recent government shutdown was actually the longest, you know,
so in twenty eighteen thirty four days. Typically though really
no market impact. Markets are typically flat during that period.
So again, the concern obviously will be is if it's

(07:18):
a continued shutdown, and we will you know, time will
tell on that, and I will say, you know, you
don't want to have a leis a fair approach where
it doesn't have any impact. Is certainly you know, there
are federal workers who have you know, important positions, who
but they're considered non essential, who are being furloughed, and
that's you know, I'm sure that's scary and certainly causing impact.

(07:40):
So hopefully you know, the government can get through this
and get through it quickly. But I will say, you know,
the Democrats and Republics are certainly seemed to be digging
in their heels for sure.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
And you know there's.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Some you know, Obamacare premium subsidy credits that are you know,
in play right now, and that seems to be one
of the big sticky points.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
And also just overall government spending.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
So government will certainly work through this and hopefully it'll
be a you know, short shutdown, not anything long, but overall,
you know what's driving the markets. You know here we
are you think fear being government shutdown, we'd see slow
down in the markets. And you know, really what we're

(08:29):
continuing to see is the consumer. Consumer is spending. We
know that the consumer represents a huge part of our economy.
And you know, even though there is you know, concern
about where we're going, I will tell you consumers are
spending money and that certainly is fuel in the economy. Also,

(08:50):
the AI hype is living large. There's huge investment going
on and continuing in the AI space. This year just
by by some of the major tech companies, we're lucky
at a spending of almost four hundred billion dollars and
as they're projecting for next year, you know, going above that,

(09:12):
closer to almost five hundred billion dollars. So the AI
hype is continuing. Uh, it's not showing any any sign
of slowing down. And that that is that is spurring
you know, growth in tech. There's no question. And this
is you know, certainly concern are are we are we
in bubble territory, But this really doesn't show the signs

(09:35):
of a bubble. It really doesn't. And uh, you know,
it doesn't mean that we can't have drawbacks. We know
as equity investors being in the market is there are
drawbacks and so we have to be prepared for that.
But certainly, as we look now the AI is is real.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
And it's here.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
It's not it's not showing signs of going away, and
big tech is spending. They are spending ton of money
in that space, which is you know, creating infrastructure, energy demand,
things that are driving driving the market. And again going
back to consumer, you know, consumer spending, which is such
an important part, you know. You know, the I think

(10:16):
with the rate cuts of the FED, I think brought
back some optimism as we look ahead. You know, we've
got a FED meeting coming in October and another in December,
and what is.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
The FED going to do there? We'll see for sure.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
But overall, you know, just the markets are delivering and
delivered this week in a big way. You know, we
look at year to day s and p up fourteen percent,
Nasdaq almost eighteen percent, the Dow up close to ten percent,
and the Russell two thousand. You know, good to see
small cap recovery up eleven percent, and the ten year

(10:51):
treasury you know, the yield is fluctuating a bit, but
still you know, four point one two percent. So you know,
it's interesting. Is you know, one of the tools I
like to look at is you know morning Star, you
know has this tool the style box, which basically shows
you know, large cap, mid cap, small and then whether

(11:12):
they're value core and growth and kind of what they're
doing in terms of you know, return in the market.
And as you look at the last three months, you know,
small cap growth up almost eight and a half percent,
a little over at eight and a half percent, in
large cap up just six and a half percent. So

(11:33):
you know, last year the story was all about the
concentration within the mag seven, right, it was it was
the largest companies really driving all of the market return. Now,
certainly large cap tech is certainly driving year to date performance,
but you know, some of the rally we're seeing over
the last three, four or five months, you know, small

(11:55):
cap is participating in a very big way. So it's
good to see that diversification UH in the market, which
bodes well for investors who have diversified portfolio. But again,
you know, as we see, you know where markets are
likely to go from here, where we believe they're going
to go, no question, we believe large cap tech is

