December 15, 2025 • 39 mins
Chuck Zodda and Mike Armstrong discuss improving housing affordability in 2026 without a market crash. Corey Adams (Robert Half) joins the show to share his insights into job hopping in 2026. There is still time to maximize the 0% capital gains bracket for 2025. Four new jobs that may be in our AI future.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Financial Exchange is produced by Money Matters Radio and
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(00:20):
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(00:42):
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(01:05):
Zada and Mike Armstrong.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Chuck Mike Tucker with your kick and things off, and
we've got stocks trading down modestly today. We open the
day with major agencies up about a half percent, but
they could not hold those gains. And as we sit
here right now, the Dow is off fifty eight points,
the SMP is off four the NASDAG is off forty eight.
So again a modest moved down, continuing some weakness that
(01:33):
showed up at the back end of last week. Uh,
but overall, no major move in equity markets. Today. Ten
year Treasury is down three point three basis points to
four point one sixty three percent. Dollar Index is down
point two percent to ninety seven point eight three five.
Gold up twenty seven thirty an ounce to forty three
to fifty five and sixty cents, and crude oil down
(01:56):
sixty five cents a barrel to fifty six seven nine
and the trip a national average for gas prices continuing
to slide, which is music.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
To my ears.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
You know, I don't work in the oil industry, but
if you do, you might be, you know, not loving that.
But for the rest of us who don't, gas prices
down another four tenths of ascent overnight to two ninety
and six tenths of a cent. And so that is
what is moving in markets today. This is a busy
week for the second to last week of December. You've
(02:31):
got again payrolls, so you've got jobs report tomorrow, You've
got retail sales tomorrow. Wednesday is pretty quiet, but then
Thursday you've got CPI and jobbles claims, and then Friday
you've got existing home sales. So pretty jammed week with
domestic data out there. And so again, this could be
(02:54):
a little bit of a different week just because normally
job support has already been released two weeks ago. You know,
CPI usually is the week after this point, so that
would have been last week, and normally you get to
December fifteenth and it's like okay, like kick your feet up,
be ready for the holidays, Like not much happens. There
could be a little different tenor to how this week
(03:15):
plays out than what we normally get just because the
calendar is different.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
It's all I got. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Again, what we've been talking about all the last couple
of months has been the shifting narrative when it comes
to artificial intelligence, and I think It's hard to say
that anything has mattered to markets this year other than
artificial intelligence. Yes, there was trade concerns earlier this year
that cuts It did matter at the time, but when
you you know, we're midway through December. Now, when you
(03:45):
take a look back at what drove markets this year
now that we're here, there are a lot of different
stories in between, but now that we're here, it was
artificial intelligence and the spending that came along with it.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
So that is what we've got going on in markets overall.
Let's talk about this piece from Yahoo Finance. Housing affordability
may improve next year, but don't expect a market crash.
I tend to agree with that. This is not one
of those pieces that I look at and say, oh, like,
how did this end up, like you know, getting written,
No like this. This is something that I think very
(04:18):
much matches where I am right now from a housing perspective. Now, remember,
anyone who's listening, and you can hear us all over
the country. All real estate is very very local. So
if you're listening to us right now in you know,
southwest Florida, you're probably like man state marketing like that.
(04:40):
The real estate market is crashing here, like prices of
fall in fifteen to twenty percent. If you are listening
to us in Connecticut, where there are eight houses available
across the entire state, you're sitting there and you're going, yeah,
I could sell my house for anything I want right now.
If you are listening in Nashville, Tennessee, you're probably like, hey, this.
(05:00):
You know, market's fine, but you know it's it's not great,
it's not horrible, it's just it is what it is.
But where we are heading next year is a continued
inventory build that is going to have us back to
twenty nineteen twenty eighteen levels of inventory nationwide, but still
some big skews as far as what things look like regionally.
(05:21):
The Northeast and Midwest still will not be back to
pre pandemic levels of inventory, where much of the South
and through the West Coast will be in excess of that.
And so what this means is it's unlikely that you
end up with home prices, you know, in free fall nationwide,
just because again I know that's what happened in two
(05:44):
thousand and eight for very specific reasons. Those reasons are
not present now, and so I think that while there's
the potential for some modest downside in nationwide pricing, you know,
maybe like one to four percent nationwide price declines. Beyond that,
I don't think it's in the cards unless something hugely
unexpected hits.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
It would have to be pretty massive too, because there
is not likely to be the forced selling that you
get when you get an over leveraged real estate.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
That there has not been too much money pouring into
real estate, you know. It's the problems that we have
in the economy right now. Are not I borrowed too
much to buy a house and now we can't pay
it back in large numbers.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
When some people, when they get really nervous about the
economy and markets, they might dump their stock portfolio, that's
not what happens with real estate. No, when it comes
to your real estate, you do not dump it until
the bank takes it right like you know that that's
the reality with all of this, And so we do
talk a lot about or it's been a while, but
(06:47):
we haven't talked about the five d's of housing in
quite some time.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Diapers, diamonds, and death. But there's not.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Going to be There's almost no scenario, even with higher
unemployment that I see where we're looking at a full
on real estate housing market crash nationwide nationally right, like
you know, regional pockets are always different. But we just
I can't see a path even like in an extreme
scenario where we hit like seven percent unemployment. Can I
(07:17):
see a path where the real estate market looks like
it did in twenty eleven?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
My answers no, So I think that's kind of where
where we end up and sore. Where we need to
get to and where this will very likely end up
working out is probably in twenty seven, twenty eight, or
maybe early in twenty nine, you'll probably have affordability back
(07:42):
to where it was pre pandemic. Not prices, but affordability.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
What I mean by that is ages to payment.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yes, you're going to have maybe prices fall nationwide, you know,
one to three percent for the next couple of years,
while wages move up you know, two to four percent
a year for the next couple of years, and that
closes that ten to fifteen percent affordability gap that is
out there by most metrics. So the problem with this
(08:12):
in the interim is if home prices are coming down,
builders are not going to be able to build as much,
which means potentially layoffs in the construction industry, which means
historically a weaker US economy. And again, like the seeds
for this have have been sown over, you know, the
last five six years. This is not something we just
like woke up into and we're like, oh gee, this
(08:34):
is a problem. It's going to take a few years
to work through this, since it took half a decade
to get to this point. And so I think the
couple of questions that that I have on it are, Okay,
how does the US economy find an engine if housing
(08:54):
construction is going to be stagnant for the next couple
of years, and with that furthering our bet on the
AI development, right, it's kind of like, okay, like how
much you know AI can.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
You do with a lot of weight on the shoulders?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Because then the other piece is, look, there's a reason
why people say that housing leads the economy. It's because well,
historically housing leads the economy, and so if it's not,
what can pick up that mantle AI? Like, I'm not
saying it's going to fall apart, but I don't know
what fuel there is for like another inflection up. I'm
(09:29):
not saying it has to fall apart. But I just like,
I don't know what can accelerate the growth any faster
at this point domestically unless it decides that it wants
to do something to us.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Like, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Yeah, I hesitate to see it as well, But I
guess that's the very nature of sure new innovations and
technology is if it's going to truly surprise and impress,
and it's going to have to surprise and impress and require
even more data center and you tility construction.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I don't know what to say otherwise.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So like you kind of just look out at the
landscape and you go, Okay, it's gonna just be a
little bit challenging to navigate that because we've got to
let this excess pricing work through the system, and it's
probably not going to be the proximate cause of any
type of financial meltdown, but it's just gonna be kind
(10:24):
of a drag on the economy for a couple of
years while we navigate it. Let's take a quick break.
