Let's Talk Money

July 26th, 2026.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I loved the jazz music. Good morning, folks. No, no, no,
I have amazing colleagues, but today you're stuck with me.
Steven Bouchet, Stevie Bay. I'm here all for the next
hour with you. I thank you for tuning in, especially
on this gorgeous Sunday morning. If you're in upstate New

(00:22):
York listening, it is absolutely gorgeous out there. Katie, thank
you for the jazz music. My longtime producer Katie is
on the lines if you want to call in with
any questions, folks, any questions whatsoever. One eight hundred talk WGY.
That's one eight hundred eighty two five five nine, four nine,

(00:46):
any questions whatsoever. So, you know, we talked a little
bit yesterday technology a little you know, taking a couple
steps backwards. That's okay. Oil prices up over one hundred
dollars this past week. We still had the tensions in
the Middle East, the war with Iran. Investors are wondering

(01:07):
if Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh when he comes out
in front of this great country of ours on Wednesday
for his second time, will they leave interest rates where
they're at, Will they hike them? Will they cut them.
I do not think they will cut them. I do
not think they will HiPE them. I think they'll lead
them right where they're at. There's a ninety percent chance

(01:31):
and interest rates may go up before the end of
the year. That's that's the line in Vegas anyway, ninety
chance and interest rates will go up at least once
before the end of the year. I'm not so sure.
I think every month there's different reports on the inflation,
and we know that FED looks at a lot of data,
a lot of data, and they feel that the economy

(01:55):
is in good shape, they will not raise rates. Kevin
Warrish is on record for saying he has no tolerance
for inflation. No tolerance for inflation. I like those words. Why, well,
when there's inflation, When when you pull up the Stewards

(02:16):
and you're paying a little bit more for a gallon
of gas, or you go to market thirty two and
your milk and bread cost you a little more, or
you get your National Grid bill and it costs you
a little more. That's inflation, folks. That's when the price
of goods and services goes up. So what does the
FED do? They kind of put their foot on the brakes,

(02:38):
they tap the foot on the brakes. They literally hike
interest rates to slow the economy down. That's what inflation
is about. Then when they feel that they need to
stimulate the economy, they will actually cut rates to have
people and businesses borrow money kind of back into buying

(03:02):
things and read invigorating the economy. And that's why they
cut rates. So there you have it. I don't think
they'll do either on Wednesday. And ironically, the PCE number
comes out on Thursday. That is the Fed's favorite or
it was Jerown Powell's favorite indicator for inflation. I'm not

(03:23):
sure Kevin Worsh's favorite indicator. I don't know if he
shared that with us yet. But we'll see. So will
the Fed do anything. I don't think so this week,
and hopefully they don't. They won't do anything the rest
of the year. I do not think we have another
cut in US, not this year anyway, and I'm hoping
we don't have a hight. Let's maybe they just pause.

(03:47):
Maybe they manage the economy, manage the target for inflation,
and they don't have to do anything. So we'll say,
you know, Wednesday will be Kevin Worsh's second time. And
for those of us in Upstate New York, he's a
local boy right out of love Bill Kevin Worrish So
Kevin will be listening on Wednesday. Usually around two two

(04:11):
fifteen is when he comes out and the reporters start
asking him questions. The other question, when should I take
social Security so much to talk about today? Another thing
that I have. You know, I talked a lot about
it a couple of weeks ago when I was on
If someone handed you five hundred thousand dollars today to invest,

(04:32):
when you put it all in the market at once,
or invest it gradually over the next few months or
over the next year. I'm telling you, folks, so many
things to think about. And as I said yesterday, I
spent a lot of time on this yesterday. You get
one opportunity to retire one, folks. You cannot go back

(04:53):
and make up for all those decades you were working
your rear end off. You can't do it. You don't
have that kind of time in you. If you're sixty,
sixty five, seventy and you're not prepared for retirement, you
can't go back and make up four decades of working
when you should have been saving money. And yes, you