(12:16):
going to be the driving force UH and should be
an important part of your portfolio. We talk a lot
about the queues. There's many ways of getting large tech UH,
you know, growth exposure, but certainly that's some you know,
the cues are certainly something you know, we we use
and talk a lot about. And as we look at

(12:37):
where markets are going from here, you know, we certainly believe,
uh you know, tech will continue to be the driver there.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
So again I.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
Ask, you know, encourage any listeners to call in with questions.
I'm here really to answer to any question you have.
You can reach me at eight hundred talk w g
Y that's eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine.
We're going to take a quick commercial break, so please
stay tuned and we'll be right back with let's talk

(13:08):
money on eight ten WGI. Well, thank you for staying
with me through that quick break. Just needs a little
drink of water. And again, courage listeners. You can reach
me at eight hundred talk WGY that's eight hundred eight
two five five nine four nine. So markets all time high,

(13:28):
you know, almost every index a near all time high.
And you know, one of the questions we get from
investors is, okay, you know, what should we do now?
You know, should I put more into the market, should
I take out of the market? And uh, you know,
concern about what's going to happen from here, and you know,
particularly we've got if you've got investors who are sitting

(13:50):
on cash. You know, the question is what do we do?
And you know, here's one thing we do know that
markets make new time high doesn't mean.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
We're about to crash.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
You know, in fact, history tells us that most of
the time record highs are followed by guess what more
record highs. That doesn't mean it's not you know that
it's guaranteed, right, We do know that there can be drawbacks,
and you know, the challenge is emotional, right, investors, we fear,
hey have I missed the boat? Do I have to
wait for a huge downturn to get in? And really

(14:22):
we just got to remember market highs are not as
signals to sell. There really a signal to reassess, right,
reassess your portfolio. And that's that's really important because you know,
you cannot buy into high you know, headlink excuse me, headlines.
You really have to have a plan, right, And so
just because we're at all time highs, right, does not

(14:43):
mean that the market you know, we talk about bubbles
and is the market going to crash? That you know
that that there's not signs of that. But again that
doesn't mean we couldn't have a fifteen to ten percent pullback, right,
So it's important I think at times like this to reassess, right,
and you know, ask yourself some important questions. You know,
what's your time horizon? You know so because again you know,

(15:07):
you really you know investing is you really should have
a plan for investing and you know, our approach, certainly
as a fiduciary and uh RI a firm, is we
firmly believe in developing financial plans to go along with that,
but have a plan for investing, right. You have to
have what's the time horizon?

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Right?

Speaker 1 (15:28):
How long do you need this money to grow for?
What's my goal for this money?

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Right?

Speaker 1 (15:33):
If you have a short term goal of hey, I'm
putting money away to buy a house, i am funding
a child's education, or I'm funding retirement, right, that's important
to know because the level of risk that you can
take right is it's important to know that and identify that.
So that's going to identify your time horizon, right, which
which becomes really important because if you have a short

(15:56):
term horizon, right, then you should be you should be
thoughtful of that and understand that, hey, what a market
highs we can have a drawback of ten to fifteen percent.
So if you need that money within a short period
of time next six, twelve, eighteen months, you know, maybe
you should take that out of equities and put it
into a little bit safer investment.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Right.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
If you have a midterm horizon, maybe you look at rebalancing.
But if you've got a long term horizon, right, and
maybe it's you know, this is your retirement planning money,
or it's a goal that's ten fifteen years out. You
just know that market pullbacks. That's a part of being
in the game, right, It's a part of investing. And
you're gonna have times where there's one thing we do

(16:37):
know is the market does not operate in this very
linear fashion. Right, You're gonna have ups and downs, and
that those ups and downs can what be what causes
the emotion, right, And so understanding your time horizon, right,
don't just say and putting money in without a plan.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Right.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
And it's okay to have different buckets of money that
are for different plans, but it's important to think about
that because again, you want to be operating under plan
and not under just emotional reaction to what's going on
with the market, right, And so understanding your time horizon, right,
what is the goal for this money is really important, right,