When we return, we are going to be joined by
Corey Adams from Robert Half talking about job hopping from
their twenty twenty six survey.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
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Speaker 4 (11:33):
Join us now is Corey Adams from Robert Half talking
to us about their twenty twenty six job hopping survey.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Core thanks for coming on, appreciate us.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
Good morning, Mike, thanks for having me as always.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Well, we've got a jobs report that's going to be
released tomorrow, or technically two jobs reports, because we're getting
some of the October data as well, and the trend
recently has been towards a continued weakening in the labor market.
And that yet some of the fine in your survey
I found to be at least optimistic when it comes
(12:05):
to some workers' hopes to hop jobs in twenty twenty six.
So who did you talk to and what did you find?
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Sure?
Speaker 6 (12:10):
Yeah, well said it is an optimistic outlook. So we
spoke to a number of employees across the US over
the past few months, and what we found is that
nearly four and ten employed professionals actually planned to look
for a new job in the first half of twenty
twenty six, and optimistically speaking, this is up twenty seven
percent from July and twenty nine percent from one year ago. Now,
(12:33):
the top motivators for driving the job search plans included
Number one, a desire for better benefits. Number two was
they felt they had limited career advancement opportunities in their
current role. Third was competitive pay, and I feel like
anytime we talk about a motivator for a job move,
pay have to be involved. Then the fourth was burnout,
which we know has been somewhat prevalent for a number
(12:55):
of years now. And so the workers who are most
likely to launch a jobs in twenty twenty six was
first tech and healthcare workers for forty six percent of
the respondents, and then gen Z and working parents were
equal at forty two percent. And then the last key
binding which I thought was interesting, was the top job
search challenges for unemployed candidates, so they are as follow
(13:19):
as number one. They said that there are too many
applicants and too much competition for positions that they wanted
to apply for. They also said that's difficult to find
a job that matches their workplace preference, and for me,
that sort of feels like it's probably a conflict in
terms of the in office demand coupled with some inflexibility
around some scheduling there. And then the third challenge for
(13:40):
unemployed workers was that their skills didn't actually match requirements
for the jobs posted.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
A lot's been written about this year, you know, the
challenges for gen Z workers in particular looking looking for
those jobs, finding it's tough to come by as they
as they graduate college and head into a difficult labor market.
Was that a large portion of your irrespondence specifically in
the unemployed space, and are gen Z workers doing anything
(14:05):
differently right now as they search in a challenging entry
level job market.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
And it's interesting.
Speaker 6 (14:11):
I've had this conversation about gen Z a number of
times over the past few months, and I think that
population probably made up a healthy majority of the respondents.
But that's a unique section of the workforce because if
you think about sort of what they've been through over
the past couple of years, what they watched their parents
going through when they were younger, they've seen a lot.
(14:33):
And their drivers are unique because they are incredibly career
minded and driven and motivated. So you've got a portion
of population that's still trying to figure out what they're
going to do and probably still tory identify their either
their first job or their first promotion. But then you
have others who know everything they can to get their
foot in the door of the workplace and kind of
(14:54):
establish themselves so they can have a career. From just
a long term perspective.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
I know we're trying to to interpret the data here,
which is sometimes tough to do, but what do you
think the main reasons are for this uptick? Right? I mean,
could it be that you know, workers genuinely are feeling
more optimistic about the state of the labor market. Did
they just delay plans out of concerns for the labor
market throughout twenty twenty five And so these are just hey,
we put this stuff on ice for too long. I
(15:19):
mean you finally need to act on it or is
there some other force at work?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Sure?
Speaker 6 (15:23):
Well, first thing I would tell you was it is
that time of year where it feels like sure girls market,
end of the year comes around, people start thinking ahead.
This is part of the first thing that people are
thinking about is what's the next step for their career.
But you know, I think in addition to all the
top motivators that we identified through our research, I mean,
let's just be honest and call it what it was,
twenty twenty five was really just a year of staying put.
(15:45):
And so you know, many professionals, many of them, if
not most of them, actually just prioritize stability over anything else.
And so I think the research is just showing us
is that candidates and employees are starting to show some
signs of renewed confidents in an attempt and desire to
start exploring new opportunities for a number of different reasons.
(16:05):
And so you know, The other thing that's really important
to note is that we know right now and this
ties to gen Z and a lot of workers because
of what the past few years have been. But employees
are increasingly focused right now on career growth and development
opportunities because they have not been afforded to them for
a better part of twenty twenty four and a lot
of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Corey, If somebody is planning on kicking off a job
search in twenty twenty six, what are your top strategies
for them? What should they be focusing on today?
Speaker 6 (16:34):
Sure, I'll give you a few here, and I'll try
to be pretty quick with them, because there's a lot.
So first off, I would say, use your network former colleagues, families, friends,
I mean, the list goes on. This is a group
that can actually help get your resume in front of
decision makers, and that's ultimately what you're trying to do.
And so from there, you want to make sure that
you're building connections online as well as in person, which
(16:54):
you want to do with as much intention as possible.
And then amongst sort of the using your network, you
want to make sure that you are continuously nurturing your
network to keep your connections warm. And that's so important
because there's probably nothing worse in reaching out to someone
you haven't spoken within three years and asking for them
to put your resume in front of somebody. It's probably
not going to go too well. Second strategy is going
(17:15):
to be stay visible kind of ties in the first strategy,
but you want to share insights on platforms like LinkedIn,
whether you like things, whether you comment on industry posts
from people within your field, and in essence, you want
to interact digitally with others from your industry and have
the same career path as you. And so we basically
tell folks to think of it as another form of
(17:36):
networking and building your personal brand. Next strategy stay market
ready and level up your skills. In essence, here you
want to master basic technology workplace tools, you want to
gain AI fluency, and you want to practice with various
systems in softwares. And so it's not aboud idea to
even go and earn micro credentials that show that you've
mastered a skill and that you're staying current in this
(17:57):
fast changing job market. And then this is important to
you want to pay attention to the skills that employees
actually want in your field. And then once you identify them,
do you ever think you can sort of close that
skills gap? My last two for you number one, and
this goes back to our gen Z friends here, but
for new graduates as well as early career professionals, highlight internships,
part time jobs, and any sort of projects that actually
(18:17):
showcase and identify your passion in a particular error because
it's going to go a really long way. And then
the last strategy, and this is part of the most
important one because it's the most practical for what we're
seeing every single day in the job force. But if
you are using AI for job search prep, and most
people are, please do not overdo it's GENAI can actually
help polish resumes. It's especially great for catching spelling and
(18:40):
grammatical errors. But it's also important for professionals to edit
the output and ensure that the content reflects your unique experience.
And so more than ever, hiring managers are getting absolutely
flooded and inundated with AI generated resumes, So candidates should
prioritize in using their own voice and keeping that human element.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Adams from Robert Half talking to us about their job
hopping survey for twenty twenty six. Corey, really appreciate the
time and we'll chat with you in the new year.
