Let's Talk Money

Loss you I can be so good morning, and thank you for tuning in to Let's Talk Money on a ten WGY. I'm John Malay and I'm going to be your hosts for the next hour. I'm a certified public accountant and the chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and a wealth advisor at Bouchet Financial Group. I want to thank you for tuning in with us this morning. I hope you are having a great start to this May weekend here in Troy. It's an exciting weekend. My alma mater, RPI is having their

graduation today, so that's awesome to see. I can't believe it was twenty seven years ago I graduated RPI, so I'm sorry, thirty seven years ago. Graduated RPA long time ago. And actually one of my college friends, great college friends, David Bouche who no relationship to Stephen Bouche, uh totally

spelled differently. But David's youngest son is graduating. So it's an exciting time for their family and you know, certainly brings back some some great memories of uh, you know, college at RP a great, great school, had a great background and just you know, great memories for sure. And a lot of other exciting things happening this weekend. And uh, you know it's hard to believe we are one week away from a Memorial Day weekend. Uh.

The year is flying by. Uh and uh, certainly, you know, Memorial Day we start of even though it's not technically the start of summer, it's certainly we go on to times we enjoy the beautiful weather and just all that this region has to offer. You know, this week I was actually in Phoenix, Arizona with some of my couple of my colleagues at a

industry conference. Actually a company investment who we use their technology, had a national their annual conference, and so it was great to be in Arizona for the week. You know, it's always nice to just to be honest, to get out of the office, you know, the day to day and you know, really be with thought leaders. And so we got to hear from some great keynote speakers also here on the technology side, what's going on

in our industry. And you know, I'll say Steve has always invested heavily in our professional development and making sure you know, as a firm, we're staying on top of what's happening in the industry also from a technology point of view, so really important conference. A couple of weeks ago, we had two of our other colleagues out at a conference in Austin, Texas. It was a conference that really focused on issues facing women and investing. So it

was a women's group put on by one of our partners. So some colleagues out there again some great information. You know, in Phoenix, this is my first real time in Phoenix. I'd been to Scottsdale several times, but first time in Phoenix, and you know, what a great city. It was a lot of fun. It was hot, you know, ninety five to ninety nine every day. But I'll see, if you've ever been to a conference, you know, you typically you know, the conference center is

right near the hotel. So we literally had to walk across the street to get to the conference center. So I think I was in air conditioning about ninety nine percent of the time. Even we actually were able to go catch a baseball game at Chase Stadium where the Diamondbacks play, that was like three blocks away from where the convention center was, and you know, I went to it was in a night game. I think it was a six forty start, thought it was going to be hot, but actually it was not

totally covered air conditioned stadium. So but interesting. I'll say one of the interesting things about Phoenix is, you know, all over the place we saw these self driving autonomous vehicles and their right shair and you know, it's actually a company called Waymu and they're actually a subsidiary of Alphabet, you know, the parent company of Google. And it was really amazing to see, you

know, first, you know, they're very odd looking vehicles. They've got you know, almost like radar devices on the top and on the sides in the back, and it is a strange feeling to just watch this car drive by you with no driver, you know, passenger you know, sometimes sitting in the back, sometimes sitting in the passenger seat. And you know, this company operates right now in Phoenix and San Francisco, and it's just you know, I talked to some folks there. You know, it's been you

know in the area for I think about five years now. I think it's only been the last year year and a half where they've opened it up to the highways. They've certainly were I guess they were first just operating in downtown. They do have a certain geographic area they'll operate in, but you could take one of the vehicles from downtown out to the airport and vice versa, and just you know interesting, you know, we we we hear so much

about AI and autonomous vehicles and just how technology is changing. And you know, in some ways, you know, you sit here in Troy and Saratoga and you think, wow, that's really far off. But boy, to sit there be immersed in it and just see this rate around us, Boy, it's it's happening, and you know, it's it just kind of reminder that we are in this midst of this technology revolution. And you know,

