Let's Talk Money

Hey, I'm see good morning, and thank you for tuning in to Let's Talk Money on eight ten WGY. I'm John Malay and I'm going to be your hosts for the next hour. I am a certified public accountant, I'm a wealth advisor at Bouchet Financial Group, and this chief financial officer and chief operating officer. I want to thank you for tuning in with this this morning, this beautiful June morning. I can't believe I'm saying June, but here

we are. Yesterday was a spectacular day, and I think today is gonna be just as nice. So you know, I will say my family, and I'm sure my colleagues are tired of hearing me say this, but you know, I love when we get days in May and June that are just just like yesterday. You know, to me, those those are bonus days.

You know, it's before summer starts, and you know summer it just feels like we're on this summer clock to try to get all the activities done, all the vacations, and it just seems to be you know, we know summer here in the Northeast is is somewhat limited, right, so we're rushing to get everything done, and when you can get days like yesterday and today before summer starts, I just think they're bonus days, days to take

the time and enjoy. So I had the luxury of being with a great friend of mine out on Lake George yesterday and just what a spectacular And we really are so blessed in this region with all that we have. You know, Lake George, spack, the adiron decks, just so much the region has for so it was out enjoying the lake and enjoying the beauty and just what a spectacular place. So I hope everyone after listening to this show, hopefully maybe you're outside right now, you know. I know haven't talk to

many listeners. Sometimes they're out gardening, or they've got the show playing in their garage and they're in and out while they're doing work. So hopefully everyone's got a chance to enjoy some of this great weather. And you know, June here we are, June second, So Belmont Week is upon us.

You know, I know, if for the racing enthusiasts or even the casual horse racing fan, you know, this is a big deal for our region, you know, So starting June ninth, June sixth through the ninth, Belmont is going to be in town, So I know Saratoga is gonna be a buzz. We have a Not only do we have our office in downtown Troy, we have an office in downtown Saratoga. And I know everybody's planning

for a very active week next week. You know, I hear there's gonna be a record number of private planes flying into local airports with all the international exposure that that the Belmont Stakes get, So it'll be an exciting week. And you know, those of you who are maybe not sure you want to venture out, from what I understand, it's not only gonna be this year. There's also going to be construction going on next year, so Belmont Race

will be in Saratoga my understanding next year as well. So if you're cautious and you're not sure you want to venture out, you know you can wait and see how it goes and have a second shot at it next year. So I appreciate you tuning in this morning. I know you know Steven Bouchet. I'm filling in for Steve and Steven taking a well deserved break and rest. And you know, many of you may know Steve dealing with some personal

tragedy in his life. Is wonderful. Wonderful wife Susan passed away recently and Steve is recovering from that, and you know we're we're all supporting Steve and be great to have Steve back behind the mic, and he will be shortly, so appreciate everybody's patient. In the meantime, you know, those of us and the team are doing our part to host the show and keep things

moving. And so I hope you've I know you got an opportunity to listen to Harmony Wagner yesterday and myself today and certainly our other colleagues over the last few weeks. And you know, I always like to say, because Steve has you know, built an amazing team here. We're now twenty professionals, and you know, we even when Steve is here full time, you know, we like to use the radio show to like showcase our talent because we do have such an amazing team and not only just a great people, smart

people, just good people to work with, great communicators. So you know, over the last few months, you've got a chance of listening to Cole Goobel, Ryan Bouchet, Steve's Son, Marty Shields, Paulo La Pietra, Harmony Wagner, Samantha Macy, Vinnie Testa, and you've also had some of our newer associates Katie Buck and Scotts Throwhecker as well behind the mic. So certainly getting everybody a chance to to speak and get to know the listening audience.

So again, I appreciate you tuning in with me this morning, and I encourage 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. This morning. We're going to talk about the markets, investing, some financial planning topics, and whatever other questions you call of it. So definitely I

encourage listeners to call in. We'll start off with a market update, and you know, this certainly was an up and down week in the markets, you know, but the markets closed out the week and the month of May

on Friday with a bang. You know, the Dow Jones Industrial average jump Friday by five hundred and seventy five points, first best session of the year, and you know, we saw investors wrap up a strong month and certainly as the Fed came out fed's preferred and inflation measure came out on Friday.

