Timely Topics
Is This The Recession We Have been Waiting For?
In this episode of Matt’s Minutes, I share my thoughts and opinions on the recent market volatility we’ve been experiencing. Ultimately my primary focus is to educate my clients & provide good foundational advice. If you’ve been watching your accounts or the news and have been concerned about what you’re seeing and hearing, watch the video below.
In this video I share:
- The average yearly pull back in the market
- History of the markets
- A 10% pullback in the market isn’t newsworthy
- How much the market pulled back during 2020 in the beginning of COVID-19 & it’s recovery
Be sure to check out the video I sent out nearly one year ago – referenced in the above video. My thoughts on the market were accurate:
Are we headed for a correction?
(Copy and paste this link into a chrome, internet explorer, or safari web browser to view the video)
Beware Of Phone Scams
To help you steer clear of fraudsters, here are a few warning signs and best practices to keep in mind.
- Don’t answer calls from numbers you don’t recognize, even if the numbers appear to be local (spammers accomplish this through a practice called spoofing).
- If you do answer the phone but become suspicious or feel pressured in any way, don’t hesitate to hang up immediately.
- Beware of anyone who calls themselves a “health care representative,” a “government representative,” a “health insurance counselor,” or who says they’re from a medical discount plan.
- Similarly, question anyone who claims to be from a trusted retailer, financial institution, internet or service provider, or law enforcement. If they are legitimate, they will be more than willing to give you their name and a callback number.
- If the caller asks for personal information or payment, you can be almost certain the call is a scam.
- Still in doubt? Hang up and contact your health insurance providers directly using the customer service number on your insurance card or the provider’s website.
A Brief Discussion About I Bonds
This week we are talking about I bonds, purely to educate and inform on what they are as we have been getting a lot of questions recently. Series I Savings Bonds are a government-issued bond earning interest based on a fixed rate plus a variable rate based on inflation. This savings bond is issued directly by the U.S. Treasury and cannot be held at any brokerage firm or sold at banks.
- Per person maximum annual investment = $10,000 (plus $5,000 using federal income tax refund)
- 30-year maturity. Cannot be redeemed prior to one year. If redeemed after one year but before five years, the holder forfeits the last three months of interest.
- The current variable rate (based on CPI-Consumer Price Index) on the new Series I Bond changed in May to 9.62%. This rate will be good through October.
- The variable rate resets every six months.
- To buy Series I Savings Bonds go to TreasuryDirect.gov . They are NOT SOLD IN OPEN MARKET, BANKS or RAYMOND JAMES.