Latest / The Financial Exchange Show / What are voters biggest economic concerns?
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- 1:04by Veterans Development Corporation. This is the Financial Exchange with
- 1:08Chuck Zada and Mike Armstrong.
- 1:13Speaker 2: Second hour kicking off here on the Financial Exchange, Chuck,
- 1:16Mike and Tucker with you. We've got markets not really
- 1:19moving much in advance of tomorrow's election at this point.
- 1:23The Dow is off one hundred and fifty six points,
- 1:26SMP's up four, NASDA up thirty eight, so just kind
- 1:29of chopping around, not too much movement in either direction.
- 1:32Tenure Treasury reversing Friday's sell off, down six basis points
- 1:36to four point three percent. We've got oil today up
- 1:39another dollar forty one barrel to seventy dollars and ninety cents,
- 1:44so regaining a little bit of ground in the seventies.
- 1:47There TRIPAA national average four. Gas prices down another two
- 1:52tenths of ascent to three ten and one tenths of ascent,
- 1:55So continuing the downward move that we've seen for the
- 1:59last few months year.
- 2:00Speaker 3: And we was after Iran came out with some I
- 2:04don't know, escalating language over the weekend.
- 2:06Speaker 4: I believe it was to respond to Israels.
- 2:08Speaker 2: Yeah, they've been chatting for the last week and a half.
- 2:11Or so, and we've got gold completely flat at the
- 2:15moment at twenty seven, forty nine and twenty cent. So
- 2:18just not a whole lot of excitement out there. Sure
- 2:20you can find individual equities that might be moving a
- 2:23little bit. You know, you've got energy stocks ex On
- 2:26Mobile up three percent, as I noted on you know,
- 2:28the higher prices that you're seeing from in oil. You've
- 2:34got Berkshire Hathway off a couple percent. Some utilities that
- 2:37are moving around because of some kind of interesting nuclear
- 2:41news that we could touch on today, But overall, pretty
- 2:45quiet market at this point, Tuck, I know you've got
- 2:49a couple things that you want.
- 2:49Speaker 5: Yeah, I just want to remind everybody. The Ultimate Boston
- 2:52Sports Auction to benefit the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusetts. Well,
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- 3:47Speaker 2: Mike, We've got the third Boeing Machinist Union vote happening today.
- 3:52First two were defeated by vote percentages. I think the
- 3:56first one lost by like ninety in the ninety people
- 3:59vote against it. The LA one was sixty five. This one,
- 4:02which now includes a thirty eight percent raise over four years,
- 4:06some additional four to one k benefits a larger signing bonus.
- 4:10This one, I would say, reading the tea leaves on this,
- 4:13I would be shocked now if it doesn't pass. This
- 4:16is a quote from the union leadership at the International
- 4:19Association of Machines and Aerospace Workers District seven to fifty one.
- 4:23Speaker 4: Quote.
- 4:25Speaker 2: Every negotiation and strike, there is a point where we
- 4:28have extracted everything that we can in bargaining and by
- 4:30withholding our labor. We are at that point now and
- 4:33risk a regressive or lesser offer in the future. This
- 4:36is in direct contrast to the last offer they got.
- 4:38They basically they literally said, hey, here's the offer, whatever
- 4:42you think.
- 4:43Speaker 6: Is fine with us.
- 4:44Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, and the first offer, I don't even
- 4:47remember what they said during the first.
- 4:49Speaker 6: One, but it was we didn't even get anything on it.
- 4:51Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 4:51Speaker 3: Yeah, So this is a very distinct change in language
- 4:56from union leadership. Hasn't always worked. We've seen cases where
- 5:01union leadership has given strong advice to their workers who
- 5:03have gone in the other direction.
- 5:05Speaker 4: But it certainly would seem based on.
- 5:07Speaker 3: The trend here where you had one vote in the
- 5:09nineties against, one vote in the sixties against, and now
- 5:12a very big change in tone from the leadership saying, hey,
- 5:15vote this went in because we're not sure to be
- 5:17able to extract anything else out of the company. That's
- 5:19a pretty big shift, and I suspect you're right, Chuck,
- 5:22that this does end up passing.
- 5:24Speaker 2: So the good news is for all those who've been anxious,
- 5:26we are going to have some election results tomorrow. Yeah,
- 5:30it'll be for the Boeing election. Yeah, you know, we're
- 5:32not sure about how the presidential election and all the
- 5:35Senate and House races are going to go, but we're
- 5:39gonna know what's going on with Bowe and tomorrow because
- 5:41they do count these votes up pretty quickly.
- 5:43Speaker 6: Yeah, so that's that's a plus.