There were certainly some positive pressures in the market. Well we'll talk more about the inflation numbers in a moment, but you know, with the late day rally on Friday, it drove up the Dow and it helped all three of the major stock indexes finish May higher. And you know that was despite some of the turbulence we saw in the technology sector. We'll talk about that a

moment. I'll talk about some of the highlights of that. But so on Friday, the Dow client five hundred and seventy five, or almost one point five to one percent for the day and largely lifted by Salesforce, which had a big down on Thursday, but some recovery on Friday, and United Health also had an increase on Friday. So you know, as Salesforce represented about a seven point five percent increase in United Health was about a two point eight

The S and P on Friday added about pointy eighty percent, and Nasdaq ticked the lower slightly, and that was driven some of the technology turbulence we saw, which I'll touch on a moment. But so for the week, the

last week of May. You know, it was certainly not the best week of May, with the S and P and the Nasdaq snapping their five week wind streaks, with the SMP going down about a half a percent and NASDAK declining by a little over one percent, and then the Dow slipped just under one percent, you know, marking its second straight week of week of losses. So you know, however, you know, despite that tough week, the last week, it was a winning May, with each of the major

benchmarks registering six positive months out of seven. So think about that, out of the last seven months, six of them were positive for the major indexes, So that's great. You know, the Dow added two point three percent in May, the S and P rose a wopping four point eight percent in the mind to May, and then ASDA gained. H was technology clearly the winter at six point eight eight percent, noting its best month going back to

November. But you know, so I would say, overall, you know, great month of May, and you know they always say April showers bring May flowers, and we certainly saw that, right. We saw great bounce in the markets kind of across the board. And you know, this week we did see some turbulence in the and I'll call it turbulence because there was some choppiness and up and down in the technology sector. And uh, you know, part most that was driven by you know, earnings expectations that weren't

quite in line with what the market expected. And that's what you know, we always have to remember the market is market does not like surprises. Sometimes

it doesn't matter whether it's good news or bad news. If it's not you know, if it's not in line with what expectations were, you know, you can see some react actions and and overreactions, and so you know, this week, we saw you know, Salesforce take a big plunge on Thursday and so, and that was primarily due to you know, some disappointing revenue and weak guidance for the rest of the year. And you know, you may remember Salesforce was added to the Dow back in twenty twenty. So during

COVID area we certain era, we certainly saw Salesforce take off. And Salesforce is a software company that primary product is customer relationship software that many businesses us to really you know, house customer data and customer contact data. And so certainly, as with the pandemic, we saw remote workers more prevalent. You

know, salesforce certainly took off. And so on Thursday, you know, based on their recent quarters earnings, you know, their shares drop by almost twenty percent, and you know, but it's interesting when you really parse the earnings report. You know, it was not a terrible report. You know, they're they posted earnings per share for the quarter of two dollars and forty four cents, which was a forty four percent increase from a year earlier,

and it actually exceeded forecast. Revenue grew eleven percent, which was just shy. Uh and that's you know, nine to nine point one three billion, so revenue growth or good earnings per share, but it was just shy of analysts estimates. And but really what shook the markets was their their guidance going

forward. Uh. And they you know, they definitely have seen some growth in bookings and they see that going forward into future quarters and uh, you know, so certainly that had a major impact with the markets as you saw. You know, so again their actual numbers, they're they're earnings and revenue were not We're not bad, you know, revenue slightly below expectator, you

know, analyst estimates, but they're forward guidance showing a slow down. And when you really got into the report, uh, you know, what they're seeing is just a longer lead time. You know. Large companies, you know, what they're seeing is they're holding back on investing in things like Salesforce because companies are trying to figure out from an investment software investment, how to

