LFG Daily

Buy Back Your Time, LFG Daily - September 1st, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:18:01 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

Many investors have multiple accounts—401(k)s, IRAs, brokerage accounts—but rarely step back to see how everything fits together. That’s why we offer a Free Portfolio Analysis and 1,000-Foot View Financial Plan.

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

Run Your Household Like a Business

Most people would never run a $1 million business completely by themselves.

They’d have an accountant. An attorney. An insurance professional. Maybe a technology person, a marketing expert, and a consultant or two.

But when it comes to their personal finances, many successful people suddenly become a one-person company.

They manage their own investments. File their own taxes. Review their insurance. Try to figure out estate planning. Make retirement projections. Research Social Security. Pick investments. And then attempt to make all of those decisions work together.

At some point, you have to ask yourself:

Why am I running my household differently than I would run my business?

Think of Your Household as a Business

Your income is the revenue.

Your expenses are operating costs.

Your investment portfolio is the balance sheet.

Your home, retirement accounts, business interests, and other assets are capital.

Your mortgage and other debt are liabilities.

Your insurance is risk management.

Your estate plan is your succession plan.

And retirement?

That’s essentially the day you stop collecting a paycheck from your business and start living off the assets you’ve accumulated.

Once you look at your finances this way, something becomes obvious:

You need a management team.

You Don’t Have to Do Everything Yourself

A business owner doesn’t hire an accountant because they’re incapable of adding numbers.

They hire one because their time is better spent elsewhere—and because a professional may see things they don’t.

The same principle applies to your household.

You could manage your entire investment portfolio yourself. You could spend hours researching tax strategies. You could compare insurance policies. You could build your own retirement projections.

But the question isn’t necessarily, “Can I do this myself?”

The better question is:

“Is this the best use of my time, and am I confident I’m seeing the entire picture?”

That’s where the right financial advisor can add value.

The Financial Advisor as the CEO’s Advisor

A good financial advisor shouldn’t simply be the person who picks your investments.

They should help you understand how all the pieces fit together.

Should you contribute more to your 401(k) or Roth?

Should you pay down the mortgage or invest?

When should you claim Social Security?

How much can you safely spend in retirement?

Should you convert some traditional IRA money to Roth?

How much insurance do you actually need?

What happens to your assets if you die?

How can investment decisions affect your taxes?

These aren’t isolated questions. They’re interconnected business decisions inside your household.

That’s why having someone who can coordinate the big picture can be so valuable.

Build a Board of Directors

You don’t necessarily need every professional under one roof.

Your household might have a financial advisor, CPA, estate attorney, insurance professional, and other specialists.

The important thing is that someone understands how the pieces interact.

Think of it like a company’s board of directors.

Each person brings a different area of expertise. But someone needs to keep everyone focused on the same objective.

Your objective isn’t to beat an index.

It’s to build a financial life that allows you to live the way you want, protect what you’ve built, and eventually transfer it to the people and causes that matter most.

The Ultimate Goal: Buy Back Your Time

This may be the biggest reason to run your household like a business.

You don’t accumulate wealth just to spend more time managing it.

You accumulate wealth so that your money can give you something far more valuable:

freedom.

Freedom to spend time with your family.

Freedom to retire when you want.

Freedom to pursue something you enjoy.

Freedom to take a vacation without worrying about the portfolio.

Freedom to make a major life decision without wondering whether you’re financially ruining yourself.

The wealthy understand something that is easy to overlook:

The goal isn’t to become an expert at everything. It’s to surround yourself with people who are experts at the things that matter.

Your household may not technically be a business.

But if you’ve spent decades building a million-dollar-plus financial life, perhaps it’s time to start managing it like one.

Build the team. Delegate the expertise. Keep your eye on the big picture. And let your money go back to doing what you worked so hard to make it do—buying you freedom.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Usually, the market has a point where attention is focused. Where that focal point goes helps push around the asset universe. In this case, I’d say it’s the rate complex, both short and long-end yields. Rates are a fundamentally important area anyway, as what rates do have a fundamental impact everywhere, from the dollar to asset preferences. We’ve certainly seen the dollar move around quite a bit, lately, as the market assesses the situation.

I view the recent dollar reaction largely as noise. We went up an awful lot on Friday and now are giving some of that back. To me, the market is just searching for the appropriate level. As is often the case, the market likely priced in a worst-case scenario to start. A lot of that is from the question of when and if the Fed hikes rates. If rates go up, the dollar is worth more.

As for the question of an imminent rate hike, there’s a lot of data between now and the next Fed meeting. We have JOLTS, ISM, and Payrolls coming this week. Then the Treasury buyback program starts on September 9th. All that probably helps push where the dollar and rates go for the next few weeks.

This is as much a guess as anything, but I’d expect the dollar to be lower over time. The near-term data probably won’t be enough to push odds enough to shift rate expectations higher and the Treasury program should relax the long-end of the yield curve. If not, though, if we can’t relax the yield curve, that’s going to hurt risk assets.

There’s always a question of how you want to deal with these issues, and that’s always a question of your time horizon. If you care about every wiggle, you’d have constant ups and downs. If you’re trying to get yourself in good position but don’t want to face much risk, you can set levels and see if they break.

From my longer-term perspective, I’d say we’re still around arguably important levels. The longer-term yields in particular are a focus and if we start losing these levels, that’s a worry. Where you draw these levels, exactly, is always a question. For my part I generally try to give markets relatively large amount of range and time. I think the positions we’re in make sense, and I hate to lose them because of some temporary volatility.

Thus, for me, I’m watching and waiting. The market is pushing some extremes on low volume. To me, that’s more about shaking the tree to see who falls out instead of a real signal. That can certainly change, and we could get forced to become more conservative, but I’m planning on waiting for that to happen.

As Tom Petty would say, the waiting is the hardest part. If you have an expected holding period of a year or longer, there is almost certainly going to come a time that stresses your belief in that position. In order to get the benefits of those long-term holds, it helps a great deal to have a process to deal with what may be noise or may be signal. For now, I wait and I watch.

Dallas Fed Manufacturing was 11.6 vs. prev. 1.3. Production and New Orders improved, though Prices remain high.

September is starting roughly, as two tankers were struck in the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil up 2% and risk assets down.

Japan’s 10Y yield touched 3% for the first time this century.

Insurer AON was down -10% after they acquired USI Insurance Services from KKR for $17B.

Novartis (NVS) is up 4% on positive clinical data for an MS drug.

Manufacturing PMI and JOLTS today.

Bottom line: Oil is once again encouraging a risk off stance

Disclosures/Regulation:

This content is intended to provide general information about Lloyd Financial. It is not intended to offer or deliver investment advice in any way. Information regarding investment services are provided solely to gain an understanding of our investment philosophy, our strategies and to be able to contact us for further information.

All information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy is not guaranteed. There is no representation or warranty as to the current accuracy, reliability or completeness of, nor liability for, decisions based on such information and it should not be relied on as such.

The views expressed in this commentary are subject to change based on market and other conditions. These documents may contain certain statements that may be deemed forward‐looking statements. Please note that any such statements are not guarantees of any future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. Any projections, market outlooks, or estimates are based upon certain assumptions and should not be construed as indicative of actual events that will occur.

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

Two Big Events Last Week, LFG Daily - August 31st, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:34:23 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Let’s go over the two big events from last week, Nvidia (NVDA) earnings and Fed Chair Warsh’s speech at Jackson Hole. To give away the conclusion, I view both pieces of news as encouraging for the foreseeable future.

First, it’s not shocking that NVDA had strong earnings, it would have been very disappointing if they didn’t. While the stock initially had a pretty tepid start after the earnings call, what really got it moving was news that they upped their fiscal year 2028 revenue growth to be about 70% versus expectations of 44-45%. They also said even with that projected growth, they’d be supply-constrained-- demand is higher than that.

If you take that at face value, it’s wonderful news for NVDA and the AI space as a whole. We’ve seen enormous growth for years and new guidance says that growth isn’t really slowing down. A big fear for the market is that the AI space causes some sort of trouble, whether it be a slowdown, financing issues, or whatever. NVDA earnings gave comfort that the growth isn’t going away anytime soon.

Of course, there can certainly be problems. While NVDA pushed back the idea that growth was slowing, now we have a big new peak in growth that needs met or exceeded. Can that growth be met? At some point, will the market price that target in fully? Once the market decides growth is slowing, that’s likely to be unpleasant.

Second, Fed Chair Warsh has the unenviable task of keeping the bond market happy. There will always be people criticising his actions, as people are coming from different angles on what should be done. Personally, I think he did a great job on threading the needle.

What’s the Fed (and Treasury, for that matter) trying to accomplish? Based on their statements, a big goal is keeping long-end rates contained. Friday’s speech accomplished that, with the 30Y yield going down as Warsh was guardedly hawkish, saying it was too soon to declare victory on inflation. The 30Y yield ended well off the lows, but did far better than shorter-term maturities, which priced in a greater likelihood of hikes.

The rate path of hikes is the downside of this balancing act, and the price that had to be paid to keep long rates contained. The short-term rate picture basically went back to where it was a month ago, with an expectation a rate hike this month is the most likely outcome. Looking out farther, we saw a bit of an increase in the odds of three rate hikes over the next year, approaching a coinflip. We’ve seen a pattern of the market over-reacting to Warsh statements, then taking it back, later. We’ll see what happens, here.

The market also decided the debasement trade had gone too far, lifting the dollar and hitting gold to the point of largely taking it away. We also saw some sharp factor moves inside the stock market, as sharp moves in rates shifted what some funds want to own. For instance, after a nice run on Thursday, a stock like NVDA gave a good chunk of that move back as rates hit the value of more distant earnings.

Last week, NVDA told us that the AI trade is alive and well, while Warsh tried to manage an impossible situation. Ultimately, I think he contained what they view as the most dangerous part of this complicated equation, long-end yields. While the rate-hike fear may push markets around, I think we got through last week about as well as we could expect. I’m still constructive on markets in the exact way that I was, and I think the odds of longer-term upside are actually better, now.

Payroll revisions were less positive than expected, at -79K vs. exp. 184K. Not anything nearly as bad as last year’s -911K revision. That said, it was mostly private payrolls that saw the losses.

Fed head Warsh warned about inflation at his Friday keynote speech, raising the dollar and yields.

Oil is up 4% after the US struck two Iranian missile launchers on Larak Island that the US said were set to mine Hormuz.

Last week was the lowest volume since 2004.

California utilities were down after CA lawmakers blocked Gov. Newsom’s plans to shift some wildfire liability away from them and on to insurers, with PCG -11% and EIX -5%.

Dallas Fed Manufacturing today.

Bottom line: The market is bouncing back a bit from Warsh hawkishness but oil concerns are back.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

Why Supply Chain Self-Sufficiency Is Becoming the New Economic Strategy, LFG Daily - August 28th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 13:26:06 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

The Multipolar World: Why Supply Chain Self-Sufficiency Is Becoming the New Economic Strategy

For the last several decades, the global economy was built around a simple idea:

Produce wherever it is cheapest, ship it wherever it is needed, and let capital find the most efficient place to work.

That system created enormous economic growth.

It also created enormous dependencies.

COVID exposed them. The war in Ukraine reinforced them. Rising tensions between the United States and China accelerated them. And now tariffs, industrial policy and national-security concerns are pushing the global economy toward something new:

A multipolar world.