- 5:46Speaker 2: Do we want to touch a little bit on oil prices, Sure,
- 5:50they're up.
- 5:54Speaker 3: I guess the best thing you can say about them
- 5:56is that they've been amazingly resilient to some of the
- 5:58worst tensions in the Middle East we see in.
- 6:00Speaker 4: The last several decades.
- 6:01Speaker 1: It's been wild.
- 6:03Speaker 3: I think a lot of that does have to do
- 6:04with the United States role in all of this, not
- 6:06the role they're in the Middle East, but that just
- 6:08the mere fact that the United States produces how much.
- 6:10Speaker 4: More oil than Saudi Arabia at this state.
- 6:13Speaker 3: So it's not that the Middle East does not matter
- 6:17for oil prices, but realistically, the United States in terms
- 6:21of its total production, competes with OPEC plus in a
- 6:25way that hasn't been seen.
- 6:26Speaker 2: Ever and it is kind of broken Opek. Yeah, which
- 6:30is amazing to hear.
- 6:31Speaker 3: After I mean, how much did we talk about you know,
- 6:34Opek really sticking it to US shale producers and the
- 6:37twenty tens, and and well, no, that that has reversed
- 6:41pretty significantly. The power that that organization has, while still
- 6:46vastly significant and creating enormous amounts of wealth throughout the
- 6:49Middle East, is not flexing in the same way that
- 6:52they previously could.
- 6:53Speaker 2: OPEC's afraid to raise production, and normally that would be
- 6:56the move if OPEC said, Okay, we want to, you know,
- 6:58get rid of some US product auction that's out there,
- 7:01they'd say, fine, we can stomach lower prices better than
- 7:03you can pump more and raise prices in lower prices.
- 7:07I'm sorry, they're just they're not moving in that direction.
- 7:14Speaker 3: And whether it's because they fear the US can withstand that,
- 7:18whether it's because they fear political and just stability issues
- 7:22in the Middle East, I don't know. And quite frankly,
- 7:25I'm not sure it's relevant, because in either case, it
- 7:27seems to be a larger cyclical change that might last
- 7:30a little while based on where US production has come.
- 7:33Speaker 6: Just take a quick break here.
- 7:34Speaker 2: When we come back, we're gonna be joined by Grady
- 7:36Trimble from Fox Business. We're talking about voters' biggest economic concerns.
- 7:41Speaker 1: After this, tune in for trivia brought to you by
- 7:45Applebee's every day at eleven twenty for your chance to
- 7:47win cool prizes. Text us at six one seven three,
- 7:51six two one three eighty five and use keyword Applebee's.
- 7:54Complete rules are available at Financial Exchange Show dot com.
- 7:58Face is the Financial Exchange Radio Network. The Financial Exchange
- 8:02streams live on YouTube. Like our page and stay up
- 8:06to date on breaking business news all morning long. This
- 8:09is the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
- 8:22Speaker 5: While the Ultimate Boston Sports Auction is officially here, we
- 8:26have four incredible items to bid on and all the
- 8:28proceeds will benefit to the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusetts.
- 8:33We have two tickets to see the Patriots play the
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- 9:00four tickets to twenty twenty five Red Sox home game,
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- 9:38Speaker 2: As promised, we are now joined by Grady Trimble from
- 9:42Fox Business here to talk a little bit about the
- 9:44biggest economic concerns from voters. Grady, how are you today?
- 9:50Speaker 7: I'm great, Chuck. I am driving a Grand Rapids Michigan
- 9:53right now for the final Trump rally of the campaign cycle.
- 9:58Speaker 6: When what are you expected to be there?
- 10:01Speaker 7: About fifteen minutes?
- 10:03Speaker 2: There you go, fantastic, Grady. What have we been seeing
- 10:06in terms of the big concerns from voters on this economy?
- 10:10Is it all inflation? Or are there other ones that
- 10:13have been popping up as well.
- 10:15Speaker 7: I would say it's largely inflation driven. Whether we're talking
- 10:19about high prices at the grocery store, fuel prices maybe
- 10:22not right now, they're relatively low compared to a couple
- 10:26of years ago. And then also housing costs have come
- 10:29up a lot when I've been talking to voters at
- 10:31early voting places over the last couple of days. But yeah,
- 10:35everything seems to relate to higher prices because, as you know,
- 10:38when you look at the numbers, if you set aside
- 10:41the most recent jobs report last week, which was obviously abysmal,
- 10:45the economy is okay. GDP's growing, you know, the rates,
- 10:51interest rates have been cut, but people still remember how
- 10:55high prices are compared to four years ago. And so
- 10:58that's what I'm hearing a lot from voters. But what's
- 11:01interesting is when you ask them, Okay, so the economy
- 11:04is the top issue for you, whether it's one number
- 11:07one issue, number two issue, number three issue, it usually
- 11:10falls somewhere in the top three. When you ask them
- 11:13which candidate they support, I've heard mixed answers to that question.