(17:17):
and so but what's important to do is not to
give in that the fear of pullbacks, because pullbacks are inevitable.
But missing out on that compounding over a number of years,
it's it's worse to miss that because you know the
compounding effect is huge. So if you've got a ten
year time horizon, right, it doesn't have to be a

(17:40):
thirty year retire It could be ten years. You know,
you can deal with the ups and downs of a market, right,
and so understand that if that's your horizon, then invest
in a diversified way and ride out those those those
that market volatility. If you have short term you know,
it is a good time to take check. Maybe maybe
you should should sell some of your winners take some profit. Also,

(18:05):
you know, when markets are all time high, it's important
to diversify, right because you're you know what can happen
is depending on your holdings. You know, your your portfolio
may now be out of whack, right, Your your tech
allocation may now have grown right faster than maybe your
fixed income. So maybe you thinking that, hey, what feels

(18:28):
good to you is be to be a balanced sixty
forty portfolio. But now maybe because of market growth, you're
more than eighty twenty or a seven, and now it
may be time to look at reallocating to those underweighted areas. Right,
and so look at your portfolio. Take the time to

(18:50):
to diversify and again reallocate if you've if your portfolio
has gotten out of whack. Again, this is not the
type of thing you should just set and forget and
never think about again. Right, your understanding that your portfolio
as depending on you know, different sectors are growing, different
components are growing. All of a sudden, your allocation could
get out of whack, and again you might end up
being taking more risk in your portfolio than you really

(19:14):
really wanted to take. Right, So look at your uh,
look at your allocation, and if you need to reallocate,
it might be if again, if your equities have grown
too much and h you're uncomfortable with that level of
risk and your fixed income is become a smaller part
of your portfolio, consider taking some profits selling your equities

(19:37):
and reinvesting that into fixed income. And again it's it's
about helping you really go through volatile markets and understand
that you're you're well diversified, and you've got risk controls.
And the last thing is, you know, many times, you know,
we're seeing consumers still sitting on a lot of cash, right,
and and so question is is this a time to

(20:00):
put that cash to work or not? And again it's
it's not a it's not a one size answer. It's
really understanding what your goals are so more, you know,
most importantly, you know, we've been able to you know,
as investors, we've been able to have money sitting in
cash the last couple of years earning four and a

(20:21):
half five percent, right that that's great, you know, and
but those days are over right, you know, Now the
Fed cut rates in September, what's going to happen October? Certainly,
you know, the expectations are that in October and again
in December we may see similar twenty five basis point cuts.
And what's going to happen is those short term money

(20:43):
market rates are going to start to go down, and
so those you know, sitting in cash are going to
start to you know, lose that yield. And we could
go back to days only four or five years ago
where you know that short term cash was yielding next
to nothing, and certainly when you factor inflation, you're actually,
you know, losing money. So if you're still sitting on

(21:03):
tons of cash, right, it's not time to get fearful, Right,
It's about looking at hey, First of all, do I
have an emergency fund?

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Do I have that funded? Right?

Speaker 1 (21:13):
So three to six months of expenses, put that cash
aside in really short term reserves, and then look at again,
I want go back to future spending. If you've got
some major spending that you expect in the next six
to twenty four months, you know, maybe you put that
into a vehicle that again not in short term. Maybe

(21:35):
you're putting into treasuries. Maybe you're doing you know, we talked.
If you listen to the show, I know you've probably
heard us talk a lot about treasury yield and doing
treasury ladders, right. So you're you're laddering maturities. So maybe
getting a six month treasury, two year, treasury, ten year, right,
so you're locking in different yields for different maturities, right,
way of diversifying your fixed income stream. So again, if

(21:58):
you've got needs, you know, beyond that emergency fund, you know,
let's say maybe you're planning on putting a down payment
on a house or a car, and you know that's
going to be needed in the next twenty four months.
You know, maybe think of a treasury or something else
where you're you're locking in yield not subject to market fluctuations.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
But if you've got cash.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Beyond that, right, and you know you don't need that
for the next two years, you should get that invested
in the market, right it is. It is time to
put that money to work that's going to sustain itself, right,
because one thing we do know is that as the
Fed continue to continues to cut rates and certainly expectations