I think sometimes people think it's you know, really far off. You know this AI is such an overused word, and I think any people think, well, that's just you know, it's kind of scientific. It's way down the road, and you know, you just get a feeling like it's it's totally upon us and we're just gonna wake up one day and be totally immersed by it. And so I think, you know, very exciting, very

exciting time, very exciting trip. You know, as I mentioned, I was with a couple of my colleagues and you know, you know, we have an amazing group at Bouchet Financial Group. And I know I say that often, but I'll say, you know, having been working for many years, I've been a part of several teams, and I'll say there's no team that's finer this team, and I'm proud to be part of it. And just got great colleagues. And you know, you get a chance to listen

to many of my colleagues right here on this radio show. So I know you've gotten a chance to listen to Nicole Globel, Ryan Bouchet, Steve Son, Marty Shields, who's been you know with Ryan, been with Steve for you know, almost fourteen years now, just you know, great partners to Steve's and helping to grow this business. Paulo La Pietra, Harmony Wagner,

Samantha Macy, Vinnie Testa, and several others. I will say, we certainly have some of our new cfps who have been joining the show as in a in a kind of a secondary role, but it's it's been great for him. So you know, Steve's built this amazing firm. We're now twenty professionals. We've got eight cfps soon to be nine. You know, Katie

pat recently passed the CFP just getting her experience in. Also have four CPAs, once certified divorce financial Analysts and a certified private wealth advisor and also enrolled tax agent. So Steve's proud of the team, and we're proud to be a part of this team. And we you know, Steve likes to use you know, our collective knowledge for this show and really to help the listening audience. So with that said, I appreciate you tuning in this morning.

I hope you enjoy the next sixty minutes with me. With that said, I encourage any listeners to call in with any questions. You can reach me at eight hundred talked WGY. That's eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine. So this morning we're gonna talk about the markets, investing, financial planning, and quite frankly whatever topics you have and call in with. So looking forward to a great morning with you all. So, Bob, what

a great week in the markets this week? You know, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, you know, one of the indexes we you know, I think it has become a little bit lesser followed recently, but certainly a banner Day on Friday, closing above forty thousand for the first time in history. You know, on on Thursday, it actually flirted above forty thousand, but

closed slightly below. So that's you know, obviously a big watermark for the Dow, and to hit forty thousand, it feels like it was just a few years ago it hit thirty thousand for the first time, So just significant progress here. So stocks finished, you know, with a really strong week. The Dow was up one point two percent, notching really as fifth straight

week of weekly gains. The S and P five hundred and Nasdaq climbed one point five percent and two point one percent for the week, respectively, you

know, really clinching their longest winning streak since February. And you know, this week's rise help repel each of the indexes in a positive territory for the second quarter despite the rough start, right we remember back in April, you know, it was a rough start really across the board, but the ground has been made up, you know, since then, the indexes have rosen an hour. All are in positive territory for the quarter. So nice to

see participation across the board. And so the S and P five hundred and NASDAK now up more than eleven percent year to date for twenty twenty four, and the Dow has climbed to just above six percent for the year. And so now the question is going to be right is can this rally be sustained? And we are, you know, we're in a bullmarket rally, there's no question about that, I mean, and so you know, can we continue that for the rest of twenty twenty four And you know, there's certainly

room for debate on that. You know, some economists believe we've got this great combination of economic growth and decelerating inflation and think that's the perfect catalyst for the second half of the year. And so, you know, certainly we've seen strong fundamentals, we've seen earnings, phenomenal earnings in the first quarter.

We've seen some massive stock buybacks, so just great signs of what's ahead, you know, but you know, there are concerns of some of the uncertainties and the impact that they could have in the markets for the remainder of the year. You know, it's some of those uncertainties, you know, revolve around the possible escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. Really the ever changing dynamics of the war in Ukraine, and you know, certainly some of

the recent elevated trade tensions with China. So certainly, you know those uncertainties are out there. You know, however, there's always uncertainties, and you know, one of the charts is Steve loves to share with the team and kind of remind us to say focused and ground it is. Listen, you only have to look at the last five years, right, and all of

the reasons that investors had to pull out of the market. Right. You had the COVID pandemic, massive job lost because of that, you had a capital riot, you had nine percent inflation fed raising rates eleven times, the war in Ukraine. So many many reasons to pull out of the market, right, no question. But the fact is if you stayed in, stocks doubled during that five year period, and so you know, it's just a stark reminder that yeah, there are there's uncertainty in the equity markets, there's