- 11:18A lot of voters say, well, life was better when
- 11:20former President Trump was in office, and so that's why
- 11:23I'm voting for him. Other voters that I've talked to,
- 11:26wo lean more democratics say that they like a lot
- 11:29of Vice President Harris's policies. I talked to, for example,
- 11:33a first time home someone who's looking to buy a
- 11:36house for the first time and grow their family, and
- 11:39he was really drawn to Harris's twenty five k for
- 11:43a down payment for first time home buyers. So it's
- 11:46kind of mixed, and it's really hard to say which
- 11:48way this particular state is going to go gretty.
- 11:51Speaker 2: When listening to you talk there, it sounds like the
- 11:53main thing that most people still are upset about is
- 11:57it's not necessarily the rate of inflation right now, but
- 11:59more the price level. Hey, this stuff costs way more
- 12:02than four to five years ago. Is it a fair
- 12:05statement that there is no way for us to go
- 12:10back to the prices that we were seeing four years
- 12:12ago absent economic calamity?
- 12:17Speaker 7: I mean, I guess that's the case, you know, because
- 12:20the target inflation rate that the FED looks for, obviously,
- 12:23as you know, is two percent. We're not that far
- 12:26off from two percent. But when you look at the
- 12:29you know, inflation compared to when the current administration took office,
- 12:36overall prices are up about twenty percent right now. I
- 12:38don't think the expectation is necessarily that prices will get
- 12:42back down, will drop twenty percent, because who knows what
- 12:45the heck that could look like. But I think what
- 12:47voters that I'm talking to, especially the ones that lean Republican,
- 12:51are saying, is when former President Trump was in office,
- 12:55this whole conversation around inflation wasn't an issue. And I think,
- 12:59you know, the reason they think that's the case is
- 13:02because there was a push for especially here in Michigan,
- 13:06an important issue is you know, gas powered cars versus
- 13:10electric cars. And you know, the message from the Trump
- 13:15from form President Trump himself and the Trump campaign of
- 13:18drill baby drill really resonates with them because when they
- 13:20hear that, they say, they hear, Okay, we're not, you know,
- 13:23gonna have only electric vehicles or majority electric vehicles in
- 13:28the next five ten years. And you know, when you
- 13:31look at the supply chain issues from twenty twenty one
- 13:35twenty twenty two, those were largely driven by fuel costs,
- 13:39and when fuel went up, the cost of everything else
- 13:42went up. So that message really resonates with both. Even
- 13:45though this isn't, you know, an oil and gas producing
- 13:48state like Pennsylvania, for example, it's still a message that
- 13:52resonates because not only do you have the auto industry
- 13:55issue that's important in Michigan, but you also have just
- 13:58the overall view that if you have more production of
- 14:02oil and gas, it generally leads to lower prices for
- 14:05everything across the board.
- 14:06Speaker 2: Great, what about when we look at the labor market?
- 14:09Are you hearing any concerns about what's going on there
- 14:12simply because we have again, I know, there's been some
- 14:16weird data the last few months where was looking a
- 14:18little bit stronger and then this last month was kind
- 14:22of a disaster though washed out by you know, a
- 14:24couple of hurricanes. Is there any concern about the overall
- 14:27trend in the last year in the labor market from
- 14:30voters saying, Hey, it's become harder to find a job,
- 14:33and that's something that I'm really concerned about.
- 14:36Speaker 7: That's not something that I've really heard from the folks
- 14:39that I've talked to, I think, but so fascinating about
- 14:43kind of the economic conversation, especially over the last year,
- 14:46because remember when when Trump announced that he was running,
- 14:50it was the week after the midterms in twenty twenty two.
- 14:54Back then, prices were really high and the rate of
- 14:56inflation was still really high month over month, and obviously
- 15:01here over year and now I think the conversation with
- 15:06voters isn't so much you know, looking at jobs data,
- 15:09or you know, I'm having a hard time finding a job.