Speaker 6 (19:07):
My pleasure happy all it is.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Taking a look around here at markets. We've got still
things lagging a bit, especially compared to where we were
in pre market trading, but Dow, SMP and NASDAC now
all slightly positive. We'll have a full market recap and more.
Next to the Financial Exchange.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
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Speaker 1 (20:20):
Time now for Wall Street watch a complete look at
what's moving markets so far today right here on the
Financial Exchange Radio network.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Markets are now mixed and mostly quiet after somewhat shoppy
morning as trader is a way to flurry of economic
data points due up this week, including the November jobs
report in October retail sales due out tomorrow morning, as
well as the November Consumer Price Index on Thursday morning.
Right now, the Dow is off only forty points, SMP
(20:51):
five hundred, dipping by two points, NASDAC down about a
quarter of a percent, or fifty four points. Rustly two
thousand is off a third of percent. Ten Your Treasure
reeled down two basis points at four point one seven
four percent, and crude oil down one point four percent,
trading a fifty six dollars and sixty five cents a barrel.
(21:13):
Rumba maker I Robot declared bankruptcy over the weekend, sending
shares in the company plunging seventy three percent. I Robot
said its customer service and app functionality will continue normally
during the restructuring. If you recall, a proposed sale to
Amazon fell through back in twenty twenty four due to
(21:33):
regulatory concerns. Meanwhile, space linked stocks including rocket Lab down
by six percent, an Echo star down or excuse me down.
Actually it's flat now at the moment, following reports that
SpaceX intends to go public in twenty twenty six after
notching an eight hundred billion dollar valuation in its latest
(21:54):
funding round. Elsewhere, US listed shares of Chinese e commerce
companies Out Bob and Bay Do It down about three
percent after data showed the Chinese economy is weakening, and
Goldman Sachs upgraded both Las Vegas Sands and Marriott International,
sending shares up by about two percent into both of
(22:14):
those stalks. I'm Tucker Silvan, that is Wall Street Watch,
and we gotta do trivia. Haven't done that yet, so
let's get to it. And we are ten days away
from Christmas, in case you didn't realize that, So let's
have a little run of Christmas movie trivia. In the
nineteen nineteen nineties Home Alone, Kevin McAllister is accidentally left
(22:34):
at home when his family leaves for a trip overseas.
Trivia question today, where did the mcallis family travel to
for Christmas? Once again, where did the McAllister family travel too?
For Christmas? Be the seventh person today to texts us
at six one seven three six two thirteen eighty five
(22:56):
with the correct answer along with the keyword trivia, and
you win a Finance Exchange Show T shirt. Once again,
the seventh correct response to text us to the number
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the correct answer along with the keyword trivia, we'll win
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Show dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
There's still time to maximize the zero percent capital gains
bracket for twenty twenty five. Here's what to know. That
is the headline from CNBC, and basically, here's the deal.
If you are a single filer with taxable income under
forty eight thousand, three hundred and fifty dollars this year,
or a married couple with taxable income under ninety six
(23:40):
seven hundred dollars this year, any capital gains that are
recognized as a portion of that, any net capital gains
you know, in excess of any losses realized, are taxed
at zero percent rate.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
There are, in my mind three groups of people who
I think are going to have a tough time understanding
how much lower their taxes are going to be when
they go to file in March One group is sixty
five year old plus couples that make less than one
hundred and fifty grand a year.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Two is tipped workers. Even though the limitations on the
tip deduction are not.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
They're not huge, but it's still a you know, a
decent sized chalk, especially if you're in that lower income
tax bracket. Three is workers with a lot of overtime
hours that may be eligible for that deduction. All of
them fall into that same income category. But I'm running
across it here and there where you know, folks who,
for instance, have some retirement accounts that they're not usually
(24:38):
living off of yet and mostly live off of their
Social Security might find themselves for the first time ever
paying literally zero taxes. And that sounds great until you
realize that, like, okay, I could go sell something that
I have at a gain or take money out of
my IRA that I would have otherwise had to pay
taxes on for literally zero time axes. There are those
(25:02):
opportunities that are out there right now. So they talk
about capital gains here, I'm focusing too on roth conversions
for some of these sure, right, Like, hey, I am
not really living off of a lot of this money.
I wasn't really planning on doing roth conversions because it
wasn't going to benefit me. Now it might because of
this additional deduction for sixty five year olds, and so
(25:22):
there is a new group of people that I think
it makes sense for them to consider this stuff that
wouldn't have made a whole lot of sense in previous years.
And it's just tough to identify if you fall into
that back. But that's why I try and bucket it is.
If you're in one of those categories, right, work a
lot of overtime work, a lot for tips are sixty
five year older, and of you know, even above moderate income,
(25:46):
right you can have one hundred and fifty grand an
income here and still get the big deduction. There could
be strategies for you to pay attention to when it
comes to your plan. There's fifteen days, sixteen days left
in the year to execute on some of these. If
you have questions about how they work, call us over
at Armstrong Advisory Group and ask your questions. No, we're
not CPAs, we don't provide tax advice. But these are
(26:09):
really the intersection of financial planning and long term tax planning,
and it is really important for your financial success. Give
the folks at Armstrong Advisory Group a call if you
fall into these categories.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
And want a little bit more information. The numbers eight
hundred three nine three for zero zero one.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
You can check us out book your time for us
to call you back at Armstrong Advisory dot com. But
that number once again, eight hundred three nine three for
zero zero one.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
Armstrong guide a specific financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult
your own financial, tax, and estate planning advisors before making
any investment decisions. Armstrong may contact you to offer investment
advisory services.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
We talk a lot about artificial intelligence and the jobs
that it may disrupt out of existence. Piece from the
Wall Street Journal today for new jobs that may be
in our AI future. That sounds kind of exciting. Number One,
we're gonna have to come up with better names for
these because the names they're not good. The explainer, Okay,
(27:18):
someone explained to me what the explainer does. So what
it's talking about here is it's talking about someone who
can explain.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
It's really tough to describe this role without using the
word in the description.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
It's basically what it's talking about is someone who understands
how artificial intelligence systems work so they can explain it
to other people at the company or outside of the
company who need to know why a certain decision was
made by the artificial intelligence system.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
So, for example, you are a healthcare company and your
AI system flags a bunch of records for looking into.
You need somebody that can understand and explain to the
board why did this AI system flag these accounts? Yes,
I'm sorry. Before we keep going through all these can
(28:09):
I share my recent my very recent AI story. Sure,
I have some plumbing work that needs to be done
in my house and I'd called a couple of places
and I couldn't get it figured out. Called a third
place that had previously done some plumbing work on my
company on my home. Picked up, human being picked up,
talked to them for about thirty seconds. It was not
(28:30):
until I described the problem that I was having that
I realized I was talking to an artificial intelligence About
thirty seconds into the call, they introduced themselves. There was
talking going on in the background. There was the sound
as though this was being done from the office of
this plumbing company that I kind of thought was pretty small,
described the problem, It repeated the problem back to me
(28:52):
and categorized in a slightly different way, told me the availability,
booked my appointment for today, confirmed the time slot, texted
me the confirmation. But again, this was a minute long call,
and I did not detect that I was on the
phone with an artificial intelligence until thirty seconds in.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
There was no disclosure. It was just you know, I.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Don't remember what they describe itself, but it described itself
as like Kenny or something like that from the plumbing company.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
How'd you feel after that?