(05:14):
should have been saving money. Let me say it again.
You may not like it. You should have been saving money.
What do I mean by that? If you're not saving
ten If you're serious about retiring, folks, if you're serious
about being able to call it quits, retire, enjoy your

(05:36):
retirement years, then you have to be serious about saving.
If you're not serious about saving, forget about it. You
don't have a chance. You're going to live on the
average Social Security payout each year of about right now,
twenty five thousand dollars a year. If that's enough for you,

(05:58):
then fine. You don't have to save it any money.
If you're married, let's make believe the average payout to
the family is fifty thousand dollars two at the average
twenty five thousand dollars level. If fifty thousand dollars is
enough for you, you don't have to do a thing, folks.

(06:18):
If that's enough for you to retire, then you're fine.
But if you're going to get twenty five thousand dollars
a year from Social Security and you need fifty to
live on or seventy five, then that has to come
from your savings. And if you don't have savings there
to draw upon. You can't retire. Now you have to

(06:43):
hope there's a job for you. You have to hope
that you're healthy enough to work. You get the picture.
That's why I am adamant about saving. If you are
not saving, if you're not putting money into your retirement
plan at work, especially if your boss is looking to

(07:04):
match your contributions, If you're leaving free money on a table,
shame on you. I want to stir you up a
little bit so that tomorrow morning you go into the
business office and you rethink how much money are you
having come out of your paycheck to go into retirement?

(07:25):
How much? If you're putting three percent and you've done
no retirement planning, more than likely you're not putting away enough.
If your company is matching a certain percentage of to
six percent, which is usually the more popular match, then
you're not putting enough money away. If you're only putting

(07:46):
three percent, because you're leaving free money on the table.
The boss is giving you money, you're just not taking it.
Shame on you. That's free money. That's like getting a raise, folks.
And if you've never done anything intial planning especially if
you're in your forties and fifties or approaching sixty and

(08:07):
you're not putting away some serious money. Folks, plan on
working for a really long time. There's jobs out there.
You may not want them, but there's jobs out there
for you. Heck, there's people that work all day long
at jobs that they don't want to do because they

(08:27):
have to. I don't want you to have to do that, folks.
I want you to be prepared. I want you to
start saving money. I want you to be invested in
the right investments. I don't want you to be scared
of stocks, especially if you have time on your side.
If you're in your twenties and thirties, you should be
more invested in stocks than any other asset class. You

(08:49):
have time to make up for all those ups and
downs in the market. And I promise you it'll be
a roller coaster ride, Folks. You will have good days,
bad days, but believe it or not. And I spent
time on this yesterday. Every asset class, I don't care
if you're invested in bonds, commodities like gold, real estate stocks.

(09:15):
Every asset class has ups and downs, but stocks get
the most publicity, So that's what people are fixated on,
and they look at stocks as being risky, and unfortunately
they need to educate themselves fees over time, stocks are
not risky. They're not there's ups and downs, but you're

(09:36):
ready to return over time. And I'm going back, over
the last ninety one hundred years, stocks have been a
better performing asset class than others. And I'm folks, we
get paid a fee to manage our minds portfolio. I
could have all of my clients invest in CDs, guaranteed

(09:58):
treasuries and not have to talk to them at all
because there won't be any volatility. You'll buy some bonds,
you'll buy some CDs, you'll wait till they mature, you'll
re up. But we go out of our way to
educate our clients to them, give them good information and

(10:21):
have them make decisions that they can sleep with except
the amount of risk that they can tolerate. And we
don't have there's not one client. We manage almost two
billion dollars. That's billion with a b two billion dollars.
Every client has stock in their portfolio. Somehow, some way.