Instead of one highly integrated global economic system, we are increasingly seeing regional economic blocs competing for energy, technology, manufacturing, critical minerals and capital.

And that has major implications for investors.

From globalization to “self-sufficiency”

The old globalization model prioritized efficiency.

If China could manufacture something cheaper than the United States, American companies could simply buy it from China.

If Europe could produce a specialized chemical more efficiently, American companies could import it.

If a semiconductor was cheaper to manufacture in Asia, there was little reason to build the factory in America.

That worked remarkably well—until the world became less predictable.

COVID demonstrated what happens when factories shut down and transportation networks seize up. The war in Ukraine demonstrated how quickly energy and commodity relationships can become geopolitical weapons.

The result has been a fundamental change in how governments and corporations think about supply chains.

The question is no longer simply:

“Where can we produce this cheapest?”

It is increasingly:

“Where can we produce this reliably?”

That’s a very different question.

The IMF notes that geopolitical tensions and the pandemic have accelerated efforts toward supply-chain diversification, reshoring and friend-shoring. Its research also finds that diversification can reduce the economic damage from supply shocks, although it comes with higher costs.

The world is becoming multipolar

Think of the emerging global economy as several major economic centers:

The United States and North America
Technology, energy, agriculture, financial markets and advanced manufacturing.

China and East Asia
Manufacturing, electronics, batteries, critical minerals and increasingly advanced technology.

Europe
Advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, industrial technology and capital goods.

India and emerging Asia
Manufacturing, technology services and a rapidly expanding consumer base.

The Middle East
Energy, capital and infrastructure investment.

These regions will continue to trade with one another.

But they increasingly want to make sure they aren’t dependent on one another for something critical.

That distinction matters.

The world isn’t necessarily moving toward the end of globalization.

It is moving toward strategic globalization.

The semiconductor example

Semiconductors may be the clearest example of this shift.

For decades, chip manufacturing became increasingly concentrated in Asia because that’s where the expertise, infrastructure and economics developed.

Now governments are spending enormous amounts of money to bring portions of that supply chain closer to home.

The United States is investing heavily in domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Private investment commitments tied to rebuilding U.S. semiconductor capacity have reached hundreds of billions of dollars.

And this isn’t just an American phenomenon.

China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Europe are all pursuing greater semiconductor security.

Why?

Because chips aren’t just another product.

They are foundational infrastructure for artificial intelligence, automobiles, telecommunications, defense systems and virtually every modern electronic device.

You don’t want to discover you’re dependent on someone else for your most important technology after a geopolitical crisis begins.

Critical minerals are the next battleground

The same concept applies to lithium, nickel, uranium, copper, rare earth elements and other critical materials.

The United States has increasingly identified dependence on foreign processing of critical minerals as a national-security and economic-resilience issue. These materials are essential to advanced manufacturing, energy infrastructure, transportation, computing and defense.

This creates an interesting investment dynamic.

The next decade could require enormous investment in:

Mining
Energy
Power generation
Transmission infrastructure
Semiconductor fabs
Data centers
Manufacturing facilities
Warehouses and logistics
Robotics and automation

In other words, self-sufficiency requires capital.

But there is a catch

Self-sufficiency sounds great until you look at the price tag.

The cheapest supply chain isn’t necessarily the most resilient supply chain.

If a company used to buy a component from one supplier for $10 but now pays $12 to maintain two suppliers—or $15 to manufacture it domestically—that additional cost is essentially an insurance premium.

The IMF has made this point repeatedly: reshoring can improve security in certain circumstances, but it can also reduce efficiency and increase costs. Diversification may provide better resilience than simply moving everything home.

That’s why I don’t think the future is going to be:

“Everything is made in America.”

It’s more likely to be:

“The things we absolutely cannot afford to lose access to will increasingly be made—or at least sourced—from multiple trusted locations.”

That’s a much more realistic definition of supply-chain self-sufficiency.

And this creates an investment opportunity

This is where the story gets particularly interesting.

A multipolar world requires redundancy.

Redundancy requires investment.

Investment creates demand for:

Factories → construction → electricity → natural gas → copper → steel → automation → robotics → transportation → data centers → semiconductors.

This could create a powerful multi-year capital expenditure cycle.

The AI boom is one part of that story.

But AI isn’t happening in isolation.

We’re simultaneously seeing investment in AI infrastructure, energy infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing and domestic industrial capacity.

That’s why investors shouldn’t look only at the headline technology companies.

The second-order beneficiaries may be just as interesting.

What does this mean for a financial plan?

For investors, the biggest lesson is that the global economy is becoming more complicated.

For decades, diversification often meant:

“Own companies from different countries.”

Going forward, investors may need to think about diversification differently.

Where are a company’s factories?

Where do its raw materials come from?

How dependent is it on one country?

Does it have pricing power?

Can it pass higher costs to customers?

Does it benefit from domestic investment?

These questions increasingly matter to corporate earnings.

And ultimately, earnings drive stock prices.

The world isn’t necessarily deglobalizing.

It’s re-globalizing around security, geography and strategic interests.

The old model was:

The emerging model is:

That transition won’t happen overnight.

It will also create winners and losers.

Companies with fragile supply chains and little pricing power could struggle. Companies that provide the infrastructure necessary to build redundant, resilient supply chains could benefit enormously.

For investors, that means the “multipolar world” isn’t just a geopolitical story.

It’s an investment story.

And perhaps the biggest financial theme of the next decade won’t be simply where the world produces things.

It will be how much the world is willing to spend to make sure it can still produce them when something goes wrong.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Jobless Claims were 203K vs. est. 208K and Continuing Claims were 1.778MM vs. prev. 1.79MM. Modest improvement.

The Trade Deficit grew more than expected, at -$118.8B vs. exp. -$100.5B, the worst since March of last year. Imports jumped and exports fell, which will hit GDP.

GS says oil exports in the Persian Gulf have recovered to about two-thirds of pre-war levels.

AAII bull-bear sentiment saw bulls down t0 33% while bears grew to 44%.

Tech was the only positive sector yesterday, but that was enough to keep major indexes up.

Marvell (MRVL) is down -8% despite raising the revenue outlook. They did say their GOOGL deal won’t really show up until next year and the impact is already in the numbers.

Paypal (PYPL) is down -13% on reports that a proposed buyout is ending.

Payrolls, Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech, and Chicago PMI today. Warsh’s speech in particular will get a lot of attention. This is also the Payrolls number where past data gets revised, so we could see big changes.

Bottom line: Will Jackson Hole provide guidance?

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

The Business Cycle Didn’t Disappear. COVID Just Delayed It. LFG Daily - August 27th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 13:52:43 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

The Business Cycle Didn’t Disappear. COVID Just Delayed It

For years, investors have been waiting for the next normal economic downturn. Then COVID came along and changed the script.

The economy is cyclical.

Booms eventually create excesses. Excesses lead to slower growth. Slower growth eventually creates a recession. Recessions clear out weak businesses, excess inventories, bad investments and financial leverage. Then the next expansion begins.

It isn’t always pretty—but it’s normal.

What was unusual about the COVID era is that policymakers essentially interrupted that process.

We were already at the end of a historic expansion

Before COVID hit, the U.S. economy had already experienced the longest expansion in American history.

The expansion that began in June 2009 lasted 128 months, finally reaching its peak in February 2020.

There were plenty of reasons to believe the economy was getting late in the cycle.

Interest rates had been extraordinarily low for years. Asset prices had risen substantially. Corporate debt had increased. And the Federal Reserve had already been forced to respond to signs of stress in financial markets in 2019.

Then COVID arrived.

The economy didn’t experience a traditional recession. It experienced something closer to an economic emergency.

The NBER ultimately classified February 2020 through April 2020 as a recession—just two months, making it the shortest U.S. recession on record.

And that’s where the story gets interesting.

The recession that never really got to do its job

Normally, a recession is painful because the economy has to rebalance.

Companies that aren’t productive enough fail. Businesses reduce inventories. Consumers pull back spending. Employers cut payrolls. Credit becomes harder to obtain. Asset prices fall.

Eventually, those excesses are worked off.

COVID was different.

The government and Federal Reserve responded with extraordinary fiscal and monetary support. Stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment benefits, the Paycheck Protection Program, near-zero interest rates and massive asset purchases helped prevent an economic collapse.

That was arguably the right response to an unprecedented crisis.

But there was a consequence:

The normal economic cleansing process was dramatically shortened.

Instead of spending years working through the excesses of the previous cycle, the economy was effectively put on life support and then rapidly restarted.

Think of it like hitting the brakes on a car—and then immediately putting your foot back on the accelerator.

And then came the second-order effects

When the economy reopened, consumers had money.

They also had fewer opportunities to spend it on services because restaurants, travel, entertainment and other activities were still constrained.

So demand shifted heavily toward goods.

At the same time, factories, ports and supply chains were struggling to keep up.

That created a classic economic problem:

Too much demand chasing too little supply.

Federal Reserve research found that fiscal support increased demand for consumption goods while production couldn’t adjust quickly enough, contributing to inflation.

Inflation then forced the Fed to reverse course.

The same central bank that had spent years supporting the economy suddenly had to aggressively tighten financial conditions.

Interest rates went from essentially zero to levels that fundamentally changed the economics of borrowing, housing, business investment and asset valuations.

In other words, the economic cycle eventually came back.

It just came back through a different door.

COVID may have delayed the cycle rather than eliminated it

This is an important distinction for investors.

COVID didn’t repeal the business cycle.

It interrupted it.

The recession was so short that many of the normal consequences of a downturn were never fully experienced. Meanwhile, enormous fiscal and monetary support helped push demand back into the economy before the traditional adjustment process had fully played out.

That may help explain why the post-COVID period has felt so strange.

We went from recession to stimulus to reopening to inflation to aggressive monetary tightening—all in a remarkably short period.

The cycle was compressed.

And when cycles are compressed, the consequences can show up in unexpected places.

What does this mean for investors?

It means we shouldn’t assume that because the economy avoided a traditional recession in 2020, economic cycles have somehow become obsolete.

They haven’t.

Markets still respond to earnings, interest rates, credit conditions, employment and consumer demand.

Businesses still overinvest during good times.

Consumers still borrow when money is cheap.

Investors still chase whatever has been working.

And eventually, economic and financial excesses have to be reconciled.

The lesson isn’t that another massive recession is inevitable.

The lesson is much simpler:

Don’t confuse policy intervention with the elimination of economic risk.

The government can delay a downturn.

The Federal Reserve can cushion a downturn.

Stimulus can accelerate a recovery.

But none of those things permanently eliminate the business cycle.

The financial planning lesson

This matters even more for individuals than it does for economists.

A financial plan shouldn’t assume that the good times will continue indefinitely.

If you’re five years from retirement, a major market downturn can have a dramatically different impact than it does when you’re 25 and earning a paycheck.

That’s why financial planning isn’t simply about maximizing returns.

It’s about building a portfolio and a financial life that can survive the inevitable periods when the economy doesn’t cooperate.

You need liquidity.

You need diversification.

You need to understand how much risk you’re actually taking.

And you need a plan for what happens when the market—or the economy—does something you didn’t expect.

Because the biggest mistake investors can make is believing that the business cycle has disappeared.

**It hasn’t.

COVID didn’t kill the cycle.

