Today’s Innovation Maverick video is with Greg Powell, CEO of Fi Plan Partners, and Vince Thompson, CEO of MELT and author of Build Brand You: Insights For Pursuing Your Dreams.

Listen as they discuss how to market yourself for a new career in this new innovative world we are living in.

This episode is also available to listen to on our Investors’ Insights and Market Update podcast.

Greg Powell, CIMA®

Fi Plan Partners is an independent investment firm in Birmingham, AL, serving clients across the nation through financial planning, wealth management and business consulting. Fi Plan Partners creates strategies in the best interest of their clients using both fee based investing and transactional investing.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.

Economic forecasts set forth in this presentation may not develop as predicted.

No strategy can ensure success or protect against a loss.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC and a registered investment advisor.

The post Innovation Mavericks: Vince Thompson, Build Brand You first appeared on Fi Plan Partners.

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The strength of the U.S. consumer will be the key focus this week. Big box retailers will be reporting earnings and hopefully, with that, we will get a good look at consumer trends heading into the holiday season. We will also get retail sales numbers for October. This could be the sixth straight month of higher retail sales, which is very important. The market cares about these reports because 68% of our economy is made up of consumer spending. We only have seven more weeks left before we are in 2021. If ever the consumer is going to be spending during the holidays, it’s fast approaching. It is especially important because we’re facing two headwinds. The lack of a second stimulus from Washington and the virus coming back in the news. In fact, over the weekend, the state of Michigan stopped all in-person school learning and closed all restaurants for three weeks. That’s a big deal because restaurants are still 14% behind in terms of sales from this point last year. That’s important because that means jobs will be on the chopping block again. When people talk about closing businesses and restaurants, you tend to think about the owners or the personnel, but there’s a huge rippling effect when it comes to food products. For instance, wine sales are down because of the restaurants being closed. The public’s buying wine, but because restaurants are not selling wine as much as they usually do. A lot of rippling effect is happening and not only affects the community, it has a rippling effect across the country.

The S&P 500 closed on Friday at 3,585. We are now looking at a resistance level of 3,660 with a support level of 3,480. With this momentum in the market and it showing more of a bullish tone, it’s really important to kind of hone in on the consumer. Thanksgiving is next week which will be followed by black Friday and Cyber Monday. It’s going to be really important to see if consumer confidence starts to build throughout the rest of the year with all of the spending opportunities coming up. We are also watching to see if companies will take this online shopping to a new standard and start to push out more online types of sales in their industries.

There are a lot of job openings across the country. As a matter of fact, it’s pretty amazing when you look at it. When you watch the news, a lot of what you see on the television just doesn’t match up to the actual data. If you go back to February, looking at all of the job postings in the United States, we’re only 2% below where we were before the virus hit. When we got into the pandemic, those job openings were about 46% less. We’ve gone from that far down all the way back to almost where we were pre-pandemic. That proves that consumers in the United States are adaptable. McKinsey and Company came out with a study looking at the consumer strength across the country. Of every four people in the sample, three people said that because of COVID, they were shopping in a new way. Not only are the jobs open, but people are adapting and that combination is very powerful here at the end of the year.

We’re getting a lot of questions from clients about research surrounding the Coronavirus and a potential second lockdown. We’re hearing about Europe and how the coronavirus is expanding quickly there. We are also seeing a resurgent in the U.S. With that resurgence and the potential of another lockdown, why aren’t we seeing markets react as they did back in March? The reason is that companies are better prepared than they were back in March. Corporate cash for the companies in the S&P 500 are sitting on over $2 trillion. That is a lot of cash on hand that they can use to employ new people, keep people on the payroll, use it to pay a dividend, buy back stock, or pay off debt. We saw a huge issuance of debt during the Coronavirus crisis. In March and April, we saw the record issuance in corporate America. Companies are better prepared than they were back in March. In addition, with the positive news on vaccines, we can now see that the light at the end of the tunnel is likely actually the end of the tunnel and not just the train coming down the tracks at us. That uncertainty has been removed. You’re now seeing a stronger corporate America in the face of what was likely weakening consumer sentiment because of the fears of the Coronavirus outbreak. It seemed to hit Europe first and it seems to be hitting Europe again, ahead of us. Watching the trends over there will be important, but we believe that large U.S. multinational companies seem to be in a much stronger position than they were a few months back.

Greg Powell, CIMA®

Bobby Norman, CFP®, AIF®

Ashley Page, JD, MBA

Trey Booth, CFA®, AIF®

Adam Vansant, AIF®

Fi Plan Partners is an independent investment firm in Birmingham, AL, serving clients across the nation through financial planning, wealth management and business consulting. Fi Plan Partners creates strategies in the best interest of their clients using both fee based investing and transactional investing.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.

Economic forecasts set forth in this presentation may not develop as predicted.

No strategy can ensure success or protect against a loss.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC and a registered investment advisor.