(10:46):
We have a model that's income only those stocks. But
when we take the time to educate our clients, and
we show them the risk reward. We show them the
average returns. I went over this yesterday over the last
fifteen year years. Your average return in stocks is about
fourteen percent a year, Nasdak nineteen percent a year, and

(11:07):
the bond indecks two percent a year. And for you
gold bugs out there, because we've had a couple of
years where gold did pretty well less than six percent
a year the same fifteen year period year in year out.
Do you invest in those risky socks and get fourteen

(11:28):
percent a year or take on more risk NASDAK. And
I only bring it up because our clients own as
much Nasdak as they do the broad stock market index.
I have been overweight technology forever and our clients. Nasdak
is one way that we overweight technology because the you know,

(11:53):
the percentage of stocks invested in the technology sector of
NASDAC is about sixty five percent. And you know, when
you look at at the top holdings, I mean Nasdak
is truly you know, we we we've owned Nansdak forever
and ever and ever. So that's why I always bring

(12:13):
up the average return for Nansdak over the same fifteen
years nineteen percent, compared to the broad stock market in
decks have fourteen percent. And our clients are okay with that. Sure,
there's there's sometimes more ups and downs because Nasdak is
a little more aggressive growth oriented. Let's say, so when

(12:35):
the market goes up, Nanstack goes up. When the market
goes down, Nanstak goes down, usually more than the broad
stock market in decks. Take a look at this week
the S and P, the broad stock market indecks down
point sixty one percent, Russell two thousand down one percent,
but Nanstak composite was down two point three percent. QQQ

(12:58):
the one hundred top com and he's a Nasdak, it's
a separate reading is then one point sixty two percent
this week, and that's okay. Our clients understand that. But
over the last fifteen years, so you invest in the
SMP or the NASTAC and you get you know, fourteen
to nineteen percent a year, or you invest in gold

(13:21):
get less than six percent, or the BOMB index and
get two percent. So you get the picture. That's why
a well diversified portfolio is always the best way to invest.
And if I can do anything on this show, and
I've been hosting you for thirty one years. I had

(13:41):
I brought my team together last week and we had
a great launcheon at the Saratoga Bed and Breakfast Arms.
We took over the porch and I shared with all
of my colleagues thirty one years. Every weekend I'm on radio,
and I loved it. Now recently, as you know, I've
gone through some things and my colleagues helped me out.

(14:04):
Last week we had Pollo and Marty. Next week, we're
gonna have you know some because I'm gonna be I'm
actually taking a bucket list trip. I'm going to Old
Quebec City. Does anybody know anything about that? They tell
me it's beautiful, gorgeous, kind of a feel like you're
in Europe. So I need to be in Choburn for

(14:26):
a family funeral on Saturday, so I'm gonna take a
little detour, go up to Old Quebec City, hit Old
Montreal on the way down, and then it's only a
two hour ride from there to Choburn. So I will
not be on the radio with you next week. I
don't know who's gonna do radio next week. It might
be Sam Macy or Harmony and they are two of

(14:47):
my rock stars. On Saturday, and then on Sunday it
might be pollow and add I'm not sure yet who's
going to do radio, but I can assure you they
will be as good as I am. Amazing colleagues. One
eight hundred eight two five four nine. One eight hundred
eight two five fifty nine forty nine. Folks, it's not

(15:10):
about timing the market. It's about time in the market.
The longer your money is invested, the longer it has
the benefit from compounding. Don't be afraid of stocks. Be
invested in the right manner for the amount of risk
you can take. And if you're up at night because
you can't take the volatility, then you can't be invested

(15:31):
in risky assets. One eight hundred eighty two five fifty
nine forty nine. Katie, let me take a quick fifteen
second break. Don't go anywhere, folks. Hello, folks, on back
if you have any questions. One eight hundred eighty two
five five nine four nine. So this coming week, you
know right now, every you know, you know, every three

(15:55):
months we have quarterly earnings come out. It seems like
it gets old. It seems like we just finished with
first quarter earnings, and here we are second quarter earnings.
That's you know, a lot of people get fixated on
earnings and how this corporate America doing. And I had
my wealth advisers together this week, and I said, listen,

(16:16):
people have been waiting for corporate earnings to not do
as well every quarter. And guess what. Every quarter, corporate
earnings are blowing past the economists expectations. Corporate America is
in good shape. This US economy is resilient. I love
this US economy. I love this great country of ours.