- 15:12It's more, you know, how I'm feeling about the economy
- 15:16and how these higher prices have sort of made people
- 15:19who have relatively high income feel that they don't have
- 15:23the purchasing power that they used to or the disposable
- 15:26income that they used to. I will say, though, sort
- 15:29of a unique issue here in Michigan is like I
- 15:32mentioned the transition to electric vehicles that the Biden Harris
- 15:36administration has pushed for, and obviously Harris has the endorsement
- 15:41of the United Auto Workers union. But when you talk
- 15:44to a lot of rank and file members of the union,
- 15:47many of them say, we're concerned about that. And to
- 15:49go back to your question about jobs, that's where the
- 15:52job's conversation comes into play. It's the concern that electric
- 15:56vehicles take fewer workers to assemble, and so they are
- 16:00worried that if we do kind of force this transition
- 16:03to electric vehicles, especially when maybe mass adoption of them
- 16:07hasn't taken place yet, that could affect the economy. Not
- 16:11just of those UAW members and auto workers specifically, but
- 16:14Michigan's entire economy is largely based on the auto industry,
- 16:18and so the concern over jobs is more like a future,
- 16:21a forward looking concern than a present concern.
- 16:26Speaker 2: I know you mentioned one potential first time home buyer
- 16:29that you chatted with, but clearly the price of housing
- 16:32has risen dramatically, especially when you you know we'll get
- 16:35it in terms of monthly payment on actual you know,
- 16:38the prices that you have to pay. What kind of
- 16:41sense do you get up there? As far as how
- 16:43big of a concern housing costs are for people, I
- 16:46think it's.
- 16:46Speaker 7: A huge concern. I talked to another person who said,
- 16:50I'm having to choose do I pay my mortgage this month,
- 16:53do I buy the groceries that I would typically buy,
- 16:56do I pay my utility bills? So it's it's the
- 17:02combination of everything, all all of the expenses that every
- 17:07single American has that they're they're looking at and that's
- 17:11you know, the concern. It's not it's not necessarily housing
- 17:15costs only. It's housing costs are high, food prices are high,
- 17:19Electricity bills are higher, especially in a you know, in
- 17:22a state that gets cold, and the same in your
- 17:25neck of the woods. So it's sort of a combination
- 17:30of all of these factors that's just making life feel
- 17:34so much more expensive than it used to be. And
- 17:36like I said, we're not talking about, you know, people
- 17:40lower on the income scale. These are people who have
- 17:42jobs where they feel like they should be able to
- 17:46you know, have you know, disposable income, and they don't
- 17:49necessarily feel that way.
- 17:51Speaker 6: Very good, Graaty, appreciate you joining us today.
- 17:54Speaker 2: Enjoy the rest of the day. Hope you get where
- 17:56you're going safely and we will catch up with you soon.
- 18:00Speaker 7: Sounds good. Shock we're falling off the highway and now
- 18:02have a good one.
- 18:02Speaker 6: There you go.
- 18:03Speaker 2: That's Grady Tremble from Fox Business talking about voters biggest
- 18:06economic concerns. Taking a look at markets as we had
- 18:08towards the bottom of the hour, still just kind of
- 18:11chopping around a little bit. The doas off one hundred
- 18:13and ninety six points, but the S ANDP is flat,
- 18:15the Nasdaq is up twenty five, so no clear movement
- 18:18in either direction at the moment. Quick break, We've got
- 18:22the trivia answer, and then we're talking about traders getting
- 18:27ready for tomorrow's election night.
- 18:35Speaker 1: Bringing the latest financial news straight to your radio. Every day,
- 18:39it's the Financial Exchange on the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
- 18:45Miss any of the show. Catch up at your convenience
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- 18:57business and financial news in New England and on the country.
- 19:00This is the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
- 19:04Speaker 2: Mike Tomorrow Night. Are you going to be engaged in
- 19:09lots of trading as a result of the election?
- 19:13Speaker 3: No?
- 19:14Speaker 6: No, there's some people that do specifically both.
- 19:17Speaker 2: You know professional Wall Street traders and you know amateurs
- 19:20who like to go on prediction markets and trade those
- 19:22things as well.
- 19:24Speaker 3: And there's bets on the dollar, there's bets on bonds,
- 19:27there's bets on equities, there's bets on correct all different things.
- 19:31Speaker 2: And so if you're trading any of these after hours markets,
- 19:34futures markets, things like that, there's all kinds of activity,
- 19:37and it can be one of either the most or
- 19:40least profitable nights of your year. Uh and either way,
- 19:44probably one of the more stressful ones because of the
- 19:46potential swings that you can see. I still remember back
- 19:49in twenty sixteen, just the absolutely wild stuff that we
- 19:54saw was around ten thirty Eastern and it was clear
- 19:57that Donald Trump was going to win the twenty six election,
- 20:01and I remember like CNBC alerts were being sent to
- 20:03my phone every five minutes, like Dow futures down six
- 20:07hundred points, Dow futures down seven hundred, eight hundred, nine hundred.
