June 20, 2024
Googins Advisors Inc.
June Newsletter
Three Seasons for Us! January through May, June through August, September through December. People seem to stop for a few days of rest at the end of a season and then resume problems and return to the “real world”. It is a joy to have people call and say, “It’s time to do this” or “Can I get your opinion and help on this” because we have seen the great difference good advice makes in time.
It may also be the silly or crazy season of warnings and ideas. Is there really a good investment that is an alternative investment? How many times have we been warned a recession will start or might start soon? Does it matter? We will have recessions and we will get through them. Good will come as the best companies use recessions to become even better for the long term. Recessions are seasons of slowness. We have lived through many recessions but we do not know when they started or when they ended.
There is a problem that is real, DEBT. The government, you and I, are heavily in debt. We may have no personal debt, but the debt of the government is on our shoulders. It is ugly and real. Our elected officials continue to compromise and ignore the debt and add more. Nothing is cheap if you do not have the money to buy it outright. Add the interest of the debt onto each item and you learn the true cost. This is also the crazy season of explanations of why the debt does not matter.
We are a rich nation. We have money, a lot of money, but we grow poorer each day as the debt piles up. Think about a thirty year mortgage on a home purchased for $125,000 in 1994. Paying interest at 5% per year caused one to pay back $125,000 plus $116,500 in interest, or $241,500 total. You paid a fee to “buy” the loan and you spent money maintaining the house over thirty years.
We understand people buying a car or a house with borrowed money but everything else should be paid each month – nothing borrowed. As you get older and find you have a paid-for car and a paid-for house, you find you have additional money on hand. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the government never borrowed except for short term needs matching money in with money out? I am convinced we would have a happier world and elect better thinking officials if we lived in a debt free world.
More facts: US federal debt was $34 trillion at 2023 year end. Government receipts (income) was $4.4 trillion in fiscal year 2023. Since no-one can use 100% of income to pay off debt, if the government committed to paying off the debt, how many years do you think it would take for the US to get debt free?
About 16 million American families had wealth exceeding $1million in 2019 and nearly eight million families were multimillionaires with assets exceeding $2million. Googins Advisors has a goodly number of clients whose assets exceed one and two million proving that “good old fashioned advice” and investing works.
Summary: It takes a lot of clear thinking to do things “right” but DO THEM ANYWAY! Save and invest. Visit Wikipedia and Peaceful Revolution for a stimulating story of how a few people grew into large numbers that caused a big change.
“It is a pleasure doing business with you!”
Louise Googins, President, Investment Advisor
Michael Googins, Administrator
Kim Rankin, Accountant
Richard Martin, Investment Advisor
Lynne Goldsmith, Investment Advisor
Dayton Hoffmann, Investment Advisor