Today’s Global Economic Outlook

Key Points – Today’s Global Economic Outlook

So Much Uncertainty … Geopolitically and Domestically
Inflation, Fed Funds Rate Projections Continue to Rise
Learning About Global Economics via the Geopolitical Risk Index
War: What Is It Good For? … Absolutely Nothing
Doing Your Own Research on Global Economics Is Critical
20 minutes to read | 38 minutes to listen

One thing that Dean Barber and Bud Kasper are certain of is that there is a lot of domestic and geopolitical uncertainty to go around. Dean and Bud sort through some of that uncertainty to give their thoughts on today’s global economic outlook.

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Tax Season Is Over!

Dean Barber: Thanks so much to those who join us on America’s Wealth Management Show. I’m your host, Dean Barber, along with Bud Kasper. And today, we celebrate.

Bud Kasper: We do? What are we celebrating?

Dean Barber: We’re done with tax season.

Bud Kasper: Oh yeah. That’s a true statement. Talk about exhaustion.

Dean Barber: Oh yeah. Our team of CPAs is taking a couple of weeks off.

Bud Kasper: It’s well deserved.

Dean Barber: Yeah. But there are some extensions out there for people who didn’t get their information in time or didn’t get all the proper documentation that they needed to get the tax return completed.

But It’s Still a Great Time to Do Some Tax Planning

We talked a little bit last week about how now is the time to gather those documents that you used to prepare your tax return. Get those in front of your CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional. Get your CPA to sit next to your financial planner and create your tax plan for 2022 and 2023 now. Don’t wait.

So, I just wanted to kind of breathe a sigh of relief before we get into today’s topic. I was going to start today by saying there isn’t a lot going on to talk about, but that would be kind of facetious.

Bud Kasper: You must have been very tired. That was hard to write that check to Uncle Sam, wasn’t it?

Dean Barber: It was exhausting. Yes.

Bud Kasper: Dean raises an excellent point. So many people are gathering those, but then they’re throwing them in a box or whatever the case may be. This is the time to cinch up your belt and say, “You know what? I’m going to tackle this now, not later.” This would be the greatest opportunity for you to finally get on track with where you need to be in terms of your tax situation.

Taxes and Dental Work Are Very Similar: They Can Be Painful, But They’re Essential

Dean Barber: Well, it’s easy to put that off. Filing your tax is almost like going to the dentist. The last thing you want to do after you had a root canal is go back for another visit. But you need to do it because it can make next year’s tax season much more palpable.

Bud Kasper: Totally true.

Moving on to Another Important Topic: Global Economics

Dean Barber: While forward-looking tax planning is important, what I want to discuss today is what’s going on with geopolitical and domestic uncertainty we’re experiencing. There’s a lot to worry about in the world today, especially from a global economic perspective and domestic economic perspective.

I never really thought we’d see inflation like what we saw back in the early 1980s and late 1970s. That’s especially the case considering that we went through this super long expansion with very good growth. Inflation remained in check, and it was solid.

But we are seeing inflation at a 40-year high. And the problem is that it looks like it’s here for a while.

Fed Funds Rate Projections Continue to Rise

Just this last week, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said that he wants 3.5% percent increase this year in the Fed funds rate. I read another article where people are anticipating that the 30-year mortgage will be at 6.75% by the end of the year. We haven’t seen 6.75% on mortgages since before the Dot-Com Bubble.

Bud Kasper: It’s incredible. We’re not in a recession yet. We’re in the throes of the possibility of a recession. Can the Federal Reserve engineer a soft landing? If they’d gotten their act together before this, we wouldn’t be quite as extended as we currently are. We’re on course to have that recession in maybe another six months to a year.

Global Economic Uncertainty Calls for a Drink … Maybe a Ukrainian Mule

Dean Barber: It’s possible. And then you put on top of what we have going on domestically and with the geopolitical uncertainties. It’s a daunting global economic outlook. Let’s talk specifically about what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Let’s just call it war crimes and mass murdering of Ukrainians.

Bud Kasper: My wife and I went to dinner last week and they said, “What do you want to drink?” And I said, “I want a Ukrainian mule.” And they said, “What are you talking about?” I said, ‘We don’t accept Moscow anymore. Everything should be Ukrainian.”

Dean Barber: I’m sure you got to chuckle out of that.

Bud Kasper: I did. Yeah. I laugh at myself a lot.

