Legacy Investing & Wealth Management Market Mondays – 2/6/17

Happy Monday!

My blog brought to you by Legacy Investing & Wealth Management gives you a quick and easy read focusing on stock market education, empowering the newer investor as well as giving you the most recent stock market analysis. For more information including past blogs please go to www.LegacyInvesting.net; look for the Market Mondays tab under “The Legacy” for all blogs.

Saving money is one of the wealth pledges you can find on my website under “The Legacy” tab and what I feel led to discuss today. Now more than ever, saving money is especially important if you want to build wealth. There is a new Administration and trust me, the middle and lower classes will not benefit from the new policies Trump is planning on implementing. First, making all things “American”, implies less overseas trade of cheap foreign goods and services which will drive up the cost for just about everything, creating inflation. Inflation simply means it will cost more to purchase things you consume. Second on his agenda is cutting taxes for the wealthy as well as business taxes. None of us fully know the President’s ever evolving platform but we do know his intent on slashing government programs. This will be devastating for our communities creating more poverty than what we experience today. This Ronald Reagan style “trickle-down economics” didn’t work before and it’s not going to work today. The more money that is given to the wealthy, the more money they keep. This wealth doesn’t spread or flow into the economy as one would think. However, it’s been proven time and time again that stimulus given directly to the middle and lower classes flows right into the economy and expands the middle class.

Many of us do not have a money cushion to refer to in case of hard times nor any consideration for retirement. That is one reason why debt has gotten so out of control, and disproportionately in the Black community. Did you know Whites are about 16x wealthier than Blacks?! According to a recent Forbes study, a typical White household is worth $111,146 while a Black household has $7,113 in wealth! Again, we don’t know how policy will unfold but entitlement programs (i.e Social Security, Medicare, etc.) may be cut or even eventually phased out which is why saving money and investing now is absolutely imperative.

I don’t just preach this stuff and not do it myself which is why during these uncertain times I’ve even taken measures to cut our own spending, focusing on saving more and creating multiple streams of income. Worrying about how I’m going to make ends meet is not something I’m going to deal with as I get older; so taking steps now is vitally important!

Roughly 2239 was where the S&P 500 ended the year in 2016 and we are up about 2.5% (2293 as of the mid-day). We have been in a consolidation pattern since mid-December, meaning we are trading sideways in a fairly narrow range. The rally that started Election Day has stalled and the market is waiting on another reason to go either higher or lower. We may have a small correction which could be around 5% but due to our current political landscape, I think the general direction of the stock market will be higher over the next few years. That is given this Administration doesn’t get us into big trouble.

A few trades that have been working out are stocks in Industrials, Banking, Technology, Emerging Markets, and even Gold, Copper and other materials. They should continue to work in this environment and I would be buying them when the stock market pulls back. As everything changed when Trump was elected, be careful on Gold since inflation and uncertainty concerns are the only real reason this has been rising. Rising interest rates and stock market prices as well as a rising dollar are the reasons Gold investors should be careful.

Please visit our website at www.LegacyInvesting.net and contact us today for a FREE consultation on becoming financially fit and learning how to make money investing in the stock market. You can make money in ANY type of market (bull or bear). When we meet I’ll give you more information about our services and find out what your financial goals are. If I can help you, we can move forward; if not, no problem but I’m always just a phone call away from any questions or quick advice you want. Get your finances in shape this year! Let’s connect and build generational wealth together.

Disclaimer – Legacy Investing & Wealth Management LLC or any of its advisers are not liable in any way for any losses incurred through trading by readers of this weekly blog. Any information or strategies of trading suggested here involve risk of capital loss and this weekly blog is not considered investment advice. Individuals who invest in securities are solely and completely responsible for any and every outcome that may occur.

Legacy Investing & Wealth Management Market Mondays – 1/2/17

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you had a spectacular holiday season and I wish you all the best as we begin a new year. My blog brought to you by Legacy Investing & Wealth Management gives you a quick and easy read focusing on stock market education, empowering the newer investor as well as giving you the most recent stock market analysis. For more information including past blogs please go to www.LegacyInvesting.net; look for the Market Mondays tab under “The Legacy” for all blogs.

Since it’s a new year I want to start with talking about cleaning up your credit or establishing credit and preparing for investments or major purchases in your future. If you have really bad credit and are thinking about hiring a credit restoration company, do your research on them. I discussed this in a prior blog but personally, I do not recommend it. There are lots of things you can do yourself to improve your credit rating without paying someone else to do it for you. If you don’t already check your credit annually, go to www.annualcreditreport.com and see what creditors are reporting about you. Anything that is inaccurate needs to be disputed and removed as soon as possible. The creditor has 30 days to look into your claim and if they do not respond then it can come off your credit report, which will start increasing your credit score. Repossessions, bankruptcies and foreclosures have a specific time limit they can be on your credit report so make sure you check the statute of limitations. Sorry y’all but the student loans do not come off…ever, until they are paid off.

