March 2024 Financial Bullet Points

Written by Bob Barber, Prepared on Feb 26th, 2024

The Bullet Points for March are:

1. AI Bubble. It’s starting to feel like the 1999 concentrated internet stock bubble all over again, except this time, it’s the artificial intelligence stock bubble and now the largest one in history. It is more important than ever to be equally weighted across all 11 sectors of the economy like we are, such as energy, healthcare, financials, materials, utilities, etc., not overly concentrated in AI tech stocks or any sector. Ecc 11:2 warns us to: Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
2. Interest Rates.The Federal Reserve will NOT lower interest rates in March or for the foreseeable future as initially thought in January due to inflation not declining enough over the past few months. This is more bad news for residential real estate.
3. Real Estate. We are getting lots of interest in our liquid, diversified real estate portfolio consisting of industrial and office buildings, assisted living facilities, apartments, storage units, hospitals, cell phone towers, plus many other types of real estate. The present net average yield of the portfolio from rents passing through is 6.5% annually as of 2/27/24, plus any possible annual appreciation. This gives you much more diversification than owning a few rental homes without all the headaches of maintenance, property taxes, insurance, dealing with tenants, and a better yield on average. Contact us for more information.
4. National Debt. Our nation is now heading towards 35 trillion dollars in debt. While this is awfully high, the estimated net worth of the USA is 145 trillion. In comparison, that would be like owing approximately $121,000 on a home you own valued at $500,000. Contrary to popular opinion, most U.S. debt is owed to Social Security and government and military pension funds right here in the U.S. This means that U.S. citizens own most of the national debt, not other countries, as many would lead you to believe. Countries we owe the most debt to are Japan, China, and the UK, but altogether, it’s less than 10% of our national debt, and China owes the United States more than we owe them.
5. Gold and Silver. Did you know that Gold and silver are not regulated? The lack of regulatory oversight around precious metals bullion has created a murky but widespread marketplace beset by boiler rooms, scams, and abuse. Anyone you know who’s looking at buying physical gold needs to understand that dealers can basically make up their own rules since no one regulates them. You may think you’re buying a certain dollar amount of gold, but you may not be. Basically, anything goes with gold and silver dealers. They use scare tactics of any kind to sell it and have a conflict of interest from the large commissions earned. They especially prey on the elderly and conservatives and DO NOT have a fiduciary type of relationship in any way whatsoever.
6. Continuing Education. This month’s programs for Christian Financial Perspectives are:

• • Avoid these Foolish Financial Mistakes, Part 1 (March 12th)
  • Avoid these Foolish Financial Mistakes, Part 2 (March 26th)

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Visit our channel: www.cfa.lc/yt

If you would like further explanation of any of the bullet points mentioned, please call or text (830) 609-6986 during business hours or email us by clicking here.

Bob Barber, Founder & Owner
Christian Financial Advisors^®