It delayed it, distorted it and changed the way we experienced it.**

And eventually, economic gravity always gets a vote.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Q2 GDP was 1.5%, as expected, with Personal Consumption up to 3.4%, from 3.2%.

Personal Spending was 0.2% m/m vs. exp. 0.1%, while Personal Income was 0.4% vs. exp. 0.2%.

Core PCE was 0.2% m/m, as expected, but the unrounded number 0.246%, which is on the higher side of estimates. Headline PCE was 0.2% m/m vs. exp. 0.1%. Leaning higher but nothing huge. We knew this would be noisy, and here we are. Portfolio management fees appear to be a big driver of the somewhat hot print.

Durable Goods Orders were 1.1% m/m vs. exp. 0.4%. Core Orders were 0.4% vs. exp. 0.6%.

All that got the Q3 Atlanta Fed GDPNow from 4.09% to 4.61%, largely on better consumption.

Ambercrombie & Fitch (ANF) was up 36% after notching big tariff refunds and talking about margin improvement and buybacks.

META reached a settlement with state AGs over claims their platforms were deliberately designed to be addictive to minors. They’ll pay almost $18B over ten years.

HP (HPQ) had a nice-looking quarter but is down -10 on weak PC shipments, down -16% Y/Y.

Salesforce (CRM) is up 11% on a strong outlook.

Crowdstrike (CRWD) is up 9% on raised guidance

Nvidia (NVDA) reported huge numbers, with revenue more than doubling Y/Y, and they forecasted strong growth for next quarter and the next year, sending shares up 7%. At least according to NVDA, semis have more room to run.

Jobless Claims and Trade balance today.

Bottom line: NVDA showed there’s room to run in the AI trade.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

Have the Mid-Life Crisis. Just Run the Numbers First. LFG Daily - August 26th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:24:55 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

The Controlled Mid-Life Crisis: Why Your Financial Plan Should Leave Room to Live

There comes a point in life when the question stops being, “Can I afford this?” and becomes, “What am I waiting for?”

You’ve spent decades doing the responsible things. You built a career. Raised a family. Paid the mortgage. Saved for retirement. Maybe you built a business or accumulated a meaningful investment portfolio.

Then one day, you look around and realize something uncomfortable:

You’re financially successful—but are you actually enjoying it?

That’s where the mid-life crisis gets interesting.

Most people think of a mid-life crisis as the stereotypical sports car, expensive watch, impulsive vacation, or sudden career change.

But I’d argue there’s a better version:

Have a controlled mid-life crisis.

Not reckless.

Not financially irresponsible.

Intentional.

Your Financial Plan Shouldn’t Be a Prison

Financial planning is often presented as a discipline of saying no.

Don’t spend too much.
Don’t retire too early.
Don’t take too much investment risk.
Don’t buy the expensive thing.
Save more.

Those are important conversations—but they can become counterproductive if the goal of financial planning becomes simply accumulating the largest possible number.

Money is a tool.

At some point, you need to ask what you’re actually building all that wealth for.

If you’re 45, 50 or 55 and have accumulated significant assets, perhaps the answer isn’t to spend everything.

But perhaps it also isn’t to keep postponing everything you enjoy until age 65 or 70.

That’s where a financial plan can create something incredibly valuable:

permission.

The “Controlled” Part Matters

A controlled mid-life crisis starts with knowing your financial boundaries.

Maybe you want to buy the boat.

Maybe you want to take six weeks off and travel Europe.

Maybe you want to start a business.

Maybe you want to buy the sports car you’ve wanted since you were 20.

Maybe you want to work less, even if it means making less money.

Maybe you want to help your kids financially while you’re still around to see what they do with it.

None of those decisions are inherently irresponsible.

The irresponsible decision is making them without understanding the consequences.

Before you pull the trigger, run the numbers.

How does the purchase affect your retirement timeline?

What happens to your cash flow?

What happens if markets fall 30%?

Does it interfere with college funding?

Are you still on track for your desired lifestyle later?

How much flexibility do you have?

Once you understand those trade-offs, you may discover something surprising:

You can afford more than you thought.

Or you may discover that the dream needs to be modified.

Both outcomes are valuable.

Don’t Sacrifice Your 50s for Your 70s

One of the biggest mistakes I see in financial planning is treating retirement as the finish line for living.

The problem is that your ability and desire to do certain things can change dramatically over time.

A 55-year-old may want to hike through Europe.

A 65-year-old may still want to.

A 75-year-old may not.

That’s why retirement planning shouldn’t only answer, “How much can I spend every year?”

It should also answer:

“When should I spend it?”

There is a difference between having $2 million at 50 and having $2 million at 80.

The money has different utility at different stages of life.

That doesn’t mean you should blow up your retirement plan.

It means your financial plan should recognize that time is an asset, too.

Build a “Fun Money” Account

Here’s a simple concept I like:

Create a portion of your wealth that is specifically designed to be spent.

Call it your Freedom Fund.

The purpose isn’t to maximize it.

The purpose is to use it.

Maybe it’s 5% of your investable assets.

Maybe it’s a few thousand dollars a year.

Maybe it’s a larger one-time amount earmarked for a major experience.

The important part is psychological.

When money is explicitly designated for enjoyment, spending it doesn’t feel like you’re sabotaging your financial plan.

You’ve already accounted for it.

That’s controlled financial rebellion.

The Best Mid-Life Crisis Might Be a Career Change

The mid-life crisis isn’t always about buying something.

Sometimes it’s about realizing you don’t want to spend another 15 years doing something you hate.

That’s a financial planning problem, too.

What if you took a lower-paying job?

What if you started your own company?

What if you went part-time?

What if you retired from your career but started doing something completely different?

Those decisions should be modeled—not automatically dismissed.

If you’ve accumulated enough assets, you may have something more valuable than money:

optionality.

You may be able to make decisions based on what you want rather than what pays the most.

That’s one of the greatest benefits of building wealth.

The Goal Isn’t to Die With the Most Money

There’s nothing wrong with accumulating wealth.

In fact, disciplined saving and investing can create incredible freedom.

But eventually, the question changes.

Early in your career, the goal is often:

How much can I accumulate?

Later, the question becomes:

What should I do with what I’ve accumulated?

That includes retirement.

It includes philanthropy.

It includes your family.

And it includes you.

Your financial plan should account for the future version of yourself—but it shouldn’t completely ignore the person sitting in front of you today.

Have the Mid-Life Crisis. Just Run the Numbers First.

I’m not advocating financial recklessness.

I’m advocating intentionality.

If you want the car, run the numbers.

If you want the vacation, run the numbers.

If you want to leave the job, run the numbers.

If you want to help your kids, run the numbers.

If you want to take a year off, run the numbers.

Then make the decision.

Because the purpose of financial planning isn’t to help you become the wealthiest person in the cemetery.

It’s to help you use your money to build a life you actually want to live.

A controlled mid-life crisis might just be one of the best investments you ever make.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

ADP Employment was 11.75K vs. prev. 9.5K. The 4-wk moving average continues to move down, though, so don’t get too excited.

New Home Sales fell -10.5% m/m to 607K units vs. exp. 620K, and supply rose to a 9.6 month supply, from 8.5 months.

Consumer Board Consumer Confidence was 89.4 vs. exp. 90.1.

Richmond Fed Manufacturing was 4 vs. prev. 5. No big deal, but definitely short of the 7 estimate.

Oil was -5% yesterday on talk of a new Iran ceasefire from Russian sources.

Canada retaliated to US tariffs with its own set.

Sources say the ECB is set to raise rates in September as the Iran war keeps energy prices high. Maybe I need a doctorate to understand how a rate hike solves a supply issue.

Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) missed estimates and lowered guidance, yesterday, with their Foot Locker business leading the decline, sending shares -31%.

Intuit (INTU) is -11% on lowered guidance.

Lots going on today, with Durable Goods Orders, PCE and GDP, plus NVDA earnings tonight.

Bottom line: PCE and NVDA can really shift things around today.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

Your Retirement Number Is Probably Wrong, LFG Daily - August 25th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:59:21 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

Your Retirement Number Is Probably Wrong

For decades, retirement planning has revolved around one question:

“How much money do I need to retire?”

$1 million? $2 million? $5 million?

The problem is that there isn’t a universal retirement number.

A person with $2 million and a modest lifestyle may be in a much stronger retirement position than someone with $5 million and a very expensive lifestyle.

That’s because retirement isn’t funded by a portfolio balance. It’s funded by cash flow.

Stop Focusing on the Number

One of the biggest mistakes in retirement planning is treating a portfolio balance as the finish line.

Someone might say:

But why $3 million?

What if they only need $60,000 a year to maintain their lifestyle?

What if they need $150,000?

What if their spending changes dramatically depending on market conditions, travel plans, healthcare costs or whether they’re helping their children?

The portfolio balance matters. But what you need your portfolio to accomplish matters more.

Instead of starting with:

“How much do I need?”

Start with:

“How much will I actually need to spend?”

Your Spending Number May Matter More

Imagine two couples each retire with $3 million.

Couple A spends $80,000 a year.

Couple B spends $180,000 a year.

On paper, they have exactly the same amount of wealth.

Financially, they are living in completely different worlds.

That’s why a good retirement plan should identify your annual spending requirement and then determine how that spending will be funded through Social Security, pensions, investment income and portfolio withdrawals.

The goal isn’t simply to reach a large number.

The goal is to make sure your resources can support the life you want.

The Most Important Question: How Flexible Is Your Spending?

This is where retirement planning gets really interesting.

Not every dollar of spending is equally important.

Some expenses are non-negotiable:

Housing
Food
Utilities
Insurance
Healthcare
Taxes

Other expenses are more flexible:

Travel
Dining out
Entertainment
Gifts
Luxury purchases
Large discretionary purchases

That distinction can dramatically change the way you think about retirement risk.

A retiree who needs $100,000 every year no matter what the market does has a very different risk profile from someone who normally spends $100,000 but could comfortably reduce spending to $80,000 during a major market downturn.

Flexibility has financial value.

Your Retirement Number Should Have a Range

Instead of creating one arbitrary retirement target, consider thinking in terms of three numbers:

Your Floor

The minimum amount required to maintain your basic lifestyle.

This is the spending level you don’t want to compromise.

Your Target

The amount that allows you to live the retirement you’ve envisioned.

This includes travel, hobbies, dining, gifts and other lifestyle choices.

Your Stretch

The amount you could spend if markets, income and circumstances are favorable.

This might mean additional travel, helping family members, buying a second home or increasing charitable giving.

This approach creates something much more useful than a single retirement number.

It creates a retirement spending framework.

Retirement Isn’t a Static 30-Year Expense

Another problem with traditional retirement projections is that they can make retirement spending look perfectly linear.

Real life doesn’t work that way.

You may spend more during the first decade of retirement when you’re traveling and pursuing hobbies.

You may spend less later.

Healthcare costs could increase.

You might buy a new car.

Your grandchildren could create new expenses.

You may decide to help your children purchase a home.

Your spending will change because your life will change.

That’s why your retirement plan shouldn’t be a one-time calculation you complete at age 60 and forget about.

It should evolve with you.

The Other Number You Should Know: Your Income Gap

Once you know your spending requirement, you can determine how much income your portfolio actually needs to provide.

For example:

Desired annual spending: $120,000
Social Security: $50,000
Pension: $20,000

That leaves a:

$50,000 annual portfolio income requirement.

That’s a much more useful number than simply saying, “I need $2 million.”