- 20:09Speaker 6: I think we got to like.
- 20:10Speaker 2: Down a thousand at one point, and I finally was
- 20:14just like, okay, look like let's deal with in the morning.
- 20:16Like I can't do anything right now, We'll see what
- 20:18happens in the morning. I wake up and Dow futures
- 20:21are up like five hundred points at that point, I think,
- 20:24and I'm like, oh, like this is kind of wild.
- 20:26Everyone finally realized that you're going to get, you know,
- 20:29tax reform as a result of what happened last night,
- 20:32and so you can just see these these monster swings
- 20:35and it's it's also evidence where hey, even if you
- 20:39have exactly right what you think is going to happen
- 20:42in the election, you might get the market behaving completely
- 20:46differently from how you think it's actually going to play
- 20:50out in the event that you get what you think
- 20:51you're gonna get election wise, Yeah, I would.
- 20:54Speaker 3: Just you know, if you're thinking about we never tell
- 20:57you do or don't invest on a certain promise or idea.
- 21:01And there are probably people that have an idea of
- 21:02how to make money on the election, but specifically, ask yourself,
- 21:06what is my thesis here and what's my play? What
- 21:09advantage do I have? And this is not specifically about elections.
- 21:12This is the same story that we were just trying
- 21:14to make with the Warren Buffett story.
- 21:16Speaker 6: What's your edge?
- 21:17Speaker 4: What is your edge here?
- 21:18Speaker 3: To say, oh, yeah, I've got this theory where if
- 21:21the election goes this certain way, then I think this
- 21:24specific area of this specific market is going to out
- 21:27or underperform if you have that. If you can't and
- 21:31you can explain it to a child, if you can't
- 21:34explain it.
- 21:34Speaker 2: To a thirteen year old in thirty seconds, you don't
- 21:37have an edge. Yeah, that's the general rule of thumb
- 21:40that I have on and anything related to investing. Yeah,
- 21:43because or if you explain it to a thirteen year
- 21:46old and they say that's dumb, that's also not edge like.
- 21:50You don't get to say to your thirteen year old, Hey,
- 21:52I read in Barons that this is gonna happen. Okay,
- 21:56so did everyone else. That's not edge like. It also
- 21:58has to make sense and not everyone has to have
- 22:01that view, and it can't be publicly known that way.
- 22:04Speaker 3: Fortunately, I have to raise my hand here and say
- 22:07that I don't think that this is a very common
- 22:10investing mistake that I see amongst most people. I don't
- 22:14see a lot of people gambling away their lives on
- 22:18short term trading theories that they haven't parsed out very well.
- 22:20Speaker 2: No, but here's what I will tell you is the
- 22:23last two elections twenty sixteen, I have had people call
- 22:26me the day after saying, hey, I don't like Trump,
- 22:32I don't like that he won. I don't think I
- 22:35want to own equities going forward. And I had the
- 22:38exact opposite, and I had the same thing in twenty
- 22:41twenty from people who didn't like Biden. Yep, and in
- 22:45both cases, doing anything there was just a huge mistake.
- 22:50It's not to say that like stocks always go up
- 22:53after an election.
- 22:54Speaker 6: They don't.
- 22:54Speaker 2: Like there are plenty of times where hey, for a
- 22:57couple of years, like look at two thousand.
- 23:00Speaker 6: It is an example.
- 23:01Speaker 2: You had an election in November, markets didn't bottom from
- 23:03the financial crisis until was it March of nine? I
- 23:06think yes. And so it's not I'm not saying, hey,
- 23:10like stocks always go up after an election. What I
- 23:13am saying is just because you might not personally like
- 23:17the result in either direction. That's a that's a bad
- 23:23reason to do something. I've said it before and I'll
- 23:24say it again. Emotional investing is bad investing, right and
- 23:29and this is just a different form of emotional No.
- 23:31Speaker 3: Guarant no guarantee we're going to know specific results immediately either.
- 23:35How long did it take for us to get the
- 23:36makeup of the Senate after the twenty twenty election?
- 23:39Speaker 4: A week?
- 23:39Speaker 1: No?
- 23:40Speaker 6: Three months? We had those Georgia specials in January.
- 23:44Speaker 3: So like the entire idea that you can build a
- 23:47full investment thesis on an election I find suspicious, I
- 23:53guess is my point here. And it's not that I
- 23:55haven't heard good ones, but I very I've rarely have
- 23:58ever heard a successful one. And that's where I just
- 24:01ask people to check their emotions at the door and
- 24:04really genuinely ask.
- 24:05Speaker 4: Themselves, do I have an edge here?