The post #486 Virus vs. Consumer Strength first appeared on Fi Plan Partners.

What is a Maverick? Mavericks are free-thinking people who refuse to conform to society standards and are driven to change the world. Mavericks are intelligent, inventive, imaginative, and genius, independent. Individualistic idealist idea machines, original uninhibited visionaries, icons, intentional and inspirational.

What special power is possessed by Maverick? The power of innovation. Innovation is doing what hasn’t been done before. New ideas, methods, solutions, systems, products, and tools at the heart of every Maverick is the power of innovation. So, let’s tap into the mind of an innovator! 

Today’s Innovation Maverick video is with Greg Powell, CEO of Fi Plan Partners, and Art Carden, author of Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich. Listen as they discuss Art’s new book and how innovation plays a big role in the story.

Greg Powell, CIMA®

Fi Plan Partners is an independent investment firm in Birmingham, AL, serving clients across the nation through financial planning, wealth management and business consulting. Fi Plan Partners creates strategies in the best interest of their clients using both fee based investing and transactional investing.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.

Economic forecasts set forth in this presentation may not develop as predicted.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC and a registered investment advisor.

The post Innovation Mavericks: Art Carden, Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich first appeared on Fi Plan Partners.

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With the election being over, we’ve done some analysis and want to share that with you today. Last week we talked about how historically the market performs better when there’s a divided government. It appears that for the foreseeable future, that’s what we’ll have. A divided government is fine in relation to the markets, except when there’s the stuff that needs to be done. Right now the market is actually looking for some type of stimulus bill so we’ll be watching that carefully over the next couple of weeks to see if it can get done before the new inauguration that comes in January.

What may surprise people regarding the election is what happened down-ballot. Everyone is aware that the president was at the top of the list, but there were a lot of initiatives that had market impact down-ballot, mostly in states where things are legal or illegal, and where there were impacts to publicly traded companies. For example, California passed a bill that allows for app-based drivers to not be considered employees, but instead are considered independent contractors. These workers being labeled as an employee would mean the positions all would have to have the benefits of being an employee, which would make the app or the gig economy unworkable if people have to have a cost involved for having a full-time employee that is an app worker. That was a big bill for technology companies out on the west coast. In addition to that, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota, all legalized the recreational use of marijuana. That’s something we’ve seen start to expand over the last few years. There are certain public companies that have exposure in that area that we may see start to see more growth in that industry going forward. Tennessee, Maryland, Louisiana, and South Dakota, all voted to legalize sports betting. That’s another trend we’ve seen where legalization has expanded across the country and we’re seeing companies shoot up out of nowhere and really start growing in market exposure. This is where the consumer and deregulation down-ballot really may have a positive impact on the market that really didn’t have anything to do with the presidential race. There’s a lot of action happening that we’re looking at down-ballot where it may work for the next 4, 10, or 20 years, possibly. No guarantees, of course, but the market is usually up, historically, 12 months following the white house changes hands. Regardless, we do expect to see some volatility.

At the end of October, we saw another 1% drop in the unemployment rate. At the end of September, reports were showing an unemployment rate of 7.9% and now it’s down to 6.9%, which was a move in the right direction. This proves that we are still making progress. One thing we’ll warn you about that we need to keep an eye on is that the long term unemployment amount within that figure is defined as being unemployed for six months or more. That part of the unemployment number is really starting to spike up. This is most likely one of the reasons that we are seeing, from a policy point of view, the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, call for another stimulus. The Fed knows that when you get six months out unemployed, that really starts to get problematic for people. A lot of the dialogue you’re seeing from Mr. Powell is him trying to cut that off before it starts to be a more systemic problem that sparks a flame for trouble.

Most all earnings are in for the latest earnings season. From a COVID impact point of view, analysts had thought initially that the drop in earnings across the board, on average, would be about 21% lower than this time last year. However, it wasn’t anywhere close to that figure. Reports showed a drop of about 7.5%. Even though the earnings were down, they came in much better than analysts predicted. The economic numbers should start to become headline news now that the election is past us.

This past Friday the S&P 500 closed at 3,509, pushing our new resistance level to 3,590 and the new support level is now 3,430. This is important because this could possibly indicate a more bullish tone in the markets going forward with a possibility for a surge in momentum. There are no guarantees, but historically, trends leading into the election tend to hold past the election. One of the trends that we’re seeing right now is positive consumer sentiment along with a lot of good reports on earnings. We are looking to see, with the vaccine for COVID being talked about, if the consumer sentiment will hold through the remainder of the year.

Bobby Norman, CFP®, AIF®

Ashley Page, JD, MBA

Trey Booth, CFA®, AIF®

Adam Vansant, AIF®

Fi Plan Partners is an independent investment firm in Birmingham, AL, serving clients across the nation through financial planning, wealth management and business consulting. Fi Plan Partners creates strategies in the best interest of their clients using both fee based investing and transactional investing.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.