no question. But for the long haul, you know, we're still very bullish on equities, and particularly US equities. You know, we've been you know, out of international for probably six years now, in underweight UH International for the last fifteen years. So you know, we're still as long term

investors, you know, very bullish on the US US equity market. So you know, just recap S and P five hundred up a little over one point five percent for the week, eleven percent year to day, Dow up one point twenty five percent for the week, up six percent year to date, NASDAK up two point one one percent for the week, So tech certainly leading the surge this week. And again similar to the S and P five

hundred up eleven over eleven percent year to date. And even you know, the Russell two thousand had a great week, up one point seven point four one point seven four percent for the week and up a little less than three and a half percent year to date. So certainly getting some broader participation in

the markets, which is what we certainly like to see. You know, we're seeing the yields on a ten year treasury you start to come down a little bit, you know, they fell to four point four to two percent from the week from about four and a half percent from the week prior. So certainly seeing you know, as the equity markets are certainly rallying, we're

certainly seeing some relief. We're seeing some of the bond yields come down, and you know, on the bond you know, you look certainly on the shorter end of the curve, you still have rates you know, above five percent, so the one year, you know, five point one, three seven. But certainly as you go farther out in the curve, we're starting to see yields coming, you know, coming down, as I mentioned the

ten year down to four point four to two percent. So certainly seeing yields come down, which we certainly expecting, you know, the Fed, uh, you know, and will certainly be I think everybody parsing words coming out

of every FED official as we're looking at new inflation numbers. So, you know, this week one of the certain catalysts for the markets was the April CPI report, which came out on Wednesday, and you know, it showed that the CPI rose three point four percent in April on an annual basis, which was good because it showed a slight moderation from some of the hotter numbers we saw in the months prior and you know, really in line with expectations,

which you know, we got one thing we got to remember about Wall Street right, Wall Street doesn't like surprises, and here was you know, days leading up I will say, early part of the week Monday, Tuesday, leading up to the release on Wednesday. You know, there was a lot of concern, you know, what is the CPI number going to be? And one thing we do know about Wall Street is Wall Street does not

like surprises. And really this CPI was you know, rate in line with expectations and slightly cooler than the three point five percent that we saw in March. So you know that certain you know, modern modest turn and it was modest. You know, it wasn't like we dropped out to two percent,

but we are going in the right direction. You know, really was the catalyst for markets to really, uh to do well this week, so as we expected some good inflation news coming out having positive impacts on the markets. And you know, I will say the Fed pleased with those numbers, but still taking their cautionary steps right saying they want to see prolonged data to show

that we're you know, really in this genuine disinflationary trend. So uh, you know, we looked at you know, some of the CPI numbers, Uh, certainly, you know, housing and gas really contributing to more than seventy percent of the increase, and you know, the shelter portion of the CPI jumped five point five five percent on an annualized basis. So you know, housing is certainly continuing to be a thorn in the side of the FED. You know, this is becoming a you know, really sticky part of

inflation, and it's such a such an important part of inflation. So certainly all eyes are going to be on what's it going to take to get that that that housing number down because you know, let's face it, the FED has been very clear, UH they want to see UH inflation down to their target at two percent, and you know, thus far, housing has been really a tough component, you know, of getting it down into the range. So I just you know, again, want to encourage any listeners to

call in with questions. You can reach me at eight hundred talk WGY. That's eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine. We're going to take a quick commercial break, so please stay tuned and we'll be right back with let's Talk Money on eight ten WGY. Well, thank you for staying with

me through that quick commercial break. One thing about this may weather it also brings out a lot of pollen, and if you're an allergy sufferer like myself, it helps to be able to take a little break and drink a little water. So I appreciate you giving me that opportunity to wet my whistle there

a little bit. And I hope everybody is, you know, getting a chance to enjoy this mid May morning, just talking really about you know, the CPI numbers coming out really in line with expectations and again showing a slight decline from the prior prior month, and that certainly helped markets as we saw real positive really across the board this week. And you know, one of the things that's important is, you know, I will say, as Americans, you know, we still, you know, on polls, remained a