What Can We Learn About Global Economics from the Geopolitical Risk Index?

Dean Barber: So, there is an index called the Geopolitical Risk Index. We’ve only seen the Geopolitical Risk Index higher three times in the last 30-plus years now. It was higher the beginning of 1990 with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the September 11th attacks, and then the beginning of the Iraqi War in March 2003.

With these numbers so elevated, there’s no wonder that we are experiencing a lot of global economic uncertainty. People are on such high alert right now about today’s global economic outlook.

Bud Kasper: To be perfectly honest, I had not heard of this index. I’ve never used it before in a sentence or referenced it when talking with clients. But it makes perfect sense for us to understand the implications of this and the effect that it’s going to have on global economics and the markets.

Dean Barber: You could read The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, and The Washington Post or watch Fox News, Fox Business, and CNN. All those will just give you little sound bites of what’s happening.

Now, Shane Barber, one of the partners here at Modern Wealth Management, wrote a great article, Geopolitical Uncertainty Creates Chaos … And Opportunities. Shane took quite a bit of time putting this together.

Bud Kasper: I’m sure he did.

Dean Barber: When I read through it, I was like, “I didn’t know this. I didn’t know that.” There is a lot of history and a lot of reasons why we’re not getting the explanation on mainstream media about what’s really going on in Ukraine and Russia. We’re going to dive into some of that.

War: What Is It Good For? … Absolutely Nothing

The war between Russia and Ukraine makes me think about a popular song from the early 1970s. It’s still very relevant today and is simply titled, War. The Temptations wrote the original version before Edwin Starr’s version topped the Billboard Hot 100. The song asks a simple question of, “War, what is it good for?” It then gives a great answer, “Absolutely nothing.” So, let’s ask that question again, “War, what is it good for?”

Bud Kasper: Not one thing.

Dean Barber: What’s going on here, Bud?

Bud Kasper: Expansionism? In this day and age?

Dean Barber: It’s not that.

The Power Struggle for Oil

Bud Kasper: What’s Russia thinking about? Oil?

Dean Barber: That’s it. Well, it’s not just oil, though. Oil is a big deal to Russia. If you think about the Black Sea off the coast of Ukraine and Crimea, massive reserves of oil and natural gas were discovered in 2012. Putin wanted to control those resources for multiple reasons. Number one, Russia provides a lot of the oil and gas used by the European Union and Ukraine. I don’t know that a lot of people realize this, but Russia is the second largest producer of oil in the world—even ahead of Saudi Arabia.

They have the largest proven natural gas reserves in the world. The revenues from the sale of these resources comprised roughly 50% of the Russian government’s budget and 30% of the country’s GDP. That’s huge.

Most of their natural gas is sold to the European Union countries. Russia makes up 35% of the EU’s gas supply. Germany relies on Russia for 50% of their natural gas.

Bud Kasper: I remember when that came about and they created that pipeline that went directly to Germany. What were they thinking? We’re not dealing with a country that is necessarily friendly or cohesive to a unified Europe. Yet now they’ve got them by you know what. And unfortunately, it’s going to be a very ugly situation.

Pipelines and Profitability

Dean Barber: Here’s the issue. A lot of that energy—oil and gas—runs through a series of complex pipelines. Think about Nord Stream 1 and 2. Nord Stream 1 and 2 are a little different subject, but most of those pipelines were running through Ukraine and costing the Russians billions of dollars in tariffs to use the Ukraine as a gas bridge to Europe. Russia sought to fix it by building the new pipelines, Nord Stream 1 and 2. They thought that would eventually eliminate need to use the ones that are going through Ukraine.

Bud Kasper: Again, global economics come back into play here. The profitability increases for Russia.

Dean Barber: That’s right. Think about the reserves around the Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea. Ukraine could have become energy independent and an energy exporter. Russia wanted Crimea so they could access those reserves.

Bud Kasper: Yeah. But Biden came in and shut down oil production for the most part by not allowing the piping system that was supposed to be in place.

Dean Barber: Yeah, the Keystone Pipeline.

A Big Economic Problem

Bud Kasper: They shut that thing down now. To be fair, the Keystone would not have just opened up and oil would’ve been flowing, but they were going to be close to having that done within a year. But again, when we went into the green factor and suddenly oil becomes extremely important because we’re not producing it at the same levels. So, what happens now? We’re no longer independent and that and that’s an economic problem.