If you don’t have much credit but are renting, make sure your rent payment history is being reported to the credit bureaus. If it’s not here is a link with more information on making sure it is being tracked – www.experian.com/rentbureau. If you’re paying your rent on time this should absolutely be reported which helps you in the long run. They say credit cards are the devil and that can be true if you have no discipline but having at least one or two can help you significantly increase your credit score. Build your credit score by keeping low credit card balances and paying them off completely every month. This helps you avoid finance charges and allows the monthly reporting about you to be a credit score booster. Finally, make sure you have at least several utilities or other bills in your name that you are consistently paying on time. For the older kids still at home, teach them about credit early and transfer that phone out of your name to theirs. Start making them responsible for making their payments on time and they will be simultaneously building good credit.

The last blog I wrote was the day before the US General Election and the media as well as the majority of us thought Hillary Clinton would be our next President. As we got the surprise of our lives, the Dow quickly dropped over 800 points but staged a stunning recovery and rally the next day which continued through the end of the year.

A Trump victory was believed to be supportive of a recession but a Republican run House AND Senate was not factored in so the uncertainty around more gridlock and business-friendly policies subsided. This is the reason the stock market rallied so heavily and it may continue in 2017 as tax cuts and aggressive fiscal policies become reality. In essence, a recession will happen at some point but it doesn’t appear as likely as it did before the election. Economic expansion is likely to continue for now as employment is at multi-year highs, wage growth is appearing to be on the rise, the housing market and corporate profits are strong, and US GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is expected to increase due to big corporate tax cuts and heavy infrastructure spending by the new administration. This could continue for some time before growth begins slowing and the stock market starts falling.

I attached a monthly chart of the S&P 500 performance since the Great Recession with trend lines drawn to show areas of support and resistance. I’ll talk more about that in future blogs but for now support is the bottom red line and resistance is the top line. Our current situation is at the far right side where we are in the middle of these trend lines. We have some room to go either to the upside or downside but any selling we have should be fairly brief as we keep moving higher. This is of course given we don’t have some major catastrophe to deal with.

I added some notes on this chart with areas where investors would have made serious money buying and selling the market. This is an example of technical analysis which we will talk more about later. Trend lines and moving averages are just a few of the technical indicators I use when buying and selling the stock market.

Please visit our website at www.LegacyInvesting.net and contact us today for a FREE consultation on becoming financially fit and learning how to make money investing in the stock market. You can make money in ANY type of market (bull or bear). When we meet I’ll give you more information about our services and find out what your financial goals are. If I can help you, we can move forward; if not, no problem but I’m always just a phone call away from any questions or quick advice you want. Get your finances in shape for the New Year. Let’s connect and build generational wealth together.

Disclaimer – Legacy Investing & Wealth Management LLC or any of its advisers are not liable in any way for any losses incurred through trading by readers of this weekly blog. Any information or strategies of trading suggested here involve risk of capital loss and this weekly blog is not considered investment advice. Individuals who invest in securities are solely and completely responsible for any and every outcome that may occur.

Legacy Investing & Wealth Management Market Mondays – 11/7/16

Happy Monday everyone!

Market Mondays, brought to you by Legacy Investing & Wealth Management is a blog giving you a quick and easy read focusing on stock market education, empowering the newer investor as well as giving you the most recent stock market analysis.  For more information including past blogs please go to www.LegacyInvesting.net; look for the Market Mondays tab under “The Legacy” for all blogs.

First things first, PLEASE VOTE TOMORROW if you haven’t already early voted. I had an online event several months ago where I explained why investing in stocks is so important. You can look on the Twitter or Facebook page to see the event (www.Facebook.com/legacyinvesting or www.Twitter.com/legacy_investor.  That’s an underscore between legacy and investor lol.  We talked about the multi-prong approach to becoming wealthy and the steps that are required. I introduced the Financial Freedom Package that can change your life and pay for itself many times over. For what you would spend on a very cheap cup of coffee a day over the course of a year, I can help set you on a path of financial independence and legacy building. Now I know it’s really important to get the latest pair of Jordan’s, or get your hair and nails done, or have the newest Audi but all of that stuff depreciates, and pretty fast! I wish more of us would think about our future because guess what..it’s coming lol. Why make money for companies that care nothing about you when you could own a piece of that company and make your money make money. Things that make you go hmmmm… Let’s challenge ourselves to do better.