little gloomy about the economy. What's happened. You know, we feel these elevated prices, We feel them at the grocery store, we feel them at

the pumps. But you know, one of the things that is certainly coming out of the data is, you know, wages are wage growth is outpacing inflation, and so you know recent data showing average weekly wages rows three point nine percent for the month of April, which is ahead of the CPI of three point four percent, So certainly a great sign that we're seeing wage growth really outpacing inflation, which really in the long term should you know, result

an increase purchasing power for the consumer. And you know, remember the consumer is such an important part of our economy, and I think part of that, you know, obviously, that's part of the reason we've seen you know,

really continued strong growth in our economy. Now we have some of the recent GDP ratings are showing you know, it has been slowing down, but I will say consumers have still been really out there spending, and you know, part of that is because the job market continues to be so strong,

you know, unemployment so low. And I will say I talked to a lot of business owners, you know, almost on a weekly basis, and I will say, you know, and and even at the conference I was just at out out in Arizona, where I got a chance to you know, speak with colleagues who were you know, really have firms all over the country. You know, I spoke with a firm similar to ours out in

Ohio and want in California, and the job markets are still tight. And they're tight almost across the board, and I know some of the data shows there is some weakening in certain areas, but generally when you talk to business owners, it still is you know, one of the biggest concerns they have

with being able to grow is being able to find talent. And so certainly that the strength of the labor market and the fact that wage growth is outpacing inflation is keeping the consumer spending, which certainly is is how hoping to drive the growth that we're seeing. So certainly, you know, good signs there, you know, But but Fed Chair Powell, you know, reiterated that, you know, the ultimate goal for the Central Bank is to hit that

two percent target, and you know they're confident they can do it. You know, certainly they've seen their efforts continue to bring inflation down and certainly significantly

lower than the highs we saw nine percent. But still, you know, we're this stubborn you know, three and a half, you know, just below three and a half percent range, and it's you know, it's persistent for a little while, and so you know, whether they can get to that two percent without causing any more pain is going to be a thing to see and certainly we're seeing you know, housing in and you know, energy costs certainly be a part of what's keeping that a little bit higher than they

would like to see. So certainly, you know, all eyes will continue. But but good news this week and we saw that obviously translate into the market with some phenomenal numbers this week. And I'll say, you know, one benefit to of being at the conference, you know, with some of the keynote speakers you did here from some economists, and it's always you know, I will say, it's always great to to hear some of the you know, the the thinking heads, you know, share some of their their

ideas and thoughts. And certainly with our economy there is a lot of strength. And you know, I will say, I don't think anyone's debating that is there uncertainties in the world. There's no question that there are, and uh, you know I mentioned some of them in the beginning of the show. And certainly surprises can happen which could create volatility in the short term. But I will say, you look at the fundamentals of the market, company

earned are strong. When you see buybacks at the level we've seen, you know, from Apple and others, it's I mean, that is just hard to put that in perspective. So buybacks, you know, are the size of you know, some very large public companies, you know, like Boeing you know, is you know, and so it's it's just interesting how much cash some of these top technology companies have and really the growth you know,

being driven by earning. So certainly are there are there some uncertainties, absolutely, and as an equity investor, you have to be prepared for that. And I think that's where you know, diversification of your portfolio becomes really important. And understanding you know, cash flow needs, I will say that's a as working with the advisor, that's probably I feel obviously managing money is the number one reason that clients come to us, but the financial planning process is

so important. It really sets that roadmap. And and I can't tell you how many times through that financial planning process says we're identifying cash flow needs, right. And what important part, you know, when you know there could be some volatility, right, is making sure that if you understand what cash flow requirements are, you set that money aside. So maybe you know, we have short term vehicles that are taking out of some of the market fluctuations,

but still you know, delivering a positive yield. So just a really important process. And I would say, you know, even if you're investing on your own, do that same thing, diversify. So we are almost halfway through today's show and we're going to be taking a quick break. I want to thank you for tuning in with us today. We hope you're enjoying the show so far and hope you're rejoined us after the break. We encourage any listeners to call in with questions. You can reach me at eight hundred