- 24:08Speaker 2: The people I know that are actually good at this.
- 24:10I do know some that are really good at this.
- 24:15They've spent the last year formulating what they're going to do.
- 24:19They've quite literally spent a thousand hours not reading CNBC
- 24:26and stuff like that, but making their plans for how
- 24:28they're going to go about this. If you haven't done that,
- 24:34that's what you're competing against. Like, it's not that you're
- 24:37going to win or lose. I have no idea. Like
- 24:39everyone gets lucky. Sometimes they're unlucky, but you generally have
- 24:44more luck the better prepared you are. And you're going
- 24:46against people that have spent thousands of hours getting ready
- 24:50for this.
- 24:51Speaker 3: If you are finding yourself as by the way, so
- 24:54many people that I have talked to have found themselves
- 24:57in this election uncertainty, malaise, just unable to make decisions,
- 25:06unable to decide what to do next with their careers,
- 25:09with their investment portfolio, with their retirement, just saying I've
- 25:13gotta wait till this thing is over with before I
- 25:16make some sort of big decision, I guess my first
- 25:19thing would be I think that's a mistake. But if
- 25:21you're falling into that category, the worst thing you can
- 25:24do is then see the election outcome, not like it,
- 25:27and put your head in the sand for another few
- 25:29years as you wait that out. If you're finding yourself
- 25:33in that category of putting off decisions and waiting on
- 25:36things that really don't deserve to be put off, please
- 25:39call the folks at Armstrong Advisory Group for a review
- 25:42of your investment and financial plan. It's always really, really important,
- 25:47and I do understand why people put it off, but
- 25:49I'm here to tell you that sticking your head in
- 25:51the sand and waiting, especially in moments like this where
- 25:54the economy is at a bit of a pivot point,
- 25:57we have seen a slow down. We have a FED
- 25:59meeting come up Thursday that's going to acknowledge some of
- 26:01those points. Give us a call, let us sit down
- 26:04with you and at least explain our process. The phone
- 26:07number for a free consultation anywhere in New England is
- 26:10eight hundred three nine three four zero zero one, almost anywhere,
- 26:14just about everywhere in New England again. We offer free
- 26:17consultations with the Armstrong Advisory Group and the phone number
- 26:21is eight hundred three nine three four zero zero one.
- 26:24Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
- 26:27registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
- 26:29Armstrong guide a specific financial, legal or tax advice. Consult
- 26:32your own financial tax into state planning advisors before making
- 26:35any investment decisions. Armstrong may contact you to offer investment
- 26:38advisory services.
- 26:40Speaker 2: On Friday, the IRS announced new contribution limits for four
- 26:45to one K accounts in twenty twenty five. You're going
- 26:49to be able to contribute up to twenty three thousand,
- 26:51five hundred or four oh one K plan. That's up
- 26:53from twenty three thousand this year. That also applies to
- 26:56four h three B four p fifty seven and the
- 26:58Government's thrift Saving Plan iras You're screwed again staying at
- 27:03seven thousand. No bump there, and the ketchup contribution limit
- 27:08stays the thousand for IRAS.
- 27:10Speaker 6: For four to one k's.
- 27:11Speaker 2: The ketchup contribution remains at seventy five hundred, So twenty
- 27:14three five plus seventy five hundred equals thirty one thousand.
- 27:18So that's what you're gonna be able to contribute if
- 27:20you are over the age of fifty. But if you
- 27:22are in the uh the super boost.
- 27:26Speaker 4: God that twenty twenty five or is that twenty twenty six, No.
- 27:30Speaker 6: It's it starts next year.
- 27:32Speaker 2: It's not required to be wroth until the year after,
- 27:35but that that super Ketchup group for four from age
- 27:42sixty to sixty three can have the Ketchup contribution at
- 27:45eleven two hundred and fifty dollars.
- 27:50Speaker 3: Once again, Irs and Congress, thank you so much for
- 27:54all the job security you provide to accountants, lawyers, and
- 27:58financial advisors, because that's the only thing I can see
- 28:01that you've meaningfully done with all of this. Yes, so
- 28:04that's what I genuinely don't think that any of these
- 28:06change boost retirement security.
- 28:07Speaker 4: I just thrown out my hand.
- 28:09Speaker 3: I think the one thing you can definitively say about
- 28:12that is that boost job security for those rules.
- 28:15Speaker 6: Yeah, I think that's fair. So that's what we're seeing.
- 28:17Four contributional limits for next year. Quick break here. When
- 28:20we come back stack root, let's.