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Impressed and betrayed? Right, It's like it's like that's pretty feelings.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
But man, like, what did I just do?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (29:27):
I mean here's what I landed with. I've called three
plumbing firms. This is the only one that booked me
an appointment and took my call and called me back.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
So good use of AI.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
But maybe, you know, I think my caveat would be
don't tell me your name is Ryan or whatever you
said your name was, and at some point you know, like, hey,
my name is Ryan, I'm an automated tool that helps
book appointments. I think that would make me feel less
betrayed and more impressed.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Next job, the chooser, AH a chooser. I've always wanted
to be chooser. I believe the choice is important in life.
But an AI chooser will help the company decide which
AI platform is best for the specific role.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
I've heard this described in certain ways in our own industry,
where like, hey, there are certain AI tools that are
really good and well trained on being creative. Those ones
sometimes suck at math. You don't want one that frequently
invents things and is un you know, unrealistic doing math equations,
And you don't want the one that's really good at
(30:32):
answering what's two plus two writing a movie script? Auditors
and cleaners, so people that check the output of the
AI to make sure that it's still working the way
it's supposed to. And the final one trainers basically trying
to figure out how to train basically how to use AI,
to train workers on how to use AI. So here's
(30:55):
here's the thing that I get to on all this,
This is not actually four different jobs. And what I
mean by these AI experts, there's one job, and quite honestly,
most of us, and I want to say most of
us look here's the deal.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
There are some people who are skilled with technology. There
are others who don't even today, Like there are some
people who like still think that, like searching for something
on Google is this mind blowing thing that they can't do.
And here is kind of where I land on this.
A lot of this stuff, as we get more experience
with it, is going to simply become second nature, the
(31:34):
same way a lot of technology is today. This idea
of like a chooser, who's going to, you know, pick
the right AI for specific use. Mike, if you are
trying to get information on a movie, you don't just
type it into Google. You go to IMDb and search
for it there because you already know. If you're trying
to get a quick and dirty summary of the Thirty
(31:56):
Years War, you're gonna click on the Wikipedia page for
it because you know that's going to give you the basics.
Your mind is trained to say, this is where I
need to go for this. And it's not because you're
employed as an Internet chooser. It's just that years of
experience on the Internet have gotten you to this point. Likewise,
with AI, as we all get more experience with it,
(32:19):
we will start to understand you know kind of where
to go as well. But I think it's important to
differentiate what's like a reliable long term job, which is, yeah,
like someone's got to manage the program and audit it
to make sure it's not being corrupted by inputs. But
do I need to hire someone and pay them sixty
(32:39):
thousand dollars a year so I can ask them which
AI program I use for what?
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Now?
Speaker 4 (32:43):
The one that I see having permanence here is the
auditor role, where yees, somebody's gonna have to be both
well versed in government government regulations as well as how
AI systems work, and be able to communicate those two
things between the parties. And so that's one where I see,
given how many industries, like financial services, like healthcare, like
(33:06):
government contracts want to use AI, there's going to be
a very valuable role there in somebody who can ensure
that these systems actually comply with the law for the
future Laws's.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Take a quick break when we come back, Stack Roulette.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
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Speaker 3 (34:48):
Mike, what do you have for me for stack Roulette?
Speaker 4 (34:52):
Scam of the week near times covering a retired lawyer
who lost eighty five thousand dollars from scammers in a
very common scam. Different slight flavor this time, and unfortunately.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
It kind of.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Hits at some of the talking points that we have
had on these types of scams before. But long story short,
eighty something year old having trouble with his new computer
sorry his new iPad, tried to find the number for
tech support by Googling it, which you know, again is
(35:30):
a usually pretty reliable way to do it, but except
the Google kind of sucks now well, and he just
went with the first number that popped up, rather than
clicking through a link and seeing, hey, am I actually
being directed to the right website and finding the right
contact US number.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Long story, isn't that a fraudulent website should be in
the top three on a search?
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Though?
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Agreed, Google screwed this up because I'm guessing he saw
an eight hundred number it was the first result in
Google and dialed that number immediately.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
And what did he get?
Speaker 4 (36:01):
A scammer who took over his devices was able to
then get into his password manager because probably it wasn't
password protected.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
If you haven't, it sounds like you just had a
list of passwords.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
Say just saved of passwords, so you know, tip for
those out there, if you have a list of passwords
or a password uh saver without password protection or two
step verification, then that's a no no long story short,
eighty five thousand dollars gets wired from his bank account
hours later, tries to recoup.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
It from City Bank.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
Citybank basically well allegations that they might not have done
enough here according to the individual, but nonetheless unable to
recover the funds.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
And I think some of us get a false.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Sense of security from the banks that they are going
to protect us in some way. And the answer is
that the bank is going to protect themselves, and so
you are responsible for protect this stuff.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
If if you.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
Are not one hundred percent comfortable operating on a computer
and being sure that you know what you're doing, I
don't know what advice to give other than you shouldn't
be doing it. And it's I'm not blaming the eighty
five year old who got screwed out of all this.
I think there's plenty of blame for Google as well
as Citibank, who apparently allowed the wire to go through.
(37:26):
But you have to protect yourself.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
First.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Interesting question, just that I want to pose. We often
talk about, hey, like have an emergency fund set aside,
and you want that in something like very safe like
a bank account. But obviously having large amounts of money
in a bank account makes you susceptible of this in
a way that keeping very little in a bank account
does not.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Yeah, what does.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
One like, I'm just trying to think through this and
like how to navigate that, because like the last thing
that you want to do is just like keep the
cash at home. It's not like if this is in
an investment account, it's inherently safer because you can send
wires from investment accounts too, And so I don't really
know any way that you can fully prevent this.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
The times that I've seen stuff like this get prevented
when it got pretty far down the road, was because
there was a additional account holder on the bank happened to.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
A client of mine who was over ninety.
Speaker 4 (38:22):
Fell for this type of scam, nearly walked away with
a wire, and the banker saw the joint account holders,
saw something suspicious and called that joint account holder. But
again here it doesn't look like city found anything suspicious
about all this, So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Let's take a break for the rest of the day.
Markets remain modestly negative. SMP off a few points, doalof sixty,
nasdak off sixty as well. It's not much movement today
on a Monday jobs report tomorrow. That's right, Jobs Tuesday.
We'll cover it and more tomorrow
The Financial Exchange is produced by Money Matters Radio and
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(01:05):
Zada and Mike Armstrong.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Chuck Mike Tucker with your kick and things off, and
we've got stocks trading down modestly today. We open the
day with major agencies up about a half percent, but
they could not hold those gains. And as we sit
here right now, the Dow is off fifty eight points,
the SMP is off four the NASDAG is off forty eight.
So again a modest moved down, continuing some weakness that
(01:33):
showed up at the back end of last week. Uh,
but overall, no major move in equity markets. Today. Ten
year Treasury is down three point three basis points to
four point one sixty three percent. Dollar Index is down
point two percent to ninety seven point eight three five.