Now you can begin asking the right questions:

How much can the portfolio reasonably support?

How should assets be allocated?

When should Social Security begin?

Which accounts should be tapped first?

Should Roth conversions be considered?

How much cash should be held?

How much spending flexibility should be built into the plan?

Those are the questions that actually determine retirement readiness.

The Best Retirement Plan Isn’t the One With the Biggest Number

There is a psychological temptation to keep moving the goalposts.

$1 million becomes $2 million.

$2 million becomes $3 million.

Then $5 million.

At some point, the question stops being:

“Do I have enough?”

and becomes:

“Enough for what?”

That may be the most important retirement-planning question of all.

Your retirement isn’t a number sitting on a statement.

It’s a lifestyle that needs to be funded.

So instead of obsessing over the size of your portfolio, start by understanding what your money needs to do for you.

Because your retirement number may not be wrong because it’s too high.

It may be wrong because you’ve never really defined what the number is supposed to accomplish.

A strong retirement plan isn’t built around a magic portfolio balance.

It’s built around your spending, your income sources, your goals and your ability to adapt when circumstances change.

Know your minimum.

Know your target.

Know your flexibility.

Then build the portfolio around the life you actually want to live.

The goal isn’t to retire with the biggest number possible.

The goal is to have enough financial freedom to live confidently—without constantly wondering if you’ll run out.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

If you’ve followed me for any reasonable length of time I’d like to think you’re aware that I prefer numbers to opinions. It’s easy to just have an opinion about something. For instance, some people have been convinced stocks are expensive, bitcoin is the only asset you have to own, and gold is the one true asset for a decade or more. Sometimes those opinions have looked great, other times, not so much.

The thing is, even with a numbers’ focus, you need judgement. For instance, I’ve been stubborn on holding some amount of crypto-stocks because we have good liquidity and this is a very friendly administration for crypto. That’s an idea that didn’t really start to get legs until recently, with a pretty good downtrend in there. Some numbers didn’t look great, but we held because what I was focused on hadn’t changed.

Ultimately, we all have opinions, it’s just a question of the source and what would change them. Another example is that I’ve had an opinion for a while that there was a real limit to how much higher real rates could go, as the government is actively fighting it, so the expression will be elsewhere, like a lower dollar. That idea has looked better, lately, but if we do make new highs in real yields, I’d likely shift.

Looking at conditions right now, there are a lot of divergent opinions, which you can see in part through option exposure. There are heavy bets SPX crests 7710, and there are also heavy bets we see 7610. Which is right? Nobody really knows, but there are a lot of events coming soon to drive us up or down. NVDA earnings on Wednesday and the Fed’s Jackson Hole meeting are likely highlights, but we also have PCE, GDP, payrolls, tariffs, Iran war news and more coming up.

Let’s look at semiconductors as a focus, as it’s driven a lot of recent volatility. We saw a massive move from April through June, taking the SMH semiconductor index from 363 to 669, an impressive 84% gain on an index that already had moved up a lot. Too much? Well, we’re almost 20% off those highs, so we’ve at least taken a break. For our part, we started trimming in the middle of that move. That looked dumb in the second part of the move, but smarter now. You never quite know what will happen, just have a plan.

We now know the upside move was likely exacerbated through aggressive moves by hedge fund Situational Awareness and its ilk, which subsequently exploded in July. Another way to look at that is sentiment became very high, basically euphoric. We’re still coming off of that sentiment high, as we bounced and crashed again, something which isn’t uncommon with events like this.

Does that mean the high is in? Maybe, maybe not. Growth in semiconductors is still high up on the charts relative to the rest of the market, and markets generally love growth. We’ve seen plenty of short-term swings up and down, the latest being today as, among other things, investors expressed disappointment in Samsung’s shareholder-return plan, sending shares -9%.

That has nothing to do with semiconductor growth, though, just continued positioning chaos. The next big event is Nvidia (NVDA) earnings on Wednesday. Considering how well-covered the stock is, I’m not going to pretend I have any great insights into what happens. I’d only say they’ve developed a recent history of post-earnings declines. That’s well-recognized, so the bar for upside seems pretty low.

On the downside, the bears have a point, as a miss would hit a big part of the market very hard. No wonder we’ve seen hedging activity. I think upside is more likely, but you have to recognize the risks. For our part, we already trimmed semiconductors on the way up, sold an associated name as the crash was going on, and are holding the rest into earnings. I think it’ll be fine, but the numbers admit to risks. Our opinion is upside seems better, here, but have prepared for being wrong.

Chicago Fed National Activity Index fell from 0.06 to -0.08, signaling below-trend growth. Production, sales, and consumer spending all fell, while employment improved. A value under -0.7 is where we talk about recession, and this is a lagging signal, but nothing to worry about, here.

Oil is -3% on news the US is talking to Iran about ending the blockade and sanctions relief in exchange for opening the Strait of Hormuz and addressing proxy attacks.

Treasury yields were lower on Monday as CNBC reported two Treasury officials said they could use their $1T General Account to ramp up government bond purchases.

Bitcoin crested $80K for the first time since May as the debasement trade continued, while precious metals also fell from overnight highs.

ADP Employment and New Home Sales today.

Bottom line: Peace overtures and a continued relaxation in long bonds are helping put a bid back into markets.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

The Messaging Matters, LFG Daily - August 24th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:29:26 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Treasury Secretary Bessent took a boring macro week last week and made it much more exciting by doubling the size of their long-end liquidity support buybacks from $2B to at least $4B per operation. Wow, what does that even mean?

For boring details, the program doesn’t actually start until September 9th and has an end-date of November 4th. It’s probably worth noting Nov. 4th is the date of the next QRA and liquidity program, so it’s easy to imagine this program will continue if the need is there. The program targets 10-year to 30-year Treasuries. These are price-sensitive reverse auctions where they don’t have to buy the maximum if offers are unattractive. It’s not about buying, but more about liquidity. Similar operations have lowered long-yields consistently in the past, though.

The size of the program is small, versus a Treasury market greater than $30T in size. The messaging matters, though. Apparently hitting long-term record yields isn’t something that Bessent wants to allow. Bessent is sending a message that long-yields shouldn’t go higher. While the initial move in Treasuries was a large one-day move, it only took us back to rates seen the previous week.

Anytime the government tries to control a level, such as long-dated yields, something else will move to get the market positioned right. In this case, if yields can’t move where the market wants them, the market is going to get the dollar down instead, which is what we saw.

What should we expect, going forward? It probably goes without saying the likelihood of long-dated Treasuries going down was just significantly diminished. That doesn’t mean Treasuries have to go up a lot, but they’re unlikely to go down. If nothing else, all those people shorting bonds just got a message that the Treasury hates them and doesn’t want them to make money.

Broadly speaking, past, similar programs also see the dollar go down, plus gold and other rate-sensitive names go up, which includes stocks. Within the stock market, it should be no shock that the more rate-sensitive the name, the better the chance it goes up. Lower long-term yields reduce the discount rate on far-out earnings, along with easing financing costs, which supports stocks.

Thus, lower long rates tend to be friendly to a variety of areas in the stock market. If you’re defensive, REITs and gold miners make sense. If you’re bullish, long-duration growth ideas like AI or space stocks should have better odds. Small caps and cyclicals get financing relief, so they can do well. We own most of those spaces, defensive and otherwise.

Of course, this operation isn’t the only thing going on in markets. We also got that echo-bust, where momentum stocks took a sharp break from their relief rally. I think it’s fair to say that impaired a full-fledged reaction to the Treasury announcement, as fallout continues from the July momentum wipeout. Post-Friday options expiration (OpEx) should provide a cleaner read.

Ultimately, the Treasury has made it clear they don’t want higher long-rates. In the past this has worked, and we know what likely effects are. I sure don’t see the point in fighting that, though it seems others disagree, with long-yields drifting back up as the week continued. If this not-yet-started program is insufficient to get yields down, we’ll just see more actions to get it done. That’s the messaging. Owning risk assets should be considered a less-challenging option after this Treasury action.

Flash PMI rose to 56 vs. prev. 54.4, with Manufacturing slowing a bit and Services doing quite well at 56.8 vs. prev. 54.4. Pretty good.

Oil fell -2% as tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.

Iran’s currency dropped to a record low as new sanctions start.

Trade talks between Canada and the US failed, leading to tariffs being implemented on both sides.

Gold is up almost another percent at a three-month high as the dollar debasement trade continues.

Chicago Fed National Activity Index today.

Bottom line: Quiet news to start the week but NVDA earnings on Friday and Jackson Hole on Friday could create excitement.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

The 5-Year Countdown to Retirement, LFG Daily - August 21st, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:26:48 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

The 5-Year Countdown to Retirement

Retirement can feel like a distant finish line—until suddenly, it isn’t.

If you’re within five years of retirement, the game changes. You’re no longer just trying to accumulate as much money as possible. You’re preparing to turn your investments, Social Security, pensions, and other resources into a reliable income stream that may need to last 20, 30, or even 40 years.

The final five years before retirement are some of the most important years for financial planning.

Here are five areas to focus on.

1. Stress-Test Your Retirement Plan

Knowing your account balances is not the same as knowing whether you can retire.

You need to understand how your assets, expected spending, inflation, taxes, investment returns, and longevity interact.

Ask yourself:

How much will I actually need to spend each year?
What happens if the market falls 20% shortly after I retire?
How much guaranteed income will I have?
How long could my money realistically last?
What happens if I live into my 90s?

A retirement plan should be tested against multiple scenarios—not just the assumption that markets will deliver average returns every year.

2. Start Thinking About Income, Not Just Growth

During your working years, the primary question is often:

“How much can I accumulate?”

As retirement approaches, the question becomes:

“How do I turn what I’ve accumulated into sustainable income?”

This is where distribution planning becomes critical.

You may have money in a 401(k), Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, brokerage account, bank accounts, real estate, pensions, and Social Security.

The order in which you use those assets can have a significant impact on your lifetime taxes and the longevity of your portfolio.

Retirement isn’t simply an investment problem. It’s an income and tax-planning problem.

3. Get Serious About Taxes Before You Retire

One of the biggest mistakes people make is waiting until retirement to start thinking about taxes.

Your final working years may provide an important planning window.

Depending on your circumstances, strategies such as Roth conversions, charitable giving, tax-loss harvesting, capital-gains planning, or strategically managing retirement contributions may help improve your long-term tax picture.

The goal isn’t necessarily to pay the least amount of tax this year.

The goal is to manage your lifetime tax bill.

A decision that creates a little more taxable income today could potentially save significantly more in future years.

4. Protect Against the Risks You Can’t Afford

Five years before retirement is also a good time to review your insurance and risk management.

Consider:

Life insurance
Disability coverage
Long-term care
Umbrella liability coverage
Property and casualty insurance
Health insurance and Medicare planning

When you’re working, a large portion of your financial plan may be supported by your future earning ability.

Once you retire, that changes.

Your portfolio becomes a much larger part of your financial safety net.

Protecting what you’ve built becomes just as important as growing it.

5. Build a Retirement Lifestyle—Not Just a Retirement Number

Here’s the part that often gets overlooked.

People spend decades asking:

“How much do I need to retire?”

But a better question is:

“What do I actually want my retirement to look like?”

Do you want to travel?

Spend more time with family?

Start a business?

Move?

Buy a second home?

Golf three days a week?

Volunteer?

Help your children or grandchildren?