Talk WGY. That's eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine. You were listening to Let's Talk Money, brought to you by Bouchet Financial Group, where we help our clients prioritize their health well we manage their wealth for life. Thank you for joining me so far, and I hope you rejoined after the break now the one love you well. Good morning, and thank you for staying through the break. I am John Malay and I'm the host for

this morning's edition of Let's Talk Money. I want to thank you for staying with us to that quick break, and we have a caller David from UNICAU. With David thank you for tuning in. Good morning, John, Great show. I have a question for you. With interest rates expected to go down, what's a good way for an average investor to participate in the bond market? What type of products should they buy? David, great question,

and certainly appreciate you know you tuning in with us this morning. And so certainly you know, as rates are expected to go down, there there are you know, we like kind of the more of the middle uh part of the curve, right, so we're you know, you can still you know, for a one year get over five percent, even two year four point

eight. So you know, we certainly like the idea of locking in those rates even a three year four point six, you know, and clipping your coupons and uh so we think there's a great opportunity to lock in uh some of those yields. And uh, you know, we like individual treasuries. Now certainly you know you can you look at some unis as well. Uh, but but certainly treasuries, you know, with with uh we still think a great yield on that part of the curve. And obviously you know,

no real principal uh concern. We think that's a great opportunity to to On the fixed income side, what about ets bond funds intermediate duration? Yeah, so absolutely so so we we certainly you know, would be looking at some some you know, medium you know, intermitted media duration bond funds. That's where you know, we'd be looking at ETFs in that range as well.

So, uh, certainly that's where we'd be looking to invest on the fixed incomes part, absolutely, right, right, So in addition to treasure reason in intermediate bond fund would be somewhat a good idea, right, yes, absolutely, yeah, on the fixing come side, we think that's a perfect, perfect, perfect way to invest that that portion of your portfolio. Absolutely. Obviously, as interest rates go down, that fund, whether it's an ETF, would go up, correct, correct, Yeah, you know,

and that's a great point. You know, we've got an inverse relationship right between h bond prices and interest rates, so as those you know, interest rates go down, those prices will go up. Absolutely. Okay, John, Why, thank you have a nice day. Yeah, thank you. Appreciate you tuning in and some great quest there, David, appreciate you tuning in and it you know, and David, you know, is it brought up a good point certainly, as you know, we all do expect the

FED to start reducing rates. It's really right, just a matter of of when, right, and we certainly, you know, certainly with some of the new inflation data that came out this week, I think there's a renewed hope that the FED will start to reduce uh, you know, rates sooner

than later. And you know interesting, you know, I talked about this conference I was at, and you know, one of the keynote speakers was really, you know, one of the points he brought up is really an argument that you know, the FED lowering rates really has a strong possibility of reducing inflation. And you know, typically we think the reverse, right, We the typical thought is, hey, if the FED lowers interest rates rates, right, that the consumers are going to feel less pressure and spend more.

And you know, I'm again, I'm sure you could put two economists

in a room and get a good, healthy debate. But you know this, this gentleman certainly made a strong argument that you know, really we've seen cash in the economy really is shifted from the public sector to the private and because of that, we're seeing middle to high income workers who are really benefiting actually from higher interest rates, and they're they're they're benefiting from this and so and also showing that you know, the high interest rates really could also be

you know, partly responsible for keeping shelter costs as elevated as they are. So so uh, certainly some economists and and you know, and after hearing them, did a little research and he certainly is not alone in that.

There's certainly is a school that is, uh, you know, under the belief that if the Fed does uh lower rates, we may see that have a positive impact and may see inflation actually come down lower, which certainly you know, is counterintuitive, but certainly you know, would be would be good

to see for sure. You know, as we sit here, you know, we've had a lot of discussion, and I first started talking about seeing the autonomous vehicles down in Phoenix, and you know just how AI has been such a popular topic this year, and and really as we talk about the Magnificent Seven and what's happened with their you know, their stock appreciation this year really and everyone's trying to say, well, where do I, how do I invest in AI? What's the next big you know, chip company that

I should be investing? In and as everybody's talking about that. You know, these quiet utility stocks right are crushing it. Quite frankly, they are quite hot, and you know, and a lot of it is driven by what's happening in the AI and and quite frankly, the a eyes thirst for electricity. So you know, we we typically think of utility stocks as you know, they're the sleepy kind of safe stocks, but that game has changed.