Economic forecasts set forth in this presentation may not develop as predicted.

No strategy can ensure success or protect against a loss.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC and a registered investment advisor.

The post #485 Now What? first appeared on Fi Plan Partners.

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This is going to be an eventful week with Tuesday being election day. History has taught us that regardless of what the outcome of the election is, whether your party and candidate wins or loses, our country will and always has continued to move forward due to innovation, determination, and the American spirit. As we get into this week and discussions, we wanted to talk about how the markets have reacted in relation to the elections because no matter who wins the industry will continue to move forward regardless of what’s taking place in Washington, DC. Also, in 60 days we will be in January of 2021. With all this being said, there’s a lot taking place and we’re going to make sure we keep you updated through all of it.

Election week is finally here and without having a crystal ball and without picking sides, we want to answer some common questions that we have been getting from clients over the past couple of weeks regarding the election. Probably the most common question we have been asked is regarding how the markets will react if the election results are not decided for a few days or even a few weeks. Looking back in history, in 2000 with the Bush vs. Gore election, the results were not announced for five weeks. From election day in 2000 to the end of the year, the S&P 500 fell 7.8%. Just to do a little comparing here, in 2000 we were going through the.com bubble where the technology stocks were trading back and this year, we are in the middle of a pandemic. At the end of the day, now more than ever, it is important to have a diversified strategy in our portfolios, which we do. The second question we have been getting a lot is about how the market will perform if we see a blue wave where the Democrats take control of the White House and control the Senate while holding the house. We know that throughout history, on average, the market performs better with a divided government. We will see what happens after this election but throughout it all, if you have questions, please call us. We want to answer questions you have especially in a week like this, where there is a lot of uncertainty.

On last week’s vlog, we mentioned that there was a lot of data points coming out over the next eight days from last Monday that outside of the election, would have a large impact on the future. We want to review some of the data points now that they are in. It is very important to not only look forward but also to know what has occurred when we think these big events are happening. One of the big topics we wanted to look at was earnings. Earnings came in strong last week. We talked about the five most important companies in terms of size and said that it was going to be important to watch, to see how they did. The data pointed out that they all beat estimates which we are seeing a theme arise among other companies. The S&P 500 is made up of the 500 largest publicly traded companies and of those 500, 319 of them have reported third-quarter results and 86% of them are beating estimates. Now these are low estimates and there is still a year-over-year drop in earnings at around 10%, but we came in expecting a 16% to 20% drop in earnings, so a 10% drop is fantastic. Why is this important? Regardless of the election, whoever wins is going to inherit an economy and a stock market with corporations that are earning money. The fact that corporations are earning money and doing well is very important. The fact that the stock market dropped in the face of these good reports, is likely a sign that there could be upside potential. Once people stop looking at the election and take a look under the hood, they will realize that companies are coming back from what was a very deep recession, which is extremely positive. We saw more positive news when the GDP number came out beating expectations with a 33% annualized growth rate. The job rate also came out this week. It comes out each week and is an important data point that we watch because it is so timely. That number came in showing 751,000 jobless claims. Even though that’s a large number, it’s down from 791,000 from the week before, which is a large drop. There’s clearly positive news out there and if we can get through this election, no matter who wins, they stand to inherit a strong stock market, a strong economy and it’s something we’re looking at when we’re looking to make future investments.

August 3rd was 90 days out from the election. On that day, the S&P 500 was at 3294. History has told us to look at this 90-day mark number and use it as an indicator of who is going to win the election. History says that your incumbent party, being Trump, would win if that number is above the 90 days starting level of 3294. Since 1984, that indicator has been 100% correct in predicting elections. Since 1928, that indicator has been 87% correct with only being wrong three times since 1928. Last Friday the market closed at 3270. We are now looking at a resistance level of 3360 and a support level of 3200. Once again, just like at the beginning of the 90 days, we are kind of hovering around that 3,300 range. We might not see a winner for several weeks after the election. The Masters is coming up this month and we might end up seeing who is named the winner in that tournament before a president is named. We’re going to be taking historical data, technical indicators, the fundamentals of corporate earnings and what’s actually happening in the economy and we’re going to be watching this to understand where we go for the next 60 days into next year. Nobody can predict the future, but we’re going to do our very best to figure out what direction the trends are going to go.

Greg Powell, CIMA®

Bobby Norman, CFP®, AIF®

Trey Booth, CFA®, AIF®

Adam Vansant, AIF®

Fi Plan Partners is an independent investment firm in Birmingham, AL, serving clients across the nation through financial planning, wealth management and business consulting. Fi Plan Partners creates strategies in the best interest of their clients using both fee based investing and transactional investing.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.

Economic forecasts set forth in this presentation may not develop as predicted.

No strategy can ensure success or protect against a loss.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC and a registered investment advisor.

The post #484 Election Day and Market Volatility first appeared on Fi Plan Partners.