Today I want to talk about what happens when you leave a job and you have investment money just sitting out there. Sometimes when you start a new job and you’re inundated with paperwork, you may have signed off to have a certain percentage of money coming out of your check into a retirement account. Most people tend to contribute to their accounts and forget about it. Once they leave the job that account is really forgotten lol. If you don’t do anything with the money it will just sit in no man’s land going up and down with the market and probably not making you much money. It’s really important to ask the retirement company to do a rollover or direct transfer into an IRA that you set up at your local bank. An IRA is like a 401k but it’s a more self-directed type of retirement savings account. An IRA has more options and flexibility but you can usually contribute more to your 401k plan. Those are the main differences between the two but the main point is to be able to better manage your money which you can do in an IRA account.

The stock market has not moved a lot since my last blog in September. The S&P 500 was at 2127 and with today’s big rally we are at 2131. The market has been following our US election news and responding to every big news event. As the FBI said they were investigating new emails from Mrs. Clinton the stock market had 9 days of selling off. Once the FBI reaffirmed their position from the last findings we get a 46 point S&P 500 rally today. Simply put, if the Donald is elected tomorrow the stock market will sell off in a mighty way, a recession will be likely as uncertainty causes people to hold on to their money, and much of the progress we’ve made will be undone. If we have a Clinton victory, the market may rally but I still believe there will be selling pressure as some uncertainty on policy will remain in the stock market. We are late in the normal business cycle and at least a mild recession usually happens when you change Presidents.

Finally, looking at the technical picture of the S&P 500, we bounced off the 200-day moving average (right now at 2084) which is a widely followed measure in the investment community. As long as we hold above that, and get above the downward trending line at 2140, then it appears the stock market can move higher in the short term.

Please visit our website at www.LegacyInvesting.net and contact us today for a FREE consultation on becoming financially fit and learning how to make money investing in the stock market.  You can make money in ANY type of market (bull or bear).  When we meet I’ll give you more information about our services and find out what your financial goals are.  If I can help you, we can move forward; if not, no problem but I’m always just a phone call away from any questions or quick advice you want.  I can help get your finances in shape so let’s connect and build generational wealth together.

Disclaimer – Legacy Investing & Wealth Management LLC or any of its advisers are not liable in any way for any losses incurred through trading by readers of this weekly blog.  Any information or strategies of trading suggested here involve risk of capital loss and this weekly blog is not considered investment advice.  Individuals who invest in securities are solely and completely responsible for any and every outcome that may occur.

Legacy Investing & Wealth Management Market Mondays – 9/12/16

Happy Monday everyone!

Market Mondays, brought to you by Legacy Investing & Wealth Management is a blog giving you a quick and easy read focusing on stock market education, empowering the newer investor as well as giving you the most recent stock market analysis.  For more information including past blogs please go to www.LegacyInvesting.net; look for the Market Mondays tab under “The Legacy” for all blogs.

I’ve been pretty busy but now that school is back in I’m getting back to a more regular routine.  With that said, you can expect a little more regularity (maybe once or twice a month) when it comes to the Market Mondays blog.  Don’t all thank me at once lol. Today I am just focusing on what has been going on in the stock market so you can call this an extended

Almost a month ago we were sitting at 2184 on the S&P 500 and we spent the latter part of the summer in a very tight range.  We were still up there until Friday when the Dow dropped almost 400 points and S&P 500 54 points to end the week at 2127.  A lot of the heavy-weight traders and institutional investors take vacations in August so trading volume was very light through Labor Day.

There was no real news happening to move the markets and even on Friday nothing really stood out to me except the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President (Eric Rosengren) making a statement that the US Central Bank should raise interest rates sooner rather than later.  The stock market would prefer the rates to be lower for longer which is why it has been going higher the longer rates stay where they are.  The stock market traded a lot lower all day Friday and ended at the lows of the session based on that news alone.  Since we were near all-time highs it makes sense that when the big guys start hitting the sell button, everyone else follows suit, explaining why we can have big drops all of a sudden like this.  I’m going to define some of the terms that are used and why the stock market seems so infatuated with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and the world’s central banks.