You know, the S and P five hundred utility sector has gained more than forty percent this year and making it the third best category behind information technology and communication services. And you know, this sector has outpaced the overall S

and P five hundred benchmark, which is only up eleven percent. And some of the technology companies, you know, you've got shares of Vistra, which is VST is up one hundred and forty four percent this year, Constellation Energy CEG, their shares have popped eighty five percent this year, and NRG Energy, which that's a hard tongue twister Energy Energy and their symbol is NRG has gained more than sixty percent. And you know that's quite a reversal from last

year. You know, you know, last year we saw utility stocks tumble more than ten percent, underperforming the S and P, which was over twenty four percent gain. Really last year, everyone was really piling into the magnificent seven. This year we're seeing, certainly, in addition to that, we're seeing these energy stocks certainly get lots of attention and lots of of growth.

And you know, and it's interesting because you look, you know, typically, you know, utilities have been defensive play, and but you know, the utility sector as a whole is currently trading at only seventeen times expected earnings, much lower than the S and P five hundred multiple of twenty one percent and information technologies twenty eight percent. And you know, the fact is, it takes a lot of power to power AI. And you know, it's

interesting just doing a little research, you know, Google search. You know, so if you sit your computer and do a Google search, it requires about point three watt hours of electricity on average, while a chat GPT, if you do a chat GPT search typically consumes about two point nine watt hours, so from point three to two point nine, and you think of the searches that are happening worldwide, you you know, you listen to Amazon's earnings

call. Almost all of the Magnificent seven. They're all investing so much cap X into call centers and how to you know, purchasing servers and equipment and chips to drive AI. That's causing a major, major increase in the consumption of energy. So certainly, you know, energy utilities, an area that you know, we thought of as a sleepy kind of safe is certainly getting

turned on its side. And you know, it'll be interesting because this will be a fight for communities is who you know, will there be infrastructure issues? You know, which cities can capitalize on this because certainly, you know, where where we saw maybe electrical usage flatlining and declining, we're seeing the exact opposite right now. And really the AI is spurning the massive increase.

So so it's not always that sexy you know technology stock. You know, sometimes it's just you know, the good old, you know, boring utility who's delivering I mean, think of a utility delivering one hundred and forty four percent return in just this year, just from January one till now. So certainly many ways to capitalize on the AI explosion, for sure, So I encourage any listeners to call in with questions, you can reach me at eight

hundred Talk WGY. That's eight hundred eighty two four nine. I'm gonna take a quick commercial break, so please stay tuned and we'll be right back with Let's Talk Money on eight ten WGY. Well, good morning, and thank you for staying with me through that quick commercial break. I'm John Malay and I am the guest host for this morning's episode. And you know here we

are middle of May. Today is actually Preakness Day, so if you're a horse fan, it's the second leg of the Kentucky Derby, and Mystic Dan, who won the Kentucky Derby, will be hoping to win today at the Preakness, which certainly would create which is already a firestorm of activity. With the Belmont, which is going to be held in Saratoga on June eighth, there's certainly already a lot of buzz and a lot of interest about that.

Imagine if Mystic Dan pulls it off today at the Preakness and heads into Belmont trying to defend, you know, and win triple crowned at the Belmont, that would be phenomenal. So certainly in this area there's a lot of excitement

I know, you know, we have an office rting downtown Saratoga. There's a lot of talk about just you know, for that whole week leading up and certainly into June eighth, just how many people are going to be visiting Saratoga, all the private jets that are going to be coming in, so a lot of excitement, and boy, it would be great if Mystic Dan could win today and bring that excitement into Saratoga in a little less than a

month. So we've been talking a lot of topics. Lastly, we were just talking about utilities, and now there's several ways to capitalize on the AI boom. And you know, who would think these quiet little utilities would be one of them, but they certainly are. And you know, I know Apple Stock, you know, certainly a lot of discussion how they've been slow to the game with AI, but certainly Tim Cook in his latest call earnings

