Category: Weekly Wealthcasts

Click here to read the Forbes Article

TRANSCRIPTION:

Hi, I’m Steve Dudash at IHT Wealth Management. Welcome to  this week’s Wealthcast. Alright, so we’re going to talk about something that has been debated a lot here in Chicago and it’s really starting to grow across the country, and that is the sugar tax or the beverage tax or whatever they call it. At the end of the day, it’s a tax they’re putting on sugar drinks. And I’m not here to talk about the politics of it, I can argue both sides and I don’t care about the politics.

What I do care about is what it means for you and my portfolios moving forward. But first, let’s explain what it is, if you’re outside of the areas that already have it. It’s a tax they are putting on soda, or pop, or whatever you call it, and sports drinks, things like that. So the Pepsi’s, the Coke’s, the McDonald’s of the world are affected by this. And it’s just like the cigarette tax guys. As soon as it gets started, you know they started this one like 10 years or something, it’s not going away. The states are broke. Chicago is broke. They need money. And once they find a new way of taxing you, it doesn’t disappear, it only grows.

The cigarette taxes were very, very small when they started. Now they are very sizable. And for good reasons. The idea is that it pushes less people to be able to do it. Drink those drinks, smoke those cigarettes. And therefore helps the health costs, which we both know are very, very inhibitive long term. So, I’m not going to debate that part of it. But, what it does mean Coke, Pepsi, McDonald’s, companies like that- make a lot of money selling sugar drinks. It’s going to make it difficult for them to continue that path.

And you need to look at your portfolio and ask yourself- Coke and Pepsi are good companies, I get it- they make a lot of money overseas. But this is going to slow their profitability in the United States. And so, does that still fit in your portfolio? Because if you’re outside of Chicago or Seattle, or they almost passed this in New York too, if you’re outside one of these areas that have been debating this- you might not know this is going on, but it’s coming. It’s coming everywhere else too. So, be aware of it. Check your portfolios and make sure it fits with what you’re trying to do long term.

That being said, next week we’re going to talk about hackers with autonomous cars. We actually wrote an article, I think it was published yesterday in Forbes about the risks that hackers pose on autonomous cars, because again- hackers aren’t going away and autonomous cars are a growing industry, real fast. So if you get a chance, I think the link is on here too- look at that. Either way, hope this helps, have a nice weekend. And if you ever need to get in touch with me- call, email, Twitter @IHTWealth or steven.dudash@ihtwm.com. Thanks. Have a nice weekend.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Hi, I’m Steve Dudash at IHT Wealth Management. Welcome to this week’s Wealthcast. So, I want to talk about Hurricane Harvey and how that affects your guys’ situation and really the economy as a whole. So let’s start off with some of the good and then we’ll funnel through because obviously this is a terrible situation. Our hearts and our prayers go out to all the victims and the people affected by it, because millions of people are going to be affected by this for quite some time.

The GDP numbers for our economy came in, they were 3%, which is good- we need it to be more, but it’s good. It’s a head in the right direction. The reality is, this isn’t the start of a trend and it’s probably going to get pulled back. Let’s be honest, Houston is the 4th biggest city in the Country. Huge amount of business rolls through that area, especially Energy business- they are not recovering next week. This isn’t going to be New Orleans where half the people don’t come back. People are coming back, it’s a huge city with a lot of different business enterprises- it’s going to recover. But it’s not going to happen overnight.

So that is going to be a drag on our economy for the next few months? And on top of that, a lot of oil and refineries are in that area of the Country, and with the Hurricane coming back in it’s going to affect them, which means Gas prices are going to go up, which is going to affect a lot of other businesses across the Country. Which is why our 3% GDP number is just not going to happen again next quarter.

That being said, there are some good things that will come out of this. One- Houston is a huge, wonderful city. Lots of money is going to flood in there to rebuild, to clean up. There’s probably going to be a lot of fixes that happen, repairs that wouldn’t have happened otherwise that will ultimately make them an even bigger and better and stronger city, and area of the Country. It’s just going to take a little while. But it will end up being a good thing, they will recover from this.

