Gen One Legacy Podcast

U.S. stocks had a blockbuster second-quarter. Indeed, both the Dow and S&P 500 have posted their best returns in decades. How long can this outperformance last? With market sentiment still generally positive, some investors are asking whether supportive central bank policies and hope for a rapid economic recovery may be the set up for a third-quarter market surge.

In this week’s podcast, we discuss how the dominant narrative that had supported the second-quarter rally is increasingly coming under pressure. Stretched asset valuations and a historical precedent for weaker market returns argue for more caution in the coming quarter. As a result, we recommend that investors use recent market strength to reduce investment risk and raise cash through portfolio rebalancing.

You’ve been diligent with your money. You’ve amassed sizable savings. Then life knocks on your door – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity falls through, work moves you to another state, a family emergency calls, or your primary source of income evaporates. Years of diligent financial progress comes undone in an instant, and now you feel stuck.

Or maybe you’re in a position where you’ve struggled for years to get a handle on your finances, but one disruption after the next keeps you from moving forward. In either case, what can you do when your financial life is stuck? Hit the reset button.

In this week’s podcast, we discuss how you can often get your financial life back on track much sooner than you would otherwise by pausing, resetting expectations about your goals, and being methodical in your approach to rebuilding your finances.

Many of us know that having a financial plan is a sensible place to start when it comes to achieving essential life goals. But what exactly is a financial plan, and more importantly, what makes for a solid plan? A financial plan is a strategy that lays out a set of actions that you need to take today to achieve your future life goals.

In this week’s podcast, we discuss three essential components you should consider as you set off to create solid financial plan. Whether you work with an advisor or decide to go it alone, crystallizing your goals, identifying relevant financial objectives, and utilizing thorough solutions that fit into your life mosaic are essential components to crafting a solid financial plan.

Not considering these factors may lead your plans off course and to an unintended destination. Indeed, a financial plan may be just what you need if you’re looking for a way to create structure in your life and spend less time worrying about achieving your life’s passions and purpose.

Having a firm grasp of your finances is a critical part of reaching your financial goals. With money being a very personal matter for each of us, knowing when you might need help can be a real struggle. Even so, changing circumstances and life events could be an early indication that you may benefit from a financial professional’s assistance. In our latest podcast, we discuss ten signs that now may be an opportune time to speak with a trusted financial advisor.

You may have your reason for wanting to work with a financial advisor not included in this list. The reality is that individuals each have their personal reasons for seeking a financial professional’s services. Whatever the case may be, if you’re considering your financial future and have experienced a significant change in your life, want more time for other pursuits or entirely not sure where to start, now may be time to speak with a financial advisor.

So why should you care whether the US economy is in a recession? By many estimates, growth in the second quarter is likely to come in at an even more disappointing rate. With unemployment spiking and various leading indicators still in decline, there’s little doubt that a recession has arrived. An important question today is how deep this recession will be and how long it will last.

Any illusions of a quick fix to the coronavirus outbreak are fading fast. This new reality, coupled with waning confidence in fiscal policy, suggests economic conditions are likely to worsen in the coming weeks and months.

This week we discuss some steps you can take right now to improve your ability to build enduring during this time. This begins when you have a thorough understanding of some of the risks and opportunities that lie waiting amidst a recession.

Hunkering down and expecting today’s events simply to pass will not only cost you but also put you further away from your critical financial goals. That’s why we believe that you’ll need to take a proactive posture right now to create and grow your wealth if your true aim is to pursue your life’s passions and purpose. These proactive steps include maximizing your value to others and making your money work for you throughout this time of economic and market uncertainty.

What’s the best way to protect your hard-earned wealth? That’s the million-dollar question that’s on a lot of people’s minds right now. The fact is that the coronavirus has demonstrated in absolute terms how an unexpected event can quickly take away your earnings ability and deplete your life savings.

Events surrounding the coronavirus have also demonstrated how life’s surprises can come at you from all directions. And when they do, your ability to build enduring wealth can evaporate in the blink of an eye. So how can you protect your hard-earned wealth today?

In today’s podcast, we’ll discuss the steps involved for protecting your wealth, which involves identifying the kinds of threats that may crop up at various life phases and then preparing for those threats as part of a disciplined risk management process. There’s no doubt that when it comes to building enduring wealth it’s important to think about the steps you need to take today to create and grow your money over the long term.

However, another important step is taking the time to protect yourself against the threats that are waiting to separate you from your hard-earned wealth. Some of these steps include utilizing tools like insurance, tax and cost-efficient investing vehicles, and a solid investment, estate, and distribution plan to protect your money.