call, they are certainly making a play in AI. And it's interesting, you know, the capital expenders that are required for these large, magnificent seven companies to really invest in AI. It is massive. It's a massive amount of investment, and you know, it's one you want to get right. And you know, I'll say this about Apple. You know, we're big believers of Apple. I personally am a big believer of Apple. They have lagged, but certainly they've got some pop over this quarter, which is nice

to see. I will say, you know, they have such a base of users, and let's face it, I mean a lot of us use Siri and some of the other features of our Apple phones and Apple products, and I'm just excited, you know, to see what Apple is gonna do, and just think about all of us who sit with these smartphones and as they come up with ways, and there's gonna be in innovative ways, no question, and I would bet on Apple to come up with some variative ways,

innovative ways that they can, you know, leverage AI into a device that so many of us have in our hands and many probably have in their hands right now. And so yeah, they've they've been slow, but I think I don't think we should look at that as a negative. I'd rather have them come out with a solid plan on how they're going to incorporate AI, because I think what we're all seeing is it's not just the chip makers who are gonna benefit from AI. It's gonna be really those companies that can

capitalize. So we're seeing the utilities right, delivering net energy. Right, You're gonna see Amazon certainly going to capitalize in a number of ways, including you know, making the buying experience as you're buying things on Amazon, really leveraging AI in addition to how they're leveraging it in their cloud based services. And there's no question AI is or Apple is going to be leveraging AI in

their devices. And and let's face it, Apple users are very loyal users and and really have incorporated you know, let's face it, the iPhone is incorporated almost into you know, we got generations. You know, I'll tell you my kids, they've got their iPhones all the time. And certainly I think is is Apple makes their play, There's gonna be plenty of opportunity to leverage it. So exciting to see there so so and again I think you

also look at companies that have large workforce. Right, There's there's no question. And I and I just will say, after watching these self driving cars buzzing all around me, you know, we're we're in this revolution. We there's no question and technologies, it's happening, and AI is going to be a huge part of what we what what drives it. So it's exciting.

I think it's an exciting time. And as I you know, think about you know, my friend's son graduating from college today and he's heading into the technology workforce. What a great time to be, uh, you know, graduating from college starting your career. So certainly exciting times. So I certainly I want to encourage any listeners to call in with questions. You can reach me at eight hundred talk w g Y. That's eight hundred eight two five

five nine four nine. You know, talking about a lot of positives, and there certainly are and and again as a firm, you know, I will say we are certainly bullish on US equities. And again, as I mentioned in the beginning, doesn't mean that there's some potential uncertainties in the short term, no question, but as in equity investors, we know that,

and you know, we certainly diversify accordingly. You know, one of the uh, one of the things that I think we're going to see you get more and more attention as we get closer to the elections is really our national debt. And you know, it's it's really amazing, you know, our debt is now approaching thirty five trillion dollars. Our interest payments on our debt, so just the interest, not principal interest, right, have at this

point surpassed every single budget item except for Social Security. So we spend more on interest than on the interest on our debt. Then we spend for defense that we spend for medicare, anything except social security. Now, it's interesting. I think it's gonna be brought up during some of the debates. But let's face it, neither no candidates running on cutting government spending. It's just

nobody even thinks about that. It's more about what program they're going to offer, either whether it's extending some of the tax cuts or whether it's more government programs. But I'll say, you know, the eight at which the interest payments are increasing, it's really staggering. I mean, it's it's the fastest growing part of the budget, you know, in just in twenty twenty, so you know, four years ago it was only three hundred and forty five

billion. It's it's on track to hit eight hundred and seventy billion this year,

right, So that's that's that's huge. It's more than doubled in four years, and the fact is is that the budget deficit is widening and so and again there'll be economists who will say, yeah, you know, it's not something we need to be concerned about, but there's others saying, listen, you know, as we kick this can down the road, and just how how much it has increased, you know, in the last four years, eight years, It's something we have to keep our eye on, right,

you know, And I think even personally, you know, or any business, you have to worry about your debt, right and so certainly it hasn't gotten a lot of attention. But I'll say, is now as it's taken over every other program except for so security, this has to be in area and put some focus on it has to put some focus on reducing the