Janet Yellen, the FOMC Chairperson has been very lenient with rates and has kept them very low for a long period of time.  She defined when and why interest rates would move higher and although the economy is doing OK, we have been slow to meet their targets.  Mainly what she is looking at is the unemployment rate, GDP, and inflation.  Unemployment and GDP are pretty much where they need to be but wage growth has been slow and inflation has been tepid at best.  She kinda looks at the glass half empty when it comes to the US Economy which means she is taking a DOVISH posture.  When lackluster economic data comes in or stock markets are not performing well she may talk down the economy and say we need to continue keeping interest rates lower for longer which causes the stock market to rally.  World banks have also been keeping interest rates very low (some of them are actually negative interest rates), printing and pumping a lot of money into their economies.  This action is usually bullish for stocks causing them to rally over a long period of time.

When Rosengren made the comments about our central bank raising interest rates that was (for now) viewed negatively by the stock market because higher interest rates means less profits for the companies that trade in the stock market.  Less profits equals lower stock prices and that’s why the stock market likes lower rates for longer.  His comments would be viewed as HAWKISH, meaning he was talking up the economy by saying we need to raise interest rates.

Technically, we have broken through the 50-day moving average and unless we reclaim that soon we could continue heading lower until the September FOMC meeting (Sept. 20-21).  This is where they will announce whether they will raise rates now or hint around a December hike. The next area of resistance is at 2100, then the 200-day moving average – around 2060.  If they decide not to raise in September we could rally until election time or even into December’s FOMC meeting.

Please visit our website at www.LegacyInvesting.net and contact us today for a FREE consultation on becoming financially fit and learning how to make money investing in the stock market.  You can make money in ANY type of market (bull or bear).  When we meet I’ll give you more information about our services and find out what your financial goals are.  If I can help you, we can move forward; if not, no problem but I’m always just a phone call away from any questions or quick advice you want.  I can help get your finances in shape so let’s connect and build generational wealth together.  If you’re a football fan enjoy the first Monday night football games and take care until next time.

Disclaimer – Legacy Investing & Wealth Management LLC or any of its advisers are not liable in any way for any losses incurred through trading by readers of this weekly blog.  Any information or strategies of trading suggested here involve risk of capital loss and this weekly blog is not considered investment advice.  Individuals who invest in securities are solely and completely responsible for any and every outcome that may occur.

Legacy Investing & Wealth Management Market Mondays – 8/15/16

Happy Monday everyone!

Market Mondays, brought to you by Legacy Investing & Wealth Management is a blog giving you a quick and easy read focusing on stock market education, empowering the newer investor as well as giving you the most recent stock market analysis.  For more information including past blogs please go to www.LegacyInvesting.net; look for the Market Mondays tab under “The Legacy” for all blogs.

Let’s talk about hedge funds today.  I used to hear that term from time to time but never knew what it meant.  Basically, hedge funds are a fund ran by a group of Investment Advisers and are only open to people with deep pockets!  The proper term is accredited investors who have more than $1 million in net worth or make over $200,000 per year.  For married couples, at least $1 million in net worth or a combined income of over $300,000 qualifies them as accredited investors.

The reason people need at least this amount to qualify is because hedge funds are known for using some very high-risk strategies to hopefully make you money, or lose your money.  They use strategies such as short selling, currency bets, risky options plays, etc.  Funds typically charge 2% of assets as a management fee and they often take out the first 20% of all capital gain; a pretty hefty charge for this type of risk the investor takes on, wouldn’t you agree?  Fyi – capital gains are the amount of money you’ve made from recent trades.  Also, once you buy into a hedge fund there is a good chance you cannot sell it for at least one year, even if you’ve lost 50% of it….uuh, I’ll pass lol.

Now there are mutual funds called funds of hedge funds where a non-accredited investor can invest in. These mutual funds would have investments in several different hedge funds.  As you probably imagined, the investor would not be able to sell this fund within a certain time period and they also involve high expenses, incurring the expenses of the hedge funds themselves and the expenses of the mutual fund.

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about the market but since the June 20^th S&P 500 close of 2071, we are up significantly!  This past Friday we closed at 2184 so anyone who was selling the market at the bottom of the Brexit situation, lost a lot of money.  I try to encourage people to buy the stock market when we have a mini-crisis such as the market being totally surprised by an event like Brexit.  For the new people Brexit was Great Britain’s decision to leave the European Union which caught everyone by surprise.

We have had over a 200 S&P point run higher since June 27^th and I would not advise putting new money to work at this point.  I would wait for a pull-back, then buy some of your favorite stocks, ETF’s or what have you.  The market fear gage (called the VIX) is very low right now and when it’s this low it signals an imminent stock market pull-back or correction.  Buying protection or insurance (in the form of options) for any positions you have in stocks would be a good idea just in case the market pulls back.

