The SECURE ACT was signed into federal law on 12/20/19. Most provisions become effective 1/1/20. The primary purpose of this law is to make it easier for individuals and for employees and owners of small businesses to save for retirement. On one hand, it certainly does that, and we encourage all clients to speak with us about how this new law can benefit you. Unfortunately, like so many things, there is a downside. The downside is significant and may require savers and retirees to reconsider their estate planning, i.e. how they pass inherited assets to their families.

Join us for a complimentary breakfast buffet and a lively Q&A session. Topics will include: financial planning for 2020, savings vehicles you didn't even know existed, new and ignored tax issues, and estate planning documents that you really do need. For our police and fire trustees, we will also discuss protecting your retirement in light of the new consolidation law. Pomegranate Restaurant - Aurora, IL Saturday, January 18th - 9:30-11:00 a.m.

Propel Financial Advisors, LLC invites you to join us for a complimentary lunch and Q&A with our advisors about timely financial planning concerns: Hearth Restaurant 4604 N. Prospect Road Peoria Heights, IL Thursday, January 16th, 2020 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Many think of idyllic rice fields upon mentioning East-Asian economies. In reality, East-Asian populations have been moving out of rural poverty and into an urban middle class as their economies have grown over the past 4 decades. These emerging markets have evolved to become drivers of global growth with less investment risk than in the past. An emerging market is defined as an economy within a developing nation that shares some, but not all, characteristics with fully developed ones. As these economies grow, they begin to play a more active role in the global market.

On December 6, 2019, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released a glowing jobs report, stating the US added 266,000 new jobs in November.* These numbers impress, as the forecast called for 187,000 new jobs. The BLS also made positive revisions to the September and October jobs numbers, adding 13,000 and 28,000 respectively. The report marks 11 consecutive years of economic expansion and the unemployment rate dropping to a fifty-year low of 3.5%. (In Ames, Iowa, the unemployment rate is just 1.3%!) But with impressive numbers, comes skepticism. Can these numbers be real in a political environment rich in falsehoods and half-truths? If the economy is so strong why is wage growth stagnant? A look under the hood helps elucidate some of these questions.

Clients and potential clients often admit to being uninformed and/or overwhelmed by the myriad of terms and ideas that are thrown around by investment professionals. Here at Propel, we strive to reduce some of that discomfort by answering questions and repeating ideas in different ways to give our clients a chance to understand how these concepts apply to them. As we approach the end of 2019, we are thrilled to have had a recent influx of new clients (lately they have come from Tennessee, Illinois and Florida) who are brand new to investing.

As you may have heard, on November 13th and 14th, the Illinois legislature voted to consolidate all downstate police and firefighter pension funds. We are saddened by this news, as we feel that much more could have been done with the existing Article 3 and Article 4 statutes to give pension trustees the tools they required to save money on cost and potentially increase the value of their assets under management.

In a recent visit to downstate Illinois, I stopped to talk to some farmers I know. First, I heard from a neighboring farmer who had lost his ability to obtain funds from the bank for seed, fertilizer and equipment. He was trying to pay down what he owed to suppliers and keep going for a while on cash only. After farming lots of acres successfully for decades, he was now in his last year.

Headlines were long and loud in mid-August when the United States 30-year Treasury Bond Yield dipped below 2% for the first time in history. To make matters worse, the 10-year bond yield fell lower than the 2-year bond yield. In fact, shorter term yields have been surpassing longer yields for months. When longer rates fall below shorter rates, it’s called an inversion.