That being said, all donations are helpful. We made a donation, we’re putting on here a couple sites of different areas that you can donate to as well. Everything adds up, and helps. It really does. And I want to specifically point out one person in particular- JJ Watt who’s a football player for the Houston Texans down in that area. He built a Crowd-funding site that basically for, for charitable donations for the Hurricane- and their like over 10 million dollars now. And for him to put this together, in such a short period of time- 10 million dollars is a lot of money, especially when it’s all, for the most part, smaller donations. It’s just wonderful.

So we’re going to put some links on here, if you get a chance to make some donations- I know they can use it. But long term, well short term it’s going to be rough and it will hurt our Economy and it will hurt various areas of the Market. Long term though, we will recover, we will get through this, this will be something that will ultimately be fixed and be stronger because of it. Thanks for having me talk this week. I hope next week is more uplifting. Have a nice weekend. Take care.

Make sure to tune into Fox Business tonight at 5:30pm CST to see Steve, or visit our Press Page to see the clip.

TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, I’m Steve Dudash with IHT Wealth Management. Welcome to this week’s Wealthcast. So, been getting this question a lot this week given everything that’s going on. So, wanted to focus on it. And I want to be real clear- we are not going to go to war with North Korea. Okay? But that gives us some opportunities, and I’m going to talk about the opportunities in a second. But let’s just do the front end of this. Because I’m going to be on Fox Business tonight talking about this exact same thing. We’ll put that link on there too, so that way you can watch the video if you want.

But at the end of the day, North Korea knows that if they preemptively strike or provoke too much, the United States, that their current Government-Dynasty that’s been in place for however many decades now, will no longer exist. Alright? This is like your classic example of, they teach this in Business School, third-generation business owners always destroy the business. First-generation is the talent, which is what’s happening in North Korea, and creates the Dynasty, creates the business. And second-generation muddles along, probably succeeds a little bit, muddles. But by the time the third-generation comes along, I think it’s like 97% or something, it’s this huge chunk of businesses go out of business. The talent’s gone, the drive’s gone, whatever. Probably what we’re kind of seeing over there right now.

They are not going to attack us, because if they do it they know their dynasty is done. We’re not going to attack them, no matter how many stupid twitters (tweets) get thrown out there back and forth. We are not going to attack them, because if we attack them, Seoul doesn’t exist anymore. Billions of people probably die, the 11th biggest economy in world’s capital is gone. So, stop it with the nonsense back and forth.

But, because of the uncertainty that’s out there between these two children fighting back and forth, markets are pulling back. And that’s what’s important to our conversation right now. Markets are pulling back, and because the Markets are pulling back because of the uncertainty of, at least the theoretical war that could take place between them, this is one of those buying opportunities. So, you people out there who have been sitting on cash, looking for an opportunity to get in on a dip, a dip that is not market-related, but completely emotionally-based. This is one of those times, so take advantage of it. If you’re sitting in cash, jump in now.

There will probably be a few more of these dips in the next few months, but this is one of those times where you’re going to want to jump in. If you are looking to rotate out of some of your bond positions and get in, this is one of those nice buying opportunities. So, take advantage of it when you get time, jump in. If you have any questions, I’m going to keep this one short, call me. And if you get bored tonight, I think around 5:30pm CST, watch Fox Business, I’ll be on there. So have a nice one, have a nice weekend. Take care.

Click Here to view the Wall Street Journal Article that Steve was quoted in.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Hi, I’m Steve Dudash at IHT Wealth Management. Welcome to this week’s Wealthcast. Earlier this week, I was in the Wall Street Journal. Again, quoted- this time talking about some of the sales tactics and things that took place- I used to be at Merrill Lynch, talking about that and some of the other Wire House and Banking Institutions- they kind of all do the same things. And specifically, what we were talking about was the product selling, the pushing that is put on the Advisors to then sell products to clients.