capitalize on AI. And and this is uh, you know, we've all heard about the big boom of AI and how that's impacting so many different sectors right now, and in this area, you know, companies are and I will tell you even at our firm, you know, we're taking step back. I was at a conference a couple of weeks ago and met with a startup company that operates in our space where they're using AI to kind of pull information in from your different uh, you know, your operational data and maybe

your customer data. And so companies, large companies are in this phase right now. They're they're maybe steering more of their dollars that would have gone towards Salesforce type of products into AI investments, into the company trying to see how they can capitalize on AI to really you know, improve their operations, whether

that's drive additional revenue or allowing to operate more efficient efficiently. So and you know, Salesforce wasn't the only company software company that saw some disappointing guidance. You know, several large software makers revised downward their twenty twenty four full year revenue forecast this week. So certainly Salesforce is not the only one experiencing this.

Many large software providers who you know saw this and you know, revised downward their guidance for revenue and and that had a you know, impact on share price, impact on that segment. And you know, there is a cloud computing fund Wisdom Tree, it's a w c l D and that's a you know, it's et F that tracks the cloud stocks. And you know that decrease five percent uh for the week. So certainly Salesforce was a headline.

Uh. But we did see you know, drop on Thursday, did recover, as I mentioned, picking up a seven point five percent increase on Friday to to gain back some of that recovery. Uh. But certainly, uh, I think software companies are are you know, we're in this area where uh, And it's interesting you could pick up any journal and you're gonna get articles that say, you know, we're at the beginning stages of AI or a I. Or you can read another article that says, is AI

gonna be as big as uh, you know we're talking? Is it overhyped? Other articles saying you missed your opportunity, I'm more in the camp, we're we're just in the infant stages, and and anything like this that is so transformative. You're gonna have choppiness, you're gonna have uh, you know,

you're gonna have tremendous gain, and you're gonna have some pullback. And this is just an area where you know this company, you know, Salesforce, and I will say this segment, this computing software segment is seeing companies reallocating dollars right now because companies are trying to figure out how to invest in AI technology really to make them, you know, improve their operations, improve their top line revenue. So certainly saw that with Salesforce this week. Yeah.

The other technology company that caused some turbulence this week was Dell, you know in Dell again earnings released after markets on Thursday, and markets did not like some of what they had to say. You know, and so their stock took a big hit on Friday, eighteen percent drop. And you know, it's interesting you dig into the earnings report, and you know, there's good news bad news. Good news is they are benefiting from the hardware side

of the boom of AI. And you know, they their release mentioned that there their shipment of AI servers doubled to one point seven billion dollars. So they clearly are capitalizing on the companies who are investing in AI technology. And with AI, you need computer power, and Dell is certainly capitalizing on that.

You know. However, their guidance, you know, did indicate some some margin compression, So although they're seeing explosive top line growth, they are seeing some compression of their gross profit margin and you know, due to increase operating costs and some other things. And so in their guidance they did say they continue to see that continue for a while. They do continue to see some margin compression. So, you know, Dell stock clearly taking a big

hit on Friday. But then I always like to see you got to put it in context, right, I mean, you know, Dell, you know, just on Wednesday closed at a record close one hundred and seventy nine dollars this yere. So the stocks up over eighty percent year to date and over two hundred percent for the last twelve months. So again with this kind of explosive growth, and Dell is one of those companies very much capitalizing on the AI phenomenon. They you know, you're going to see some some bounciness,

right, and so we saw some this week with Dell. But but you look at the underlying fundamental numbers. The revenue there, the revenue growth is there. They've got some you know, margin issues to figure out, and you know, and I'm sure they will, I'm sure they'll be putting some attention to that. But again market reacted to that, and and again it was a it was not where you're seeing a company that is earnings and sales aren't there. It was a company where boy sale, you know,

revenue is there. It's just they're seeing some margin compression and the market wasn't expecting that, and the market overreacted to it like it does sometimes. So certainly Dell, I mean, if you've held that stock and you know, even after that dip, you're up eighty percent for the year. Uh, you know, I think you're you're in a good place. And and I think that's true with any of the companies U, Navidia, some of the other companies, uh, you know who are capitalizing the hardware side of AI.