Gold up twenty seven thirty an ounce to forty three
to fifty five and sixty cents, and crude oil down
(01:56):
sixty five cents a barrel to fifty six seven nine
and the trip a national average for gas prices continuing
to slide, which is music.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
To my ears.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
You know, I don't work in the oil industry, but
if you do, you might be, you know, not loving that.
But for the rest of us who don't, gas prices
down another four tenths of ascent overnight to two ninety
and six tenths of a cent. And so that is
what is moving in markets today. This is a busy
week for the second to last week of December. You've
(02:31):
got again payrolls, so you've got jobs report tomorrow, You've
got retail sales tomorrow. Wednesday is pretty quiet, but then
Thursday you've got CPI and jobbles claims, and then Friday
you've got existing home sales. So pretty jammed week with
domestic data out there. And so again, this could be
(02:54):
a little bit of a different week just because normally
job support has already been released two weeks ago. You know,
CPI usually is the week after this point, so that
would have been last week, and normally you get to
December fifteenth and it's like okay, like kick your feet up,
be ready for the holidays, Like not much happens. There
could be a little different tenor to how this week
(03:15):
plays out than what we normally get just because the
calendar is different.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
It's all I got. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Again, what we've been talking about all the last couple
of months has been the shifting narrative when it comes
to artificial intelligence, and I think It's hard to say
that anything has mattered to markets this year other than
artificial intelligence. Yes, there was trade concerns earlier this year
that cuts It did matter at the time, but when
you you know, we're midway through December. Now, when you
(03:45):
take a look back at what drove markets this year
now that we're here, there are a lot of different
stories in between, but now that we're here, it was
artificial intelligence and the spending that came along with it.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
So that is what we've got going on in markets overall.
Let's talk about this piece from Yahoo Finance. Housing affordability
may improve next year, but don't expect a market crash.
I tend to agree with that. This is not one
of those pieces that I look at and say, oh, like,
how did this end up, like you know, getting written,
No like this. This is something that I think very
(04:18):
much matches where I am right now from a housing perspective. Now, remember,
anyone who's listening, and you can hear us all over
the country. All real estate is very very local. So
if you're listening to us right now in you know,
southwest Florida, you're probably like man state marketing like that.
(04:40):
The real estate market is crashing here, like prices of
fall in fifteen to twenty percent. If you are listening
to us in Connecticut, where there are eight houses available
across the entire state, you're sitting there and you're going, yeah,
I could sell my house for anything I want right now.
If you are listening in Nashville, Tennessee, you're probably like, hey, this.
(05:00):
You know, market's fine, but you know it's it's not great,
it's not horrible, it's just it is what it is.
But where we are heading next year is a continued
inventory build that is going to have us back to
twenty nineteen twenty eighteen levels of inventory nationwide, but still
some big skews as far as what things look like regionally.
(05:21):
The Northeast and Midwest still will not be back to
pre pandemic levels of inventory, where much of the South
and through the West Coast will be in excess of that.
And so what this means is it's unlikely that you
end up with home prices, you know, in free fall nationwide,
just because again I know that's what happened in two
(05:44):
thousand and eight for very specific reasons. Those reasons are
not present now, and so I think that while there's
the potential for some modest downside in nationwide pricing, you know,
maybe like one to four percent nationwide price declines. Beyond that,
I don't think it's in the cards unless something hugely
unexpected hits.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
It would have to be pretty massive too, because there
is not likely to be the forced selling that you
get when you get an over leveraged real estate.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
That there has not been too much money pouring into
real estate, you know. It's the problems that we have
in the economy right now. Are not I borrowed too
much to buy a house and now we can't pay
it back in large numbers.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
When some people, when they get really nervous about the
economy and markets, they might dump their stock portfolio, that's
not what happens with real estate. No, when it comes
to your real estate, you do not dump it until
the bank takes it right like you know that that's
the reality with all of this, And so we do
talk a lot about or it's been a while, but
(06:47):
we haven't talked about the five d's of housing in
quite some time.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Diapers, diamonds, and death. But there's not.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Going to be There's almost no scenario, even with higher
unemployment that I see where we're looking at a full
on real estate housing market crash nationwide nationally right, like
you know, regional pockets are always different. But we just
I can't see a path even like in an extreme
scenario where we hit like seven percent unemployment. Can I
(07:17):
see a path where the real estate market looks like
it did in twenty eleven?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
My answers no, So I think that's kind of where
where we end up and sore. Where we need to
get to and where this will very likely end up
working out is probably in twenty seven, twenty eight, or
maybe early in twenty nine, you'll probably have affordability back
(07:42):
to where it was pre pandemic. Not prices, but affordability.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
What I mean by that is ages to payment.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yes, you're going to have maybe prices fall nationwide, you know,
one to three percent for the next couple of years,
while wages move up you know, two to four percent
a year for the next couple of years, and that
closes that ten to fifteen percent affordability gap that is
out there by most metrics. So the problem with this
(08:12):
in the interim is if home prices are coming down,
builders are not going to be able to build as much,
which means potentially layoffs in the construction industry, which means
historically a weaker US economy. And again, like the seeds
for this have have been sown over, you know, the
last five six years. This is not something we just
like woke up into and we're like, oh gee, this
(08:34):
is a problem. It's going to take a few years
to work through this, since it took half a decade
to get to this point. And so I think the
couple of questions that that I have on it are, Okay,
how does the US economy find an engine if housing
(08:54):
construction is going to be stagnant for the next couple
of years, and with that furthering our bet on the
AI development, right, it's kind of like, okay, like how
much you know AI can.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
You do with a lot of weight on the shoulders?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Because then the other piece is, look, there's a reason
why people say that housing leads the economy. It's because well,
historically housing leads the economy, and so if it's not,
what can pick up that mantle AI? Like, I'm not
saying it's going to fall apart, but I don't know
what fuel there is for like another inflection up. I'm
(09:29):
not saying it has to fall apart. But I just like,
I don't know what can accelerate the growth any faster
at this point domestically unless it decides that it wants
to do something to us.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Like, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Yeah, I hesitate to see it as well, But I
guess that's the very nature of sure new innovations and
technology is if it's going to truly surprise and impress,
and it's going to have to surprise and impress and require
even more data center and you tility construction.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I don't know what to say otherwise.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So like you kind of just look out at the
landscape and you go, Okay, it's gonna just be a
little bit challenging to navigate that because we've got to
let this excess pricing work through the system, and it's
probably not going to be the proximate cause of any
type of financial meltdown, but it's just gonna be kind
(10:24):
of a drag on the economy for a couple of
years while we navigate it. Let's take a quick break.
When we return, we are going to be joined by
Corey Adams from Robert Half talking about job hopping from
their twenty twenty six survey.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
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(11:04):
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Speaker 4 (11:33):
Join us now is Corey Adams from Robert Half talking
to us about their twenty twenty six job hopping survey.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Core thanks for coming on, appreciate us.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
Good morning, Mike, thanks for having me as always.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Well, we've got a jobs report that's going to be
released tomorrow, or technically two jobs reports, because we're getting
some of the October data as well, and the trend
recently has been towards a continued weakening in the labor market.
And that yet some of the fine in your survey
I found to be at least optimistic when it comes
(12:05):
to some workers' hopes to hop jobs in twenty twenty six.
So who did you talk to and what did you find?
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Sure?