Retirement planning isn’t just about determining whether you have enough money. It’s about determining what you’re trying to accomplish with that money.

Your Five-Year Countdown Starts Now

If retirement is five years away, you don’t need to panic.

But you should have a plan.

The closer you get to retirement, the more important it becomes to coordinate your investments, taxes, Social Security, insurance, estate plan, and income strategy.

Don’t wait until your last day of work to start planning for your first day of retirement.

The best retirement plans aren’t built when you retire.

They’re built years before you retire.

Dream Bigger. Sleep Better.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Jobless Claims were 206K vs. exp 210K, while Continuing Claims were 1.799M vs. prev. 1.777M. Not a big deal, but nervous markets sold off a bit on the slight strength. It is a nice trend lower in Continuing Claims, though.

Philly Fed Manufacturing was 47.4 vs exp. 25, with Employment and Prices Paid improving, though demand fell.

Japan’s Consumer Core Inflation rose to 1.8% Y/Y vs. prev. 1.6%, raising expectations of a rate hike.

Bitcoin rose above its 200DMA for the first time since 2025. It’s rallied from below 64K to almost 78K this week in part on the liquidation of $2.7B in shorts.

Broadcom (AVGO) was flat after announcing a $60B debt raise for AI chip financing. I mention it because that’s a change from the automatic declines we had been seeing on these announcements.

Walmart (WMT) was -9% after missing sales estimates and citing modest growth for next quarter.

OpEx (monthly Options Expiration) today should help the market start moving more freely. We also have S&P PMI.

Bottom line: Dollar weakness continues on Treasury plans

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

Why High-Income Families Can Still Be Underinsured, LFG Daily - August 20th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 13:42:02 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

Why High-Income Families Can Still Be Underinsured

You make good money. You save. You invest. You have a 401(k). Maybe you even have a financial advisor.

So why could your family still be financially vulnerable if something happened to you or your spouse?

You may not have enough life insurance.

This is especially common among high-income, dual-income families with children. Because both spouses earn a substantial income, it can be easy to assume the family is financially secure.

But income isn’t the same as financial security.

Dual-Income Doesn’t Mean No Risk

Consider a family where one spouse earns $300,000 and the other earns $200,000. They have two children, a $700,000 mortgage, college savings goals and retirement accounts.

If the $300,000 earner dies, the family doesn’t simply lose a paycheck.

They could also face:

Mortgage and other debts
Childcare expenses
College funding
Reduced retirement savings
Higher household expenses
Potentially reduced work hours for the surviving spouse

And if the surviving spouse has to become both the breadwinner and primary parent, the financial impact can be much larger than the lost salary alone.

Don’t Forget the Stay-at-Home Spouse

The spouse who doesn’t earn a paycheck can also be significantly underinsured.

Who would replace the childcare, transportation, household management and other responsibilities they provide?

The answer could be expensive.

The economic value of a person isn’t always reflected on a W-2.

Employer Coverage May Not Be Enough

Another common mistake is assuming employer-provided life insurance solves the problem.

Many employer policies provide only a multiple of salary, which may be nowhere near enough for a high-income family’s actual needs. And coverage can change when you change jobs.

The better question isn’t:

“How much life insurance do I have?”

It’s:

“If one of us died tomorrow, would our financial plan still work?”

Don’t Rely on a Rule of Thumb

You’ve probably heard that you need five, eight or ten times your income in life insurance.

Those formulas can provide a starting point, but every family’s situation is different.

Instead, calculate the actual financial gap created by an early death:

Income replacement + debt + childcare + education + retirement needs – existing assets and other resources = potential insurance need.

For some families, term insurance may be an efficient way to cover the years when children are young and retirement assets are still being accumulated. Others may have legitimate reasons to consider permanent insurance.

The product should come after determining the financial need.

Protect the Asset That Builds Your Wealth

High-income families spend a lot of time protecting their investments, homes and businesses.

But they sometimes overlook the asset that makes all of those things possible:

their future earning power.

For many successful families, that future income is worth millions of dollars.

Life insurance isn’t about expecting something bad to happen.

It’s about making sure that if something does happen, your family’s financial plan doesn’t die with you.

The goal isn’t simply to build wealth. It’s to protect the people and the plan behind it.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Stocks fell back, briefly, after the FOMC Minutes showed some members wanted a hike. Not sure how that’s a surprise.

The Treasury market got a big boost on news of increased support for liquidity on longer-dated Treasuries. Some are calling it a version of QE, then again, people love to call many things QE. Government panic is generally good for assets, though. Some of that bond move is getting undone this morning, though the dollar remains sharply down.

In addition to the Treasury news above, the crypto space was also lifted by news that Trump was pushing Congress to bring clearer rules to the assets.

Gold and precious metals were also sharply higher on the news.

Moderna (MRNA) was up 177% on a successful melanoma trial, with partner Merck (MRK) up 13%.

Marvell (MRVL) was up 10% on a deal with GOOG to make TPUs with them in exchange for a stake in MRVL.

Initial Claims today, along with Philly Fed Manufacturing.

Bottom line: Government policy panic is generally good for risk assets over time.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

The IRMAA Cliff: How One Extra Dollar Can Increase Your Medicare Bill, LFG Daily - August 19th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 13:54:37 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

The IRMAA Cliff: How One Extra Dollar Can Increase Your Medicare Bill

When people think about retirement planning, they usually focus on investment returns, Social Security, taxes, and how much they can afford to spend.

But there is another retirement expense that can quietly become much more expensive when your income crosses certain thresholds: Medicare premiums.

This is where IRMAA comes into play.

IRMAA stands for Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount. It is an additional amount that higher-income Medicare beneficiaries may have to pay for Medicare Part B and Part D.

And here is the part many retirees don’t realize:

Medicare doesn’t gradually increase your premiums as your income rises. It uses income brackets.

That can create what many financial planners refer to as the “IRMAA cliff.”

How Does IRMAA Work?

Medicare generally looks at your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) from your tax return from two years earlier to determine whether you owe IRMAA.

For example, your 2026 Medicare premiums are generally based on your 2024 tax return.

For 2026, the standard Medicare Part B premium is $202.90 per month.

But higher-income retirees can pay significantly more.

For a married couple filing jointly, the 2026 thresholds are:

2024 MAGI2026 Part B Premium$218,000 or less$202.90/month$218,001–$274,000$284.10/month$274,001–$342,000$405.80/month$342,001–$410,000$527.50/month$410,001–$750,000$649.20/month$750,000+$689.90/month

These amounts are per person, so a married couple who are both on Medicare can potentially feel the impact twice.

And Part B isn’t the only issue.

Higher-income Medicare beneficiaries can also pay an additional IRMAA amount for Part D prescription drug coverage. In 2026, that additional amount ranges from $14.50 to $91 per month per person, depending on income.

The “Cliff” Is the Important Part

Consider a married couple with income of $410,000.

Their Part B premium is $527.50 per month per person.

Now imagine their MAGI increases by just one dollar.

At $410,001, they move into the next IRMAA bracket.

Their Part B premium becomes $649.20 per month per person.

That’s an increase of $121.70 per month per person, or $2,920.80 per year for a married couple, before even considering the additional Part D IRMAA.

That’s the IRMAA cliff.

The issue isn’t necessarily that they earned significantly more money.

It may be that one transaction pushed them across a Medicare income threshold.

Why Retirement Planning Can Trigger IRMAA

This is where Medicare planning becomes much more than simply choosing a Medicare plan.

Several common financial decisions can increase your MAGI:

Selling appreciated investments
Realizing capital gains
Roth conversions
Taking large IRA distributions
Selling a business
Exercising certain stock options
Receiving bonuses or other large income events
Distributions from certain investments

A retiree could make a decision that is financially beneficial from a tax perspective but inadvertently increase their Medicare premiums.

That doesn’t mean you should avoid these strategies.

It means you need to look at the entire financial picture.

Roth Conversions and IRMAA

Roth conversions are a great example.

Suppose you’re retired and have a large traditional IRA. You want to convert $100,000 to a Roth IRA.

That conversion generally creates taxable income.

If you’re approaching an IRMAA threshold, that additional income could push you into a higher Medicare premium bracket.

Does that mean you shouldn’t do the Roth conversion?

Not necessarily.

The long-term tax benefits of moving money from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA could outweigh the temporary increase in Medicare premiums.

The mistake is doing the conversion without accounting for the Medicare consequences.

A good retirement plan looks at:

Income tax + Medicare premiums + future RMDs + future tax rates + estate planning.

Not just this year’s tax bill.

The Two-Year Lookback Creates Another Problem

The timing of IRMAA can surprise retirees.

Because Medicare generally uses tax information from two years earlier, a major income event today may not affect your Medicare premiums immediately.

Instead, the consequences can show up later.

For example, a large capital gain in 2026 could potentially affect your Medicare premiums in 2028.

That means retirement planning needs to be proactive.

By the time you receive an IRMAA determination, the transaction that caused the problem may have happened years earlier.

What Can You Do About IRMAA?

The first step is to know where you are relative to the thresholds.

If you’re approaching an IRMAA bracket, there may be planning opportunities.

Depending on your situation, those could include:

1. Managing capital gains

Instead of realizing a large amount of gains in one year, you may be able to spread transactions across multiple years.

2. Strategically timing Roth conversions

Rather than converting large amounts randomly, conversions can potentially be coordinated with your tax and Medicare brackets.

3. Managing IRA distributions

Retirees often have flexibility regarding when and how much they withdraw from retirement accounts before required minimum distributions become mandatory.

4. Using tax-efficient investments

The location and tax characteristics of your investments can matter significantly once you’re retired.

5. Planning large financial transactions

Selling a business, selling real estate, exercising stock options, or liquidating a concentrated position can create an unusually large income year.

Those transactions deserve planning well in advance.

What If Your Income Has Suddenly Dropped?

There is also an important exception to understand.

Medicare doesn’t always have to continue using an old income level if your financial circumstances have materially changed.

The Social Security Administration allows individuals experiencing certain life-changing events that reduce income to request a reduction in IRMAA using Form SSA-44.

Examples can include retirement or work stoppage, loss of a pension, loss of income-producing property, divorce, marriage, or death of a spouse.

So if your Medicare premiums are based on a high-income year that no longer represents your financial reality, it may be worth investigating whether you qualify for an adjustment.

Medicare Planning Is Retirement Planning

One of the biggest mistakes I see in retirement planning is treating every financial decision independently.

Taxes are connected to Medicare.

Medicare is connected to Social Security.

Social Security is connected to taxes.

Investment decisions are connected to capital gains.

Roth conversions are connected to taxes and Medicare.

Everything is connected.

That’s why the goal shouldn’t simply be to “pay the least amount of taxes this year.”

The goal should be to optimize the entire retirement plan.

Sometimes paying more tax today can save you money later.

Sometimes realizing a capital gain today makes sense.

Sometimes a Roth conversion is worth paying higher Medicare premiums for a year.

And sometimes the smartest move is to stay just below an IRMAA threshold.

The key is knowing the difference.

IRMAA is one of those retirement expenses that can catch people completely off guard.

You can have the same Medicare coverage as your neighbor but pay substantially more because your income happens to fall into a different bracket.

And because the thresholds create jumps rather than a smooth increase, one additional dollar of income can sometimes have an outsized impact.

The solution isn’t to structure your retirement around avoiding Medicare surcharges at all costs.

