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Fed To Raise Interest Rates

March 10, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

FINALLY! – That’s what your average Federal Reserve Board member is thinking on this fine Friday. The Fed has been almost dying to raise interest rates for over a year now. They projected in December 2015 that there would be multiple rate hikes coming in 2016, but it seemed every time they got ready to raise rates, some economic shakeup would pop up and force them to wait. Until, finally, in December of 2016, they got to raise interest rates, but only once. Interest Rates in 2017 The Fed did just get a rate hike a few months ago, but it wants more. It needs more. No one is really sure why, since the supposed target of 2.0% for inflation is still not being hit. See my review of Acorns app. But, today’s job report shows a lower unemployment rate, and an economy that added 235,000 jobs. Even bigger news is wages rose 6 cents in February, after rising 5 cents in January, which means that the labor market is finally, after years of sluggish, iffy growth, on solid ground. And so… the Rate Hike cometh! Futures markets are pricing in a near 90% certainty of an interest rate hike next …

Is Snap a Good Investment?

March 7, 2017March 2, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

Today was the IPO for Snap, Inc., the company that makes Snapchat. As one of those people who doesn’t “get” Snapchat I won’t be analyzing the product or what makes it special. Instead, I’m going to take a quick look at the reality of the financials and let you figure those other parts out for yourself. Snap IPO All IPOs are fairly ridiculous when it comes to pricing, subscribing, and issuing shares. They get doubly so when the company going public is famous enough to attract the type of people who don’t usually buy IPO shares, and in fact, those that actually have no idea how it is done. In these cases, one often sees a huge “pop” in the stock price. Keep in mind that as an individual investor without an established relationship with one of the companies underwriting the IPO you cannot get the IPO price at all. Instead, you could theoretically get the “open” price. So, here is how it works. Established customers got the opportunity to buy into SNAP for the IPO price of $17 per share. Regular investors got their first chance to buy at the open price of $23.71. The stock is now (around …

What To Do If You Win $400 Million Powerball

February 22, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

There are Powerball jackpots, and then there are POWERBALL JACKPOTS. Tonight’s Powerball jackpot is at $403 million (annuity), and $243.9 million (cash), which according to news reports is the 10th largest jackpot of all time. Every wonder what you should do if you win Powerball? The truth is that with a jackpot this large, you’d have to mess up pretty bad for it to be much of an issue. Smaller jackpots can be trickier, if you are trying to live the rest of your life without ever having to work again, AND live a larger than life lifestyle. Choose Annuity or Cash There are two options to choose from if you win the Powerball jackpot. Contrary to popular belief, the value of both choices is the same. The actual jackpot is $243.9 million in both cases. However, if you choose the annuity, the lottery invests that $243.9 million on your behalf, and then sends you 30 checks over the next 29 years. The difference between the announced annuity amount is nothing more than the interest that builds up over those 29 years of payouts. Hypothetically speaking, if you were able to invest the money in the same way that the lottery …

Experian Free Review – Scam, Legit, Worth It?

February 16, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

Did you see commercials for a free credit service from Experian. They do something clever in that they de-emphasize the free credit score idea and instead play up the concept that “credit is a skill” rather than a number. This is actually true advice, even if it isn’t what most people are looking for. This new push is undoubtedly a response to the growing number of free credit score services out there like Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, and WalletHub. Keep in mind there is no Experian free credit score offering, but we’ll get to that in a minute. This is also not the same thing as getting your annual free credit report that is required by federal law. Free Experian Credit Report Not Free Experian Credit Score Is Experian a scam? There are plenty of unsavory things about Experian’s business, but at least they are not some new free credit report, or free credit score business. Experian is one of the three major credit bureaus, and they have been around for a long time. If you have ever had a credit card, mortgage, car loan, or personal loan, chances are, they already have a report on you with all of your information. …

Apple Stock High Again

November 9, 2021February 14, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

February 14, 2017 Apple stock price hit an all new high. Yea! Cue the people who know me rushing to ask me if I should invest in Apple stock. I’ve written about this before, of course. I also wrote about that Apple earnings miss that made everyone freak out a while back. I took a look and saw that I wrote an Amazon stock vs Apple stock article. I’ll have to re-read that when I get a chance and see if I was right 🙂 As was the case when I wrote those finance articles about Apple, the reality is that there isn’t much different about Apple stock today, that wasn’t also true yesterday, and a month ago. So, just because there is a BIG NEWS story today shouldn’t change your investing strategy. Keep in mind, that this all new high isn’t the result of FINALLY breaking through a long losing streak. The last all-time high for Apple stock was back in 2015. It’s been a few years, but it’s not like this is a long suffering stock, or anything. Is Apple a Buy Here? For years, betting against Apple has been a sucker’s bet. The company seemingly could do …

Market Review

February 12, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

Another up week for stocks in the week that ended February 10th. The Dow is still up over 20,000, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq all finished up nicely as well. One big stock in the news was Sears, which has yet another restructuring plan, but having sold off most of its best assets, is it just delaying the inevitable? With little news scheduled on tap for the coming week, stocks will likely drift along with whatever the headline of the day is. Time to start thinking about taxes.

Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard Review

February 2, 2017February 1, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

The folks at Barclay Card are nothing if not persistent. A buddy of mine is overseas. I picked up his mail, and there are at least a dozen Barclaycard MasterCard mailers in here. It got me wondering, is the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard good or is the Barclaycard MasterCard a waste of money? Without further ado, here is the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard review. Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard Reviews The Barclayscard MasterCard rewards card is issued by Barclays Bank Delaware. Barclays Bank Deleware was originally Juniper Bank, but was bought by big British bank Barclays in 2004. There is no actual bank, it only issues credit cards in the U.S. In addition to the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard, the bank issues co-branded cards, such as an American Airlines credit card, the JetBlue credit card, and a Priceline.com rewards card. As always, different customers can get different terms and conditions for the same cards, but in this case, it looks the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard is setup as a points rewards credit card. For every $1 you spend on gas, utility, and grocery stores, you earn 2 point. Note, that Target and Walmart are specifically excluded as grocery stores for the purposes of 2x points. Then, …

Dow 20,000

January 25, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

This post will not be long, and there won’t be much analysis. Why? Because, the Dow hitting 20,000, or Dow 20K, as some like to say, is not that important. The reality is that Dow 19,823 is not really any different than Dow 20,107. Round numbers are not magic. So, what’s the big deal? Why Does Dow 20K Matter? I’ve noticed an increasing number of financial publications describing the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting 20,000 as a “psychologically important” milestone. In other words, it matters for really cool newspaper headlines and not much else. Remember, the Dow is just 30 stocks. Those 30 stocks are all large, U.S. companies, and they change them from time to time for numerous reasons, including when that stock just isn’t very good anymore. In other words, it isn’t really representative of much of anything. But, like a fake credit score from Credit Karma or the like, it is a useful way of getting a general idea of whether stocks are going up or down, and to a lesser extent, by how much. This is why the news often states, “The Dow was up 50 points today…” It’s a quick, no effort, way to say …

Retail Stocks and 2017

January 5, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

Wheee! Well, looks like 2017 is going to be a lot of fun, and by fun, I mean volatile and sketchy all the way through. First up, are announcements by retail stocks such as Macy’s and Sears, both of whom announced that they would be cutting staff and closing stores. Kohls also announced sluggish holiday sales. That means that the 2016 holiday shopping season was not strong enough for a lot of traditional retailers. Look for earnings on the low side, that disappoint Wall Street for most retail stocks. This is a big deal, because this was supposed to be the “up” year for the economy. The stock market is up, closing in on 20,000. Job reports show that unemployment is as low as it’s been since before the Great Recession. The Fed even finally got to raise interest rates in December. If this holiday season wasn’t good, then things maybe aren’t going as well as everyone might have hoped. Of course, it is possible that there was still plenty of consumer spending and it just went different places like online retailers, or specialty stores, but so far, no one is pushing that theory. Trump, The Fed, Inflation and a …

2017 Finances and Money Issues

January 3, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

Welcome to 2017! Relax. Take a deep breath. There. Feel better? Good. Then let’s jump in. Finances Updated in 2017 With a new year, come some new numbers. There will be updates to the maximum 401k contributions, income limits for Roth IRAs, and others. Plus, there will be adjustments to the 2017 income tax brackets, the 2017 standard tax deduction, and more. And, of course, there is a new IRS mileage rate for 2017 as well. What about 529 plans? There aren’t a lot of updates to those numbers each year, primarily because most facets of 529 college savings plans are administered through the states, who aren’t always as keen on changing and updating everything. You’ll want to re-evaluate your financial plan for the new year, and you’ll want to review how your financial plan did in 2016. Plus, you’ll want to rebalance your portfolio, if you didn’t do it at the end of 2016. Retirement Plans 2017 A big part of most retirement plans are tax-advantaged savings accounts like your 401k plan, IRA accounts, and, for some of you, 457 plans, 403(b) plans, and various differed compensation plans. All of those need adjusted and reviewed for 2017 as well. …