(22:43):
are there, you're going to see those savings rates that
you're currently getting, you know you're gonna see those come down,
and you're going to see the same thing with treasury yields.
So now's the time you could still, you know, really
lock in some attractive, attractive treasure yields. So you know,
we are coming close to our commercial break, and you know,

(23:06):
I can't believe we're halfway through.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
The show already.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
I want to thank you for tuning in with me
today and hope you are enjoying the show. I'm going
to hope you rejoin us after the break. Again, encourage
listeners to call with questions. You can reach me at
eight hundred Talk WGY. That's eight hundred eight two five
five nine four nine. You know, I know many of

(23:29):
you are out there yeap, working in the garage or
driving around. So hopefully you're getting some information that will help.
But also if you have time, certainly reach out give
me a call. You're listening to Let's Talk Money, brought
to you by Bouchet Financial Group, where we help our
clients prioritize their health while we manage their wealth for life. Again,

(23:50):
thank you for tuning in for the first part of
the show. I hope you'll rejoin me after the break.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
Thank you well.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Thank you for staying with us through that quick commercial break.
I'm John Malay and I'm host your host for this
morning's edition of Let's Talk Money. I'm a certified public
account and the chief financial Officer, chief operating officer, and
a wealth advisor at Bouchet Financial Group. I appreciate you
taking time out of your weekend to join me this morning.

(24:18):
Hopefully you're gonna have a plan to get out there
enjoy this eighty degree beautiful weather today, look at the forecast.
The next three days are just gorgeous. And you know,
one thing we do know living in the Northeast is
we do get all four seasons here. So at some
point this great weather is gonna end, and then we're
gonna be into some nice cold weather time of year

(24:43):
where I do start to look at my skis and
start to get them in shape for ski season. So certainly,
I will say, as I try to enjoy each one
of the seasons, it's the variety works for me. I
know there are many who decide, hey, once the once
the cold weather in snow comes, I'm heading south. But

(25:07):
I still enjoy skiing and a lot of outdoor activities
started snowshoeing, excuse me, snowshoeing last year, and that's also
a lot of fun, a little bit less expensive and
easier to get to than skiing. So I've had a
lot of fun with that. So appreciate you staying with
me through the break. You know, first half of the show,
really you know, talked about markets, and you know, here

(25:29):
we are, markets all time high, and you know we're
in the midst of this government shutdown, and I you know,
certainly government shutdowns caused concern, right, and there's usually some
negative hype around that. You know, nobody knows when this
is going to end again, as I you know, over
the last twenty plus years, the longest shutdown was actually

(25:54):
the last one and Donald Trump was president then it
was thirty four days. Certainly, both sides have dug in
their heels and you know, have issues to work through
and so you know, but I will say so far
markets are shrugging it off, right, and and hopefully the

(26:14):
markets will continue. And I do think is uh, the
longer this goes on, you know, there's key data that's needed,
you know, but remember that if you're receiving Social Security,
you know, all those government programs continue, No, you know,
the interest payments on the debt, there's no impact on
any of that. But you know, there's certainly you know,

(26:36):
both sides are digging in their heels.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
You know.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
The longer this goes on, you know, the obviously more concerned.
But again history has showed us that, you know, they
work it out and even in the longest the last one,
you know, really no major major market impact. And you know,
so one of the things that we've got coming up
in you know, it seems like the FED just met,

(27:00):
and they did in mid September, and you know, in
that meeting they cut rates by twenty five basis points.
So that was the first cut in twenty twenty five.
So just setting the stage a little bit, right, So
they FED had eleven rate increases from twenty twenty two

(27:21):
to you know, mid twenty twenty three, and that was
followed by you know, three rate decreases in twenty twenty four,
and we got our first rate decrease in twenty twenty five.
And you know, certainly a lot of debate about whether
we should have seen that rate decrease earlier this year,