Dean Barber: Let’s face it. Joe Biden‘s initial energy policies initially on top of the pent-up demand and supply chain issues exacerbated the inflationary pressures that were already on the United States and basically the rest of the world. Now, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and oil prices above $100 a barrel has exacerbated this global economic problem. And it’s not ending anytime soon.

Bud Kasper: Right. I have several engineers as clients. We’ve talked about the fact that they’re looking for oil anywhere. Should we not rely on oil? Should we be nuclear, solar, etc.? None are as efficient, and they cost more to produce in many cases. And, therefore oil, and remember what happened.

Strained International Relationships

Biden went over to Saudi Arabia and they wouldn’t answer his calls. I understood it. Therefore, we couldn’t negotiate having higher production that was going to come out of there. Then, Biden’s administration went to Venezuela. By the way, their oil is dirty. It’s a lot harder to refine. We didn’t get a whole lot of cooperation there.

Dean Barber: Well, and there’s a lot more behind the issue with the United States and Saudi Arabia and the relationship with Joe Biden. We can’t get into that right now, but Biden basically, he kind of dissed Saudi Arabia when he first got elected and even during his campaign. And now he wants to be friends? They’re like, “No thanks.”

The deal that the United States had with the Saudis is that they would provide protection. They would provide support and protection and ensure that they could get the oil safely and that they could ship it safely. Biden just basically said, “We don’t need to do that. You guys can take care of yourselves.”

Bud Kasper: So, with what’s happening in Ukraine and more specifically Mariupol, that’s where a lot of the oil is coming from.

From Ukraine and Russia to Taiwan and China

Dean Barber: Yeah. Let’s skip from Ukraine and Russia here for a minute and talk about China. While the Russia and Ukraine conflict rages on, many analysts have wondered whether this event and the worldwide reaction to it might be viewed by China as an opportunity to invade Taiwan and claim it as their own. That’s something that China has long desired.

Bud Kasper: Yes. I’m sure they’re watching very carefully with what’s happening in Ukraine to see if they can stand up to Russia with the help of the United States. What are we on the verge of then?

Nobody Wins in a World War

Dean Barber: Well, then you’d be talking about the possibility of world war. Obviously, nobody wants that.

Bud Kasper: Nobody wins.

Dean Barber: Nobody wins. There’s not a logical person out there that can say today that they don’t want the conflict in Ukraine to end and for Russia to pull back. But they’ve gone so far at this point. They’ve created so much damage and killed so many people. How can they possibly think that they could just back away now and say, “Oh, we were just kidding. We want to be friends again.” That’s going to take decades to repair.

Bud Kasper: Absolutely. It’s no different than figuring out how to stop the oil flowing into Germany from Russia. Even though Germany might want to do that, they didn’t have the foresight. They just wanted oil as cheap as possible to come into their country.

Doing Your Own Research on Global Economics Is Critical

Dean Barber: That’s why it’s so important to educate yourself on this global economic data that’s out there. Doing your own research is key. A good place to start is by reading Shane’s magnificent article, Geopolitical Uncertainty Creates Chaos … And Opportunities. Read it and make sure you share it with your friends. There’s a lot of insight as to what’s really happening in the global economic realm and what’s creating the geopolitical uncertainty. Believe it or not, there are opportunities that geopolitical uncertainty can create as well as the chaos that can ensue from it.

Bud Kasper: Right. Some people are probably thinking, “What does this have to do with retirement and investing and all that?” Well, it has a lot to do with it because of what’s happening in the marketplace. It’s all about global economics.

Inflation’s Intense Impact on Retirees and Near Retirees

Dean Barber: Every time we have geopolitical uncertainty, the markets get upset. The problem is that we don’t just have geopolitical uncertainty today. We’ve got economic uncertainty domestically and raging inflation that is wreaking havoc on retirees. Inflation is impacting retirees a lot differently than a lot of people who are still working.

I don’t want to mean to be braggadocious or anything like that, but the inflation isn’t hurting me and it’s not hurting Bud. Bud is financially independent but chooses to continue working because he loves what he does. I’m financially independent today. I choose to work because I love what I do. So, if gas is $4 a gallon versus $2 a gallon, that doesn’t matter to me right now. Yes. I don’t like it, but it’s not going to be the end of the world.