Speaker 6 (12:10):
Yeah, well said it is an optimistic outlook. So we
spoke to a number of employees across the US over
the past few months, and what we found is that
nearly four and ten employed professionals actually planned to look
for a new job in the first half of twenty
twenty six, and optimistically speaking, this is up twenty seven
percent from July and twenty nine percent from one year ago. Now,
(12:33):
the top motivators for driving the job search plans included
Number one, a desire for better benefits. Number two was
they felt they had limited career advancement opportunities in their
current role. Third was competitive pay, and I feel like
anytime we talk about a motivator for a job move,
pay have to be involved. Then the fourth was burnout,
which we know has been somewhat prevalent for a number
(12:55):
of years now. And so the workers who are most
likely to launch a jobs in twenty twenty six was
first tech and healthcare workers for forty six percent of
the respondents, and then gen Z and working parents were
equal at forty two percent. And then the last key
binding which I thought was interesting, was the top job
search challenges for unemployed candidates, so they are as follow
(13:19):
as number one. They said that there are too many
applicants and too much competition for positions that they wanted
to apply for. They also said that's difficult to find
a job that matches their workplace preference, and for me,
that sort of feels like it's probably a conflict in
terms of the in office demand coupled with some inflexibility
around some scheduling there. And then the third challenge for
(13:40):
unemployed workers was that their skills didn't actually match requirements
for the jobs posted.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
A lot's been written about this year, you know, the
challenges for gen Z workers in particular looking looking for
those jobs, finding it's tough to come by as they
as they graduate college and head into a difficult labor market.
Was that a large portion of your irrespondence specifically in
the unemployed space, and are gen Z workers doing anything
(14:05):
differently right now as they search in a challenging entry
level job market.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
And it's interesting.
Speaker 6 (14:11):
I've had this conversation about gen Z a number of
times over the past few months, and I think that
population probably made up a healthy majority of the respondents.
But that's a unique section of the workforce because if
you think about sort of what they've been through over
the past couple of years, what they watched their parents
going through when they were younger, they've seen a lot.
(14:33):
And their drivers are unique because they are incredibly career
minded and driven and motivated. So you've got a portion
of population that's still trying to figure out what they're
going to do and probably still tory identify their either
their first job or their first promotion. But then you
have others who know everything they can to get their
foot in the door of the workplace and kind of
(14:54):
establish themselves so they can have a career. From just
a long term perspective.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
I know we're trying to to interpret the data here,
which is sometimes tough to do, but what do you
think the main reasons are for this uptick? Right? I mean,
could it be that you know, workers genuinely are feeling
more optimistic about the state of the labor market. Did
they just delay plans out of concerns for the labor
market throughout twenty twenty five And so these are just hey,
we put this stuff on ice for too long. I
(15:19):
mean you finally need to act on it or is
there some other force at work?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Sure?
Speaker 6 (15:23):
Well, first thing I would tell you was it is
that time of year where it feels like sure girls market,
end of the year comes around, people start thinking ahead.
This is part of the first thing that people are
thinking about is what's the next step for their career.
But you know, I think in addition to all the
top motivators that we identified through our research, I mean,
let's just be honest and call it what it was,
twenty twenty five was really just a year of staying put.
(15:45):
And so you know, many professionals, many of them, if
not most of them, actually just prioritize stability over anything else.
And so I think the research is just showing us
is that candidates and employees are starting to show some
signs of renewed confidents in an attempt and desire to
start exploring new opportunities for a number of different reasons.
(16:05):
And so you know, The other thing that's really important
to note is that we know right now and this
ties to gen Z and a lot of workers because
of what the past few years have been. But employees
are increasingly focused right now on career growth and development
opportunities because they have not been afforded to them for
a better part of twenty twenty four and a lot
of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Corey, If somebody is planning on kicking off a job
search in twenty twenty six, what are your top strategies
for them? What should they be focusing on today?
Speaker 6 (16:34):
Sure, I'll give you a few here, and I'll try
to be pretty quick with them, because there's a lot.
So first off, I would say, use your network former colleagues, families, friends,
I mean, the list goes on. This is a group
that can actually help get your resume in front of
decision makers, and that's ultimately what you're trying to do.
And so from there, you want to make sure that
you're building connections online as well as in person, which
(16:54):
you want to do with as much intention as possible.
And then amongst sort of the using your network, you
want to make sure that you are continuously nurturing your
network to keep your connections warm. And that's so important
because there's probably nothing worse in reaching out to someone
you haven't spoken within three years and asking for them
to put your resume in front of somebody. It's probably
not going to go too well. Second strategy is going
(17:15):
to be stay visible kind of ties in the first strategy,
but you want to share insights on platforms like LinkedIn,
whether you like things, whether you comment on industry posts
from people within your field, and in essence, you want
to interact digitally with others from your industry and have
the same career path as you. And so we basically
tell folks to think of it as another form of
(17:36):
networking and building your personal brand. Next strategy stay market
ready and level up your skills. In essence, here you
want to master basic technology workplace tools, you want to
gain AI fluency, and you want to practice with various
systems in softwares. And so it's not aboud idea to
even go and earn micro credentials that show that you've
mastered a skill and that you're staying current in this
(17:57):
fast changing job market. And then this is important to
you want to pay attention to the skills that employees
actually want in your field. And then once you identify them,
do you ever think you can sort of close that
skills gap? My last two for you number one, and
this goes back to our gen Z friends here, but
for new graduates as well as early career professionals, highlight internships,
part time jobs, and any sort of projects that actually
(18:17):
showcase and identify your passion in a particular error because
it's going to go a really long way. And then
the last strategy, and this is part of the most
important one because it's the most practical for what we're
seeing every single day in the job force. But if
you are using AI for job search prep, and most
people are, please do not overdo it's GENAI can actually
help polish resumes. It's especially great for catching spelling and
(18:40):
grammatical errors. But it's also important for professionals to edit
the output and ensure that the content reflects your unique experience.
And so more than ever, hiring managers are getting absolutely
flooded and inundated with AI generated resumes, So candidates should
prioritize in using their own voice and keeping that human element.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Adams from Robert Half talking to us about their job
hopping survey for twenty twenty six. Corey, really appreciate the
time and we'll chat with you in the new year.
Speaker 6 (19:07):
My pleasure happy all it is.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Taking a look around here at markets. We've got still
things lagging a bit, especially compared to where we were
in pre market trading, but Dow, SMP and NASDAC now
all slightly positive. We'll have a full market recap and more.
Next to the Financial Exchange.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Bringing the latest financial news straight to your radio every day,
It's the Financial Exchange on the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
We're proud to announce that circle K is now the
official convenience store of the DAV Department of Massachusetts. At
circle K, supporting those who bravely served our country isn't
just a commitment, heartfelt mission. Circle K is honored to
stand with the dav Department of Massachusetts to ensure that
veterans receive the care and recognition they deserve. If you'd
like to do your part, please visit DAVMA dot org.
(20:12):
Thank you for standing with circle K and the DAV
Department of Massachusetts, and thank you veterans for all you've done.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Time now for Wall Street watch a complete look at
what's moving markets so far today right here on the
Financial Exchange Radio network.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Markets are now mixed and mostly quiet after somewhat shoppy
morning as trader is a way to flurry of economic
data points due up this week, including the November jobs
report in October retail sales due out tomorrow morning, as
well as the November Consumer Price Index on Thursday morning.