Finally, be sure to manage risks for the long term. This involves continuously evaluating the current economic and market environment to identify evolving threats to your wealth. Then use some of the tools that we’ve discussed to help mitigate those risks.

We believe that incorporating an active risk management process into your wealth management framework could ensure that your wealth endures for the long-term no matter what surprises life throws your way.

Growing financial wealth in today’s environment has been a struggle. Whether it’s the wide swings in asset prices that make it hard to decide whether to stay in or get out the markets to the dour economic conditions that have negatively affected business earnings. Finding the right strategy to grow your wealth in a world locked down truly has been a challenge.

So, what can households and investors do to make the right decisions to grow wealth given today’s challenges? Well, we believe that when individuals focus on a process and not an outcome they can create, grow and preserve financial wealth even in this difficult market and economic environment. More to the point, we believe that individuals can still grow their money today by utilizing and staying committed to a systematic wealth management process.

In our podcast this week we, we discuss two simple steps that you can take to grow and build enduring wealth. This begins with following through on the Wealth Creation process that we covered in last week’s podcast. Then, we talk about how you can use the Law of Compounding to make money work for you over time.

In short, we believe it’s still possible to grow wealth even in this challenging economic and market environment. You can do this by sticking to a disciplined wealth management process. And no matter your current circumstances, we believe that people from all walks can start building enduring wealth today simply by following a few key steps to create, grow and preserve their financial wealth.

In our latest podcast we discuss how you can use a systematic, disciplined approach to build enduring wealth even during this time of economic and market uncertainty. This week we learned that at least 24 million people have lost their jobs recently, putting the national unemployment rate somewhere near at least 15%.

We’ve also seen business confidence plunge as PMIs collapsed to their lowest readings on record. Indeed, over the past few weeks data show that economic conditions are still falling apart. This has prompted some state governors to reopen their economies even as the coronavirus toll on human lives continues to rise. The point is that the COVID-19 related economic pain will endure for many months to come, but there is still some hope.

We recorded this podcast because we believe that now is an opportune time for individuals to take the first step in a disciplined, systematic process to create enduring wealth. In this week’s podcast, we’ll also talk about our wealth management framework and what it means to create, grow and preserve financial wealth. We also talk about the three key components for creating wealth and how you can apply this process to create enduring wealth in today’s environment.

At the end of our time together, our hope is that you should be able to have a better understanding of what it takes to build enduring wealth, and realize that you can take this step no matter what your circumstances are today.

Various earnings reports, data releases and the IMF’s World Economic Outlook have served investors notice not to get ahead of themselves.  Truly, global risk assets have moved lower this week in response to historically disappointing corporate earnings and economic reports.  It’s certain that the stay-at-home orders in 42 states have essentially shut down the national economy.

One reason for the recent market bounce is that some market participants expect the negative effects from the quarantine to be short-lived.   But, this market view assumes that a few things need to go right in order for a v-shaped recovery to take place.  This includes a rapid end to quarantine efforts, a back-to-normal mentality for households and businesses operating pre-coronavirus capacity.  Market moves lower this week suggests that such assumptions could in fact not hold out in the near term.

While timing the market bottom is interesting, what should be of more concern for investors right now is whether market prices accurately reflect outstanding risks.  We believe that this may not be the case today.  Therefore, making high conviction calls in one direction or another at the present time could be a setup for investor disappointment.  The challenge for market participants right now is whether their expectations are misplaced.

Volatility may increase in the coming weeks as market participants begin repricing the likelihood of a longer, deeper protracted recovery.  Therefore, we believe that investors should hold off on taking unnecessary risk in their portfolio.

This week we’re taking a look at how small business owners and households can not only survive, but also thrive amidst the COVID-19 related economic downturn. More specifically, we cover resources available to small businesses including the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program, the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program and other financial resources available to small business owners.

We also discuss resources available to individuals and households including the CARES Act stimulus payments to individuals and households, additional unemployment benefits and support for student loan debt payments. Setting yourself up for a financial rebound will be key during a downturn if you’ve lost your job.

We discuss some things to do right away if you’ve lost your job, including checking in with your lenders and/or landlord and balancing financial survival with long-term consequences. We also provide some tips for people still fortunate enough to have a job, including the need to create an unemployment action plan and developing a renewed vision for your financial future after this seismic shift.

Finally, we briefly discuss how you could use your stimulus check to support small businesses and the secret to thriving during a period of financial uncertainty: taking action today.