Avoiding Overspending in Retirement

But so many retirees and near retirees are on a budget. They’ve saved X-amount of dollars and need to make those dollars last as long as they possibly can. They need to make sure that they don’t overspend so that they don’t run out of money in retirement. It’s critical right now that people go back and redo that financial plan they did, assuming they have one. Start plugging in and stress testing for higher interest rates to find out what your reality is today. That way you won’t wind up messing something up as you go forward. I think that’s critical.

Bud Kasper: It is Dean. I’m glad you brought that up.

Dean Barber: There is a lot more to discuss about global economics and geopolitical uncertainty with the opportunities that it creates and chaos that can ensue. Make no mistake about it, there can be some opportunities in the wake of chaos. We know that. Bud and I have about 75 years of combined experience—maybe a little bit more between us.

Taiwan and Ukraine’s Mutual Strength: Technology

We said this earlier in the year as well that what’s going on now is not unfamiliar. However, it’s still uncomfortable, even with our decades of experience. We’ve seen geopolitical uncertainty come and we’ve seen geopolitical uncertainty go. We’ve seen smooth sailing and then we’ve seen some pretty tough times. What’s going on with Russia and Ukraine right now could just be the tip of the iceberg.

We talked earlier about the possibility of China invading Taiwan. Well, why would China want Taiwan so bad? Well, you’ve got the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. It’s the leader in high-end chip manufacturing. Here’s the deal. Russia can import low-end chips from China, but it’s the high-end chips that are critical for emerging technologies.

They’re vital for advanced weapons systems, high-end smart phones, and a lot more. China just doesn’t have the natural resources to do that.

Control, Power, and Money

Now, Ukraine is the world’s main supplier of neon gas, which is also critical in high-end chip-making. So, this goes beyond oil. This is all about technology as well. If you think about this, there’s a lot to gain. This is all about control, power, and money. That’s what a lot of the wars in history have been about.

Bud Kasper: Absolutely. If you look at a lot of the investments that are around technology, you’ll see Taiwan’s semiconductor is in the top five or 10 positions in almost any investment. And that’s all for a good reason. Dean is right that Taiwan owns that market. Their technology is significant. By the way, if you want a dividend-paying stock, there’s one right there for you to utilize. But it’s an amazing situation that we have.

As an example, England has said that by the time they get to 2030, they plan on having three more nuclear plants. By the way, Ukraine had a facility as well. So, here is an oil-rich country from that perspective. Yet they were still looking at alternative fuels to supplement what their needs were going to be. And for that matter, the world’s needs as well because that frees up more oil to go to other places that don’t have any nuclear propositions.

Can This Inflation Solely Be Referred to as the Putin Price Hike?

Dean Barber: So, let’s talk about oil for a minute. You’ve heard the current administration refer to inflation as the Putin price hike.

I mean, they can try to spread that narrative, but anybody with any common sense that pays attention to anything that’s going on from a global economic standpoint and the domestic stage knows that simply isn’t true. Inflation was here far before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Just as an example, oil had already risen by 124% before the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, oil has risen another 64%. So, is this whole thing about Vladimir Putin? I don’t think so.

Now, what Putin is doing is reprehensible and immoral. But the inflation that we’re seeing today is not and should not be referred to as a Putin price hike. This is a result of bad domestic policy. There’s zero reason that when Biden took office that we should have had another $1.7 trillion stimulus package. What did they want? $5 trillion? A lot of that stuff got knocked down but imagine what inflation would be like if that were happening. Then, Jen Psaki is saying, “Well, that doesn’t cause inflation.” Well, come on.

Don’t Dismiss COVID’s Impact, But There’s More to These Global Economic Issues

Bud Kasper: To be fair, though, if we go back two years, oil companies on a price basis were very depressed. When you hear these 124% increases and all that, you must realize where it was coming from.

Dean Barber: I’m not going to argue that point. When we were in the throes of the COVID lockdown, of course oil prices were depressed because energy usage was way down. Airlines weren’t flying, people weren’t going on buses, trucks were slowing, and people weren’t driving. They weren’t getting out because they were all locked down.

Of course, you’re going to see some increase in that. But when you throw in all the energy policies from the Biden administration and all the stimulus, that is the biggest culprit of U.S. inflation.

I can’t ignore the supply chain; that’s a big issue. Bud has had experiences with it. I’ve had experiences with it. Pretty much anybody in the manufacturing industry has had experiences with it. Shipping costs are way up, but this goes beyond just Vladimir Putin and Russia invading Ukraine.

