Polaris Perspective

A year ago, business and economic leaders were looking beyond COVID to what they were perceiving as better times — when the pandemic would be a thing of the past, the economy would rebound, and ‘normal,’ as in the life we experienced before March of 2020, would return. Most of that, especially the parts about COVID being over and returning to normal, didn’t happen. And that explains why, a year later, amidst another strong surge in COVID cases, there is optimism about the year ahead, but also some significant hedging of bets. We just can’t predict what will happen with this pandemic or with many of its side effects, everything from an unprecedented workforce shortage to inflation and supply chain woes, but Jeff Powell & Jeremy Witbeck discuss insights and tips for making sure you take action, if needed, to start this new year feeling confident about your financial health.

The end of the year always seems to sneak up on us. After Thanksgiving, the buzz of the holiday season keeps us busy through the New Year, and tax season probably isn’t even a distant thought yet. But there are a number of reasons to make year-end financial and estate planning a priority because when the year turns over there’s no going back. It’s safe to say we’re all ready to bid 2021 goodbye – but before you let the holidays take over completely, set aside some time to get your finances in order. Jeff Powell & Jeremy Witbeck provide valuable insights and tips for making sure you take action, if needed, before the end of the year and head into next year feeling confident about your financial health.

The emergence of a new COVID-19 variant is raising fresh uncertainty for the U.S. economy, even as President Biden vows that the country will not see more lockdowns. After wading through a summer surge in cases driven by the delta variant, the U.S. is now bracing for the arrival of omicron, a strain identified by the World Health Organization last week as a “variant of concern.” The U.S. economy held up much stronger against the emergence of the delta variant this summer than many analysts expected, despite an initial drop in consumer activity and travel. Revised figures from the Labor Department showed job growth holding strong even as schools faced early shutdowns and millions of workers remained unable to rejoin the workforce. Consumer spending and incomes also rose despite high inflation, lining the U.S. up for a stellar fourth quarter after a summer slowdown. While the Biden administration is not expected to push for any nationwide lockdowns, persistently higher cases and hospitalizations could still suppress the economy even if local governments don’t impose new restrictions. Jeff Powell and Jeremy Witbeck discuss the new variant “Omicron” and the potential concerns it poses in terms of throwing the U.S. Economic recovery off track.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level in more than half a century. This is the latest sign of the labor market bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic. Last week’s jobless claims totaled 199,000 when adjusted for seasonal swings, the lowest level since November 15, 1969. Jeff Powell and Jeremy Witbeck discuss the dramatic drop in last week’s claims and whether or not it indicates just how good things are in the labor market and the overall economy right now.

The last two years have come with many changes. The state of the world has caused many of us to make shifts in our lives, both personally and professionally. For better or for worse, some of these shifts may be short-lived and some may last much longer. And in thinking of our finances, worry might come to mind as more uncertainty seems to loom around the corner. This is why investment management is so crucial at this time – for investors at any stage in their journey. Investment management refers to the process of handling various securities and financial assets. It involves devising long-term and short-term plans to acquire and dispose of portfolio holdings – with the aim of making clients’ money grow in order to help them achieve financial aspirations and goals. Investors have two main investment strategies that can be used to generate a return on their investment accounts: active portfolio management and passive portfolio management. Jeff Powell and Matthew Erickson break down those concepts and debate the merits of “active” versus “passive” investing.

Consumer Price Index Soars: What the jump in the CPI means for you. Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Wednesday as a surge in U.S. consumer prices last month deepened fears that high inflation is here to stay amid supply chain snarls. Inflation across a broad range of products that consumers buy every day was even worse than expected in October, hitting its highest point in more than 30 years, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Jeff Powell and Jeremy Witbeck discuss what this means for consumers, investors, the economy, and the markets.

he U.S. Department of Labor’s employment report is the first piece of major economic data released each month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases the employment or jobs report, on the first Friday of every month. It estimates the number of people employed and unemployed in the economy and the number of hours they worked (plus myriad related figures). The release of the employment data usually is followed by frenzied trading that can last from a few minutes to an entire day, depending on what the data shows and what the market was expecting. The report is so important that it can set the trend for overall trading in the entire arena of the financial markets for several weeks after its release. Jeff Powell and Jeremy Witbeck look at why there is so much emphasis put on Employment Report and how it influences Wall Street and the Economy.

The White House and Democrats are reworking key aspects of President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion domestic policy plan, trimming the social services and climate change programs and rethinking new taxes on corporations and the wealthy to pay for a scaled-back package. While the plan is still in negotiations and changes to the legislation are likely, many of the proposed changes to the Internal Revenue Code not only would directly impact gift and estate tax planning but also owners of family businesses and their goals of transferring those businesses to beneficiaries. Jeff Powell and Jeremy Witbeck discuss the proposal and the possible wide-ranging impacts it could have on investors and business owners alike.

Have you ever noticed how much the different seasons can affect life? Oddly enough, the seasons affect more than just the weather. They can affect things like the stock market as well. Seasonality refers to the tendency of markets to perform better or worse during certain periods of the year. It’s perhaps most famously illustrated by the stock-market adage, “sell in May and go away,,” which refers to the historical tendency for the stock market to perform better from November through April than from May through October. As we start to wrap up one of the more interesting investment years, Jeff Powell and Jeremy Witbeck provide their perspective on time-tested guidance.