You know, you're gonna have some choppiness, and you're gonna have some explosive growth, and you're gonna have some pullbacks, you know, because some of it is just about meeting demand. Uh. And I will say is companies are rushing to meet demand, They're not always doing it the most efficiently, right, So sometimes it takes takes some time to iron both sides of

that out. So so even though we saw you know, we did see some technology turbulence, and I will say turbulence this this week, still overall month of May was a great, great month. And and you know s and P as I said, up almost five percent for the month of May

and year to date ten point six four percent, So SMP strong. You know, Dow up two point three percent from May and year to date two point six four percent, and the tech heavy Nasdaq, even with the turbulence we saw up six point eight eight percent from May and and almost eleven and a half percent year to date. So certainly great growth in each of the major indexes. You know, we saw the ten year treasury bond yields start

to come down a bit. Uh So, treasury yields fell to about four four and a half percent, a little above that on Thursday on Friday, falling down slightly from thursday of high of four point seven. So seeing bond yields start to come back and seeing all the major indexes go up for the May month of May, so good, good investing month. So now you know, all the pundits are going to talk about, well, what's gonna

happen the rest of the year. And again, you can pick up a Baron's article, you can pick up a Wall Street article, and you're gonna have punted in saying it's gonna be flat from here, it's gonna grow from here, it's gonna decline, and there's no question, you know, there

are uncertainties ahead. But you know, some economists believe that we've got this, you know, perfect combination of economic growth and we are still growing, decelerating inflation and you know the number show it may be stuck a little bit, but it's still coming down. Believe that's a perfect catalyst for the second half of the year. But you know, there are uncertainties, and you know, you can't put your head in the sand and potendos and certainties don't

exist. They are out there, and you know, some of them could be election worries, and certainly some of the news this past week, you know, kind of fuels that fire a little bit, but so they're you

know, for the remainder of twenty twenty four. Some of the uncertainties we have could be some election worries and concerns, a potential of the conflict in the Middle East, you know, the ever changing war in Ukraine, which certainly is changing, seems to be changing rapidly recently, we've got elevated trade tensions with China, and those are you know, just to name a few. But you know, there's always uncertainties, and that doesn't mean you run

for the mark, you know, the hills. You know, it means you you look at your portfolio, make sure you're diversified. But again, we know there's going to be drawbacks in any given year, right you know, on average, you know you might have a fourteen percent drawback and that's okay, And that doesn't mean just because there's uncertainty ahead that you you run for the hills, and you know it was I did have a meeting with a client this past week and we're looking at one of their funds and you

know, it's basically doubled in the last you know, five six years. And you know, we just talked about you know, you think about this, and I know there's a chart that we've talked about and Steve has shared with our ternal team is you know, if you look at the last five years and you had plenty of reasons not to invest right. You had the COVID pandemic, you had massive job lost because of that, you had capital riots, you had all you know, the nine percent inflation, the eleven

FED hike, you know, interest rate hikes, the Ukraine War. But yet if you stayed invested during that time, you doubled your money, right. And so just to just to remind you as investors, hey, there is no question risk with the stock market. But again, at times of volatility, running for the hills, pulling out and going to all cash can be very problematic. And it's something that you know, we certainly have a lot of conversations with clients during turbulence time and I will say we do such

a great job communicating and so strong on the financial planning process. We typically don't have many clients who panic, but happens. So it's human nature when you see markets go down. But those are times where you you look at your portfolio, make sure you've got your cash flow predicted and money set aside, so it's not subject to fluctuations. But you will you want to stay invested. I mean getting out of markets and trying to time getting back in.