Getting Questions Answered by Creating a Comprehensive Financial Plan

With all that said, you can get a better overall understanding of the global economic situation by reading Shane’s article, Geopolitical Uncertainty Creates Chaos … And Opportunities. Like I said earlier, this isn’t an unfamiliar situation, but it is uncomfortable. The question becomes, what does this really mean to the individual who might be listening to us on America’s Wealth Management Show? What does it mean to the person who is approaching retirement in the next few years or who is already retired? That’s the question.

Bud Kasper: These are concerns that need to be voiced, understood, and planned for. We have that. In a comprehensive financial plan that is run by a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional, you can look into the questions that Dean just brought up and look for the appropriate answers.

Accounting for Inflation within Your Plan

When we make these projections going forward and look at inflation projections and things like that, we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty. That inflation factor is going to impact the amount of spendable income you can utilize on an inflation-adjusted basis. So, we need to factor those things in to make sure that we’re as accurate as we can possibly be as to whether a plan will succeed or not.

Dean Barber: Here’s the reality that every one of us have. We all have the resources that we have, whether it’s money that we’ve saved in our 401(k)s, IRAs, brokerage accounts, or wherever we’ve saved money. We may have a pension. Most of us will have Social Security. And that’s it—that’s what we have. Maybe there’s going to be an inheritance in the future? Those are our resources. That’s what we need to work with to live on for the rest of our lives.

We all have a desired lifestyle of things that we need to do and things that we want to do. There are essential things and then things that are beyond necessary that bring us enjoyment, such as travel, gifts for grandkids, and so on.

The Guided Retirement System Can Help When Analyzing Today’s Global Economic Outlook

So, the question is, based on the resources that you have and your desired lifestyle going into retirement or early on in retirement, what’s that desired lifestyle look like for the next couple of decades or so? Are those resources positioned properly to allow you to do that?

We measure that in our Guided Retirement System and then stress test through all kinds of economic conditions. We can stress test you through past geopolitical conflicts, past bear markets, and so much more. That’s what you really need to do to gain clarity, confidence, and control.

From Global Economics to Domestic Economics

Anyway, along with wrapping up with some final thoughts on our global economic situation and the geopolitical uncertainty that we’re experiencing, I want to dive into domestic economics. There’s an economist from First Trust, Brian Westbury, who I give a lot of credit to. He has been pretty spot on in just about all the economic conditions that we’ve been in for the last 15 years or so. Let’s see what he has to say.

Bud Kasper: I have a lot of respect for Brian as well. Sometimes he sounds a little pollyannish with some of the things that he comes up with, but …

Dean Barber: Do you remember his slogan?

Bud Kasper: No.

Dean Barber: There’s a bull market somewhere, everywhere.

Bud Kasper: Everywhere.

Dean Barber: Always or something like that.

Bud Kasper: What he was saying is real GDP in the United States last year grew at 5.5% in 2021. That was the fastest growth on any calendar year since the Reagan boom in the 1980s. Despite that, for the two years ending fourth quarter of 2021, real GDP was just 1.6% annually.

Dean Barber: Right. Because of COVID in the early part of 2020 and late 2020.

Reflecting on COVID’s Global Economic Impact

Bud Kasper: I don’t think the most people really understood the impact that COVID-19 had. It shut down the economy and people weren’t spending money because they were all locked up. It’s happening in China again, which is forcing the isolation that they have over there. There is talk about how this might cripple the GDP of China, which came in positive just last week for the quarter. We lived through it, but what were the real ramifications? I think we’re starting to see that still show its head today.

Dean Barber: There’s zero question that the COVID crisis changed a lot of things. I’d go out on a limb and say had COVID-19 not existed, Joe Biden wouldn’t be president. I could go out on a limb and say, had COVID-19 not existed, we wouldn’t have a 40% increase in used vehicle prices over the last 12 months. Had COVID 19 not existed, we wouldn’t have seen boat and RV sales through the roof over the last 18 months. We wouldn’t have seen home prices increase the way that they’ve increased. We wouldn’t have seen companies like Lowe’s and Home Depot doing as well as they’ve done.

COVID changed a lot of things. We wouldn’t have seen the adaptation and acceptance of technology like it has. We saw probably an eight-to-10-year advance in the adoption of technology from an individual and company standpoint because of COVID-19. It changed everything.