(16:39):
We are not invested in anywhere other than this great
country of ours. Our US equity returns are stellar. We
feel we can get listen when we buy invest in megacaps,
when we invest in those those big holdings like you know,
you know, you name it, Pick a big company. They

(17:03):
get a pretty good share of their of their earnings
from overseas countries, so I don't need to buy into
international markets. And over time, you know, it gave you
the returns, right. You know what? The Developed Market index
is measured by the MSCI EVA index. Do you know

(17:26):
what that performance was over the last fifteen years. The
US stock market was fourteen percent Nasdaq was nineteen percent
year in, year out, and the Developed International Index six
point eight three percent, folks, six point eight three percent.
Now you know why I'm not invested overseas. We have

(17:47):
done just fine investing in this great country of ours,
and and for emerging markets, because that would be the
only place I might get representation outside of this country
is emerging markets. But we haven't we we we haven't
found any good reason to invest in emerging markets. But

(18:08):
if you take you know, the more popular emerging market ETF,
the ms CI Emerging Market ETF yere in year out
over the same fifteen year period, take a guess, drum
roll please four percent four point two percent to be exact.
So now you see why we invest in this great
country of ours. And sure, over the last year, over

(18:31):
the last year, international investments have done well. But I'm
a long term kind of a guy. I like to
look out over time, and yes, over time. Give me
the US stock market over any other stock market anytime,
anyway I can get it, I will invest in this

(18:53):
great country of ours. One eight hundred eighty two five
five nine four nine, eight hundred eight two five fifty
nine forty nine Any questions folks, any questions you have,
give me a call. So we got a lot going on.
I mean, you got treasure yields. I mean the tenure

(19:14):
US ten year treasure yield is about four point seven percent.
And I've been talking a lot about bonds. I went
years not talking about bonds because you couldn't pay me
to invest in them, getting next to zero percent return
when interest rates were low. After the Great Financial Crisis
when it ended in March two thousand and nine, I

(19:36):
haven't really I didn't talk about bonds for a long time,
but the last couple of years I have been. And
right now we get a little bump in the US
ten year treasure yield. It's New York State tax free
for those of you in New York State. And a
lot of people think you need to buy UNI bonds
because you don't want to pay taxes. Folks, if you're
in a low tax bracket, forget about unis. And I

(20:00):
just gave our investment committee something that chewman get out
of New York City bonds completely. I think that mayor
is going to bankrupt that city, and this governor of
ours is going to bankrupt this state bailing out that
city and we in upstate New York. If it were

(20:21):
up to me, Upstate New York would start at the
tap and Sea Bridge right out the Buffalo and let
New York City and Long Island be their own state. Right,
Give me Upstate New York all day long, tap and
Sea Bridge to Buffalo. And I worry. I worry about
what's going on. There's no adults in the room, folks.

(20:45):
I mean, they spend money like drunken salors and import
These politicians, don't they have a clue. They can't just
give everything away free, folks, Especially for those parents listening.
You got your son and daughter in college, talk to them.
Don't let the professors warp their brain into thinking that

(21:08):
everything could be free. It can't be free. Somebody's got
to pay for it. It's there's no free lunch. So we're
worried about New York City bonds especially. And if you're
looking to get into munis, get into national munis. Do
not stay away from New York right now. I don't

(21:29):
care what the yield is, remember the hot The yield
means that you are getting you're taking on risk. Yes,
there's risk with munis. There's risk with treasuries. But I
like the US Treasury four point seven percent almost New
York State tax free, so it's pretty good. Folks. You
are listening to Let's Talk Money, brought to you by

(21:51):
Bouchet Financial Group, where we help our clients prioritize their
health while we manage their wealth for life. We are
going to take a break for the new one eight
hundred eight two five five nine four nine. Give me
a call. Katie will put you on the board and
I will pick you up. One eight hundred eighty two
five five nine four nine. Hello, folks, on backs Stephen Bouchet.