It’s to understand the rules and incorporate them into your broader retirement, tax, and investment strategy.

Don’t let a Medicare surcharge be an unexpected consequence of a financial decision you could have planned for.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Industrial Production rose 0.2% m/m vs. exp. 0.3%. Capacity Utilization was 76.3%, as expected.

ADP Employment was up 9.5K vs. prev. 8.25K, the first uptick in several weeks. This good news got bonds and stocks down a bit, though, as rate concerns are high.

Import Prices fell -0.4% m/m vs. exp. 0.1%. Export Prices fell -1.3% vs. exp. 0.2%.

Building Permits were up 5% m/m, but Housing Starts were down -12% m/m taking back a chunk of last month’s 19% gain. High rates sure don’t help.

Pending Home Sales were -2.3% m/m vs. exp. 0.3%. Again, high rates hurt housing.

Empire State Services was 0.5 vs. prev. 8.7, with most items getting a little worse.

All that moved the Q3 Atlanta Fed GDPNow from 4.3% to 4%.

Long-term Treasuries are continuing their modest bounce back from record yields, this morning.

Yesterday saw an echo-crash in momentum stocks similar to what we saw in July.

SK Hynix (SKHY) announced a $29B share buyback, boosting shares 4%.

VIXpiration today, where volatility goes to die, then be reborn as next month’s vol contracts. We also have FOMC minutes this afternoon, which aren’t expected to be exciting.

Bottom line: Yesterday’s echo bust is seeing worries elevated, but follow-through seems limited, right now.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

The Waiting Game, LFG Daily - August 18th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 13:08:39 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

At least to some extent, right now seems like a bit of a waiting game. Will the Iran War settle down? Will rates settle down? Will the market start to worry more about any of it? Along those lines, I’m just going to write down how I’m looking at these things.

I don’t see the point in pretending I know anything special about the Iran War. All I can do is look at market data and try to interpret it correctly. We can see crack spreads are high on business disruption. That’s bad but can get fixed quickly. The oil futures curve has seen a lot of volatility on the front-end as we moved from pricing in resolution to further problems. The longer-term still expects a normalization, though.

The only thing I’d add is my belief that humans have a tendency to believe that whatever’s happened in the recent past is going to continue. That’s recency bias. Thus, people tend to assume this recent bout of pessimism on Iran resolution will persist. I don’t know what happens, but people are pricing in pessimism over optimism, so optimism is likely to pay much better.

Will rates settle down? Recent soft economic data has really caused the short-end to relax, already, as rate expectations start to price out near-term hikes. Longer-duration rates, like the 10Y and 30Y yields, however, continue to hit long-term highs. Why are long-term rates moving so high?

I talked about that a fair amount, yesterday. There are intelligent people out there who view high long rates as a sign that the market thinks the Fed is making a mistake by not hiking, or that it’s a view AI keeps productivity high and rates aren’t going down anytime soon. Honestly, I think those are reasonable ideas, but I disagree that’s the main culprit.

Fundamentally, if this was a rate issue, shouldn’t the dollar be going up instead of down? Sustained high rates should be supportive of the dollar, and that’s not what we’re seeing. Instead, I think high rates are largely a side-effect of strong AI-focused demand for debt to fund the buildout. That’s caused unseasonal demand that the market seems to have struggled to digest.

On the bright side, S&P Global, and others, believe this frontloading of debt should fade as the year goes on. It’s certainly something to keep an eye on, but people who should know better than I do are of the belief this is a temporary issue. If true, long-term rates may be in the process of peaking. Here’s hoping, for the sake of the stock market.

To what extent is the market worried about these things? That seems messy. On the one hand, volatility (VIX) is pretty low, indicating little fear. On the other hand, the Nasdaq still hasn’t surpassed the June peak and the chart above that’s making the rounds today shows asset managers and levered funds have a big short on tech. You can have an argument, here, but I sure don’t think this looks like euphoria.

I do think there are reasons to worry, and I do think it’s valid to say those worries are more significant than they were a few weeks ago. However, I also think those worries are well known to the market and pretty priced in. Given that, while I’m more focused on downside risks and have a little bit more cash than we used to, I don’t think most investors are positioned for more upside, so that’s probably where you can get paid.

Empire State Manufacturing was 20.6 vs. exp. 11. That’s a four-year high on strong orders and hiring.

NAHB Housing Market Index was 35 vs. exp. 33. Not a huge change, but conditions under 50 show weakness for a 28th straight month.

Oil was up 3% and bonds down over pessimism on the prospects for an Iran deal.

The 30Y T yield touched 5.33%, the highest since 2007.

Fabrinet (FN) was -10% on strong earnings and guidance. Guess they don’t like the cash flow burn.

The whole semi space is seeing a downturn today following a nice run, with SMH -3%.

ADP Employment, Empire Fed Services, Housing Starts, and Import/Export Prices, today.

Bottom line: Semiconductors are getting taken to the woodshed after a nice bounce back.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

Last Week's Economic Data & Charitable Remainder UniTrusts, LFG Daily - August 17th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:37:29 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

Charitable Remainder Unitrusts: Turning Highly Appreciated Assets Into Income

For investors who have accumulated significant wealth, one of the biggest financial planning problems can be what to do with an asset that has appreciated dramatically.

Maybe you bought a stock years ago for $50,000 and it is now worth $500,000. Maybe you own a highly appreciated piece of real estate, a concentrated position in a company, or an interest in a closely held business.

Selling the asset could create a massive capital gains tax bill.

But what if you want to diversify, generate income, and ultimately give some of your wealth to charity?

A Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) can be a powerful planning strategy worth considering.

The Basic Idea

A CRUT is an irrevocable trust that allows you to contribute assets to the trust, receive income from the trust for your lifetime or a specified period, and ultimately have the remaining assets pass to a qualified charity.

The key distinction is that a CRUT generally pays the beneficiary a percentage of the trust’s value, recalculated annually. The IRS generally requires the unitrust percentage to be at least 5% and no more than 50%, along with other requirements including a minimum 10% actuarial value for the charitable remainder interest.

That structure can be particularly interesting when the asset being contributed has a very low cost basis and a very high current value.

Why Appreciated Assets Are So Interesting

Consider a hypothetical investor who owns $1 million of stock with a $100,000 cost basis.

If they sell the stock outright, they could recognize approximately $900,000 of capital gain, before considering other tax factors.

Instead, they could potentially contribute the stock to a properly structured CRUT.

The trust generally carries over the donor’s basis, rather than receiving a step-up in basis simply because the asset was transferred to the trust.

The CRUT can then sell the appreciated investment and reinvest the proceeds into a diversified portfolio.

This is where the strategy gets interesting.

The CRUT generally isn’t subject to immediate income tax on the sale in the same way an individual investor would be. Instead, the tax consequences generally flow through to the beneficiary as distributions are made under the special ordering rules applicable to charitable remainder trusts.

The tax isn’t necessarily eliminated. It’s deferred and potentially spread over time.

That distinction is critical.

Creating an Income Stream

Suppose our hypothetical investor contributes $1 million of appreciated stock to a CRUT with a 5% unitrust payout.

If the trust were valued at $1 million, the initial annual unitrust payment would generally be approximately $50,000.

But because a CRUT is revalued annually, the payment can change.

If the trust grows to $1.2 million, a 5% payout would produce approximately $60,000.

If the trust declines to $800,000, the payment would generally fall to approximately $40,000.

This means a CRUT can provide an income stream while also allowing the remaining assets to stay invested. The IRS describes CRUT payments as being based on a fixed percentage of the trust’s assets, valued annually.

The Charitable Deduction

There can also be an income-tax charitable deduction when the CRUT is established.

However, you don’t simply deduct the entire value of the assets transferred to the trust.

The deduction generally represents the present value of the charitable remainder interest, subject to applicable tax rules and limitations.

The actual deduction depends on factors such as:

The value of the assets contributed
The payout percentage
The age of the beneficiaries
The term of the trust
Applicable IRS interest-rate assumptions
The projected value of the charitable remainder

This is why CRUT planning requires coordination between your financial advisor, CPA and estate-planning attorney.

An Example

Imagine a 65-year-old investor owns $2 million of highly appreciated stock.

Their cost basis is only $200,000.

They don’t necessarily need all of the money today, but they want to diversify their portfolio, generate retirement income and eventually leave money to charity.

A CRUT could potentially allow them to:

1. Transfer the appreciated stock to the CRUT

The transfer is irrevocable, meaning the assets cannot simply be taken back.

2. Have the CRUT sell the investment

The trust can sell the appreciated asset and reinvest the proceeds without the same immediate capital-gains recognition that an outright sale by the individual would produce.

3. Diversify the portfolio

Instead of continuing to hold one concentrated position, the proceeds could potentially be invested across a diversified portfolio.

4. Receive annual payments

The beneficiary receives the prescribed unitrust payments.

5. Potentially receive a charitable deduction

The donor may receive a deduction for the actuarial value of the charitable remainder, subject to the applicable rules.

6. Leave the remaining assets to charity

When the trust terminates, the remaining assets go to the designated charitable organization.

That combination can make a CRUT particularly compelling for someone who has highly appreciated assets, a desire for income, charitable intent and a need for diversification.

The Important Catch

A CRUT is not a magic tax loophole.

Once assets are transferred into the trust, the transfer is generally irrevocable. You are giving up ownership of the assets in exchange for the income interest and charitable structure.

And while the initial sale inside the trust can defer the immediate recognition of gain, distributions to beneficiaries are subject to the CRT’s tax-character ordering rules.

In other words:

Tax deferral is not the same thing as tax elimination.

There are also significant legal, administrative, valuation and tax-compliance requirements.

The IRS has specifically warned about abusive transactions attempting to use charitable remainder trusts to improperly eliminate capital gains or ordinary income.

That makes proper implementation extremely important.

Who Should Consider a CRUT?

A CRUT isn’t appropriate for everyone.

It may be worth exploring for someone who has:

Highly appreciated stock or real estate
A very low cost basis
A desire to diversify
A need or desire for retirement income
Significant charitable intentions
A long-term financial plan that can accommodate an irrevocable transfer
A sufficiently large asset to justify the legal and administrative complexity

The bigger the embedded gain and the stronger the charitable intent, the more interesting the conversation can become.

The Bigger Financial Planning Lesson

The most important part of CRUT planning isn’t the trust itself.

It’s recognizing that the tax consequences of selling an investment can be just as important as the investment’s rate of return.

Two investors can own the exact same $1 million asset and have dramatically different after-tax outcomes depending on how they sell, when they sell and what they do with the proceeds.

For highly appreciated assets, the question shouldn’t simply be:

“Should I sell?”

It should be:

“How can I restructure this asset in the most tax-efficient way while still accomplishing my investment, income, estate and charitable goals?”

A CRUT is one strategy that can potentially turn a highly appreciated asset into a diversified portfolio, an income stream and a charitable legacy—all within one financial planning strategy.

And for the right investor, that can be far more valuable than simply writing a check to the IRS after an outright sale.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

We had some pretty interesting economic news, this week. What happened, exactly? Inflation prints were weak and retail sales were even weaker, which in theory could lead to fears the consumer is doomed.

The market is trying to look past this retail report. Even within the report, you can claim a lot of factors that could make this a one-off. For instance, non-store retail really drove the miss, which is probably due to the timing of Amazon Prime Day. Weak auto sales also hurt, and that’s a volatile number. Gas station sales fell as gas prices took a break. Seven of thirteen categories actually saw an increase, so this may be more noise than signal.