Please visit our website at www.LegacyInvesting.net and contact us today for a FREE consultation on becoming financially fit and learning how to make money investing in the stock market.  You can make money in ANY type of market (bull or bear).  When we meet I’ll give you more information about our services and find out what your financial goals are.  If I can help you, we can move forward; if not, no problem but I’m always just a phone call away from any questions or quick advice you want.  I can help get your finances in shape so let’s connect and build generational wealth together.

Disclaimer – Legacy Investing & Wealth Management LLC or any of its advisers are not liable in any way for any losses incurred through trading by readers of this weekly blog. Any information or strategies of trading suggested here involve risk of capital loss and this weekly blog is not considered investment advice. Individuals who invest in securities are solely and completely responsible for any and every outcome that may occur.

Legacy Investing & Wealth Management Market Mondays – 7/11/16

Happy Monday everyone!

Market Mondays, brought to you by Legacy Investing & Wealth Management is a blog giving you a quick and easy read focusing on stock market education, empowering the newer investor as well as giving you the most recent stock market analysis.  For more information including past blogs please go to www.LegacyInvesting.net; look for the Market Mondays tab under “The Legacy” for all blogs.

I had an online event several weeks ago where I explained why investing in stocks is so important. We talked about the multi-prong approach to becoming wealthy and the steps that are required. I introduced the Financial Freedom Package that can change your life and pay for itself many times over. For what you would spend on a very cheap cup of coffee a day over the course of a year, I can help set you on a path of financial independence and legacy building. Now I know it’s really important to get the latest pair of Nike’s, or get your hair and nails done, or have the newest Benz but all of that stuff does what??  DEPRECIATES right? You have to think about your future because guess what..it’s coming lol. All that stuff is not going to make you any money so why pour all that money into other people’s companies when you could own a piece of that company and make your money make money.

What Brexit!?! Does anyone even remember what that was exactly? lol. Just 3 short weeks ago, Great Britain voted to leave the European Union, catching the financial markets all around the world off guard. When stock markets think one thing is going to happen and the opposite happens, it over reacts by selling off (meaning the big players and institutions, and every day retail investors like you and me) get scared and sell their stocks causing prices for just about everything to go lower.  Someone who watched my presentation asked what should we do and I said you should buy the market.  Opportunities like that usually happen a few times a year and you have to be ready to take advantage of it like I did.  In our personal accounts I manage (includes trading accounts my wife and I have together as well as our Individual Retirement Accounts aka IRA’s, I made quite a bit of money in a really short period of time. Now we are sitting at all-time highs on the S&P 500.

Now since we have gotten a really good jobs report this past Friday, compared to the awful one we had for May we are back to all-time highs. So what happens now…. I wouldn’t be surprised if we could go higher for a little longer and eventually pull back. The stock market has had an upside bias since its inception meaning it takes about three steps forward and one step back every now and then. No one can time the market perfectly but you have to be ready to buy when those one step back events happen.

Please visit our website at www.LegacyInvesting.net and contact us today for a FREE consultation on becoming financially fit and learning how to make money investing in the stock market.  You can make money in ANY type of market (bull or bear).  When we meet I’ll give you more information about our services and find out what your financial goals are.  If I can help you, we can move forward; if not, no problem but I’m always just a phone call away from any questions or quick advice you want.  I can help get your finances in shape so let’s connect and build generational wealth together.

Disclaimer – Legacy Investing & Wealth Management LLC or any of its advisers are not liable in any way for any losses incurred through trading by readers of this weekly blog. Any information or strategies of trading suggested here involve risk of capital loss and this weekly blog is not considered investment advice. Individuals who invest in securities are solely and completely responsible for any and every outcome that may occur.

Legacy Investing & Wealth Management Market Mondays – 6/20/16

Happy Monday everyone!

Market Mondays, brought to you by Legacy Investing & Wealth Management is a regular blog giving you a quick and easy read focusing on stock market education, empowering the newer investor as well as giving you the most recent stock market analysis.  For more information including past blogs please go to www.LegacyInvesting.net; look for the Market Mondays tab under “The Legacy” for all blogs.  Please tune in to my Facebook Live and Periscope ONLINE EVENT on Sunday, June 26^th beginning at 8PM EST (note the day and time change). 