(22:16):
I am your host today. I've been hosting you for
thirty one years, and I love hosting you. I can't
believe me to hear me say it. Often. I get
energized when I come in to do the show. I
love being with you. I love you. Have made this
show really really We're told one of the premiere talk

(22:38):
shows of regarding, you know, investments and financial planning around
the country. And I thank you for that. I thank
you for tuning in today, I thank you for holding
through the news. I'm back. One eight hundred eight two,
five five nine four nine. One eight hundred eighty two
five fifty nine forty nine phone number today. If you

(23:00):
have any questions, give us a call. Let's go to
the pall lines where we have Rich from half hoon.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Good morning, Rich, Good morning Steve. One was wondering, Steve,
what is your physician on investing in the divining diven
in paying stocks portfolio.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
I love it. I love dividend stocks and we we
we we have holdings in dividends. You know, when you
look over the last ninety years, the believe it or not,
dividends made up a big part of the total return
of mega caps, the let's say S and P five

(23:40):
hundred type companies. And basically a dividend is when the
company shares a portion of the profits for shareholders. There's
ETFs out there that, for instance, the Aristocrats, where over
twenty five years each company has increased their dividend. A
lot of dibidends paying companies are found in the utilities

(24:02):
or consumer staples, energy banks, healthcare companies and investors. Listen, Rich,
A lot of investors love dividend stocks. I mean retirees,
especially dividends can help supplement their social security. I talked
about that yesterday. A lot in the first half of

(24:23):
the show today. If you need more than twenty five
thousand dollars on average, that's the average Social Security payouts.
If you have a good portfolio, maybe dibenends can supplement that.
Pensions rm ds instead of selling shares to generate cashlow
a lot of it. A lot of investors use dividends

(24:43):
to basically help fund their lifestyle. So we we like
dibenant stocks. Now. When you look over time, growth oriented stocks,
especially technology stocks, will outperform dividends paying stocks because these
companies are built for growth. It's like having a Ferrari

(25:04):
or you know, minivan. If you get the picture, you
know the Ferrari is going to go. It's going to
get you there fast. You're going to love the roar
of the engine. The minivan, it's going to be a
comfortable ride. You can fit a lot more people. Dividends
are not going to be. Let's say, over time is
great performing as growth stocks because growth stocks are made

(25:27):
for growth. Just what they say. But no, having dibdend
is part of your portfolio is a makeup is good.
We have minimal dibenend paying stocks in our portfolio because
our returns have been When I tell you. Our returns
have instellar. Our returns have instellar. But we are very
bullish right now on the stock market. That doesn't mean

(25:49):
there won't be a correction coming. There may if this
war in Iran gets worse, I said yesterday, If this
war ends sooner than later, I think the stock market
will rally. But don't be afraid of fibit and painting stocks. Rich.
They're they're, they're they're pretty good. Rich. Thank you for
the phone call. One eight hundred eight two five five

(26:11):
nine four nine, one eight hundred eight two five fifty
nine forty nine. Any questions whatsoever, folks, any questions whatsoever?
So you know I you know. The question isn't whether
US stocks are better than international stocks. The question is
whether they deserve to be a larger part of your

(26:33):
portfolio or not. As I said right now, we don't.
We haven't owned international stocks forever. I mean, you heard me.
Give that statistic out The average return and developed countries,
countries like the United States of America is less than
seven percent a year over the last fifteen years, and

(26:54):
this great country of ours, the average return was fourteen
percent as measured by the S and P. When you
think why this country. You think of Apple, Microsoft, Navidia, Amazon, Alphabet,
which is Google, Meta which is Facebook, Birkshare, Hathaway. These
companies don't just sell products in America. They're selling products

(27:16):
all over the world. When you buy a US company,
you're buying global businesses. That's what I'm talking about. So
I don't need to own international ETFs or mutual funds
or companies because I can get I can get representation
of the world with these great companies that are housed