Is it possible? You just you know, you can look at study after study. You can't do it, you know, unless you have a crystal ball, you can't. So yes, that's you know here we are through May I think we'd all have to say, fantastic performance in the markets. What's going to happen the rest of the year. There certainly is, you know, certainly some you know, potential uncertainty, but that's not a reason to to run for the run for the hill. So it's definitely stay

invested. And so you know, I appreciate you tuning in with me this morning. Again, I encourage listeners to call at eight hundred talk w G you are that's eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine. We are halfway through today's show and we're gonna be taking a short commercial break. I want to thank you for tuning in with us today. We hope you're enjoying the show, and I hope you'll rejoin us after the break again. I

encourage listeners 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're listening to Let's Talk Money, brought to you by Bouchet Financial Group, where we help our clients prioritize their health while we manage their wealth for life. Well, good morning, and I want to thank you for tuning in this morning, thank you for staying with us through that short commercial break. Here we

are on this beautiful sunday in early June. As I'm looking out the window, I see the sun shining. I know it's gonna get nice and hot, So I hope everybody gets an opportunity to enjoy some of that great weather. You know, start off the show really giving a market update, and you know the long and short of it is May strong month. Last week in May was a little chopping, but you know, overall month that made

very positive. And you know, one of the things that help created you know, a strong close out of the month was the on Friday, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the PCs, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, was released and it was really in line with expectations. You know, the the gauge show that PCE rose by two point seven percent in April year over year, which was in line with expectations, and the core PC which excludes

food and energy, rose by two point eight percent. And you know, so month over month, the the broader c PCE and X rows point three percent from March and the core was up only point two percent. So you know, still the PCE at two point seven and core two point eight, still above the FED target of two percent, but certainly significantly lower from the highs and nine percent. And so you know we are in this, you

know, higher for longer. Environment is you know, inflation is being a little sticky, and the FED is you know, having trouble I'll say the last mile, you know, getting it from that two point seven two point eight high twos down to that too. And you know there is some but there are some positive I certainly saw you know, food prices fell for the month, but gas increased over one over one point two percent, So you know, this is certainly running in an area where you know, service inflation

is running you know, much hotter than goods inflation. So service inflation, you know, running close to three point nine percent, while good is you know, nearly flat really at point one. So you know the FED is going to have you know, some hard time getting that service inflation under control.

But certainly you know they're going to do what it takes. And so you know, certainly, you know, the all eyes are on the FED and how they're going to react to these numbers, and you know we're all waiting to see, you know, when and if the FED is going to you know, cut rates, and you know certainly they're you know, I think we're falling into this stance that you know, we're higher for longer than

anyone anticipated. But also we got to look at that and say, part of that's because the US economy has been stronger for longer than almost anyone imagined, right, I mean, we still have a strong economy. And you know, back in January, you know, investors, we're looking for you know, close to six interest rate cuts this year. Even the Central Bank was looking at you know, penciled in three cuts this year. And you know, but thanks to a good economy, you know, real GDP expanding

by two point nine percent over the last four quarters. You know, unemployment now at three point nine has held below four percent for more than two years, you know, the longest stretch in more than half a century. And you know, although unfilled jobs have certainly declined significantly from the peak in early twenty twenty two, but they still remain above pre pandemic level. So,

you know, strong economy. We are seeing signs of slowing down, no question, but still it is the economy has been more resilient and stayed stronger than anyone expected. And certainly the Fed has One thing they've said is they're going to be patient. You know, they're not going to cut rates until they're confident that inflation is under control. So, you know, the longer the you know, longer the economy stays hot, the longer including job market

and markets. Uh, you know, you question whether they're gonna cut rates. You know, certainly what's happening now is the markets are showing hey, even though rates aren't being cut, markets are still very positive. So you know, we look at you know, there's five more FED meetings this year, next one coming up like June eleventh, and I think, you know, generally, you know, economists feel like September is the target of when they really expect the FED to move. And you know, but the Fed's

gonna have to see some changes right in the next few months. And what's interesting is if they don't, you know, then we get into November, and I don't know, right around election is the FED going to go in and make cuts. Hard to tell, but typically not right around election time.