(27:41):
but I will say that FED is shown they are
going to be data dependent, and you know, certainly inflation
is showing it's coming down. But now the concern and
they're focused on jobs. And you know, certainly the job
data is showing that the labor markets are slowing, but
you know, not to a degree. You know, we're not

(28:02):
seeing major layoffs. What we're seeing is slow down and hiring.
But you know, the unemployment rate is still hovering in
that four point three percent, so you know, still that's
a that's a low number historically so I will say
not panic signs on the labor labor side, just you know,
really just caution signs that hey, you know, we're seeing

(28:22):
we're seeing a slow down, we're seeing some caution. And
I will tell you talking to employers, I feel this.
You know, employers are kind of holding back as you're
trying to see, you know, a little bit cautionary with
what's going to happen in the economy. But what you're
not seeing is major layoffs in that and that's important.
But the FED, you know, they'll be meeting again in October,

(28:44):
so right at the end of October, and then again
in December, so two more meetings this year, and you know, certainly,
and I think we're seeing part of what's fueling the
market right now is you know, continued expectation that we're
going to see, you know, possibly two more rate cuts
this year. And you know, I know the FED is certainly,

(29:06):
you know, you know, trying to position that they're they're
not guaranteeing cuts. You know, they're they're going to be
looking at data. Certainly, you know, labor has got them concerned.
But you know, although inflation is not at nine and
a half percent plus like it was a few years ago,
but it's still you know, above their target of two percent,

(29:28):
so they're not they haven't taken their eye off inflation,
and so they're not guaranteeing cuts, but certainly the market
is pricing and cuts, no question about that. And I
think at this point, you know, general consensus is we
may see two more cuts this year, expected at around
twenty five basis points, so that's a quarter of a

(29:49):
point in both the October in December meeting and then
possibly again looking at the FED dot plot, which is
you know, really what came out of the September meeting
was not only their action on interest rates, right, but
also their dot plot, which is really their expectations of

(30:09):
where they see the FED fund's rate going over you know,
the next year or so, and so dot plot showing
you know, maybe another quarter point.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
Next year as well.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
So markets are pricing that in. And what we do
know is market don't like surprises. So it'll be interesting
to see if this FED shutdown continues into October and
how that impacts data and what data is available, So
you know, we certainly will have our eyes on that.

(30:44):
But right now, you know, expectations are we'll see additional
cuts in October and in December. So again I encourage listeners.
You can reach me at eight hundred talk WGY. That's
eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
So one of the.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
Things that's gotten some attention, uh this year, and particularly
with President Trump signing an executive order called Democratizing access
to Alternative Vestments for four oh one K investors. And
so you know, we've had if you listen to you know,
investing shows or articles, you know you're hearing more and

(31:30):
more about alternative investments. And if you've listened to us,
you know on this show, you've for us talked about it.
We've got a couple alternative investments in our portfolio, you know,
and really you've got you know, stocks, you've got bonds,
and then you've now got this alternative class. And you know,
so this executive order and and so you know, some

(31:51):
people might think, oh, now now it's you know, people
gonna be investing in alternative assets in their four oh
one K.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
That's not the case.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
You know, what this executive order really did directed the
Department of Labor to review this and consider revising its guidance.
And so you know, one thing we know is Department
of of Labor does not h They're not going to
act quickly. They're gonna do a thorough review and make

(32:18):
some decisions. And so where some individuals might think, well,
you know, they hear this news and think now I
can uh, you know, start getting into some riskier investments
in their four oh one K, I would just say, pause,
that this is being evaluated. It is not law, it
is not a change, and I think, really what's gonna
happen is you'd expect over the next year, you know,

(32:40):
d L will review and they might issue some proposed guidance,
and it may be as long as over the.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
Next you know, three years before this really.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Becomes uh, you know, something that's in play. And I
would expect you know, Department of Labor, you know, they're
gonna really try to protect the the individual investor, right who.
You know, typically when you're getting into especially you know,
more exotic alternative investments and not are not all are exotic,