So I thought this week, we’ll pull the curtain back a little bit and help you guys understand what’s going on at these places and see if it applies to your situation, and how maybe you can address it. Specifically, let’s just be honest- all Banks and Wire Houses, they’re all the same. You have an investment account, they want you to have savings accounts too, credit cards, or mortgages, or lending, or whatever- and specifically, what the Wall Street Journal Article was talking about was securities-backed Lending, which quite frankly, is not a bad option for a lot of people.

What it is, is- it’s an investment account, you know you’ve got say an investment account with a million dollars in it, you can borrow $500,000 off of that investment account and do whatever else you want to do with it, like a house or things along those lines. Again, not bad for the wrong person, the problem I had, the problem that a lot of people with what they’re talking about in that article is that it’s being pushed on everyone. So, an Advisor has pressure on him, you know what I mean- from the bank let’s just call it, to push a product and they do it, not usually for money, they don’t really give you money on it, but it’s usually like deferred comp, or bonuses, or some back-end tiered structure.

They want all of their clients to have savings accounts. They want all their clients to have credit cards and so they tell me to go do that with all my clients, and you know once my eyes started getting opened up to what was really going on at a corporate level there, you know you take everyone out of it, the ones who needed it, we left them in there, but everyone else you just kind of get out of it. And they didn’t lose any money by doing it, there wasn’t any fees associated with it, but it’s just not necessary. Y

ou and everyone out there, probably at some point have had people pushing products on them, or trying to sell them something. Why I’m saying this is, if they are trying to sell you something- as opposed to your Advisor or your Consultant, it’s probably for a reason. They are probably being incented on it at some point, and then you’ve got to ask yourself- “Are they doing it for them? Or are they doing it for you?” And that’s the big point I want to make, and what the Article was really trying to make and I’m sure it’s popping up here somewhere, make sure when you’re doing something, that it’s in your best interest for you to be apart of that, not the corporate structure around whoever that Advisor is, their best interest.

There’s a lot of wonderful reasons why you need a checking account, a savings account, credit card, lending, investments, all the different things that these institutions provide. But not everyone needs to do it. So ask yourself, “Are you getting yourself into something because it’s good for you? Or is it good for the firm that is apart of that?” If you ever have any questions on it, or if you want another opinion, call me anytime, email me. I’m sure all that stuff is popping up, including the Wall Street Journal Article Link here at some point. So, I hope you have a nice weekend and I hope this helps. And we’ll talk. Have a nice one. Take care.

Hi, I’m Steve Dudash at IHT Wealth Management. Welcome to this week’s Wealthcast. So, I wrote an article that was in Forbes. Published I think late last week or early this week. And it was talking tech, it was talking Uber. And so I thought it would be a good way to tie in this week- we’ll talk some tech.

I get asked all the time about buying individual stocks. “Is it a good Company? Should I buy this? Should I buy that?” And I keep explaining to people over and over again, it’s not about “do you like that company today?” but “do you feel that they are going to continue to grow?” For instance, Uber. Uber today is wonderful. The technology basically made cabbies obsolete. They’re still out there, but shrinking everyday. Instead of hailing a cab, sticking your hand out, looking for it, or calling up and waiting for a car to show up- you hit a few buttons, car shows up waiting for you. You know exactly how much money it’s going to cost, you know exactly when it’s going to show up there. People use it, I love it, all the time.

But, Uber is going to IPO in the not-so-distant future. And they have a very big problem in front of them. Autonomous cars are coming. And for all those people out there that don’t want to accept it, I’m sorry. It’s going to happen. And it’s going to happen in the not-so-distant future. Ford, GM, Amazon, Google, Tesla, everyone is racing for that end game. And when that happens, the technology that will make a Company like Uber at risk of being obsolete.