(27:40):
right here in this great country of ours. So the
US has you know, listen, we got strong property rights,
independent courts, transparent accounting standards, strict sec oversite. A lot
of foreign markets can't provide that same level of investor protection.
I feel that we are protecting our clients by investing

(28:03):
in this great country of ours. We lead the world,
This great country of ours, folks, leads the world in
artificial intelligence, bile technology, aerospace, software, cloud computing, robotics. Innovation
creates earnings growth. Earnings growth creates stock market returns. And

(28:26):
I said, we have right now one hundred and thirty
of the five hundred companies in the SMP have reported earnings,
and our sixty nine percent above where their projected earnings
were supposed to be. I think this week alone we
have another I don't know four one hundred and forty
companies reporting. Corporate America is pretty solid. Corporate America is strong.

(28:54):
So I don't worry about profitability of our the companies
that are right here. You know, basically, we have higher
profit margins, we have better returns on equity, stronger cash flow.
The US dollar remains the world's reserve currency. When uncertainty rises,

(29:15):
money flows into America, not away from it. But now
let me, let me be your devil's advocate why you
shouldn't ignore international stocks now personally, just like I have
a personal opinion that the Fed will not raise interest
rates on Wednesday, and I'm going to go out on

(29:37):
the win. I think there's a pretty good chance they
may not raise interest rates the rest of the year,
even though project or ninety chance that there will be
at least one height over the next six months. I think,
I think we'll get favorable data inflation, and I'm going

(30:02):
out on the limb. Maybe maybe the Fed won't have
to raise interest rates at all. That'd be good for
the stock market. When interest rates go up that means
you can get more return on bond investments or CD investments,
and some people sell out of stocks to get into
those fixed income opportunities. So there's you know, as you

(30:24):
can see, there's a lot of balls in the air.
But let me be your devil's advocate. I talk a
lot about US stocks. I believe in US stocks. I
have no intention of investing in foreign markets. Our investment
committee is still behind the US stock market. But let

(30:47):
me tell you why you shouldn't ignore international stocks. Nearly
forty percent of the world's publicly traded companies are outside
this great country of ours. So there's forty percent of
all the companies in the world. Good companies are outside.

(31:10):
Outstanding businesses in countries like Switzerland, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, India.
Owning international stocks provides diversification. Let me hold on to
the seat of your pants. International stocks may outperform sometimes.

(31:34):
There have been decades when international stocks outperformed the US
in the eighties, there were some years during two thousand
and two thousand and nine that leadership rotated and international
stocks have done better. But over time I gave you

(31:56):
the returns. International stocks have not been able to outperform
the US stock market. Now, from evaluation standpoint, there's a
lot of international markets that trade at lower price to
earnings ratio than US stocks. Sometimes cheaper valuations can translate
into stronger future returns if earnings improve. Owning international stocks

(32:23):
gives you currency diversification. For all of you conspiracy there,
folks that listen to talk radio at three in the
morning and you think that the US dollar is going
to be lost somewhere and some other currency is going
to take over, it's not. But owning international stocks gives,

(32:47):
you know, exposure to different currencies. If the dollar weekends,
a lot of international investments may benefit. Would you rather
own the fastest grown company in America or the cheapest
company in Europe? Sometimes sometimes growth winds, sometimes value wins.

(33:08):
But I'll take growth all day long. I'll take the
US stock market all day long. That's my that's my
take on it. And we don't own any international holdings
at the moment. I'm not going to say we never
will we. You know, by investing in the US stock market,

(33:29):
we invest globally, but we don't diversify just for the
sake of diversification. I threw that that theory out the
window decades ago. Thank god, our clients have have have
been rewarded for my way of thinking. I say to
my advisors all the time, you know modern portfolio theory,

(33:52):
one on one, take it and throw it right out
the window. We do not need to own international stocks
to get great returns. Give us, Give us Apple. Apple
sells iPhones around the world international markets, accounting for well

