Navigating the Mid-Year Financial Review: Help Clients Secure Their Financial Future

As we near the halfway point in June, it is the perfect time to reach out to your clients to discuss a mid-year review. This crucial checkpoint allows you to see what has changed in your clients’ lives, reassess their goals, and make necessary recommendations to ensure a successful second half.

If there are no changes, that’s all right. It’s a great opportunity to be proactive in your clients’ lives by asking where they have other concerns. Depending on their concerns, it’s an opportunity to make introductions to strategic partners that could help.

This week’s edition explores critical aspects of retirement planning and financial goal-setting. From understanding the often-overlooked risks that can impact your retirement to crafting a solid financial roadmap, our articles and insights are designed to empower you with the knowledge needed to secure your future.

Featured Articles: Critical Strategies for Financial Security and Growth

This week's featured articles tackle two essential aspects of financial planning: managing risks that could derail your retirement and creating a comprehensive plan to achieve your financial goals. These insights are crucial as you refine your strategies for the remainder of the year.

1. Understanding and Mitigating Sequence of Returns Risk in Retirement Planning – by Mike Clark, MBA - Retirement planning isn't just about accumulating wealth; it's also about protecting it. Mike Clark explores the sequence of returns risk—an often-overlooked threat that can significantly impact retirees. Learn how the timing of withdrawals during market downturns can jeopardize your financial stability and discover strategies to mitigate this risk, ensuring a secure and fulfilling retirement.
2. The Essential Guide to Financial Planning: Achieving Your Financial Goals and Securing Your Future – by John Heck - A well-structured financial plan is your roadmap to success. John Heck provides a comprehensive guide to financial planning, helping you identify and prioritize your financial objectives. This article outlines the steps to create a clear and actionable plan that secures your future and confidently guides you through life’s financial decisions.

Professional Insights Series: Unveiling Sequence of Returns Risk with Mike Clarke

In this week's Professional Insights Series, we sit down with Michael J. Clarke , co-founder of Protection Point Advisors, to discuss the critical topic of sequence of returns risk in retirement planning.

Retirement Strategy: Unveiling Sequence of Returns Risk Retirement planning can be complex, especially when considering the sequence of returns risk. This risk, also known as sequence risk, refers to the potential negative impact on your retirement funds caused by the timing of market downturns and withdrawals. In our interview, Mike Clarke breaks down this concept, illustrating how two retirees with identical portfolios can experience vastly different outcomes based on when they withdraw funds.

Mike emphasizes that with proper planning, sequence risk can be transformed from a threat into an opportunity for long-term financial security. Retirees can ensure a stable income and enjoy a confident, fulfilling retirement by understanding and proactively managing this risk.

Watch the Interview: Dive into our conversation with Mike Clarke to uncover expert strategies for navigating the sequence of returns risk and enhancing your retirement plan. Watch here.

Closing Thoughts: Share the Wealth of Knowledge

As you navigate your mid-year review, remember that the insights and strategies we share are here to support you. Not every topic will resonate with every client, but someone in your network might find these articles and interviews invaluable.

Please consider sharing it with colleagues, clients, or friends. Your simple act of sharing could significantly impact someone else's financial well-being and lead to your next referral.

Let’s continue to empower each other towards financial success and stability. As always, feel free to contact our experts if you need further assistance or introductions.

Stay informed and empowered as we journey through the year's second half together!

?Top 5 Things To Watch In Markets In The Week Ahead

Investing.com

The Federal Reserve is to meet as key U.S. inflation data is released. The Bank of Japan is also to meet, and economic data from the U.K. will inform the Bank of England as it contemplates rate cuts. Here's your look at what's happening in markets for the week ahead.

1. Fed decision

With the Fed widely expected to leave interest rates on hold at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday market watchers are instead focused on how many rate cuts officials will signal for the rest of 2024.

The updated dot plot will likely point to two 25-basis point cuts this year, down from three in March.

Friday’s employment data, which showed both jobs and wage growth accelerated in May even though the unemployment rate ticked higher, saw markets pare back expectations for rate cuts this year, with the first rate cut now expected to come in September.

Recent comments by Fed officials have indicated they are in no rush to cut rates as inflation remains persistent and the outlook for growth remains solid.

Inflation has cooled after aggressive rate hikes starting in 2022 but has not yet fallen to its 2% target.

2. May inflation data

Inflation figures for May are due to be released just hours before the Fed statement on Wednesday. Further signs of inflation easing could cement expectations for rate cuts, especially given signs of economic weakness.

Wall Street, boosted by cooling inflation, will be watching closely. Traders continue to price in some monetary easing this year, with even some slim hopes of a July cut.

A bad inflation miss could spook investors and bring back recession fears that have laid dormant for months.

No doubt, the data could fire markets up ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting press conference.

3. Wall Street

Wall Street will be closely watching Wednesday’s inflation data and Fed meeting for clues on whether the soft-landing hopes that drove stocks to record highs are still justified.

"No one expects the Fed to cut (rates next week), but will they open the door for a cut as soon as September is the big question on everyone's mind," Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at the Carson Group told Reuters, adding he still sees a September reduction on the table.

This year's rally has lifted the S&P 500 up more than 12% year-to-date, on expectations the Fed can cool inflation without hurting growth. Yet recent economic data have sent conflicting signals: Friday’s jobs report was far stronger than expected, while earlier reports showed a slowdown in manufacturing and a first-quarter growth rate revised lower.

“The market would like some clarity and not see the Fed have to wait until December or January to begin cutting rates,” said Paul Christopher, head of global market strategy at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, adding a long period of elevated borrowing costs could hurt the economy.

4. UK data

Market participants will be closely watching the latest U.K. jobs report on Tuesday as they try to gauge whether wage pressures are easing fast enough to make a Bank of England rate cut a near-term prospect.

Average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, rose by an annual 6% in the three months to March, and April's 9.8% increase to Britain's minimum wage may push that growth rate higher.

Until recently, economists expected a June rate cut but persistent inflation pressures mean markets are not now fulling pricing in a move until November.

Meanwhile, April GDP data on Wednesday is expected to show growth softened after a robust 0.6% expansion in the first quarter.

Elsewhere, the opposition Labour Party is to launch its manifesto ahead of the July 4 election. While polls suggest Labour will hammer Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives, some business leaders doubt Labour can turn around Britain's recent weak growth performance.

5. BOJ

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda has already hinted at some kind of taper of the bank’s long-running quantitative easing program when the BOJ concludes its two-day meeting on Friday.

On Thursday he said it would be appropriate to reduce still-massive bond purchases as the BOJ exits decades of stimulus, stressing policymakers will move "cautiously" on rate hikes after delivering its first rise since 2007 in March.

Mizuho Securities sees a good chance of a 1 trillion yen ($6.4 billion) cut in monthly purchases to roughly 5 trillion yen per month, which could be weathered by bond markets.

Whether that supports the battered yen is a separate matter, with the BOJ and government concerned a weak currency could derail a hoped-for cycle of mild inflation and steady wage gains.