Many market commentators routinely throw around concepts such as ‘Fear and Greed’ and how instrumental they are in the behavior of individuals and markets as a whole. While both fear and greed play a role in individual and mass behaviors, they are part of a much larger set of attitudes and emotions that affects our investing decisions. In this weekly episode, Jeff Powell and Jeremy Witbeck provide concepts and understanding around behavioral finance and how people act, all of which can make you a better investor and potentially life-changing financial decisions.

Not all investment real estate asset classes are created equal. The COVID-19 pandemic has been kinder to some real estate asset classes than others and are emerging from the pandemic in much better shape and pose much lower inherent risk. Jeff Powell, CIO & Managing Partner at Polaris Wealth, Jeremy Witbeck, Partner at Polaris Wealth and Chip Entwistle, Co-Founder at ACC Space discuss how investors can take advantage of opportunities with the potential to build wealth and generate income from investment real estate, particularly tax-advantaged investments.

For many business owners, maintaining positive cash flow and a stable balance sheet can be an ongoing battle that consumes virtually all of their time. Even retirement often seems like a distant speck on the horizon, let alone plans to hand over the business. Establishing a sound business succession plan requires a series of logistical and financial decisions about who will take over your business upon retirement, death, or disability. Jeff Powell and Jeremy Witbeck of Polaris Wealth and Eric Johnson, C.E.O. of Dynamic Strategies Limited, discuss broad range of topics that business owners need to consider in order to facilitate an orderly transition of management and ownership.

When the stock market stumbled earlier this week, you may have been spooked, and understandably so. The market dip, which was partly attributed to investors’ concerns about the high debt levels of one of China’s largest real estate developers, was hard to stomach given the resilient bull market we’ve seen over the past year. Jeff Powell and Matthew Erickson, Polaris Wealth’s Senior Portfolio Manager, discuss the current state of the markets and some of their concerns for the remainder of the year.

The stock market is in a weird place – it has fallen in most of the trading sessions this month. Equities have wavered and investors grapple with mixed economic data and the impact of the Delta variant’s spread front. Jeff Powell and Jeremy Witbeck discuss the wobbly week on Wall Street.

Over the weekend, enhanced unemployment benefits expired, including $300 weekly bonus checks, as well as coverage for freelancers and the long-term unemployed. This means more than 11 million people will get a smaller check, with roughly 7.5 million people losing their jobless benefits entirely. Jeff Powell, CIO, Managing Partner & Founder of Polaris Wealth & Jeremy Witbeck, Partner at Polaris Wealth, discuss what this all could mean, especially with the uptick in new delta-variant COVID-19 cases that could result in new quarantine restrictions and, consequently, more layoffs.

The U.S. economy continues to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, and when the financial system is ready, the Fed will eventually start to raise interest rates and, before the end of the year, will gradually withdraw and wind down some of its easy-money policies. This process, in the financial world, is known as “tapering”. Jeff Powell, CIO, Managing Partner & Founder of Polaris Wealth & Jeremy Witbeck, Partner at Polaris Wealth, provide a deeper insight of “tapering” and the potential impact that’s bound to have on consumers’ wallets, busineeses, investors and markets for years to come.

A little more than a year and a half ago, the world was blissfully, dangerously ignorant of the existence of a coronavirus that would soon turn life on earth on its head. In the 16+ months since the SARS-CoV-2 virus burst into the global consciousness, we’ve learned much about this new health threat. Jeff Powell, CIO, Managing Partner & Founder of Polaris Wealth & Jeremy Witbeck, Partner at Polaris Wealth, provide their perspective on the virus and the impact it has had to date as well as discuss what the possible next steps are in terms of the U.S.’s evolving response.

Whenever there’s a discussion about active or passive investing, it can pretty quickly turn into a debate because investors and wealth managers tend to strongly favor one strategy over the other. Jeff Powell, CIO, Managing Partner & Founder of Polaris Wealth & Jeremy Witbeck, Partner at Polaris Wealth, & Matthew Erickson, Senior Portfolio Manager, provide their thoughts on their roles and responsibilities as investment managers and their approach of portfolio management for Polaris Wealth Clients.

How do financial markets react to political events such as elections or regulatory decisions? And what are the political repercussions of financial market events? Jeff Powell, CIO, Managing Partner & Founder of Polaris Wealth & Jeremy Witbeck, Partner at Polaris Wealth, discuss the relationship between politics and the financial markets.

Wall Street’s favorite gauge of stock-market volatility rocketed to its highest level since mid-June on Wednesday as rising COVID-19 cases and renewed lockdown efforts spurred fears of a prolonged economic slowdown. While record-high coronavirus case counts have fueled concerns about the pace of economic recovery, the prospect of timely fiscal support is all but exhausted. Jeff Powell, CIO, Managing Partner & Founder of Polaris Wealth & Jeremy Witbeck, Partner at Polaris Wealth, discuss the recent volatility in the financial markets.