And and then the last meeting in December, so you know, part of what may drive is just you know, bad timing with meetings, you know, is just if they don't see I would say, you know, inflation coming down below it is now over the next couple of months, are they going to lower rates in September? That's a big question mark. And I think one thing the FED is shown is they are going to be patient.

So I tend to think of if they don't see inflation coming down in some of the key areas, you know, September, it's going to be a question mark. And if not September, you know when and so that that's certainly some questions there. So but you know, here we've seen the markets performing well, companies performing well even with rates staying higher, and so you know, as long as that's happening, you know, what's the FED motivation? You know, Now, certainly some of the recent data is showing

that consumer confidence and consumer spending and saving is starting to come down. But quite frankly, up to this point, you know, wage growth has been outpacing inflation, right, so the consumers strong job market and inflate, strong inflation growth, consumers were still spending. And remember consumers making up seventy percent of our GDP of our economy. They're spending money. Our economy is doing

well. But now we are seeing some definitely some breakage there. Now I'll say maybe some stress fractures, not breakage, but we're certainly seeing consumer confidence and spending starting to come down, taking down month over month, and and same thing with personal saving. So I think if the consumer starts to feel it more, it starts to pull back. You know, I think maybe

we might see FED uh start to take some moves in September. But you know, again to the you know, we gave the Fed a lot of beef, you know, a lot of flak for being so late to the party to start to increase rates. And they were right, they they you know, the whole transient inflation was it was not accurate, and uh, they started raising rates too late. But I will say, you know,

their patience is it certainly seems to be paying off right now. Uh. Certainly the markets have continued to respond well, and you know, so we'll see what happened. And the consumer has been healthy, and so I think, uh, some of the keys from here out on is if the consumer continues to spend and we continue to see inflation, uh at the levels that are now, we may not see a rate cut this year. But I'm

not so sure that's going to impact markets dramatically. You know, I think markets have performed well without any cuts, and I think markets are starting to digest that. You know, certainly aren't going to see the number of cuts that we went into the year thinking. And so certainly, you know, we'll get more rhetoric in a couple of weeks. You know, the FED meats June eleventh and twelfth, and so we'll certainly get more color from that. But you know, so but still from an investing point of view,

markets still performing, you know, despite what's happening with inflation. So we are 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. I'm John Malay. I'm your host for this morning's show. I encourage 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. So thus far we've been talking about markets, the economy. Get changed topics to a little bit right now, and it's gonna be the topic around Wroth for oh one k's and this is a certainly an area we're seeing gain and popularity. And you know, for those of you who are uh participating in four oh one k's or or you know, and many have heard of Wroth iras. And remember with difference between wroth are iras and Wroth four oh one k's is you know,

with a typical ira, you're putting in money pre tax. Same thing with a four oh one k, right, you're putting in money not getting tax. On it. But if you use a wroth, right, you're doing after tax. But the benefit is is it's growing tax free and then when you pull it out, you don't have to pay tax. So we we are certainly seeing with the Wroth for oh and k uh you know, huge

you know, gain in its popularity. And you know, I think recent report I saw say that eighty nine percent of a retirement plan sponsors now offer a Wroth four oh one K, and that's up from only fifty four percent about a decade ago. And and so certainly as an employee, you know it could be a great option to direct some of your four oh and k dollars into a Wroth four oh one K. So unlike a a wroth IRA, there's no income restrictions for contributions, right, so and so that can

make it very appealing for high income earners. So remember for a roth ira, you know, for twenty twenty four, individuals making over one sixty one hundred and sixty one thousand or couples making over two hundred and forty aren't allowed to contribute to an ir wroth IRA. But with the Wroth four oh one K, there are no income restrictions and so even as a high earner,

you can be putting money into the WROTH component. And many times, you know, we advise clients that you know, if they don't, you know, maybe they split their contribution uh partially into a wroth four oh one k and and then other uh you know, percentage into a traditional uh four oh one K account, So getting the pre tax on the four oh one k traditional four oh one kuh, but then on you know, directing some of

