Open Enrollment
Just a reminder that open enrollment for health insurance is around the corner. For no cost, we can assist you with Medicare Supplemental, prescription drug plans, healthcare.gov with subsidies, Business health insurance, vision, and dental insurance. Give us a call today because we might be able to save you some money! info@summitfc.net or (586) 226-2100.
Brokerage Update
Great News! TD Ameritrade made the move to $0 commissions! You may have seen the news…TD Ameritrade is eliminating base commissions for online exchange-listed stock, ETF (domestic and Canadian), and options trades. We already only use NTF (No Transaction Fee) investments in our managed portfolios, however, TD Ameritrade just opened up thousands of more cost-free investment options for us to use moving forward. We will be able to run these new investment options through our rigorious investment screening process to make certain we’re only using the very best options available for our clients.
Market Commentary
The 3rd Quarter has now come to a close and it ended mixed for stocks and bonds depending upon which index you prefer to follow. The tech heavy Nasdaq lost -0.09% in the quarter, and the Russell 2000 (smaller US company index) lost -2.76%, while the DOW Jones and S&P 500 both had gains of about 1.19% (Sources: https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-markets-end-tumultuous-quarter-on-quiet-note-11569833596 and https://www.cnbc.com/markets/ ). Monthly statements should be arriving to your home soon if they haven’t already and you can login to your accounts online at TD Ameritrade to view your performance.
Our in-house managed TD Ameritrade portfolios were once again positive across the board for the quarter as we were prepared for increased volatility this summer by going defensive in August when the market was negative. We had a slight dip in the month of September as we experienced an unexpected spike in interest rates and the US dollar, but from a quarterly perspective, all 5 of our in-house portfolios outperformed the indexes with a range of performance from gains of 1.65% up to 2.32% depending upon your risk tolerance. As of today, (October 3rd), with the Dow Jones down over 800 points to start the month, we are once again hitting fresh all-time highs in our portfolios as we took the recent market dip as an opportunity to repurchase REIT and Utility ETFs in our portfolios, which have been outperforming the overall stock market year-to-date.
2016 was a very volatile year because of the combative style of the presidential election process and the uncertainties surrounding presidential candidate Trump’s policies. The 2019-2020 election season may be even more volatile because of the potential for a dragged out impeachment process, the large list of candidates infighting for the democratic presidential ticket, and the brutal war of words we’ve come to expect from a presidential election. The economy could also just as easily accelerate as President Trump pulls out all the stops to “window dress” the economy before the election. We understand one tweet or announcement from any market mover, whether politican, Fed reserve chairperson, or other finance influencer can dramatically affect the stock market and interest rates, and that is exactly why we manage our portfolios daily.
President Trump has potential impeachment hearings looming, however, taking into consideration everything he has been through the past 4 years, it’s hard not to brush it off as another distraction that will ultimately result in no legal action, but again, we’ll continue to monitor the developments daily. If we believe a move to safety is necessary, we’ll make moves immediately to potentially help protect your hard-earned assets.
If you have any questions about taxes, your investment portfolio, our 401(k) recommendation service, or anything else in general, please give our office a call at (586) 226-2100. If you have a friend, family member, or co-worker that would like to learn more about our process, please let us know.
Also, feel free to forward this commentary to someone you know that may find it useful. If they would like to be added to our commentary, please send us an e-mail at info@summitfc.net. If you have had any changes to your income, your job, your family, your health insurance, your risk tolerance, or your overall financial situation, please give us a call so we can discuss it.
Thank you for your confidence and referrals!
Bob, Ken, Jim, and Zach
Summit Financial Consulting
Interesting Points
The United States has more than 700,000 open technology jobs, but universities are only producing about 1/10th that number of computer science graduates. Source: –Axios, September 21, 2019
In the next two years, humans are set to cross a milestone: We’ll harvest more fish from farms than we catch in the wild.. Source: –The Wall Street Journal,September 12, 2019
In the U.S., about 7% of water consumption is used in households, with the rest of it going to industrial use or farms. Source: -New York Times, July 13, 2019
According to Otis Elevator Company, as many as 85% of the high-rises in the world don’t have a 13th floor. –MorningBrew, September 13, 2019
The three largest cities in the U.S. are seeing a slow exodus. New York City has an average net of 277 people leave every day, Los Angeles sees 201 people split town, and Chicago loses an average of 161 residents each day. Source: -Bloomberg, August 29, 2019
A new study found that 33% of workers would rather wear jeans to work than receive a $5,000 bump in pay. A third of workers said they would quit their job if ordered to wear business attire. Source: -CNBC, August 27, 2019
The U.S. poverty rate fell to 11.8%, its lowest level since 2001. Source: -U.S. News, September 10, 2019
Disclosures regarding our performance reporting: Because some clients are in the 10% tax bracket and others are in the 37% Federal tax bracket, we have decided to report performance before taxes. If you have a non-qualified account, please feel free to contact us to determine your individualized rate of return after tax. All of Summit’s performance is after our 1.25% advisory fee that is deducted monthly. Your fees may be higher or lower depending upon the amount of assets invested with our firm. Feel free to contact us to receive online access so you can see your personalized rate of return. The Aggregate bond index we use is ticker: AGG. All dividends and distributions are reinvested and included in the performance. The S&P 500 index quoted above does not include dividends within the performance. If a holding within our portfolio does pay a dividend or other income, it is reinvested, so our performance does include dividends. This report has been prepared from data believed reliable, but no representation is made as to accuracy or completeness. Total return and principal value will vary depending upon the deduction of advisory fees, brokerage commissions, reinvestment of dividends and other earnings or fund charges. This information is provided to you in combined form, solely for your convenience and ease of review and is not an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities. In order to verify that all account values and transactions are accurate, we encourage you to compare the information provided in our statement with the statement you receive directly from your custodian. All written content is for information purposes only. It is not intended to provide any tax or legal advice or provide the basis for any financial decisions. Past performance does not guarantee future results.