(33:12):
but you certainly want to make sure you've got an
informed investor.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
And so d L is going to do a lot
to protect.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
Because you know, the last thing you want is somebody
through their four oh one k uh, taking on undue risk,
investing in things that they're really not that they don't
really understand, right, And so so I would just say
keep your eyes out on this. It's certainly, you know,
it could be a change. And whether it's good or bad,
you know, we'll we'll, we'll, we'll see. You know, there's

(33:39):
some who uh you know, certainly you know, big private
pension plans have included alternative investments for years. Uh, there
are pros and cons, and I would expect that if
the d L, even if they did approve this, I
think we'd see some pretty plain vanilla alternative investments allowed.

(33:59):
I think again, they're gonna they're gonna go over arching
to protect the consumer, to make sure that uh, you know,
they're investing in vehicles that they understand and are appropriate,
you know, based on their their risk tolerant and based
on their financial situation. So certainly, you know, it's it

(34:19):
is getting a lot more publicity, you know, alternative investments,
and you know, certainly, you know, you know, cryptocurrency being
you know, one of those alternative investments has gotten a
lot of play, and uh, you know, I know, uh,
you know, many people are starting to dabble with cryptocurrency,

(34:39):
and I would say, you know, as a firm, we
don't hold any crypto in our portfolio.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Doesn't mean that we never will.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
UH.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
You know, our investment committee certainly looks at every UH
investment vehicle and evaluate whether it fits into our investment thesis.
But certainly, you know, I will say, there's a lot
of you know, fear missing out with crypto, and you know,
many individuals have set up accounts where they you know,
again I'm gonna say dabble, and there's certainly nothing wrong
with putting a you know, small part of your portfolio

(35:10):
understanding that you know what the risk characteristics are and
you know, but certainly if somebody has you know, the
desire to invest in that, certainly, again, if it's a
reasonable part of their portfolio, certainly you know nothing wrong
with that. So again I encourage listeners. You can reach

(35:30):
me at eight hundred talk WGY. That's eight hundred eight
two five five, nine four nine. We're going to take
a quick commercial break, so please stay tuned and we'll
be raped back with Let's Talk Money on eight ten WGY. Well,
thank you for staying with me through that quick little
break there. I'm John Malay and I'm your host for

(35:51):
today's show. I'm a certified public accountant and i am
the firm's chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and a
wealth ad So appreciate you tuning in on this beautiful,
beautiful Saturday morning. Again, I've I hope everyone has plans
to get out there and enjoy this beautiful weather the

(36:12):
next three days. The forecast looks just phenomenal. So again
I'm here to answer any questions you may have. You
can reach me at eight hundred TALKWGY. That's eight hundred
eight two five five nine four nine, So talk to
a lot about markets there and appreciate We have a

(36:33):
caller on the line. We have Alan from Greenville.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Allen. Appreciate you tuning in. What can I help you with?

Speaker 3 (36:38):
Yeah, good morning, great great weekend. I hope you enjoy
the weather after your show. Two questions, just wanted to
get your feedback. With the FED lowering the short term rates,
do you think part of the market rises people who
have money and the money market it's about seven trillion.

(36:59):
Do you think people are starting to make some decisions
to move that money, you know, in the moment into
those markets and the I'm kind of just curious. This
is an open ended question how far down with the
Fed fund fund rates have to go to start seeing
an appreciable decrease in the ten year tea bill because

(37:23):
that thing has not moved with any decrease in the
Fed fund rates over the last you know, for the
six months. So I'm just curious what your thoughts are.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
Well appreciate both those questions, and alan appreciate you you
tuning in. So the first, you know, no question, we
are seeing investors starting put to put cash to work,
right and so because we've been talking about it and
we're not you know, everybody's been talking about the the