(34:13):
over half of its revenue. Microsoft serves businesses and consumers
in more than one hundred and ninety countries. Coca Cola
generates the majority of its sales outside the United States.
McDonald's operates in over one hundred countries, one hundred and

(34:35):
I plan on going to Europe in October, and I
know I'm gonna take you for a loop when I
say this. I haven't eaten in McDonald's and decades, decades,
And when I saw Robert Kennedy's report on McDonald's French

(34:56):
fries in this country has seventeen ingredients McDonald's franchise and
Europe has three, potato, oil, salt. I've been buying all
my beef, chicken, pork from local farms, and there's a difference.

(35:17):
So one night, so I'm Basically, you heard me say
yesterday folks that I got a clean bill of help.
And I've been working since before I was eleven, and
I'm going to send a letter to my clients this week.
I'm going to take some time since since my wife
Soup passed a couple of years ago, I've been wanting
to do this to Meino these Santiago, which is a

(35:41):
walk of the Way of Saint James. It's a walk
from Portugal to Spain. It could take up the thirty
five days. It's spiritual. It's a way for you to
kind of cleanse your soul. And I'm not getting freaky
on you here, don't be scared. But I'm just going
to take some time for myself. But I've promise myself
when I'm in Europe, I'm going to go into a

(36:02):
McDonald's and I'm gonna try it. I'm gonna see if
it's as good as they say. But McDonald's says stores
in one hundred countries. Navidia sells AI chips to customers Europe, Asia,
Middle East. There's so many US companies that can continue
to grow even if our economy slows because they're benefiting

(36:24):
from economic activity all around the world. So think of
the S and P folks as owning the best shopping
mall in the world. The companies may have headquarters in
this great country of ours, but their customers come from
every corner of the globe. And if nearly half of

(36:47):
S and P five hundred companies revenue comes from overseas,
are you really missing out by not owning as many
foreign stocks as you think. So that's why I don't
need to invest overseas. I can get what I want
from the foreign markets by investing in the S and

(37:10):
P five hundred like companies. And as I said, there's
an argument to be made why maybe you should you
should invest overseas. I gave you that argument. Listen, my
advice is unbiased. I'll give you the good, the bad,
and the ugly. I will not steer you one way

(37:31):
or the other. I'll give you the pros and cons
of everything. That is what I feel my job is
to do. Although I am biased on New York City bonds,
I do not want to own one New York City
UNI bond at all. I think that city is going
to Remember in the eighties, when New York City went bankrupt,

(37:53):
Sure you were getting high interest rates. But there's a
reason why you were getting high interest rates, because Themunicipality
of New York City couldn't pay interest on the bonds.
That's what bankruptcy is all about, not being able to
pay your bills. And I am very opinionated. I think
that Mayor how he got elected, I don't know, but

(38:15):
I do know how he got elected because there's a
lot of people in New York City that when they
hear the word free, they are suffering. They are struggling
to put food on the table, pay their rent. So
when they hear the word free, they buy into it.
They think it's free, and when they learn that nothing
in life is free, they realize, oh my god, what

(38:38):
did we do? We invest we elected somebody because we
thought everything was going to be free, and it's not free.
It will never be free. And that's why I do
not nurse you. You you should really think twice about
owning New York City UNI bonds. Take a look at
US treasuries. The safe, in my mind, the safest paper

(39:03):
in the world are bonds issued by the Great USA.
And you can get a ten year yield right now
almost four point seven percent. If you're willing to go
out on the limit buy a twenty year Treasury almost
five point two percent, the same with the thirty year Treasury.