A lot of wealthy people hire Investment Advisers to manage their investment accounts for a small fee.  And if you have a good adviser you’re normally making a lot more than the fee you’re paying out.  Is the first thought coming to your mind some of the clowns you might see on the show American Greed?  A stand-out is (or was) popular Investment Adviser, Bernie Madoff as he MADE OFF with a lot of people’s hard-earned money.  What he did first (as well as what lots of other crooks do) was earn the trust of his prey.  He then gets them to turn over their hard-earned money….(blank stare).  Next, he comingles the money with all the other victims and sends them bogus statements showing what their money is supposedly doing (really hard SMH)  So…..lesson #1 – never give someone your money (without having full control of your account) and expect that they will do right by you.  Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of honest people out there and this rarely happens but you don’t want to be one of the sorry few.  This probably reminds you of how you’ve lent money out never to see it again huh?  You should ALWAYS have access to your money and be in control of it even if someone else is managing it! Common practice with most Investment Advisers is you open up your investment (brokerage) account(s) which will always be linked to YOUR personal checking or savings account, not theirs lol.  Their job is to trade and hopefully make you money.

On the flip side, managing your own accounts is actually a lot easier than you may think.  The #1 reason I hear people tell me why they’re not investing is because they don’t understand the stock market.  Hey, I didn’t either until about 8 years ago…and I trained myself; so if I can do it, so can you!  If this describes you then here is where I come in.  For a one-time fee I can get you started and give you the tools you need to be a lifelong successful trader.  I also will give you access to expense and forecasting tools that have helped me significantly.  The Word says write the vision and make it plain and that is exactly what I did regarding my finances, outlining where I want to be in 5-10 years.  For that one-time fee you will gain from me what took years to find out and develop.  It’s a small price to pay for something so potentially life-changing.  Check out my website for more info at www.legacyinvesting.net or just tune in this Sunday.

The S&P 500 ended this past Friday at 2071, about 1 ½ percent lower from where it was 2 weeks ago. The Feds decided not to raise interest rates at the recent meeting which was not a surprise and the stock market had already priced that in over the last month or so.  The talk over Greece and whether they will exit the European Union (EU) is back in the news and there will be a vote later this week by the British on the possibility of the UK leaving the EU.  There is anticipation that the UK will remain which could spark a short-term stock market rally since the market is undecided on what will happen.  The fear index in the market, called the VIX is has been moving higher which usually implies a lot of nervousness that the stock market is currently selling off or that a sell-off is anticipated.  Gold has been moving higher for quite a while now which has also been an indication that there is building fear in the market.  I’ve made a practice of investing in the gold miners which always sees amplified moves compared to gold itself.

Please visit our website at www.LegacyInvesting.net and contact us today for a FREE consultation on becoming financially fit and learning how to make money investing in the stock market.  You can make money in ANY type of market (bull or bear).  When we meet I’ll give you more information about our services and find out what your financial goals are.  If I can help you, we can move forward; if not, no problem but I’m always just a phone call away from any questions or quick advice you want.  I can help get your finances in shape so let’s connect and build generational wealth together.  Don’t forget to tune in this Sunday evening and I’ll walk you through everything.

Disclaimer – Legacy Investing & Wealth Management LLC or any of its advisers are not liable in any way for any losses incurred through trading by readers of this weekly blog. Any information or strategies of trading suggested here involve risk of capital loss and this weekly blog is not considered investment advice. Individuals who invest in securities are solely and completely responsible for any and every outcome that may occur.

Legacy Investing & Wealth Management Market Mondays – 6/6/16

Happy Monday everyone!

Market Mondays, brought to you by Legacy Investing & Wealth Management is a regular blog giving you a quick and easy read focusing on stock market education, empowering the newer investor as well as giving you the most recent stock market analysis.  I’ve shifted these to several times a month during lower periods of stock market volatility.  For more information including past blogs please go to www.LegacyInvesting.net; look for the Market Mondays tab under “The Legacy” for all blogs.  Our main Open House will happen this Fall but I will host a Facebook Live and Periscope ONLINE EVENT on Saturday, June 25^th beginning at 1PM EST.

One of my family members asked me a question about stocks a while back and I thought it was a very good one so I decided to talk more about what makes a stock’s price go up or down.  Generally, a stock’s price moves higher or lower based on supply and demand.  The same way food or gas prices move works exactly the same for stocks.  The more people who want to buy a particular company’s stock, the more demand it creates for it.  If there is a limited supply or shares of stock then the stock’s price will usually rise.  If people are dumping their shares of stock and we don’t have enough buyers of it then there will be an excess supply of stock and the price will fall.

Here are just a few of the reasons that may cause excess or limited supply of stock.  If a company has a really good quarterly earnings report which exceeds the expectations of the bank analysts who follow them, then prices will likely go higher.  If the company decides to buy back their shares or if you have the super-rich buying millions of shares then this will create a limited supply and cause the prices to move higher.  Usually if you have a game-changing company with great management and limited competition (like Apple, Facebook, or Netflix, for example) making tons of money, beating analyst’s expectations, and they are able to remain relevant and continue to grow over time then the stock’s price will grow exponentially.  For example, Apple (AAPL) is up some 20,000% since it started trading in 1980.  In other words, a $10,000 investment in Apple then would have given you around 20,000 shares (at $.50 a share) which today would have been worth around $2,000,000!

