Rental prices are back at pre-pandemic levels; housing market is as hot as it has ever been (bring on the appraisal gaps); unemployment benefits are paying more than minimum wage; economic calculations all point to inflation (mostly because of the economic blackhole last year); government spending keeps increasing; stock market is rolling up and up based on increased investor participation; cryptocurrency is real and booming; so, what does all this mean to you and I…

It is time for a plan and action. Money has never been easier to make. For the first time in recorded history anyone with any amount of money can purchase and own stock in the largest companies in the world. Forgetting everything else that is unprecedented.

Game stop and Reddit ring a bell? The ultimate stock market equalizer…the masses being able to manipulate or control the market (if properly motivated). This is voodoo that only the wildest of souls have ever tried. (Albert H Wiggin…anybody anybody (Chase National Bank President October 1929). Shame on you Ray Dalio for limiting your model or cap size when you realized you could have too much influence on the market.

With the boom of the cryptocurrency market new thousandaires are emerging daily. Swings in ether and dogecoin have allowed the everyday person to make 3-6 months earnings in days (not to mention lose it back in minutes). Do not forget what Bitcoin has done to the economy. The Harvard Facebook twin brothers sure have not (I want to be a billionaire so fu…..bad).

Some families have received over 10k in stimulus money over the last year or so. That is larger than most midclass workers bonuses over any year. Not to mention there is a first-time home buyer tax incentive coming down the pipe worth up to 15k of refundable credit, yikes!!

The cherry on top is current unemployment benefits being so profitable for some it would be a pay cut to return to work. Logical answer…wait for it…national minimum wage of $15 an hour. Not that this would cause any more inflationary pressure from an increase of production costs.

All the while supply chain issues hammer the cost of simple items like toilet paper (yes this again), glue (used for plywood), and petroleum (please note the Obama administration taxed petroleum products like fuel substantially remember 5-6 dollar per gallon gas) (who was President Biden VP for again) (8k home buyer credit sound about right). Some production plants around the world took 2-3 months to close for Covid. What makes you think they could fire back up faster than that? Or even worse catch up their backlog.

The remote work environment has made statements like these all too common…” We are 10-30 days out on this request.” How is that improved efficiency?

After all that, my point is I would appreciate it if you would refi your house (with me preferably) to lower month debt payments. Whether you you think this economy is heading towards recession at some point or you think the party is just getting started and I would like you to be prepared. If you want the equity from your home in cash to try your had in one of the aforementioned markets, please gamble responsibly and happy hunting.

Last point – Cash is king when coming out of a recession and home values are typically higher before a recession.

Cheers
NF