{"id":381,"date":"2020-07-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/index.php\/2020\/07\/13\/a-year-well-never-forget-plus-corporate-profits-unemployment-stimulus\/"},"modified":"2020-07-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T00:00:00","slug":"a-year-well-never-forget-plus-corporate-profits-unemployment-stimulus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/a-year-well-never-forget-plus-corporate-profits-unemployment-stimulus","title":{"rendered":"A Year We\u2019ll Never Forget… plus Corporate Profits & Unemployment\/Stimulus…"},"content":{"rendered":"

This will mostly likely be one year ALL of us will never forget<\/strong>.\u00a0 So much has happened and is happening, even as I type.\u00a0 \"\"The news flow appears to be endless, whether it\u2019s Covid-19, the economy, the markets, our international relationships, the election, or our current civil unrest.<\/p>\n

Reopening Pace Slowing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the initial surge of our reopening process, I think the pace should be expected to slow.\u00a0 This does not mean stop, just slower.\u00a0 Testing recently reported 60K new cases per day last week, and many states are either pausing or pulling back slightly on the throttle.\u00a0 This should be expected as this is a new and unfortunate occurrence for all of us.<\/p>\n

The opening or not reopening of our schools and universities is less than 2 months away.\u00a0 It\u2019s beyond my pay-grade to make suggestions, however decisions made will certainly impact many.<\/p>\n

Unemployment claims have slowed considerably, however we have over 12% of workers currently unemployed.\u00a0 That % has improved and I won\u2019t be surprised for the pace of improvement to slow soon, at least until we have more clarity.<\/p>\n

Professional sports are making an attempt for a comeback.\u00a0 I\u2019m certainly hoping for no setbacks as any of us who enjoy competitive sports will at least enjoy having something else to focus on.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure professional sports teams are taking all precautions possible, however we are hearing that several athletes have tested positive.\u00a0 \"\"I really can\u2019t image playing baseball and not giving my teammates a high five or a pat on the rear. \u00a0The new, temporary rules and watching without fans will be very different, for sure!<\/p>\n

Corporate America to Report<\/strong><\/p>\n

Immediately in front of us, we\u2019ll start to hear about the 2nd<\/sup> Quarter Corporate Earnings this week with our Financial Companies reporting.\u00a0 Stocks in the Financial Sector are down over 22% year to date only ahead of energy, which on average is down over 35%.\u00a0 The challenge in predicting profits or lack thereof, for now, is companies as a whole are not providing any guidance as normal practice. Certainly can\u2019t blame them.\u00a0 Other than companies that have benefited from our closure, it\u2019s hard for other types of companies to see a clear path based on the current status of the US re-opening status and progress thus far.<\/p>\n

I wonder when corporate profits will equal or surpass the level back in 2019!!<\/p>\n

Thank goodness the stock market is so forward looking!!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Unemployment Benefits\/Stimulus<\/strong><\/p>\n

The amount of government stimulus has to be given some credit for consumer spending, and our markets holding up in such a resilient manner, so far.<\/p>\n

The additional $600 of unemployment compensation being paid will quickly fade away this month unless extended in some manner by our Congress.\u00a0 This being an election year, I doubt that either party will want to be known as the party who stopped providing the dough, unless we have a quick, miraculous economic comeback that would need to have a definite vaccine. \u00a0\u00a0Some want to extend the $600 until 2021, some want a payroll tax holiday.\u00a0 In either case, we\u2019ll certainly throw more stimuli at this issue with the anticipation that soon thereafter we\u2019ll have a cure, and the economy will be able to operate in a more normal manner.<\/p>\n

When this is truly behind us, the amount of debt now being accumulated on our books (yes, the governments books are ours) will certainly need to be recognized and dealt with in an appropriate manner.<\/p>\n

Retirement Checklist <\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout this entire pandemic, I have been diligently working on a helpful \u201cRetirement Checklist\u201d for pre-retirees. It will be available soon, and I can\u2019t wait to share it with you. This checklist will serve as a valuable resource for those who are getting ready to retire, as it is filled with important topics & options to consider. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This will mostly likely be one year ALL of us will never forget.\u00a0 So much has happened and is happening, even as I type.\u00a0 The news flow appears to be endless, whether it\u2019s Covid-19, the economy, the markets, our international relationships, the election, or our current civil unrest. Reopening Pace Slowing? After the initial surge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"post_statement":"","post_description":"","post_cta":"","post_button":"Read More","post_button_url":"","compliance_id":"","post_disclaimer":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,30,3,11,13,31,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}