Right now, the Dow is off only forty points, SMP
(20:51):
five hundred, dipping by two points, NASDAC down about a
quarter of a percent, or fifty four points. Rustly two
thousand is off a third of percent. Ten Your Treasure
reeled down two basis points at four point one seven
four percent, and crude oil down one point four percent,
trading a fifty six dollars and sixty five cents a barrel.
(21:13):
Rumba maker I Robot declared bankruptcy over the weekend, sending
shares in the company plunging seventy three percent. I Robot
said its customer service and app functionality will continue normally
during the restructuring. If you recall, a proposed sale to
Amazon fell through back in twenty twenty four due to
(21:33):
regulatory concerns. Meanwhile, space linked stocks including rocket Lab down
by six percent, an Echo star down or excuse me down.
Actually it's flat now at the moment, following reports that
SpaceX intends to go public in twenty twenty six after
notching an eight hundred billion dollar valuation in its latest
(21:54):
funding round. Elsewhere, US listed shares of Chinese e commerce
companies Out Bob and Bay Do It down about three
percent after data showed the Chinese economy is weakening, and
Goldman Sachs upgraded both Las Vegas Sands and Marriott International,
sending shares up by about two percent into both of
(22:14):
those stalks. I'm Tucker Silvan, that is Wall Street Watch,
and we gotta do trivia. Haven't done that yet, so
let's get to it. And we are ten days away
from Christmas, in case you didn't realize that, So let's
have a little run of Christmas movie trivia. In the
nineteen nineteen nineties Home Alone, Kevin McAllister is accidentally left
(22:34):
at home when his family leaves for a trip overseas.
Trivia question today, where did the mcallis family travel to
for Christmas? Once again, where did the McAllister family travel too?
For Christmas? Be the seventh person today to texts us
at six one seven three six two thirteen eighty five
(22:56):
with the correct answer along with the keyword trivia, and
you win a Finance Exchange Show T shirt. Once again,
the seventh correct response to text us to the number
six one seven three six two thirteen eighty five with
the correct answer along with the keyword trivia, we'll win
that T shirt. See complete contest rules at Financial Exchange
Show dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
There's still time to maximize the zero percent capital gains
bracket for twenty twenty five. Here's what to know. That
is the headline from CNBC, and basically, here's the deal.
If you are a single filer with taxable income under
forty eight thousand, three hundred and fifty dollars this year,
or a married couple with taxable income under ninety six
(23:40):
seven hundred dollars this year, any capital gains that are
recognized as a portion of that, any net capital gains
you know, in excess of any losses realized, are taxed
at zero percent rate.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
There are, in my mind three groups of people who
I think are going to have a tough time understanding
how much lower their taxes are going to be when
they go to file in March One group is sixty
five year old plus couples that make less than one
hundred and fifty grand a year.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Two is tipped workers. Even though the limitations on the
tip deduction are not.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
They're not huge, but it's still a you know, a
decent sized chalk, especially if you're in that lower income
tax bracket. Three is workers with a lot of overtime
hours that may be eligible for that deduction. All of
them fall into that same income category. But I'm running
across it here and there where you know, folks who,
for instance, have some retirement accounts that they're not usually
(24:38):
living off of yet and mostly live off of their
Social Security might find themselves for the first time ever
paying literally zero taxes. And that sounds great until you
realize that, like, okay, I could go sell something that
I have at a gain or take money out of
my IRA that I would have otherwise had to pay
taxes on for literally zero time axes. There are those
(25:02):
opportunities that are out there right now. So they talk
about capital gains here, I'm focusing too on roth conversions
for some of these sure, right, Like, hey, I am
not really living off of a lot of this money.
I wasn't really planning on doing roth conversions because it
wasn't going to benefit me. Now it might because of
this additional deduction for sixty five year olds, and so
(25:22):
there is a new group of people that I think
it makes sense for them to consider this stuff that
wouldn't have made a whole lot of sense in previous years.
And it's just tough to identify if you fall into
that back. But that's why I try and bucket it is.
If you're in one of those categories, right, work a
lot of overtime work, a lot for tips are sixty
five year older, and of you know, even above moderate income,
(25:46):
right you can have one hundred and fifty grand an
income here and still get the big deduction. There could
be strategies for you to pay attention to when it
comes to your plan. There's fifteen days, sixteen days left
in the year to execute on some of these. If
you have questions about how they work, call us over
at Armstrong Advisory Group and ask your questions. No, we're
not CPAs, we don't provide tax advice. But these are
(26:09):
really the intersection of financial planning and long term tax planning,
and it is really important for your financial success. Give
the folks at Armstrong Advisory Group a call if you
fall into these categories.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
And want a little bit more information. The numbers eight
hundred three nine three for zero zero one.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
You can check us out book your time for us
to call you back at Armstrong Advisory dot com. But
that number once again, eight hundred three nine three for
zero zero one.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
Armstrong guide a specific financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult
your own financial, tax, and estate planning advisors before making
any investment decisions. Armstrong may contact you to offer investment
advisory services.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
We talk a lot about artificial intelligence and the jobs
that it may disrupt out of existence. Piece from the
Wall Street Journal today for new jobs that may be
in our AI future. That sounds kind of exciting. Number One,
we're gonna have to come up with better names for
these because the names they're not good. The explainer, Okay,
(27:18):
someone explained to me what the explainer does. So what
it's talking about here is it's talking about someone who
can explain.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
It's really tough to describe this role without using the
word in the description.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
It's basically what it's talking about is someone who understands
how artificial intelligence systems work so they can explain it
to other people at the company or outside of the
company who need to know why a certain decision was
made by the artificial intelligence system.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
So, for example, you are a healthcare company and your
AI system flags a bunch of records for looking into.
You need somebody that can understand and explain to the
board why did this AI system flag these accounts? Yes,
I'm sorry. Before we keep going through all these can
(28:09):
I share my recent my very recent AI story. Sure,
I have some plumbing work that needs to be done
in my house and I'd called a couple of places
and I couldn't get it figured out. Called a third
place that had previously done some plumbing work on my
company on my home. Picked up, human being picked up,
talked to them for about thirty seconds. It was not
(28:30):
until I described the problem that I was having that
I realized I was talking to an artificial intelligence About
thirty seconds into the call, they introduced themselves. There was
talking going on in the background. There was the sound
as though this was being done from the office of
this plumbing company that I kind of thought was pretty small,
described the problem, It repeated the problem back to me
(28:52):
and categorized in a slightly different way, told me the availability,
booked my appointment for today, confirmed the time slot, texted
me the confirmation. But again, this was a minute long call,
and I did not detect that I was on the
phone with an artificial intelligence until thirty seconds in.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
There was no disclosure. It was just you know, I.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Don't remember what they describe itself, but it described itself
as like Kenny or something like that from the plumbing company.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
How'd you feel after that?
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Impressed and betrayed? Right, It's like it's like that's pretty feelings.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
But man, like, what did I just do?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (29:27):
I mean here's what I landed with. I've called three
plumbing firms. This is the only one that booked me
an appointment and took my call and called me back.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
So good use of AI.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
But maybe, you know, I think my caveat would be
don't tell me your name is Ryan or whatever you
said your name was, and at some point you know, like, hey,
my name is Ryan, I'm an automated tool that helps
book appointments. I think that would make me feel less
betrayed and more impressed.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Next job, the chooser, AH a chooser. I've always wanted
to be chooser. I believe the choice is important in life.