the dollars into the wroth. And you know, there's been changes in the tax law that's made it easier uh to keep your four oh one k intact through retirement and uh and that's because you can avoid r m d s. And you know, I will say that, you know, through this Secure Act, there's been many changes to uh the wroth account and in particularly the wroth for oh one k. But uh, you know Secure two point zero eliminated the requirement to do an r m D on your wroth for O one

k. You know, really you know, putting it in line with your other wroth IRA. So certainly see it as a great opportunity. And you know, again if you're in a four to one K plan and you're not sure if you have a WROTH component, definitely, you know, talk to your plan sponsor. UH, and I'd highly recommend evaluating. You know, one of the things we like to see from a financial planning view is really

diversity of account type. Right, So if you have a client who really a one hundred percent or a very large percent of their wealth is in a pre tax like an IRA or four oh one K, you know, the challenge there is, you know, one is there going to be forced to take r m d s and every dollar they pull out they're going to be

taxed on. And so we certainly like to see diversification if possible that a client have some pre tax accounts like that, but also some post tax accounts like either a taxable account or a WROTH account, so where you're not getting a tax benefit up front as you're making a contribution, but that money in the WROTH Uh. And this is true for WROTH IRA or WROTH for it one. Okay, that money's growing tax free and then when you pull it

out, you're not paying tax on it. So uh. And you know the great thing there is not only are you not pulling money, you know, paying taxes on what you're pulling out, but not having not having to do the RMD allows you to preserve that. And it's interesting because you know, sometimes you know, clients are their instinct is, hey, I'm in

retirement, I've got a wroth account, I've got a traditional account. I want to pull some money out, and they think, well, let's pull it out of the wroth because I know, don't have to pay tax.

And you know, one is we we we say, well, let's analyze, let's really look at that, because that may feel like the best thing to do, right, but it really takes some analysis because you know, and a lot of times it's more beneficial to preserve that wroth, right, really have that the last bucket of money because you know, one is you're not forced to take r mds, but also you know that passes onto your airs, you know, tax freeing that when they pull money out and they

are required to pull money out of an inherited wroth over ten year period, but as they pull that money out, they're not paying tax on it, right, and so that's a huge huge benefit for a beneficiary. It really is you know, you think of a beneficiary getting a traditional IRA, they inherit that they have to pull it out over time, they're not paying tax

on that. And if if it's in a wroth account, and that could be uh you know, wroth ira, they inherit the wroth ira, they still have to take it out over a ten year period, but they're not

having to pay tax. So uh, you know, so certainly, I highly recommend if you're in a four to one K plan, you know, talk to your make sure you know whether your employer whether you have a wroth option, and you know, you know, definitely traditional thought is, you know, the wrath is most appealing, you know, for younger employees.

But I would say there's no you know, one size fits all. It's you know, certainly I'm a believer that you know, yes, you're not gonna have as long of a time horizon to accumulate that balance, but certainly there's still huge benefit of putting money into a wrath. So I'd highly recommend if you have, if you participate in a four to one K and you have the ability, I would at least split, uh, if not direct

all of it into a wroth account. And it's certainly some some great benefits there, you know, And and we still and you know, I know, the last couple of years, especially when markets were down, we talked a lot about wroth conversions and uh, you know, so a lot of conversations of that, and you know it can still be uh, you know, really a powerful tax and reply, you know, retirement planning tech technique. It's one we still work with clients on and analyze. And again I

always say it is not a one size fits all. It really does require analysis because there's several factors that come into play. You know, how long you're gonna keep that money invested, how are you going to pay the taxes? Right, So with the wroth conversion, you're you know, you're converting an IRA to a wroth, but then you have to pay taxes at that time. And so uh, generally our analysis shows if you're using part of those IRA distributions, it's part of the money that you're pulling out of the

IRA to pay taxes. You know, typically it doesn't work, but if you've got outside cash and you can pay those taxes, it can still make sense. And and again from a retirement planning technique, again the benefits. Yes, there's the tax benefit, but there's also being able to avoid r

MD so be able to leave more money there and growing tax free. And then as I discussed with the four oh one K, you know, passing that onto your beneficiaries right upon death, that they now don't have a tax burden, right They've got that account that they will draw down over time but won't have to pay tax on those dollars. So certainly Wroth conversions and you know, we like them a lot when markets were down. But and but that doesn't mean when markets are up, it's still not a good tool.

