Be Wealthy & Smart

Learn if it's smart to contribute to a 401k if you're not getting a match. Should we contribute to our 401k, even though there is no match? Benefits of a 401k are that: 1. Your income is not taxed when deposited into a 401k 2. Your money grows without tax 3. Some people think it's a forced discipline to save, that otherwise the money wouldn't be saved, but…there are: 1. Limited investment options, usually large cap, mid cap, small cap, international and bonds, usually mutual funds with higher fees. 2. Don't have wider options such as stocks, low cost ETF's, sector funds. Leaves out gold/silver, technology sector, agriculture & commodities, country funds, etc. 3. There's a whole universe of investment options and you're restricted to a limited menu. 10% penalty if not 59-1/2 or if you don't withdraw money under allowed hardship withdrawal rules or penalty free rules. In summary, if you are a disciplined person you can save or set up an automatic deduction plan to deduct your investment money into your investment portfolio, have wider investment options in a brokerage account, plus more flexibility to withdraw funds for liquidity without incurring a 10% penalty. To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.

Learn what the challenges are for the stock market going forward. It's a new record; the Dow made history! DJIA is only 30 companies, but been around over 100 years. S & P 65% of all stocks 1966 was the first time above 1,000 11/21/95 above 5,000 3/29/99 above 10,000 5/3/13 above 15,000 1/25/17 above 20,000 Hmmm, is that at 4 year cycle for every 5,000 points? Will Dow 25,000 happen in 2021? Still the 2nd longest bull market in history. Since 2009. Expecting a major top this year. Major cycle change in the Fall. Cycles repeat and guide expectations in the stock markets. Although the Dow hit 20,000 and we have a new President, whether or not you voted for him, there are certain things he will be forced to deal with on his watch. I watched the hearings of the Treasury Secretary, Mnuchin. The questions and statements by Congress were very telling. Here are some of the things they discussed: *Underfunded pensions as a widespread problem that possibly needs a bailout *The $20 trillion deficit and whether to default on debt or not *The strong dollar, world's reserve currency *Currency manipulation *Mortgage reform *Massive tax reduction *Social security, medicare, medicaid *Obamacare/Affordable Care Act What wasn't mentioned - the derivatives take down that may happen if European banks like Monte dei Paschi and Deutsche Bank fail and the ECB fails to bail them out. There are some massive financial decisions to be made and things to be worked out. No matter who would be President, these things will come to pass in the next few years. It will be interesting! President Trump has talked about getting rid of the Federal Reserve. If he can do that, it would be a major victory for the people. The Banksters have been in control for too long. Control over interest rates has allowed the Fed to create bubbles and pop them. They are projecting raising rates 3 times this year. It has the power to throw us into a recession. The best solution put forward is for us to grow the economy as much as possible. That seems to be the Trump plan. It will be interesting to watch what happens! To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.

Learn 11 financial moves to make in 2017 1. Identify any mistakes made in 2016 - Stocks to sell, trim losses 2. Review & rebalance portfolio - Make sure you own some small caps 3. Consider strategic investments in high growth areas - Spice up your portfolio with India, silver, China, tech, etc. - What can you buy low? Commodities? Uranium? Miners? 4. Reduce debt - Refi or pay off 5. Avoid long-term bond funds - 30 year bonds have the most risk in a rising interest rate environment 6. Save and invest more - Savings accounts have low interest rates, investment accounts offer potential of higher compounding, but have more risk. 7. Think over large purchases - Do you really need a new car? - Could you invest instead? 8. Start a side hustle for extra income? - Never easier to start a business 9. Consider how big picture changed and how it will affect you - New President, lower taxes? - Interest rates rising - Banks in Europe in crisis? 10. Things that didn't change - Debt in USA - Your work? Income? Mortgage? - Your goals? - Your retirement age? 11. Time, Money, Compounding Rate are the 3 things that effect your wealth. - Time = years to retirement - Money = amount to invest - Compounding rate = % you compound money Make it a priority to learn about investing. To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.

Learn what 2016's Top Stock Funds are according to Investor's Business Daily. Hard copy of the numbers are posted on my website at www.lindapjones.com, podcast 217. While you're there, get my free report, "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth" to move your net worth forward in 2017 and beyond! www.lindapjones.com

Learn the Best and Worst Performing ETF's in 2016 according to Investor's Business Daily. Get the information in print form at my website, www.lindapjones.com, podcast 216. While you're there, pick up the free report, "11 Quick Tips to Boost Your Wealth" and get your net worth moving in the right direction in 2017 and beyond. www.lindapjones.com.

Learn which companies have been paying rising dividends for 25 straight years. Many people are looking for higher interest rates because bonds are paying low interest rates, for example, .88% on a 1 year Treasury bill and 2.4% for 10 year Treasuries. To help you find some substitutes for bonds, I'm sharing dividend paying stocks with you. They are companies that have steadily and consistently raised their dividends for 25 straight years, which is an indication of excellent and consistent cash flow. You may also want to look at corporate bonds - high quality, not junk bonds. This is a report from Investor's Business Daily of the S & P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index. Statistics are on my website at www.lindapjones.com. Podcast 215. To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.

