How much will EV car makers lose in credits?

The nations Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards are still in place; however, penalties for violating those standards have been removed. So obviously there’s no incentive for any car maker to abide by them. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is focusing on standards to try to make cars more affordable again. But the big EV car makers, I will call them the big three which are Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid will have some difficulties. The credits were tradable and the EV car makers were making a lot of money selling the credits to car makers who were not meeting the required standards. Tesla will probably be OK, but I think their stock could be…

Stay away from interval funds!

I have been seeing more of these interval funds when we take over accounts for new clients and let me tell you I am not a fan of them. They appear to be normal mutual funds, but when you go to sell them, you find out you can only sell once per quarter. The other problem is when you enter the sell, the next day you realize you still own shares in the fund. The reason for that is product’s unique structure typically allows investors to…

ESPN just launched a new streaming product and I’m more confused than ever!

I like streaming because it gives more flexibility in choosing what you want to watch, but gosh there are so many different apps and so many different bundles to choose from now. I believe it has just gotten more and more confusing and companies seem to keep increasing the prices for their services. Just this year Netflix increased their prices for various tiers, but the…

Financial Planning: Form SSA-44 to Reduce Medicare Premiums

When you retire, your income often drops significantly, but Medicare bases its Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) on your tax return from two years prior when you may have been earning much more. This can result in unnecessarily high Medicare premiums at the start of retirement. For example, in 2025, a married couple with income above $212,000 begins to trigger IRMAA increasing premiums by $1,000 to over $6,000 per person per year depending on how high the income is. If that couple retires and their income falls to less than $212,000, they would still be charged the…

Companies Discussed: Ventas, Inc. (VTR), KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc. (KLC), C3.ai, Inc. (AI) & Brinker International, Inc. (EAT)

Unfortunately, more Americans are using their 401(k)’s for financial emergencies

I’m sure some will disagree with me based on the headlines arguing they were so happy that they had their 401(k) to tap for whatever their financial emergency was. In my opinion, people are thinking short term and not thinking about the long-term crisis when they retire in 20 or 30 years and then might be living at the poverty level because their 401(k) was not large enough to generate a decent income and social security was far less than they thought. I also want people to understand based on how fast medical technology is moving, in 20 to 30 years you may be spending more time in retirement than the 20 years or so that you were thinking. The numbers are frightening when I look at them and I have wished many times that the 401(k) would eliminate…

Inflation report shows some positives and some negatives

The July Consumer Price Index, also known as CPI, showed an annual increase of 2.7%, which was in line with June’s reading and below the expectation of 2.8%. The headline number was helped by energy, which showed an annual decline of 1.6%, largely thanks to a decline of 9.5% for gasoline. Energy services on the other hand were not as favorable considering an increase of 5.5% for electricity and 13.8% for utility (piped) gas service. I do wonder if the power demand for these large data centers is starting to put a strain on the grid and I worry this could become…

What does the national debt surpassing $37 trillion mean for you?

On Tuesday, August 12th, the United States national debt passed $37 trillion for the first time ever. The debt is growing at about $6 billion per day, but that appears to be better than last year. In July 2024, the national debt passed $35 trillion and then in November 2024 it surpassed $36 trillion. Looking for some positives here, it did take nine months for the debt to grow another $1 trillion to the $37 trillion mark. At the end of the second quarter, debt to GDP stood at 119.4%, which is manageable but should not go much higher. Hopefully we can have a slowdown in debt expansion or maybe even a reversal and still have the GDP increase. The reason…

Financial Planning: Changes Coming to Charitable Giving

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed on July 4, 2025, delivers some new changes coming to how charitable giving may be deducted. For the first time since the pandemic-era CARES Act, those who claim the standard deduction will be able to deduct cash donations up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for joint filers. This will act as an above-the-line deduction in addition to the standard deduction. For itemizers, however, the law…

Companies Discussed: Intel Corporation (INTC), UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH), Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NXST) & Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (BLMN)

Will the stock market crash?

With the market continuing to march higher and setting record high after record high, I do worry more and more that a crash could be coming. It doesn’t mean it will happen tomorrow, next week, or maybe even this year, but I do believe the risk to reward of investing in the S&P 500 at this point is not favorable when you take all the data into consideration. I have talked a lot about the fact that the top 10 companies now account for nearly 40% of the entire index and the forward P/E multiple of around 22x is well above the 30-year average of 17x, but there are also less discussed factors that are quite concerning. There is something called the Buffett Indicator that looks at the total US stock market value compared to US GDP. Buffet even…

Consumers are doing a better job managing their credit card debt

Data released by Truist Bank analysts show that card holders of both higher and lower scores are doing a better job paying their bills on time. This is based on a drop in the rate of late payments from last quarter. Also improving is debt servicing payments as a percent of consumers disposable personal income. The first quarter shows debt-servicing payments were roughly 11% of disposable income, which is a strong ratio to see considering that level is below what was typical before the start of 2020 and it’s far below the 15%-plus levels that were seen leading up to the Great Recession in 2008. According to Fed data, card loan growth was only 3% year over a year…

Real estate investors may be supporting the real estate market.

This may sound like a good thing, but this could be dangerous long-term since investors don’t live at the property. It would be far easier for them to default on the mortgage and let the house go into foreclosure or sell at a price well below market value just to get their investment back. So far in 2025 investors have accounted for roughly 30% of sales of both existing and newly built homes, which is the highest share on record. This is according to property analytics firm…

Financial Planning: When and How a Refinance is Helpful

After several years of elevated mortgage rates, steady declines have made more homeowners candidates for refinancing, but a smart decision requires looking beyond the headline interest rate. The first question is whether the refinance actually reduces the rate, and if so, what third-party closing costs and discount points are involved. Every mortgage carries these costs, and paying points may not make sense if rates are expected to fall further and another refinance could be on the horizon, especially since few 30-year mortgages last their full term before a sale or another refi. The structure of the new loan also matters: should costs be paid upfront or rolled into the loan balance, and how long will the loan likely be kept? The real goal is to borrow at the lowest overall cost over the life of the loan, factoring in both the rate and the cost to obtain it. A lower rate and payment may feel like a win, but without careful structuring, it may not be the most cost-effective move, something mortgage brokers often overlook…

Companies Discussed: Carrier Global Corporation (CARR), Polaris Inc. (PII) & Align Technology, Inc. (ALGN)