I would say, just take some analysis, working with an advisor professional. And again sometimes it's about doing all the analysis, having it teed up, and then maybe you're looking for a downturn in the market and saying that's when I'm going to execute. But it's certainly one that doesn't have to be done in a in a down market and can have great benefits. And and as is uh you know, similar to the Wroth flo oh and K, there

are no income restrictions on being able to do a Wroth conversion. So certainly you know, a great vehicle there, so you know, getting back to markets and in the month of May, you know, one of the phenomenons we saw in May was really uh strong buybacks. I mean it was you know, companies posted all time records stock buybacks and really shattered the records that we've seen for stock buybacks. And you know, this type of move by

companies really suggest that they have strong confidence in their future earnings. So from a confidence level, that's it's it is very good to see. And you know, we saw a total of one hundred and fifty four companies announced two hundred and one billion in planned buybacks and that was an all time high for the quarter, actually for the month excuse me, for a month of May,

and and Apple clearly led the charge. You know, they unveiled a massive one hundred and ten billion dollar buyback program and that's the largest on record, but several other companies announced large stock buyback programs and then you know,

not only were these announced, right, so that's for future buybacks. But what actually occurred during the quarter is S and P five hundred companies repurchased more than two hundred and two billion in stock during the first quarter, and so this marks the highest quarterly total since the third quarter of twenty twenty two,

when companies bought back two hundred and seven billion. So certainly seeing companies put their money where their mouth is right, really showing their confidence and their earnings by by buying backstocks. And you know, I think again it just gets to the point that we're we are seeing very strong economy, very strong market, and corporate earnings are there, and when companies are buying backstock again that that is a signal of high confidence in future earnings. So we are getting

close to the end of the show. I want to appreci just say I appreciate everybody tuning in. Thank you for tuning in. Do have time If anybody does have any last minute questions, you can reach me at eight hundred talk WGY. That's eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine. Uh. And I hope you know I mentioned in the beginning, you know, here we are into Belmont Week, and I hope those of you who are interested get an opportunity at least to get up to Saratoga sometime Thursday through Sunday

to to join into some of the excitement. And certainly I know I'm gonna get up there at least one day. We'll be exciting, certainly be a lot of energy for the area, for sure. You know, one of the things that I think I'm certainly gonna touch on more when I have more time in a future show is you know, we all know we're heading into election year this year, and you know, one of the things that is just you know, as a as a nation, we've got to start to

put more focus on. And I try to say this a lot, it's just our our national debt. I mean, our debt is ballooning. And you know, with a race like we're expecting, I don't think we're gonna see n to be running on the idea of cutting costs, but that is something you know, we certainly need to start to really pay attention to because the interest on that national debt has ballooned and at this point, we spend

more on our interests on national debt the defense than medicare. The only the only program we spend more on is so scaredy And that's has not always been that way. That's changed if you look at historical charts, you know, only as back as twenty twenty, our debt interest was only three hundred and forty five billion, right, so we've we're on track to hit eight hundred

and seventy billion. So it's a big topic. It's not one that gets talked about a lot, but it certainly I think is a nation something we've got to really start to tackle and get more more control over, because, like anything, we all know that just you know, accumulating debt and kicking it down is not the right path. Well, we are coming to the end of today's show. I want to thank you for tuning in with me today and I hope you enjoyed this show. I know that I did.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have an amazing week ahead. Please be sure to tune in next Saturday at ten am and Sunday at eight am for another great show. Check out our website Bouchet dot com. You have been listening to Let's Talk Money, brought to you by Bouchet Financial Group, where we help our clients prioritize their health while we manage their wealth for life. Thank you for tuning in. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.