Bud Kasper: We’re still feeling the after-effects. When we look again at the Federal and the actions that they have taken, it relates back to about 14-15 months ago when Dean and I were talking about that. What the government did was proactive in trying to keep the economy on an even keel. That’s not as easy as people think.

What’s Going on with Interest Rates?

At that time, we were seeing what was happening with interest rates. We’ve talked at length about the fact that we have this issue going on with interest rates currently and that the Federal Reserve was going to have to start raising rates. Yet, they didn’t for a while because we had this crazy word out there called transitory, which is supposed to be short term. But they made a mistake.

Dean Barber: If we go back into last summer, Bud and I both thought maybe that’s right. But it was hard to predict. U.S. and global economics are always hard to predict. That’s especially true with things like inflation because we didn’t really understand what the root cause was. They were comparing year-over-year prices from activity that was going on in 2020 versus activity that was going on in 2021. So, of course we’re going to see some big numbers. But we’ve seen those big numbers continue in 2022 over 2021.

The Fed Was Late to the Party

Bud Kasper: It’s like a ball rolling down the hill. If you can get in front of it early, you probably can stop it. But when it goes all the way down to the bottom, it’s almost impossible to stop. That’s what the Federal Reserve was up against. We started to see the reality of that in the fourth quarter. Of course, in the first quarter, we now get the fiscal reaction from the Federal Reserve.

Dean Barber: But it was muted.

Bud Kasper: Very muted and late to the party. That was something that Dean and I discussed at length. We thought they’d better get on their horse and get moving there.

Dean Barber: Where did GDP come in Q1 of 2022?

Bud Kasper: I believe it was at 1.5%.

Dean Barber: That’s not annualized, though. That’s just for the quarter. Annualized, that would be 6%.

Bud Kasper: Brian Westbury would argue that when you look at the real numbers that it’s a negative number, not a positive number.

Dean Barber: Really? Do you have the justification behind that or is that too deep right now?

Bud Kasper: It’s too deep for right now, but I can read you this report if you want to hear it.

Dean Barber: No, I don’t want you to read to me. It’s not a bedtime story.

Bud Kasper: Good point. But, as we look at this, now what? We had Bullard talking once again last week that they need to implement a 0.5% increase. Kansas City Federal Reserve President Esther George made the same statement. Bullard is always letting people know what he thinks should be happening with the Federal Open Market Committee.

No Clear End in Sight with Domestic or Global Economic Uncertainty

Dean Barber: Well, the thing is that there is uncertainty, There’s domestic and global economic uncertainty, and there’s no clear end in sight. Nobody knows how this story is going to end. What people need to do right now is take a step back. Think about the following things.

Your family’s resources.
Things your family wants to do.
The legacy your family wants to leave behind.
Tax consequences of what your family wants to do moving forward.

Once you’ve done that, create that comprehensive financial plan using a system like our Guided Retirement System. If you’re already working with a good financial planner, use the system that they have and do a deep analysis of how all the global economic uncertainty, inflationary pressures, rising interest rates, etc. impact your ability—based on your resources and your desires—to do what you want to do. Then, go back and stress test it through times that are similar to today.

Seeing Through the Global Economic Uncertainty with Guidance from Financial Professionals

Bud always like to quote Mark Twain, that history doesn’t always repeat itself, but often it rhymes. We can go back and have some sort of an understanding of the way that you’re positioned today and determine if this would work through other times like what we’re going through. Then, we’ll look at what we think is coming over the next 18 to 24 months.

If it doesn’t work, then what did work? You start to make tweaks and adjustments to your personal situation. That’s how you get the clarity that you need to get rid of all the noise and just do things from a logical perspective.

Bud Kasper: Point well taken. The whole point we have America’s Wealth Management Show is to educate people and provide information that is important to them and their families.

Dean Barber: I want to remind you to read Shane’s latest article, Geopolitical Uncertainty Creates Chaos … And Opportunities. And don’t forget that you can schedule a 20-minute ask anything session or complimentary consultation with a CFP® professional here. I’m Dean Barber, along with Bud Kasper. We appreciate you joining us today. Everybody stay healthy, stay safe. We’ll be back with you next week. Same time, same place.

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The views expressed represent the opinion of Modern Wealth Management an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Information provided is for illustrative purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. Modern Wealth Management does not accept any liability for the use of the information discussed. Consult with a qualified financial, legal, or tax professional prior to taking any action.