(38:02):
great yields on short term savings account that that is
going to be coming, you know, coming to it and
now not I'm not sounding the alarm bells happening overnight, right,
but it's going to start to decline because clearly there's
a direct correlation between the Fed funds rate and what
those individual you know, those short term savings rates are.
So certainly, you know, seeing cash being being put to work,

(38:28):
and I will say, you know, the the what so
that is a part of contributor to what's happening in
the market for sure, but I will say consumer confidence
is we're certainly seeing that pick up, and you're seeing
that through you know, consumer discretionary, right, consumers are out

(38:48):
there spending money, uh, and which is you know, a
great sign for the economy. So you've got you know,
still a consumer that that is strong, right and and
spending money right, and so that's good. So, you know,
consumer discretionary driving it. The AI boom is still on,

(39:11):
I mean those you know, and we're seeing like major
announcements of huge investments in AI infrastructure, which is certainly
driving growth in tech. And I will say the continued
belief that the FED is gonna you know, continue continue.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
To cut rates.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
So you know, so so all that and I think
with consumers having cash on the side being able to
get in there, it is certainly helping to fuel that.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
And you know your.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Second part question, you know, the tenure you know, really
has been stubborn, right, and so you know, I think
it's really going to be part about what happens. You know,
what's the belief on what's going to happen to the
economy in the future, right, what's going to happen? Are
we going to have a strong US dollar, is that
going to start to strengthen. So a number of factors

(40:05):
that you know will certainly, uh, you know, start to
impact the ten year over time. And you know, I
will say you could say that as the you know,
and and I you know, probably not a direct an
exact number I can give you, but certainly as the
the Fed funds rate goes down and you know, other
short term borrowing costs go down, and the impact flowing

(40:27):
through from you know, corporate borrowings should help the economy. Right,
But I will think that you know, say that if
if the outlook for GDP growth is slow, and if
we do see you know, weaker weaker, weaker job growth
and software consumer spending, you know, that will have an
impact on ten years as well. So certainly a number

(40:48):
of factors that are going to affect the ten yere
But but it has been stubborn for sure.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
Well all and appreciate that call.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
And uh, I hope you are out there enjoying some
of the great weather as you're listening to the show,
So appreciate that. So you know, one of the things
that we talk about is you know, investing with a plan, right,
and so you know, I talked about you know, it's
a good time with markets at all time high to

(41:17):
be you know, evaluating your portfolio, right?

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Have things gotten out of balance?

Speaker 1 (41:23):
And I will say if you listen to the show,
we are huge proponents of having an overall financial plan
as well. And if you're working with a professional, uh,
you know that professional should be preparing that financial plan.
It really becomes the roadmap. And I will say with
our clients, you know it it is that financial plan
you know, not only you know identifies whether they're going

(41:44):
to meet their goals, it also factors in, uh, you
know spending, right, do we have the portfolio? Do we
have money set aside for spending?

Speaker 2 (41:53):
Right?

Speaker 1 (41:53):
So, so are we appropriately protecting money that's going to
be needed for short term needs? And and so I
will say, if you're not working with a professional, you know,
do some you know, just to do some basic financial
planning on your own, right, because that becomes important, right
because you know, one things we do know if you're
in the equity markets, you're going to be subject of volatility,

(42:15):
You're going to have drawbacks, right, so you've got to
just factor that in and know that if you have
short term spending needs, you know, protect that right. And
so you know, as we do financial planning, you know,
one of the one of the important you know, questions
that our clients come upon is social security planning, right,
and so you know that's an important part of most

(42:37):
of our clients financial plan you know, obviously most have
four oh one K or four three PLANT four or
three B plans where they're putting money aside or pension plans.
But so security comes in to play, and social security
rules you know, can be can be confusing. So I
will say, you know, having a plan around when is

(42:58):
the right time to claim? And I will say, this
is one where it's you know, again, mathematically you can, uh,
you can determine, you know, whether it's better to wait
or what's the cost benefit of waiting versus not. But
unless you know exactly what year somebody's gonna die, you
really can't say, hey, this is the right one, right,