Share prices will go down for the opposite reasons that I listed above.  Just a few quick examples are the company has a horrible earnings report, the CEO gets caught in a scandal, the company gets caught falsifying their earnings, or they have repeated bad earnings reports, the business model is let’s say…messed up lol (think Radio Shack, Circuit City, or any 8-Track Player companies you know of lol), or other similar companies are in a declining market (i.e. stores in shopping malls).  Other reasons could be increased competition with declining profits, bad forward guidance by top management or overall bad management, too much debt, majority share holders dumping their stock or even a recession.

The S&P 500 ended this past Friday at 2099, moving higher the past few weeks.  We are still in a range and unless we either move higher than the May, 2015 high (2134) or we move lower then we were this past February (low 1800’s) then we will continue to be in this range.  Even if we’re moving sideways which is what this pattern from the last few years is called, a lot of money can still be made.  For the type of trading I do range-bound patterns like this work beautifully J.

We only created 38,000 jobs in the month of May, typically a pretty good month for jobs.  We’ve been averaging over 150,000 jobs going back several years.  If we see more months like that it could spell trouble for the economy and the stock market.  The Federal Reserve was expected to raise interest rates later this month but with a jobs report like that it looks iffy.  The stock market could rally up until the Fed meetings as they are now anticipating rates will not rise this month.

Please visit our website at www.LegacyInvesting.net and contact us today for a FREE consultation on becoming financially fit and learning how to make money investing in the stock market.  You can make money in ANY type of market (bull or bear).  When we meet I’ll give you more information about our services and find out what your financial goals are.  If I can help you, we can move forward; if not, no problem but I’m always just a phone call away from any questions or quick advice you want.  I can help get your finances in shape so let’s connect and build generational wealth together.  Start investing in your future today!

Disclaimer – Legacy Investing & Wealth Management LLC or any of its advisers are not liable in any way for any losses incurred through trading by readers of this weekly blog. Any information or strategies of trading suggested here involve risk of capital loss and this weekly blog is not considered investment advice. Individuals who invest in securities are solely and completely responsible for any and every outcome that may occur.

Legacy Investing & Wealth Management Market Mondays – 5/23/16

Happy Monday everyone!

Market Mondays, brought to you by Legacy Investing & Wealth Management is a regular blog giving you a quick and easy read focusing on stock market education, empowering the newer investor as well as giving you the most recent stock market analysis.  I’ve shifted these to several times a month during lower periods of stock market volatility.  For more information including past blogs please go to www.LegacyInvesting.net; look for the Market Mondays tab under “The Legacy” for all blogs.  Our main Open House will happen this Fall but I will host an ONLINE EVENT on Saturday, June 25^th.

There are a lot of investing apps popping up designed for people who want to invest right from their smartphone.  Some allow you to pick your own stocks and others you can totally leave that up to a professional advisor who manages the funds you would select from.  When getting started a common question you’re asked is what your preferred style of investing?  Investing styles can range from conservative to risky and they all usually follow the same account opening process as regular brokerage accounts as discussed in the last blog.  An example of an app that is stock-specific is Robinhood, meaning it will allow you to pick individual stocks/ETF’s, etc.  This one right now happens to give you free trades and it makes its money from the idle cash that are in the accounts.  There are some apps that act as true portfolio managers and manage your money according to the style of investing you prefer (Acorn or Betterment, for example).  Fees appear to be nominal for both.

This type of investing could be a great choice for many on-the-go people who don’t have the time or simply don’t want to learn how to invest for themselves.  Also, some people may be intimidated with meeting with an Investment Adviser and using an app can take away some of the anxiety associated with investing.  Whether or not you want to have direct contact with customer service is also something that needs to be considered.  As with most apps, customer service can be very limited.  When dealing with money I want a company who I can meet face-to-face with or easily call to get a live body – ijs lol.  Investing with competent, honest people who understand the stock market and have a proven track record of results are some features of using conventional Investment Advisors.  This is why I believe there will always be a place for people like me, as my goal is to either invest your money OR put you in control and teach you how to do it yourself.