Learn why contrarian indicators move opposite to the crowd. British economist, John Maynard Keynes identified features of financial markets that subject prices to herd-like behavior. "The herd-like nature and influence of animal spirits in financial exchanges, and its potential to shift independently of changes in objective facts, is, according to Keynes, a primary, ineradicable source of economic instability." Groups move together in crowds and it impacts markets. Media is calling it "animal spirits" - Bloomberg, Barron's, financial websites. The cover of Barron's says Dow 20,000, pre-conditioning you to think it's going there. Look inside Barron's for some bullish indications that are saying the public is 63% bullish right now. Here are the reasons you need to be a contrarian investor: 1. When a good investment becomes obvious, it's very late in the game. This means when you're judging solely by price or return and something has gone up 100% or is crossing 20,000, you are one of the last ones in! I often tell the story of the tech fund that was up 100% in 1999 and took in over $1 billion in new assets soon after. The next 3 years it was down over 70%! I you bought at the top, you lost 70%. 2. When bullish consensus is over 60%, everyone whose going to invest already has. Like Joseph Kennedy, JFK's father said when a shoeshine boy gave him a stock tip in 1929, everyone is already in the market if the shoeshine boy is giving stock tips. 3. Most good investments fly quietly under the radar for a long time before they are recognized. They tend to be out of favor or unnoticed by many before they become obvious and the crowd jumps in. Everyone is still talking about oil, while hedge funds have been investing in green energy for 10 years! 4. Buy low and sell high. How can you buy low if you're buying it at the top? If you want to buy low, shouldn't you be buying the dips? 5. Keep from getting emotional - that's back to animal spirits but I'm talking about FOMA - fear of missing out. Sometimes people fear they are going to miss out on the Dow crossing 20,000 and it's going to go straight to 50,000. That's irrational! Catch my last podcast about why that won't happen. Truthfully, the market looks very over extended here. We are due for a pullback. Even when markets start to run away from you, it's usually overdue for a pullback and gets a more pronounced one. A famous investor said, the best time to buy stock is when blood is running in the streets. Remember you're buying businesses, so think of when businesses earnings are best, when news is best and what quarter it might be worst. Just like you can buy houses in December for the best price and least competition, you can also buy companies that way. Here's the thing, if you're buying an ETF for the long-term, it doesn't matter so much when you buy because you're going to hold it for 10 or 20 years. The odds are in your favor to buy and hold than to try to jump in and out or be a day trader, so try to dollar cost average in - buy at regular intervals - and hold for the long-term. To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.

Learn from a listener question: Will the Dow Go to 50,000 Without a Rest? Listener question: Dear Linda, My friend say the market is off and running and will go to 50,000 from here. Will the Dow shoot to 50,000 without a rest? Raoul The Dow is only 30 companies large companies like American Express, Caterpillar, Chevron, McDonald's and Walt Disney, and some tech like Apple, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Intel, and IBM. Stocks move in waves called cycles. It's the nature of things. Nothing goes anywhere without a pause or move in the opposite direction for long. The indicators look extended. The MACD looks toppy, relative strength is overbought, consumer confidence is 63% bullish - which is a bearish indicator. Way above the 50 day moving average - all show the market will rollover soon. How low? Don't know yet, see if it breaks support. To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.

You've heard me talk about following cycles. We are in the midst of several cycles happening simultaneously. Bonds lost over $1.7 trillion in November. The FED was talking about raising rates and bond market anticipated FED raising rates. Five year Treasury note went from .91% in July to 1.87% recently - a double! Thirty year yields went from 2.1% to 3.06% or a 50% move. Enormous! A 30 year mortgage is now 4.125%, still a good, low rate historically, but that rise in interest rates could move some adjustable rate mortgages by 25%! Interest rates are a 30 year trend and are rising again. This has had a negative impact on real estate since some sales have slowed and foreclosures are actually on the rise again. It's not surprising since interest rates have been skyrocketing. Interest rates also impact currencies and although the dollar has trended stronger, other currencies around the world have had wild swings in value, not the least of which is the pound, which was recently at a 31 year low! Higher rates make the dollar stronger which impacts many other currencies whose currency and/or debt is tied to the dollar. This is the largest debt bubble the world has ever had in history. It's in the US, Japan, China, Europe and other countries. The debt has been growing since 2008 and our problems didn't get fixed - they got worse! We have more debt and have not solved this, so somewhere ahead of us is a crisis greater than 2008. It's like if I gave you a credit card and another and another and you maxed each one out - your problem isn't solved, it's worse. Eventually it will impact the dollar, but for now it's going to get stronger as other currencies have issues. The Euro is a good example. I'll save that for another podcast. For now what you want to do is get rid of any variable rate interest you have - an adjustable rate mortgage, line of credit, etc. Anything that has an interest rate that can change you need to pay off as soon as possible, because rates are going up. To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.

Learn The Leading ETF's of 2016 To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.