(43:19):
And so sometimes there's a psychological part of it, right,
Hey I want to start collecting, uh, and then but
just have being informed right understanding that hey, if you collectorally, right,
if you collect before your full retirement age, you know
you're going to be penalized for that right, So you're
gonna if you collect at age sixty two, which you could,

(43:41):
and your full retirement age, you know is sixty seven,
you know you're going to you're going to receive a reduction,
right and roughly you know that's about zero point five
six percent reduction per month for the first thirty six
months and point four to two beyond that. So again,
just understanding that if you're looking at Social Security and

(44:03):
so what we try to do is have everybody wait
till full retirement age. But there could be reasons that
that that doesn't make sense in the circumstances, right, But
if you do go early, just understand you're going to
be penalized, and that penalty is going to be locked
in for as long as you're collecting.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
Right.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
And conversely, if you can delay collecting beyond your full
retirement age, if you delay it to age seventy, you're
getting about a twenty four percent almost eight percent a
year higher benefit and that benefit is locked in, and
so that's important. But you know that's where you know
the cost benefit becomes is you know, okay, if I start, well,

(44:43):
if I start collecting at sixty seven versus seventy, well
that could be thirty six months that I'm collecting and
how long do I have to live, you know, and
to outpace that, so that that becomes a question that's
you know, again, unless you know somebody's the day they're
going to die, you can't give them here's the exactly answer.
But what you can do is say, hey, here's where

(45:05):
the break even is. And it might be you know,
close to seventy eight, seventy nine, right, but here's where
the break even is. And understand, hey, I'm okay giving
up that because I want to start collecting now. And certainly,
you know, if you if your spouse is, if you're married,
and you know your spouse can collect, so certainly that's

(45:25):
where you know.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Sometimes you can have.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
A strategy where the lower earning spouse starts collecting maybe
a full retirement, and the spouse with the higher income
you know, waits till seventy right, And what it's doing
there is you're starting to collect benefit, but you're also
locking in that.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
You know, if.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
If the the higher earning spouse passes away, right then
that lower earning spouse will get that survivor benefit and
you've locked in that higher benefit right by delaying till seventy.
So certainly you know financial planning strategies, you know important
uh part we look at is you know social security planning, right,

(46:07):
when's the right time to take it? And again it's
not the same answer for everybody, and I will say
it is it is worth if you're if you're getting
to that age, is to start, you know, really just
have somebody help you look at the numbers. So again,
make you're making an informed decision, because I'm not saying
it everybody should delay the seventy right. You know, mathematically

(46:30):
that does get you the greatest monthly benefit, right, but
that doesn't mean that's right for everybody.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Right.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
So again, to me, it's just about evaluating your circumstances, right,
making sure you understand what the uh you know what
it is you might be giving up by collecting early, right,
So uh, certainly you know, again, always believe that being
informed right is going to help you make the right decision.
And again that decision could be, Hey, I'm gonna collect early,

(47:00):
May I'm gonna collect at sixty seven. And I understand
what I'm giving up, but that it means more to
me to start collecting that check.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
Now, I have.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
I have a gap maybe in your retirement funding that
I need filled and I don't mind, you know, giving
up a little bit on So that's an important part
of the whole financial planning process. Well, we are coming
close to the end of the show and I want
to thank you for tuning in this morning. I hope
you tune in tomorrow morning. We've got to show at

(47:31):
eight am. And again, hope you tune in next weekend.
I hope you're enjoying this beautiful, beautiful weekend. I hope
you enjoyed the show. I know that I certainly did.
Hope you have an amazing weekend and an amazing week ahead.
Be sure to tune in for our show tomorrow. Also
check out our website Bouchet dot com. You are listening

(47:54):
to Let's Talk Money, brought to you by Bouchet Financial Group,
where we help our clients prioritize the health while we
manage their wealth for life. Again, I want to thank
you for tuning in this morning. I know you have
a lot of options for your time. Appreciate you sharing
it with me. Hopefully you got some good tips there,
and hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
Thank you. Again,