Uber is losing the battle trying to get to the autonomous car. Other people are way ahead of them right now. And if they lose that battle, someone else will step into their place and be able to provide the same ride sharing services for much cheaper because they won’t have the cost of a driver and the things that are associated with that. And basically, will be able to push a company, like Uber, out of business. Maybe not out of business, but shrink them until they can match the technology. Why I’m saying this is because when Uber goes IPO, because they will, in the not-so-distant future, you will hear a story about them going IPO- I will get called, and people will say, “Should I buy Uber?” And I will come back to them and say, “Do you believe that Uber, is not necessarily a good company today, (because I think they are a good company today)- but do you believe that they will continue to be and be able to grow?” And that’s the real risk.

That’s like Snap Chat that came out 6 months ago, and people were asking, “Should I buy Snap?” It’s not whether or not you use Snap. I use Snap, a lot of people use it. But do you think that they are going to continue to grow in a way that  justifies what you’re paying for. And they’ve proven they can’t. They are down 50% right now, they’ve got all kinds of financial problems. And that same story will come out in the not-so-distant future when Uber comes out. So think about this, when you’re investing your money- individual stocks- it’s not about do you like it today, but do you believe that company can continue to grow in the future to justify what you’re paying for it. So, I hope that helps a little but. Call me anytime, read the Article at Forbes, it’s a pretty good one. Or at least I think it is. So, call, email anytime if you have any questions. Have a nice weekend. Bye.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Hi, I’m Steve Dudash at IHT Wealth Management- welcome to this week’s Wealthcast™. So, I want to focus on the big news that came out of the Government this week, earlier this week- the Federal Reserve raised Interest Rates for the third time in 12 months, there’s actually a fourth one coming later this year. Probably two or three are coming next year, but it’s a good thing. It really is a good thing.

One, it was telegraphed so well that everyone knew it was coming, so it’s not like there was a surprise with this at all- transparency always helps in that world. But two, it shows that our economy, and I know that it’s been slow- but our economy is rebounding well. It’s been eight or nine years now since the great recession, and if we keep plugging along, and getting a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better, not this  whole boom and bust cycle, but progressively getting better.

Inflation is low, maybe a little too low, but in the right range. Unemployment, how many years in a row there did we have unemployment numbers that were just way too high? Flat out just way, way too high. We are actually at the point where you can start to make the argument that we’re too low, which again is a good reason why they should raise rates a little bit for future ammunition, slow that down a little bit. But most importantly, it just reinforces that our economy is doing well, that we are rebounding nicely. The European’s economy is doing well. Emerging Market’s economies, China kind of, are doing much better- and that gives our Federal Reserve the leeway of raising rates without dampening the world economy (which hurts us) too much.

It’s good for retirees. They are starting to earn, slightly, more on their interest bearing accounts. It’s not really the greatest for people who have debt or who are taking out loans or buying things like businesses or whatever. It’s not the greatest for that, but because the interest rate hikes have been so small, 25 basis points each time, because the long term rates haven’t really moved too much- it hasn’t really had that much of a negative effect on that side of it.

The one thing I do want focus on is, and the one part of this that I don’t think gets enough press is- how well our economy has done because of how low we’ve been able to keep oil prices down. OPEC, about 12 months ago or whatever, came out and really said, “We’re cutting production” and they really did cut production in order to try to prop up oil prices. And it’s been impressive how well our in house production, mostly shale production, has filled that void in such a short period of time. It really has negated virtually the entire production cut that’s been out there. If that continues, five years, ten years from now, we’re going to look back and point fingers and say, “that was the reason why the economy went on such a nice run for such a long period of time.” Because I don’t care how you spin it, oil is a tax on the economy, for the most part. Not energy companies, but for everybody else it’s a tax. If we can keep those prices down with in-house production…very nice benefits that come out of that. So, hopefully that continues.

Hopefully, that clarifies a little bit of what’s going on with the Federal Reserve. If you have any questions, call, email, Twitter anytime. And reach out to us whenever if you have any questions. Have a nice weekend. Take care, bye.