Five Minute Finance with LVM LVM Capital Management

Tyler and Chuck sit down to discuss College Education planning. The discussion begins with having the end in mind by knowing the current costs of college and the expected future costs of college. We review average merit and grant based awards and the current cost for education in Michigan. Next, we review the benefits of college education and highlight the higher pay and lower unemployment rates for college graduates. Later, we review 529 plans as the best place to save for college education and the benefits of starting early. We wrap up the conversation with college prep tips on when to start taking entrance exams, AP courses, applying for scholarships, and filling out FASFA forms. Find the charts discussed on the podcast at Podcast (lvmcapital.com). 

Tyler and Jordan are back to discuss interest rates, the fixed income market, the stock market, and recent earnings developments. Find the charts discussed on the podcast at Podcast (lvmcapital.com). 

Tyler and Jordan discuss stock market returns to start 2023, historical returns in the fourth quarter after poor returns in August and September, investing for the longer-term, improving yields for future fixed income returns and more. 

Tyler and Jordan sit down and review several market related charts. We discuss market breadth, market concentration, the cautious investor, market fundamentals, and market valuations. Follow along with the charts in the show notes at the link below. 
https://www.lvmcapital.com/post/market-chart-review 

Tyler and Jordan review the “Momentum Factor” in our fourth and final installment of the fundamental factors of investing. Momentum investing is a strategy that seeks to profit from the continuance of an existing market trend. This trading strategy centers around investors buying stocks that are already going up and selling stocks that are falling. The largest ETF by assets under management (AUM) for momentum investing is the iShares Momentum factor ETF which analyzes stock prices, adjusted for volatility, over the past 6 and 12 months. 
Momentum is about price and price can tell a story about how investors sentiment stands for a certain security or the market. One potential issue with using price as your only guide is that momentum can change very quickly, and investors need to have a set of rules in place to follow including rebalancing rules to account for frequent changes in momentum trends. It is best to use these strategies that have frequent rebalancing and turnover in the correct type of accounts as turnover and realized sell activity can cause tax consequences in taxable accounts.   
Tyler and Jordan conclude with how LVM uses the momentum factor, which focuses on momentum in analysts’ earnings and revenue estimate trends. 

Tyler and Chuck discuss the recently passed SECURE 2.0 Act by congress and some of its benefits for retirement savers. Some key take aways include, Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) age increasing to 73 in 2023 and to 75 in 2033, reduced penalties for failing to take a RMD, increased catch-up contributions to retirement accounts, employer Roth matching contributions, 529 plan conversions to Roth accounts, and more.