budget deficit, cutting spending. And certainly, you know, as these high interest costs are out there, you know, interest rates remain high, so the debt on that, you know, the debt service on that has to be high. Certainly it's going to start having a more and more impact. And so you know, it'd be nice to see some more attention paid at the national level with this because you know, I think you know, logically, you know, when you really start to say, you know, we're

spending more on interest than than anything. But so security that that is, that's concerning and the fact, you know, if you look at the rate of growth, you know, really since twenty twenty, it's been significant and there's no there's no cuts in in in sight. So it's certainly something that you know, I think hopefully we can get some attention to and and I'm saying this from not a political point of view. I say this because I

don't think either party is paying enough attention to it. So uh, certainly something from a national level that you know, I feel definitely has to come more to the forefront. So I encourage any listeners to call in with questions. You can reach me at eight hundred talk WGY. That's eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine. So you know, I know in the beginning, you know, I talked a little bit about diversification and really the

need for how we incorporate financial planning into our investment philosophy. And I think you know, one of the you know, I often have friends and family, you know, really look for investment advice, and I will say, as a long term investor, right you certainly want you have to be in US equities, you know, just say that. You know it's the place to be. It's where you're going to get returned. And you know, it's sad to see and I see it. We see it sometimes with new

clients and just talking to friends. You know, when when there is uncertainty, and sometimes with uncertainty, individual investors get spooked, right, It's hard not to when you see some of these these headlines, right and so, and when people get spooked, sometimes they get uncertain and then they get out of their their equities and go to cash. And what's that is sometimes we're meeting with a new client or a prospective client and there's there's still sitting in

tons of cash. And when you look at what has happened to the markets, right, I mean, twenty twenty two, no question, was a tough tough year across every single asset class. But twenty twenty three, you know, some major recoveries and continuing on. You know, as I said, S and P NASDAC up over eleven percent this year, you know, the S and P itself over the past year, so not year today,

past year up almost thirty percent. I mean, so if you've sat there, got spooked and are sitting in cash, right, how do you get back in? I mean? And so that's the concern is when you do get spooked and go to cash, it's tough to know when to get back

in. And I will say, you know, working with an advisor, I think that's where it becomes important because you know, one is you know, in twenty twenty two, we had a lot of conversations with clients, and you know, we had many who the first thing we'd go to is pull up the financial plan right and say, okay, if you're let's say you've got a retired individual and you're starting to draw down from your portfolio, first thing we look at is say, okay, what are your cash needs?

And as a part of our financial planning process, we look at cash needs for the next two years and we actually set that money aside in the cash management strategy, which is really important because when you can pull up somebody's portfolio and say, yep, we're down, but it's a paper loss, right, now, what cash do you have? Yeah, I've got that wedding plan for next summer. Oh great, you know something we look We identified that during the last financial plan. We've got that money sitting aside,

and the cash management strategy, it has not been impacted. It's still been delivering a nice yield because quite frankly, interest rates has been so high, we've been able to deliver over five percent and principle has been protected. And you know, those are the things that you know, you think of when

somebody's managing your money. Yeah, you want somebody who's going to keep you well diversified, right, have you in the appropriate amount of risk, right, But it's also about identifying cash needs and how to make sure that you're protecting yourself right that you don't you know, if you have short term money needs and for us, short term it could be twenty four months, right,

because anything can happen in the market. Is if we saw twenty twenty two, but we saw that rebound in twenty twenty three and now into twenty twenty four. But if you needed that cash and you the last thing we want to avoid, what we're all trying to avoid is having to sell in a down market to raise cash for something that we should have anticipated. So I will say one of the really important parts of working with a financial planner,

with a firm like us or others. Right, it's really about not only investing in providing diversification, but it's also that financial planning and really understanding, you know, how to manage cash flow needs. So I want to say, you know, we're coming up to the end of the show, and I want to definitely appreciate everybody tuning in with us. I know you've got many options for your Saturday mornings, so I want to thank you for tuning in with us today. I hope you enjoyed the show. I know

I did. I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend and have an amazing week ahead. Also, please be sure to tune in next weekend to hear another great show and check out our website Bouchet dot com for great tend information on a variety of investment in finance topics. You have been listening to Let's Talk Money, brought to you by Bouchet Financial Group, where we help our clients prioritize their health, where we manage their wealth for life.