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Greetings!
One of the blessings of having young children is watching their behavior. One of their best behaviors is how they treat themselves.
My young son was sharpening pencils in an electric pencil sharpener last night and became so excited. He complimented himself often, "I did a really good job on that one." And then, "Wow! That was the best one yet!"
Many Americans have accumulated less than $50,000 of retirement assets. Take some time to congratulate yourself for your retirement savings. Take some time to say this is the year that you will save more than the years before. Likely, you have had to scrimp and save more in the recent crisis than in years past. This is a wonderful thing!
Also likely, as the economy improves, you will have capacity in the future to save more than you have before. If you can keep your expenses low and increase your savings, then you can be as proud as my son. You can say, "Wow! That was the best year yet!"
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| Economic Briefs |
TIME FOR OPTIMISM IN THE HOUSING MARKET?
Existing home sales have improved in five of the past six months. In December, they rose 12.3%. While December's sales pace was still 2.9% below year-ago levels, the National Association of Realtors also noted that the glut of unsold homes had been reduced to 8.1 months of supply compared to 9.5 months' worth in November. The median existing home sale price fell 1.0% last month to $168,800.(1,2)
LEI INDEX SHOWS MORE IMPROVMENT
The Conference Board's Leading Economic Indicators index rose 1.0% in December. Pair that with its 1.1% ascent in November and you have the two best months since it rose 1.4% in March. The building permits indicator showed the most improvement.(3)
HOUSING STARTS DOWN, PERMITS WAY UP
Government data seems to affirm one of the findings of the Conference Board index. The Census Bureau just reported a 16.7% increase in building permits in December (the best month in that category since March). Yet housing starts were down 4.3% in December, hitting a 14-month low.(4)
GOLD & OIL TURN LOWER
Optimism about the global economy seems to have increased appetites for risk, and last week you also had the fear that China might hike interest rates. So gold lost 1.43% for the week to settle Friday at $1,341.00 an ounce. Oil prices plunged 3.74% on the week to end up at $89.11 a barrel Friday.(5)
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| Market Summary |
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% Change |
Y-T-D |
1Yr Chg |
5-Year Avg | |
DJIA |
+2.54 |
+14.26 |
+2.26 | |
NASDAQ |
+1.38 |
+18.71 |
+3.93 | |
S&P 500 |
+2.04 |
+14.95 |
+0.35 |
(Source: cnbc.com, bigcharts.com, ustreas.com, bls.gov, 1/21/11) |
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Create a beautiful week!
Karl Frank, MBA, MSF
Certified Financial Planner (R)
A & I Financial Services LLC
303.690.5070
Citations:
(1) - marketwatch.com/story/existing-home-sales-jump-12-in-december-2011-01-20?dist=beforebell [1/20/11]
(2) - philly.com/inquirer/business/20110121_Existing-home_sales_continue_to_climb.html [1/21/11]
(3) - npr.org/2011/01/20/133083073/leading-indicators-rise-pointing-to-stronger-growth [1/20/11]
(4) - theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/01/housing-starts-sink-as-permits-soar-in-december/69759/ [1/19/11]
(5) - blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2011/01/21/data-points-energy-metals-444/ [1/21/11]
This material has been prepared and is distributed solely for information purposes only. It is not a solicitation or an offer buy any securities or instrument or to participate in any trading strategy. There is no assurance that a particular trading strategy will achieve investment success. |
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| Words for Thought |
"Success is the sum of details."
Harvey Firestone |
| Read about us in the Denver Post | |
Karl Frank & Cameron Morgan were featured in the Denver Post. They talked about how to have a happy holiday while sticking to a budget.
Click here to read the article. |
| View our Money Makeovers |
| Karl Frank, Certified Financial Planner, provided several Money Makeovers for families on CBS Channel 4.
Learn more!
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| | View The Financial Planning Association Video | |
Karl Frank and many other Financial Planners offered pro-bono advice to thousands at the first annual "FPA Financial Planning week."
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| Riddle of the Week |
The Cage family has a mother, father and six sons, and each son has one sister. So how many people are in this family? Last week's riddle:
Complete these words by putting the same 3 letters into each one: F---RISH, C---DY, S---GH.
Last week's answer: The missing letters are LOU, and the words are FLOURISH, CLOUDY and SLOUGH |
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