However, I do think it’s interesting that we have weak inflation and weak sales happening together. We also have the Personal Saving Rate nearer lows than highs as a sign the median consumer is running out of money. Additionally, since Amazon Prime Day was shifted to June, this year, shouldn’t we have seen an associated spike for that month, opposing the decline we saw for July? I’m going to be keeping a close eye on consumer data, as I’m not as convinced as the market that the consumer is OK.

If the market thought the consumer was in trouble, we’d start pricing in a recession by seeing a bid for long-term Treasuries, and instead the opposite is happening. We had two long-term Treasury auctions, last week. The auctions both had multi-decade high auction yields. It’s worth noting that this is at the long-end of the Treasury spectrum, not the short-end, where rates are somewhat calmer. Thus, it’s not about Fed policy. For the 10Y, the rate stopped at 4.683%, the highest since 2007. For the 30Y, the rate stopped at 5.216%, the highest since 2001! The auctions went fine, no sign of dysfunction; they’re just high rates. Why?

Breaking rates down into inflation expectations and real rates; this push has been about real rates growing, with inflation expectations having a minimal impact. I’d posit that’s largely due to big AI demand and expectations, which in turn has two effects. First, the large quantity of bonds sold drives up rates just because there’s so much supply. Second, AI is expected to grow productivity, helping to keep growth strong and rates relatively high.

When does it end? Presumably when AI growth (sale of bonds and expectations) slows.

Thus far, corporate issuance has been very high, with YTD investment grade issuance up 27% Y/Y. August has seen that trend continue, with $130B already issued, versus a seasonal average of about $95B for the whole month. The drive to fund AI has been very real, and this has likely been the main driver stressing long-term rates.

Fortunately, S&P Global and others expect we’ll see that push slow in coming months. We’re currently at a pace of 19% growth in debt and they expect we’ll slow to 12% for the whole year. That makes sense to me, as the rush to lock in financing for AI buildout should ebb. September to November traditionally sees active investment grade supply to lock in funding for year-end. The hope and expectation are that this seasonality effect has already happened, this year.

As we stand, we’re at high levels of real rates relative to history, as the chart above shows. Personally, I’d be willing to entertain the idea that the recent spike may be a euphoric top, and maybe long-term real rates are around long-term highs. Nobody really knows, of course. There’re no signs that real rates are going sharply down anytime soon. I’d expect the soonest we see a decent downtrend in real rates would be next year, at some point, but that’s speculation.

To recap, the market is unconcerned about a slowdown. I agree that it will take a lot of time to get from where we are now to a recession, but I disagree with the market’s dismissiveness and will be watching closely to see if consumer weakness continues. Strong AI bond demand seems like the biggest current concern. While that’s expected to at least fail to get worse, that also bears close watching. The market still looks good, but I think the need to monitor is now higher than it was, as the ability to get in substantive trouble is on the rise.

Pretty quiet start to what seems like a pretty quiet week. Economic news is pretty light for the week, with retail stock reporting highlighting the tail end of earnings reporting. VIXpiration on Wednesday and OpEx on Friday are also a focus, as they can change positioning.

Retail Sales were -0.6% m/m vs. exp. 0.1%, with Core Sales -0.3% vs. exp. 0.2% and the Control Group -0.4% vs. exp. 0.3%. That’s the first negative prince since March but a lot of that was a shift in Amazon Prime Day messing with timing.

Japan’s 10Y bond yields hit a 30Y high.

Trading company Jane Street lost about $15B as the Situational Awareness fund imploded in July, showing some of the collateral damage.

Empire Fed Manufacturing today.

Bottom line: Quiet start to the week as we prepare for VIX and options expirations, this week.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA): The Tax Strategy Many Retirees Overlook, LFG Daily - August 14th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:39:04 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA): The Tax Strategy Many Retirees Overlook

If you have a large amount of company stock inside a 401(k), there may be a powerful tax-planning opportunity hiding in plain sight: Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA).

NUA can potentially allow you to move appreciated employer stock out of a retirement plan and pay long-term capital gains tax on the stock’s appreciation instead of ordinary income tax when that appreciation is eventually realized.

For the right retiree, this can create a significant tax savings.

How NUA Works

Let’s say you have $1 million in a 401(k), including $300,000 of your former employer’s stock.

Imagine you originally paid $100,000 for that stock through your 401(k), and it has grown to $300,000.

That means you have:

Cost basis: $100,000
Current value: $300,000
NUA: $200,000

If you simply roll the entire 401(k) into an IRA, you generally lose the ability to use the special NUA tax treatment on that stock. Future distributions from the IRA are generally taxed as ordinary income.

But an NUA strategy may allow you to distribute the company stock to a taxable brokerage account and roll the remaining retirement assets into an IRA.

The $100,000 cost basis would generally be taxable as ordinary income in the year of the distribution, while the $200,000 of NUA isn’t taxed until the stock is sold—and then generally receives long-term capital-gain treatment.

Any additional appreciation after the distribution is generally treated as a capital gain as well, with the character depending on how long the shares are held after distribution.

Why This Can Be So Valuable

The difference between ordinary income tax rates and long-term capital gains rates can be substantial.

For someone with a large amount of highly appreciated company stock, paying ordinary income tax on the entire $300,000 could create a much larger tax bill than paying ordinary income tax on the $100,000 basis and capital gains tax on the $200,000 appreciation.

But this isn’t simply a “pay less tax” strategy.

It’s a tax trade-off.

You are giving up some of the tax-deferred treatment of the retirement account in exchange for potentially converting a significant portion of the appreciation into capital-gain treatment.

There Are Rules

NUA is not something you can casually implement by taking a withdrawal from your 401(k).

The strategy generally involves a lump-sum distribution that satisfies specific IRS requirements, and the timing and structure of the distribution matter.

There can also be important considerations involving:

Your age and potential early-distribution penalties
The cost basis of the company stock
How much the stock has appreciated
Your current and future tax brackets
State income taxes
Capital-gains rates
Medicare IRMAA considerations
Required minimum distributions
Estate planning
Investment concentration risk
Your overall retirement-income strategy

And perhaps most importantly, the decision should be made before automatically rolling the entire 401(k) into an IRA.

Once the stock has been rolled into an IRA, the opportunity for NUA treatment generally cannot simply be recreated later.

Don’t Let the Tax Tail Wag the Investment Dog

There is another important consideration.

If you’ve retired with $500,000 of your former employer’s stock, saving taxes isn’t necessarily a reason to keep $500,000 of your wealth concentrated in one company.

Sometimes the best strategy is to use NUA to receive favorable tax treatment and then diversify the stock.

The goal isn’t to minimize taxes at all costs.

The goal is to maximize after-tax wealth while managing risk.

The Bigger Lesson

NUA is a great example of why retirement planning is about much more than picking investments.

Two retirees could have identical $2 million portfolios but completely different tax situations depending on the type of accounts they own, the cost basis of their investments, their income needs, and their estate plans.

The question shouldn’t simply be:

“How much money do I have?”

It should be:

“How much of my money will I actually get to keep?”

If you have highly appreciated employer stock inside a 401(k), don’t automatically roll everything into an IRA without first determining whether NUA could benefit you.

Sometimes the biggest tax savings aren’t found in complicated investments.

They’re found in making the right decision before you move the money.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

PPI was 0% m/m vs. exp. 0.2%, while Core was 0.2% vs. exp. 0.3%. That gets the Y/Y heading down to 4.7% vs. exp. 4.9%. Improvement, but the parts that go into PCE are on the higher side, so PCE is likely to shade higher.

Jobless claims were 209K vs. exp. 202K, a bit of a bounce back from recent low numbers. Continuing Claims were 1777K vs. prev. 1801K. That’s a pretty good drop and gets us near lows since 2023.

Workday (WDAY) was up 18% on news that Silver Lake is in talks to acquire it. That seemed to boost smaller software names in general.

Sandisk (SNDK) was up 15% after unveiling a long-term financial model at their investor day. Through 2030, they plan on growing revenue in the mid-t0-high teens with adjusted operating margins around 75%. Heady stuff.

Echoing CSCO, Applied Materials (AMAT) reported strong earnings and guidance but was -5% perhaps because it was already up 108% YTD.

Reddit (RDDT) is joining the SPX on 8/18, sending shares up 13%..

Retail Sales today. We’ve been getting modest signs of consumer struggles, so this could be interesting.

Bottom line: Retail Sales is worth paying attention to, today, to see if the consumer is still holding up.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

Million Dollar Problems... Taxes, LFG Daily - August 13th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:30:14 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

Million Dollar Problems Podcast: How the Wealthy Legally Pay Less in Taxes, Episode #4

Listen here on Spotify or iTunes!

Digging into the Podcast"… The Wealthy Don’t “Avoid” Taxes — They Understand the Rules

There’s a phrase you hear all the time:

“The wealthy don’t pay taxes.”

It makes for a great headline. But it misses a much bigger point.

The wealthy often pay a tremendous amount in taxes. What they tend to do differently is plan around the tax code instead of simply accepting whatever tax bill shows up.

And here’s the controversial part:

There is no such thing as a “tax loophole” when you’re following the law.

There are tax deductions. Tax credits. Tax deferral strategies. Different tax rates. Different types of income. Tax-advantaged accounts. Business deductions. Estate-planning strategies.

Congress wrote these provisions into the tax code for a reason. The IRS itself provides extensive guidance on credits and deductions available to individuals and businesses.

The wealthy simply tend to have the resources and professional advice necessary to take advantage of them.

You’re taxed on what the tax code says is taxable

One of the biggest misconceptions about wealth and taxes is that your net worth is the same thing as your taxable income.

It isn’t.

Imagine someone owns $20 million of stock and that stock increases to $25 million.

They just became $5 million wealthier.

But they didn’t necessarily receive $5 million of taxable income.

That distinction is incredibly important.

The tax code generally distinguishes between wealth and realized income. This is one reason someone with a very large net worth can have a relatively modest taxable income in a particular year.

The question shouldn’t necessarily be:

“How do I pay no taxes?”

The better question is:

“How do I structure my financial life so I don’t pay more taxes than the law requires?”

Those are two completely different mindsets.

The tax code is an incentive system

Here’s something I wish more people understood:

The tax code isn’t just designed to collect money. It’s also designed to influence behavior.

Want to encourage retirement savings?

There are tax-advantaged retirement accounts.

Want to encourage charitable giving?

There are charitable deductions and other strategies. The IRS, for example, allows qualifying charitable contributions of money or property to potentially be deductible, subject to specific rules and limitations.

Want to encourage investment in businesses and economic development?

There are provisions in the tax code designed around those activities.

Want to encourage homeownership, education, healthcare savings, or business investment?

There are tax provisions for those too.

The government is essentially saying:

“If you do certain things we want to encourage, we’ll give you a tax incentive.”

Why wouldn’t you take advantage of it?

The wealthy think about taxes before the transaction

This is where financial planning becomes incredibly important.

Most people think about taxes after something happens.

They sell an investment and then ask their accountant how much tax they owe.

They retire and then figure out how to withdraw money from their retirement accounts.

They sell a business and then start thinking about the tax consequences.

They inherit money and then ask what they should do with it.

Wealthy families tend to approach things differently.