But an AI chooser will help the company decide which
AI platform is best for the specific role.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
I've heard this described in certain ways in our own industry,
where like, hey, there are certain AI tools that are
really good and well trained on being creative. Those ones
sometimes suck at math. You don't want one that frequently
invents things and is un you know, unrealistic doing math equations,
And you don't want the one that's really good at
(30:32):
answering what's two plus two writing a movie script? Auditors
and cleaners, so people that check the output of the
AI to make sure that it's still working the way
it's supposed to. And the final one trainers basically trying
to figure out how to train basically how to use AI,
to train workers on how to use AI. So here's
(30:55):
here's the thing that I get to on all this,
This is not actually four different jobs. And what I
mean by these AI experts, there's one job, and quite honestly,
most of us, and I want to say most of
us look here's the deal.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
There are some people who are skilled with technology. There
are others who don't even today, Like there are some
people who like still think that, like searching for something
on Google is this mind blowing thing that they can't do.
And here is kind of where I land on this.
A lot of this stuff, as we get more experience
with it, is going to simply become second nature, the
(31:34):
same way a lot of technology is today. This idea
of like a chooser, who's going to, you know, pick
the right AI for specific use. Mike, if you are
trying to get information on a movie, you don't just
type it into Google. You go to IMDb and search
for it there because you already know. If you're trying
to get a quick and dirty summary of the Thirty
(31:56):
Years War, you're gonna click on the Wikipedia page for
it because you know that's going to give you the basics.
Your mind is trained to say, this is where I
need to go for this. And it's not because you're
employed as an Internet chooser. It's just that years of
experience on the Internet have gotten you to this point. Likewise,
with AI, as we all get more experience with it,
(32:19):
we will start to understand you know kind of where
to go as well. But I think it's important to
differentiate what's like a reliable long term job, which is, yeah,
like someone's got to manage the program and audit it
to make sure it's not being corrupted by inputs. But
do I need to hire someone and pay them sixty
(32:39):
thousand dollars a year so I can ask them which
AI program I use for what?
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Now?
Speaker 4 (32:43):
The one that I see having permanence here is the
auditor role, where yees, somebody's gonna have to be both
well versed in government government regulations as well as how
AI systems work, and be able to communicate those two
things between the parties. And so that's one where I see,
given how many industries, like financial services, like healthcare, like
(33:06):
government contracts want to use AI, there's going to be
a very valuable role there in somebody who can ensure
that these systems actually comply with the law for the
future Laws's.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Take a quick break when we come back, Stack Roulette.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
The Financial Exchange streams live on YouTube. Subscribe to our
page and stay up to date on breaking business news.
All morning. Long Face is the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
The Financial Exchange is now available every day from eleven
to noon Non Serious XMS Business Radio Channel one thirty two.
Stay informed about the latest from Wall Street, fiscal policy,
(33:38):
and breaking business news. Every day. The Financial Exchange is
life on Serious XM's Business Radio Channel one thirty two.
This is the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
This segment of the Financial Exchange is brought to you
by the US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism. There's still
time to book your holiday vacation to Saint Croix, Saint Thomas,
or Saint John. Enjoy one or all three in f
v act fast you could be in San Croix two.
Experience there Crucian Christmas Festival taking place December through early January.
Discover the magic of this long standing tradition with incredible food,
(34:13):
music and entertainment. Or just go soak up the sun,
stroll along white sand beaches and feel the rhythm of
the Harpy of the Islands. The USVII is America's Caribbean paradise.
Playing your winter escape at visit USVII dot com. That's
visit USVII dot com. Trivia question today was where did
the McAllister family travel to for Christmas? In home alone?
(34:35):
That would be Paris. Robert in Newport, New Hampshire is
a winner today taking home a Financial Exchange Show t
shirt and we play trivia every day here in the
Financial Exchange See complete contest rules at Financial Exchange Show
dot com.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Mike, what do you have for me for stack Roulette?
Speaker 4 (34:52):
Scam of the week near times covering a retired lawyer
who lost eighty five thousand dollars from scammers in a
very common scam. Different slight flavor this time, and unfortunately.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
It kind of.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Hits at some of the talking points that we have
had on these types of scams before. But long story short,
eighty something year old having trouble with his new computer
sorry his new iPad, tried to find the number for
tech support by Googling it, which you know, again is
(35:30):
a usually pretty reliable way to do it, but except
the Google kind of sucks now well, and he just
went with the first number that popped up, rather than
clicking through a link and seeing, hey, am I actually
being directed to the right website and finding the right
contact US number.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Long story, isn't that a fraudulent website should be in
the top three on a search?
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Though?
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Agreed, Google screwed this up because I'm guessing he saw
an eight hundred number it was the first result in
Google and dialed that number immediately.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
And what did he get?
Speaker 4 (36:01):
A scammer who took over his devices was able to
then get into his password manager because probably it wasn't
password protected.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
If you haven't, it sounds like you just had a
list of passwords.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
Say just saved of passwords, so you know, tip for
those out there, if you have a list of passwords
or a password uh saver without password protection or two
step verification, then that's a no no long story short,
eighty five thousand dollars gets wired from his bank account
hours later, tries to recoup.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
It from City Bank.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
Citybank basically well allegations that they might not have done
enough here according to the individual, but nonetheless unable to
recover the funds.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
And I think some of us get a false.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Sense of security from the banks that they are going
to protect us in some way. And the answer is
that the bank is going to protect themselves, and so
you are responsible for protect this stuff.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
If if you.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
Are not one hundred percent comfortable operating on a computer
and being sure that you know what you're doing, I
don't know what advice to give other than you shouldn't
be doing it. And it's I'm not blaming the eighty
five year old who got screwed out of all this.
I think there's plenty of blame for Google as well
as Citibank, who apparently allowed the wire to go through.
(37:26):
But you have to protect yourself.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
First.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Interesting question, just that I want to pose. We often
talk about, hey, like have an emergency fund set aside,
and you want that in something like very safe like
a bank account. But obviously having large amounts of money
in a bank account makes you susceptible of this in
a way that keeping very little in a bank account
does not.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Yeah, what does.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
One like, I'm just trying to think through this and
like how to navigate that, because like the last thing
that you want to do is just like keep the
cash at home. It's not like if this is in
an investment account, it's inherently safer because you can send
wires from investment accounts too, And so I don't really
know any way that you can fully prevent this.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
The times that I've seen stuff like this get prevented
when it got pretty far down the road, was because
there was a additional account holder on the bank happened to.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
A client of mine who was over ninety.
Speaker 4 (38:22):
Fell for this type of scam, nearly walked away with
a wire, and the banker saw the joint account holders,
saw something suspicious and called that joint account holder. But
again here it doesn't look like city found anything suspicious
about all this, So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Let's take a break for the rest of the day.
Markets remain modestly negative. SMP off a few points, doalof sixty,
nasdak off sixty as well. It's not much movement today
on a Monday jobs report tomorrow. That's right, Jobs Tuesday.
We'll cover it and more tomorrow
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