(39:23):
That means over the next twenty years, if you buy
a US Treasury bond y're in year out, you will
be guaranteed almost five point two percent year in, year out. Now,
the value of that bond may go up and down,
up and down, up and down, because if interest rates
go higher. If let's make believe you can buy a

(39:44):
US ten year Treasury at five percent instead of four
point seven, well, investors investing their money will want five
percent rather than four point seven. Why wouldn't they. So,
if you have a bond that pays that yields four
point five seven in the current rate is five percent,
that means you have to sell that Treasury bond at

(40:07):
a discount in order for the buyer to get equivalent
to a five percent yield. And this is why we
say ladder of portfolio and don't sell bonds in the
middle of the maturity. In this way, you will never
have to worry about losing money on bonds. Now, if

(40:29):
you buy a mutual fund or ETF. I gave the
statistics yesterday this year you're down less than one percent,
whereas the S and P five hundred year to date
is up almost nine percent with dividends. And sure, the
SMP was down two of the last ten years, but
so were bonds as measured by the bond Indecks, they

(40:50):
were down two of the last ten years as well.
But if you ladder a portfolio, for those of you
that want bonds in your portfolio, the best way to
do with Folks's ladder portfolio, buy some US I like
US Treasures. They're US tax free back by degree USA

(41:11):
country of ours, and they're the safest, safest paper in
the world. So you can buy a one year yielding
four point one, a two year yielding four point three,
a five year yielding four point four, a seven year
yielding four point five, a ten year yielding almost four
point seven, and then when that one year comes mature,

(41:34):
if you don't need that money, buy another ten year
wherever interest rates are a year from now, just re
purchase another ten year. In this way, every year you'll
have a bond coming do over time. So if you
need cash, you know you have a bond coming do.

(41:55):
And if you don't need cash, you know that you're
taking the guess work out of where will interest rates go?
Because interest rates are just like will stocks make money
or lose money? Nobody nobody knows. Nobody knows, so you
take the guess work out of it. It is the

(42:16):
best way folks to invest laddering, whether it be CDs
or treasuries. I like treasuries. I do not like munis
right now in New York State, and I do not
like munis in New York City. Sorry for all of
you that feel that New York City is the place

(42:37):
to live because everything is free. I'm sorry. I'm going
to be a Debbie Downer in your eyes, and you
will not like my viewpoint. There's nothing for free. Socialist
countries are not as good as this great country of ours.
Communists should not be allowed to be in any leadership

(42:58):
position in this great country of ours. There I said it.
I try not to talk politics, but I sometimes I
can't bite my tongue. I said it. This great country
of ours has no room for communists, no room, no
room whatsoever. I'm sorry. There you have it. So I'm

(43:19):
very careful about where we invest our money, our investment people.
If you're in a low tax bracket, we are buying
treasuries or other type corporate bonds if you're in a
high tax bracket. We are buying munis and they will
be national munis. We are getting out of our New
York City munis and New York State munis. We don't

(43:44):
want to own them. There's just the financials in this
state are pathetic, and I'm sorry. There's other states around
the country where we can get yield and not worry
about the municipality paying their bills. And that's what you get, folks.
When you buy a bond, you are loaning your money.

(44:06):
Whether you're loaning your money to a municipality buying unis,
or you're loaning your money to Corporate America buying a
corporate bond, you're loaning your money. Now will they pay
you back? That's the question. Junk bonds are companies that
aren't as strong as triple A rated bonds. There's the

(44:30):
reason why you are getting a higher yield bes there's risk.
Will that company be in business? Will they be able
to pay you that high interest rate? So there's risk
with every type investment. Folks, there you have it. I
can't believe we're coming up to the end of the
show you are listening to. Let's Talk Money, brought to

(44:54):
you by Bouchet and the Answer Group, where we help
our clients prioritize their health while we manage their wealth
for life. Go to our website, folks, Bouchet dot com.
That's Bias and boy oh U c H E y
dot com. There are some great great stuff there. Our
our second quarter market update webinars there. Pollo and Ed

(45:18):
do it every quarter. It's amazing. It's the first thing
you'll see. Vinnie Vincenzo Testa. He's a c f P.
He's a c p A. He's smart. He has a
nice white paper up there, a couple of white papers.
There's a lot of good stuff, folks. Thank you for
tuning in. See you next weekend. Bye bye,