- 28:23Speaker 1: Text us six one seven, three, six two thirteen eighty
- 28:26five with your comments and questions about today's show and
- 28:30let us know what you think about the stories we
- 28:32are covering. This is the Financial Exchange Radio Network. If
- 28:37you missed any of today's show, catch up whenever you
- 28:39want on our YouTube page. Find daily show segments and
- 28:42full shows. Just go to YouTube dot com and search
- 28:45for the Financial Exchange. This is your home for breaking
- 28:48business and financial news. This is the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
- 28:55Speaker 5: This segment of the Financial Exchange is brought to you
- 28:57in part by the US Virgin Islands to I'm going
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- 29:03and Saint John. With fall in full swaying, Now's the
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- 29:28book your trip. That's visit USVII dot com.
- 29:31Speaker 6: Mike, what do you got for me?
- 29:32Speaker 3: I want to talk about food because it's eleven fifty
- 29:34and I'm hungry. The mysterious fees that are inflating your
- 29:38grocery bill is the piece from the Wall Street Journal
- 29:40talking specifically about some food distribution networks that have been
- 29:45adding fees and you know, getting questions from people. But
- 29:48the overall piece here is about general confusion as to
- 29:51why food prices are up so much, And according to
- 29:53the BLS, I think it's about twenty five percent since
- 29:56twenty nineteen of total inflation in the food at home
- 29:59CA category, which is about in line with overall inflation
- 30:03generally speaking.
- 30:04Speaker 4: So I was curious.
- 30:05Speaker 3: Unfortunately, not many of these food distributors are publicly traded,
- 30:08so I couldn't get data on them, but one of
- 30:10them is United National, Sorry, United Natural Foods. I pulled
- 30:15their earnings before ibit does so earning before interest, taxes, appreciation,
- 30:21or amortization, and I just looked at their margins from
- 30:24the average. The longest date I could get was since nine,
- 30:27so from twenty nine through twenty nineteen, this company had
- 30:30an average margin of about three and a third percent.
- 30:33Average for twenty twenty three twenty twenty four one and
- 30:36a quarter so I don't know if they're doing it,
- 30:39but clearly it's not going to their margin. This is not,
- 30:42you know, across the board. But when I looked at
- 30:44the major grocers as well, Kroger, Walmart, profit margins in
- 30:49Kroger's case about the same as they were pre COVID.
- 30:52Walmart's lower five and a quarter in twenty twenty three
- 30:55and twenty twenty four compared to seven percent pre COVID.
- 30:58PEPSI we're margins twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four compared
- 31:02to pre COVID, there are very few. Proctor Gamble actually
- 31:06did see growth in margins over the last few years
- 31:10compared to pre COVID, so I'll put them in the category.
- 31:13But I went through a number of these to try
- 31:15and see if I could find a glaring story here
- 31:18of oh yeah, this company is bringing home much fatter
- 31:22margins on their business since COVID, and I got to
- 31:25tell you, in the grocery space, at least, I didn't
- 31:27find much evidence of it.
- 31:29Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's fair, Mike. I'm gonna let you
- 31:32pick what I'm going to talk about now. It's kind
- 31:35of a lazy stack through lapps.
- 31:39Speaker 4: Oh you're gonna be choices.
- 31:40Speaker 2: Yes, are we going to talk about daylight savings time ending,
- 31:44or are we going to talk about TGI Friday's filing
- 31:46for bankruptcy.
- 31:47Speaker 6: Let's go daylight.
- 31:48Speaker 4: Savings, because I think we're going to disagree on it.
- 31:50Speaker 6: We cover this every year.
- 31:53Speaker 2: This day we turn the clocks back, everyone freaks out.
- 31:58Speaker 5: We cut off with it one time, like three or
- 32:00four years ago.
- 32:01Speaker 1: Remember that.
- 32:02Speaker 6: Oh yeah, yeah, it's we're leading off with this. Damn it.
- 32:05Speaker 2: Everyone freaks out when we turn the clocks back, and
- 32:11we get the pieces that are written that are like, hey,
- 32:14most people don't want to do this anymore, we should
- 32:16just keep things the same the whole time. And then
- 32:19we get people, you know, naturally right in the responses, Well,
- 32:22you can't keep it the way it is in the
- 32:23summer because it's too dark in the morning when the
- 32:25kids are going to school. Well you can't keep it
- 32:27the way it is in the winter because then it
- 32:28would be light so early.
- 32:30Speaker 6: In the summer.
- 32:32Speaker 2: Ultimately, what is the actual inconvenience of changing things by
- 32:38an hour each time?
- 32:42Speaker 5: You know, each time we do this setting my oven
- 32:45clock back?
- 32:46Speaker 3: Yeah, that radio, so the car radio pretty easy. The
- 32:50oven clock my god.
