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Joel S. Williams
An Alliance of Wealth Advisers
E-Newsletter |
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Greetings!
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We work diligently to serve our clients with an extremely high level of
personal attention and financial expertise. To find out how our
national network of diverse professional advisers can assist you to
preserve and protect your family's and/or business wealth...contact us
today!
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Thank You!
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Thank you to those who attended our 16th annual client appreciation
event. Our guest presenter, Charlie Mahar of Minneapolis-based Tealwood
Capital Management, provided a fascinating perspective on what to
expect in 2010. We know many of you could not attend due to the cold
weather, so we're considering dates later in the year next time to
accommodate more clients for this not-to-miss event.
-- Beth Ashe
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New Receptionist Service
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As a way to
serve you better, we have added a telephone receptionist service that will
ensure you always get a human voice answering our main line during office
hours. This new member of our team will enable us to take care of your needs
promptly and professionally every time you call. So if you don't get one
of us, you'll know the voice you hear is working for us!
-- Beth Ashe
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'Tis Time for Taxes
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Some important reminders as we get closer to April 15: - Look
over all data before taking it to your CPA. If you see something you
need from us, please call us immediately. CPAs often notice missing
data at the last minute.
- Wait until March 20 to take
information to your CPA. Let your accountant know that some of your tax
information may still be outstanding. Also ask your accountant what
works best for them (estimates and extensions) to provide tax
information in stages if needed.
- Plan ahead. With the deadline
nearing, consider filing for an extension, especially with the nature
of many of your investments.
- Clients with alternative investments may not receive their K-1 forms until the end of March.
- Check to make sure you have both "original" and "amended" 1099s, if applicable.
- Please call us if you are traveling during tax season so we can help you.
-- Robin Clark
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Roth Conversations
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For many clients Roth IRAs are a great way to help reduce tax
obligations in retirement. This year, the annual investment limit was
lifted, and with tax time approaching it's a good time to consider
converting to a Roth IRA.
Roth's aren't for everyone, however.
Converting to Roth IRAs is a complicated decision that must factor in
your goals and vision. Fortunately, the JSW team can work with you to
determine if a Roth IRA should be part of your financial strategy.
Please see us about the Roth.
-- Mike Jones
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Communicating to Our Clients
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JSW believes in sharing relevant and timely information to our clients
so you can remain informed and educated about new trends and investment
strategies. In addition to a quarterly printed newsletter, we will be
distributing this e-newsletter four times a year in between the printed
issues. In the near future we'll be introducing new designs for these
important communications tools. As always, we welcome your feedback.
Please e-mail us at betha@joelswilliams.com to tell us what you'd like
to read about.
-- David Harder
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Joel's Corner: The Sky is Not Falling
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With spring around the corner, we know that cabin fever is probably a
real psychological condition. This feeling of despair may seem endless
in other areas of our lives. But be of good cheer!
There are
some solid developments happening in our economy that may positively
impact your investments:. After my random selection of current thoughts
on the market and economy below, be sure to read the section called
"Economics 501." I will attempt to show why all the signs causing
despair and hopelessness may really be positive signs of what to come.
First, some thoughts as I interpret the most recent data and
developments: - Without a doubt certain numbers related to
the economy are showing improvement: companies have cut costs, are
restocking inventories, and have begun to invest in capital
improvements such as technology. Yet, they have not added new
employees. It will be at least five years or more, in my opinion,
before we get back to 5% unemployment, which is considered full
employment. That happens in the last stages of a recovery. (CNBC:
2/19/10)
- Some economists are claiming that the unemployment
numbers appear to have bottomed. However, I am not ready to concede
that notion until we get past the summer of 2010 as more of the
stimulus money is doled out and the true impact of job creation can be
better analyzed. (Source: Al Goldman, Spherion) Also, in my work with
small-business owners and consultants of small businesses, I feel there
could be another rash of layoffs from previously long time, successful
businesses that have simply held on this long by owners using personal
capital to sustain the business to this point. Many of those businesses
that cut costs earlier in 2009 may survive then thrive as this recovery
takes hold. I remind you, these are just my personal opinions.
- Consumer purchases in the durable goods area (washers and stoves, etc)
are up 3 percent, according to the most recent report. This was the
second consecutive increase, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
- The inventory of existing houses continues to decrease.
- The Dow Jones 30 Blue Chip stocks -- 28 of 30 have forecasted a growth
in earnings, with the other two forecasting flat growth. (Tealwood,
2/17/1)
CHINA - China without a doubt will be a strong economic force going forward.
But China has to learn to live as a developed nation. That will take
time and growing pains on which we in the U.S. have spent centuries
learning to manage. I would not advise suggesting your grandkids learn
to speak Chinese. Do you recall in the 1960s and 70s how parents were
being advised to have their kids learn to speak Japanese ... because
Japan was going to take over the economy and world? That did not happen.
- India is likely to grow into a stronger super economy due to its focus
on education of its youth. China will also likely have a labor shortage
due to its population-control policies. An aging population ultimately
becomes a hindrance to stable economic growth.
- Message: Don't
stress out on all the talk about China owning a lot of our debt. The
recent reduction in its ownership of U.S. bonds is simply a prudent
money management decision because the Chinese portfolio was out of line
with too large of a percentage of U.S. bonds. And by the way, the
dollar has been rising in value while China has been reducing debt.
There is more to the media headlines than China fearing devaluation of
the dollar.
GREECE
- Greece is bankrupt. They will sell bonds to the rest of the world to
pay their bills, just like the U.S. is selling to China and others.
- Europe (the European Union) will have to prop Greece up because that
is part of the EU and a productive partner. EU banks will have to help
support the country and deal with the situation. This is not unlike
what the Federal Reserve and Treasury had to do in the U.S. You may
recall that in a previous newsletter in 2009 I stated my concern about
possible forthcoming European bank problems. This is part of the ripple
affect; the U.S. simply had to deal with it firs
BULL MARKET BEGINNING
- I am not ready to buy that one -- yet. Economists writing for Wall
Street firms will be lining up to predict the bear market is over. As
we reviewed at the Client Appreciation meeting on February 17, the
price earnings (P/E) ratio is currently 15 for the S&P, and barely
got down near 10 during March '09 market bottom. Historically, most
long-term bull markets started when the PE ratio was definitely in
single digits, and closer to 6-7.
- The good news is that individual stocks will have lower P/E ratios and
may be buys, long before the overall market gets into single P/E
numbers. So now is the time to carefully begin buying stocks - while
protecting the downside to the overall portfolio.
- Message: Our strategies include this gradual transition with many of the managers we have employed over the last year.
-- Joel Williams
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Thanks for reading. Please call with questions or concerns. We're here for you.
Sincerely,
The Joel S. Williams | An Alliance of Wealth Advisers Team
P: 540.961.6706 | T: 888.553.2211
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