The S&P 500 ended this past Friday at 2052, a little lower but very close to where it was 2 weeks ago.  Most of 1^st quarter earnings are out and we’re moving into a quitter period as far as company news.  We will still be getting economic news and Federal Reserve decisions which could move the market in the coming weeks.  The Feds recently said in a statement that the US economy appears to be doing fine right now, inflation has risen to its 2% target and overall employment has hit its goals, signaling more interest rate increases.  The market now sees a bigger chance of a small June interest rate hike and that could send the stock market lower for the short-term.

Please visit our website at www.LegacyInvesting.net and contact us today for a FREE consultation on becoming financially fit and learning how to make money investing in the stock market.  You can make money in ANY type of market (bull or bear).  When we meet I’ll give you more information about our services and find out what your financial goals are.  If I can help you, we can move forward; if not, no problem but I’m always just a phone call away from any questions or quick advice you want.  I can help get your finances in shape so let’s connect and build generational wealth together.  Start investing in your future today!

Disclaimer – Legacy Investing & Wealth Management LLC or any of its advisers are not liable in any way for any losses incurred through trading by readers of this weekly blog. Any information or strategies of trading suggested here involve risk of capital loss and this weekly blog is not considered investment advice. Individuals who invest in securities are solely and completely responsible for any and every outcome that may occur.

Legacy Investing & Wealth Management Market Mondays – 5/9/16

Hello and Happy Monday!

Market Mondays, brought to you by Legacy Investing & Wealth Management is a regular blog giving you a quick and easy read focusing on stock market education, empowering the newer investor as well as giving you the most recent stock market analysis.  I’ve shifted these to several times a month during lower periods of stock market volatility.  For more information including past blogs please go to www.LegacyInvesting.net; look for the Market Mondays tab under “The Legacy” for all blogs.  Our main Open House will happen this Fall but I will host an ONLINE EVENT on Saturday, June 25^th.

I want to discuss opening your brokerage account (for the beginning investor).  A brokerage account is an account where you can trade stocks, ETF’s or mutual funds, bonds, options, and other securities.  There are a lot of them and they all have different rules, trading capabilities (some you can trade all securities and some you can’t), fees, the type of trading software available, etc.

You will need your social security number, driver’s license or passport info, employment status and financial statement (assets and liabilities).  Most applications are quick and can be completed online.  You will also need to indicate your level of investing experience and level of risk tolerance which will affect the type of account you are approved for.  For example, if you say you have 5 years of experience and you are only looking for aggressive growth or speculation, chances are you could be additionally approved to short stocks and trade options.  If you select asset/capital preservation and no experience, you probably won’t be approved to trade options, various other securities or short stocks.

You have to also shop around as many brokerage firms now do not have a minimum opening deposit.  Some charge rather high commissions for trading and some charge very little.  I personally like Interactive Brokers as their fees are lower than a lot of others.  You should always start with your personal bank as many of them have a brokerage side of their business and may give you a break on commissions because of your relationship.  For example, Bank of America uses Merrill Edge (Merrill Lynch) and if you meet certain criteria some of your trades could be reduced or even free.  Always check out the background of your brokerage firm before you open an account with them by going to http://www.finra.org/brokercheck or by calling (800)289-9999.

The S&P 500 ended this two-week period on Friday at 2057 which is virtually flat on the year.  That is also 34 points or almost 2% lower than where it closed two weeks ago.  It appears we are range-bound until a catalyst comes along to move the markets.  It’s anyone’s guess right now what that will be.  The catalyst could come this month as May in years past has been the start to big sell-offs.  Or it could come around June 15^th when the Federal Reserve has their meeting.  If the interest rate is raised it could then spark a sell-off; or if it’s not a rally to all-time highs could happen.  My point here is that any number of things can happen to move the market higher or lower.  Normally, I have an upward bias to the stock market but as I’ve said before we’ve had a 6-year rally, we’re on the higher range of the S&P 500 valuation, and a new president is coming.  Because of that I am a little cautious on the overall market and I play it in other ways.

Please visit our website at www.LegacyInvesting.net and contact us today for a FREE consultation on becoming financially fit and learning how to make money investing in the stock market.  You can make money in ANY type of market (bull or bear).  When we meet I’ll give you more information about our services and find out what your financial goals are.  If I can help you, we can move forward; if not, no problem but I’m always just a phone call away from any questions or quick advice you want.  I can help get your finances in shape so let’s connect and build generational wealth together.  Have a great week and I wish you many happy returns!

Disclaimer – Legacy Investing & Wealth Management LLC or any of its advisers are not liable in any way for any losses incurred through trading by readers of this weekly blog. Any information or strategies of trading suggested here involve risk of capital loss and this weekly blog is not considered investment advice. Individuals who invest in securities are solely and completely responsible for any and every outcome that may occur.