- 32:51Speaker 1: The microwave.
- 32:53Speaker 6: Okay, so it costs you like thirty seconds, maybe twenty seven.
- 32:57Speaker 3: So the biggest inconvenience to me is not the short
- 32:59term I For me, it's just the genuine dislike of
- 33:03how long I'm awake during the dark. And that's just
- 33:06a me thing.
- 33:08Speaker 4: I'm not a morning person.
- 33:10Speaker 6: What does that mean.
- 33:11Speaker 4: I'm not a morning person.
- 33:12Speaker 6: I'm not playing Aaron Rodgers. I was born in the dark.
- 33:18Speaker 3: I did not take away whatever that drug is before
- 33:21the show. No aluasca, Yeah that one, Yeah, we should
- 33:24do that.
- 33:25Speaker 2: The show all in darkness on ayahuasca.
- 33:28Speaker 4: Well, could go wrong.
- 33:29Speaker 3: I uh yeah, just my genuine dislike for the sun
- 33:34setting at four o'clock, that's all.
- 33:35Speaker 6: So, which do you dislike more? Being this?
- 33:38Speaker 1: This?
- 33:38Speaker 6: Talking about it?
- 33:40Speaker 3: I disliked I dislike being this time. Yeah, this period
- 33:47of time. I dislike the period of time eleven four. Yeah,
- 33:54the time where I'm locked in the.
- 33:56Speaker 6: Trying to say she doesn't like the dark.
- 33:58Speaker 4: I don't like the dark.
- 33:59Speaker 1: Dark.
- 33:59Speaker 4: Then you got to be in the afternoon.
- 34:00Speaker 2: You've got to move south dark in the after can't
- 34:02live in New England if you don't like it that way.
- 34:04Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, just want to remind everybody in case you
- 34:07missed it, the Ultimate Boston Sports Auction is now officially open.
- 34:12It's to benefit the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusetts.
- 34:16And again we have four incredible items to bid on,
- 34:19and again all to benefit the Disabled American Veterans Department
- 34:23of Massachusetts. The high bidder between now and Friday at
- 34:26eleven forty five will take home all four of the
- 34:30following items. It's a pair of tickets to see the
- 34:32Patriots play the Rams on November seventeenth, including a pregame
- 34:36visit to the field that Drake May autograph Team Jersey
- 34:39and a Ben Coates autograph Team Jersey. A pair of
- 34:42tickets to see the Celtics play the Cavaliers on November nineteenth,
- 34:46in addition to an autograph basketball from Chris STAPs porzingis
- 34:51a pair of tickets to see the Bruins play the
- 34:53Edmonton Oilers Very Good Team on January seventh, and a
- 34:56Brandon Carlow autograph picture. And finally, four tickets to a
- 35:01twenty twenty five Red Sox home game, as well as
- 35:03a visit to the WEI broadcast booth and a Pedro
- 35:08Martinez autograph baseball. Now, the current bid is twenty five
- 35:12hundred dollars, and if you'd like to increase that amount
- 35:16and take home all four of these incredible auction items,
- 35:19call the bidline right now.
- 35:21Speaker 6: It's eight eight eight.
- 35:22Speaker 5: Two zero five two two sixty three. That's eight eight
- 35:25eight two zero five two to two sixty three. And
- 35:28again it's all to proceed to benefit the Disabled American
- 35:32Veterans Department of Massachusetts.
- 35:35Speaker 6: So if we're changing the cocks in the future, no.
- 35:37Speaker 4: Now, keep them, keep them steady, just keep them, stop changing.
- 35:41Speaker 3: I've even come around that if New York wants to
- 35:43do their own thing, I'll still change them.
- 35:45Speaker 6: What do you mean? What do you mean New York here?
- 35:47Speaker 3: If we have to be on different time zones for
- 35:49a period of time, I'm okay, I'm okay with that.
- 35:51Speaker 2: I think that the obvious solution here is we need
- 35:53more time zones, state minutes. Yes, the United States should
- 35:58have sixteen different time zone just like India.
- 36:02Speaker 6: Forget.
- 36:02Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, India's wild, Like it's you go to
- 36:05like a different city and it's like, oh, like I
- 36:07was right, No, no, no, it's we have our own
- 36:09time here.
- 36:09Speaker 5: Ye.
- 36:10Speaker 6: Oh okay, we're gonna take a.
- 36:13Speaker 2: Quick break for the rest of the day, back at
- 36:14it tomorrow, and we'll have uh everything you need to
- 36:17get ready for election night tomorrow.
- 36:19Speaker 6: On the Financial Exchange