Products April 17, 2018

Cafaro Greenleaf Offers Personal Financial Planning to Retirement Plan Participants

As an independent registered investment adviser, Greenleaf Financial offers a comprehensive planning package, which includes investment planning, retirement income solutions, estate planning and more.

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Cafaro Greenleaf (CG), a national advisory firm headquartered in Red Bank, New Jersey, announced it will be offering personal financial planning services through Greenleaf Financial (GF), an independent financial advisory firm providing services in financial wellness, investment management, insurance strategies, and retirement planning for individuals.

Cafaro Greenleaf is offering these services to address the financial needs of many of the participants in the retirement plans it advises. It says it recognizes the fact that true financial well-being and retirement readiness incorporates both company-sponsored benefit plans and outside considerations. CG aims to help people understand how their corporate retirement plan integrates with their complete personal financial picture.

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Greenleaf Financials’ mission is to advance “Financial Wellness and Awareness” for companies and their employees while providing guidance to help them achieve their financial and life planning goals. It says it understands that everyone is different and strives to understand each individual’s unique goals, issues and aspirations. As an independent registered investment adviser (RIA), Greenleaf Financial offers a comprehensive planning package, which includes investment planning, retirement income solutions, estate planning and more.

In addition to this new service, GF will be conducting free monthly educational webinars, The Greenleaf Financial Fitness Series, designed to educate employees on issues and challenges that cause the most financial stress.

“Our mission has always been to help hard-working individuals retire with dignity,”  says Jamie Greenleaf, lead adviser and principal of Cafaro Greenleaf. “We recognize retirement is not a destination but a journey, and we are excited to help our employers and employees with these added services.”

More information is here.
Investing April 17, 2018

Market Guide Considers Pressing Inflation, Yield Curve Questions

In a new analysis, J.P. Morgan Asset Management describes how equities have not generally come under pressure until the U.S. two-year Treasury rate reaches above 3.5%.

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Recent market volatility demonstrated that institutional investors are fully alert to the risks posed by higher inflation, according to the latest Guide to the Markets report from J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPAM).

“One strong wage print in the U.S. jobs report for January sent equity and bond investors running for cover—and the sensitivity is understandable,” researchers observe. “Higher U.S. wage inflation would cause the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy faster than expected, having implications for the wider economy and equity markets. However, we expect wage acceleration to be moderate, leading the Fed to raise interest rates another three times this year, only once more than the market expects.”

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Mike Bell, global market strategist for JPAM, hastens to add that interest rates aren’t anticipated to pose a problem for the economy or equity markets this year. “Instead, financial stocks should benefit,” Bell says.

Historically, JPAM finds, equities have not come under pressure until the U.S. two-year Treasury rate reaches above 3.5%.

“U.S. household debt-to-GDP has reduced significantly since the financial crisis. However, U.S. corporate leverage has been rising again,” the analysis suggests. “While currently manageable, we think it will be important to monitor the risk of higher interest rates feeding through into higher corporate debt service ratios.”

The research goes on to suggest the “flattening of the yield curve” is one trend to continue to watch for in 2018. Related to this, historically, the two-year Treasury yield has risen above the 10-year Treasury yield prior to recessions, JPAM researchers observe.

“While the curve has flattened in recent years, it hasn’t inverted yet,” Bell notes. “Importantly, equity markets have historically only peaked after the curve has inverted and often quite some time after.”

JPAM pins the first sell off 2018 to fears of higher inflation and interest rates, and the more recent sell off has been driven by fears of a trade war.

“Concerns around a trade war are currently overblown,” Bell suggests. “Even if tariffs do end up being imposed, it is important to put them in perspective. The U.S. economy is nearly $20 trillion, China’s is close to $13 trillion and annual global GDP is about $80 trillion. So, while a full blown global trade war would be an unfavorable scenario for the global economy, even if the measures that have currently been threatened were actually imposed, the tariffs would be equivalent to only 0.2% of U.S. GDP and 0.3% of Chinese GDP.”

Bell concludes by pointing out that, last year, the U.S. economy grew by 4.5% in nominal terms and the Chinese economy grew by 9.7%.

“That’s not to say that trade concerns aren’t worth monitoring, but it does suggest they’re not yet worth panicking about,” Bell says.

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