They ask:

“What will the tax consequences be before we do this?”

That simple change in timing can be enormously valuable.

Should you sell appreciated stock this year or next year?

Should you contribute cash to charity or appreciated securities?

Should you convert some traditional IRA money to a Roth?

Should you accelerate or defer income?

Should you purchase an investment through a particular business structure?

Should you use a 1031 exchange?

Should you make gifts during your lifetime?

Should you establish a trust?

Should you harvest investment losses?

These aren’t magic tricks.

They’re financial planning decisions.

And many of them are specifically contemplated by the tax code.

“Write-offs” aren’t free money

There’s another misconception worth clearing up.

A deduction doesn’t mean the government gives you the money back.

If you spend $10,000 on something that’s legitimately deductible, you don’t get a $10,000 check from the government.

You simply reduce the amount of income subject to tax, assuming you qualify for the deduction and meet all applicable rules.

That’s an important distinction.

The goal isn’t to spend money just to get a deduction.

That’s usually terrible financial planning.

The goal is to make smart economic decisions and then structure those decisions as efficiently as possible from a tax perspective.

There’s a difference between tax planning and tax evasion

This distinction matters.

Tax planning is legal. Tax evasion isn’t.

The IRS specifically warns taxpayers about abusive tax shelters and schemes where purported tax benefits are wildly disproportionate to the underlying economics.

That’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about understanding the rules and using the provisions that Congress actually created.

If Congress gives you the ability to defer income, why wouldn’t you consider deferring it?

If you can legally reduce taxable income through a legitimate deduction, why wouldn’t you?

If you can choose between realizing a gain this year or next year, why wouldn’t you consider the timing?

If you can use tax-advantaged accounts, why wouldn’t you?

That’s not cheating. That’s planning.

Stop trying to beat the tax code. Start understanding it.

You don’t need to be a billionaire to think this way.

Someone earning $100,000 should be thinking about taxes.

Someone earning $500,000 should be thinking about taxes.

A business owner should absolutely be thinking about taxes.

Someone approaching retirement should be thinking about taxes.

Someone with $5 million of investments should definitely be thinking about taxes.

The objective isn’t to pay zero.

The objective is to pay the right amount.

And sometimes the right amount is lower than what you initially assumed because you didn’t understand all of the options available to you.

The wealthy didn’t necessarily get rich because they discovered some secret loophole.

In many cases, they simply learned how the game works.

You don’t have to like the tax code. You don’t have to agree with every provision in it. But if you’re legally allowed to use the rules to your advantage, you should.

Because taxes are one of the largest expenses most successful people will ever face.

And ignoring them isn’t a badge of honor.

It’s expensive.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

CPI was exactly as expected, at 0.1% m/m for the headline and 0.2% for Core CPI. This does bring the Y/Y number down to 3.4% from 3.5%. That gave bonds and stocks a little boost.

Japan’s inflation remains high, with PPI at 7.2% Y/Y but below the 7.4% expectation.

Korea’s Kospi index re-entered a technical bull market as it’s up over 20% from the recent low.

AAII Investor Sentiment shows bearish sentiment remains above bullish sentiment.

Cisco (CSCO) moved guidance substantially higher, largely on hyperscaler business. Shares are down -6% anyway probably due to flat services revenue and a gross margin decline. It was also up 61% on the year.

Anthropic is expected to float a valuation of $2T or more for October.

PPI and jobless claims today.

Bottom line: Korea is back and we get a second look at inflation with PPI

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

The Biggest Mistakes People Make After Inheriting Money, LFG Daily - August 12th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:56:40 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

The Biggest Mistakes People Make After Inheriting Money

Inheriting money can be life-changing—but not always in the way people expect.

A sudden inheritance can create financial freedom, but it can also create emotional pressure, family conflict, and some very expensive mistakes. Whether you inherit $100,000 or $10 million, the decisions you make in the first few months can have consequences for decades.

Here are some of the biggest mistakes I see people make after receiving an inheritance.

1. Making Big Decisions Too Quickly

One of the worst things you can do after receiving a large inheritance is immediately start spending it.

New house. New car. Vacation home. Business investment. Expensive toys.

The money may feel like “extra” money, but once you spend it, it’s gone.

Give yourself time. There is rarely a financial emergency that requires you to immediately deploy an inheritance. Consider putting the money somewhere safe and taking several months to develop a plan before making major purchases.

2. Treating an Inheritance Like a Paycheck

An inheritance is an asset—not necessarily an income stream.

Someone who inherits $1 million may think, “I can spend $50,000 a year forever.”

Maybe. Maybe not.

Your sustainable spending rate depends on your age, investment strategy, taxes, other income sources, inflation and how long the money needs to last.

The goal isn’t simply to figure out how much you inherited. It’s figuring out what that money can sustainably do for you.

3. Ignoring the Tax Consequences

“Tax-free inheritance” is a dangerous oversimplification.

While receiving inherited cash generally isn’t taxable income to the beneficiary, inherited retirement accounts, investment gains, real estate and other assets can have very different tax consequences.

Inherited IRAs are particularly important. Depending on the circumstances, beneficiaries may have distribution requirements that can create significant taxable income.

Before moving or selling inherited assets, understand the tax consequences.

4. Selling Everything Immediately

People often inherit a portfolio of stocks, real estate or a business and immediately sell everything because they don’t know what they own.

That’s understandable—but it can be expensive.

Before selling, determine the asset’s tax basis, potential appreciation, income characteristics, liquidity needs and role in your overall financial plan.

Sometimes selling is absolutely the right answer. The mistake is selling before understanding what you inherited.

5. Becoming Too Generous With Family and Friends

This is one of the most difficult problems.

Once people find out you’ve inherited money, you may suddenly have a lot more “friends” with great business ideas, investment opportunities or financial emergencies.

You don’t have to become everyone’s bank.

If you want to help family members, create a specific gifting budget and stick to it. Generosity is wonderful—but it should be intentional rather than emotional.

6. Changing Your Lifestyle Overnight

An inheritance can make someone financially independent without making them financially disciplined.

Going from a $5,000-a-month lifestyle to a $15,000-a-month lifestyle may feel great initially. The problem comes when the inheritance isn’t large enough to permanently support that lifestyle.

A better approach is to allow your lifestyle to improve gradually while preserving the majority of the inherited capital.

7. Investing Before Knowing Your Plan

Inheritance can create a dangerous combination: a large amount of money and the desire to “do something with it.”

That’s when people start chasing hot stocks, cryptocurrency, private investments, real estate deals or businesses they don’t understand.

Investing should come after determining what the money is supposed to accomplish.

Is it for retirement? Your children’s education? Charitable giving? A second home? Early retirement? Generational wealth?

Your investment strategy should follow the objective—not the other way around.

8. Forgetting About Estate Planning

You may have just inherited money because someone else failed to plan—or because their plan successfully transferred wealth to you.

Either way, don’t repeat the cycle.

An inheritance can dramatically change your own estate. Your existing will, beneficiaries, trusts, powers of attorney and insurance coverage may no longer make sense.

Receiving an inheritance is often a good reason to revisit your entire estate plan.

The Best Thing You Can Inherit Is a Plan

An inheritance is more than a number on a statement. It represents someone’s lifetime of work, saving and investing.

The best way to honor that money isn’t necessarily to preserve every dollar forever. It’s to use it intentionally.

Pay off the right debt. Invest for the future. Give to people and causes you care about. Travel. Create experiences. Improve your quality of life.

But do it with a plan.

The goal of an inheritance isn’t simply to make you richer. It’s to make your life—and potentially the lives of future generations—better.

And before you make a major financial decision with inherited wealth, slow down. You only get one chance to make the first decision.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

ADP Employment was 8K vs. prev. 15K, the sixth straight slowdown and the lowest since January.

Existing Home Sales fell -1.7% m/m vs. prev. -1.4%. We’re still up Y/Y, though.

The Fed’s Hammack said now is the time to act and raise rates. Currently, raising rates in September is a coinflip. Let’s see what tomorrow’s CPI does.

Prices for the busiest shipping lanes though the Panama Canal are hitting records, as falling water levels from El Nino constrain traffic that has increased from the Iran war.

South Korea’s Kospi index was up almost 4% as media reports said Singapore’s Temasek sovereign wealth fund plans to invest in Samsung and SK Hynix (SKHY).

Sea Limited (SE) was up 15% after beating revenue and EBITDA by large margins and strong success in their Palworld game.

Super Micro (SMCI) saw strong demand for its AI servers, sending shares up 9%.

CoreWeave (CRWV) is up 19% after sales growth grew faster than expected as AI demand remains strong.

CPI this morning is the big economic report of the week.

Bottom line: Inflation data is considered the key report of the week

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

How LFG Approaches Time Horizon, LFG Daily - August 11th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:08:52 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Time horizon is very important in terms of deciding when to buy and sell. Sure, you want to sell at the top and buy at the bottom, but what does that really mean? That question is particularly true with higher beta and lower quality stocks, as they tend to be more volatile. Risk assets don’t tend to move in a straight line, so how many wiggles do you want to avoid?

Look at something like Micron (MU), a recent darling of the market. Ideally, you would have sold it at the top at $1,255, but to get there over the last year you would have endured a roughly 60% decline around April to get there, along with plenty of other double-digit declines along the path. Even with the recent -30% drawdown, yearlong holders are still up 610%.

So, what do you do? There’s no real, right answer. Most people lack to fortitude to wear a -60% decline with equanimity. Many like to systematize handling declines by automatically selling or trimming when a level is broken. Again, this can vary greatly depending on what sort of investor you are. A shorter-term investor may look at a 9-day exponential moving average (EMA) while a longer-term investor may look at a 200-day moving average to decide when to make a move.

Nothing is perfect, of course. Selling MU during volatility would have limited damage but precluded some giant gains. We can’t know the future. Whatever your preference, I do think it makes sense to have a good plan going in of what you’re going to do under different circumstances.

If you’re a short-term trader, maybe you like MU but are hoping to avoid big drawdowns, so you enter every time it breaks above the 9EMA and sell every time it broke below. At the end of the last fifty-two weeks of trading, you’d have a return of about 330% with 20 buys and 19 sells. Great, but well below the 609% of just holding the stock, due to frequent whipsaws.

Investing in stocks always involves risk and attempts to smooth the volatility tends to depress returns. Unfortunately, that’s life. For us, we tend to be longer-term investors, but that can involve dealing with some big swings while the market moves from fear and panic due to rates, growth, liquidity, or whatever. We get tax benefits, as well, but those swings can induce nausea for some.

In general, we tend to have fundamental triggers on our long-term stocks. As long as the company is doing what it needs to do to continue performing, we tend to hold. We also use technical triggers on the market as a whole, though. If the market falls below our target, we’re quite likely to sell something, as apparently the market is more concerned than we expected.

Another difference we have from most investors is we don’t simply sell what’s already been hit. To me, that fear has already been realized, so you’re closing the barn door after the horse is already gone. What we do is look at what’s held up reasonably well but is at risk if current perceived problems continue.

For instance, we hit a technical trigger in July as AI-fears ramped up. We ended up selling Fortinet (FTNT) as, while it’s labeled as software infrastructure, it sells a lot of hardware that appears with servers. Thus, if there was real trouble with AI, rather than just a positioning unwind, Fortinet would be in danger.

Unsurprisingly, I think our methodology works well, as it tends to get you to sell things closer to highs than lows, rather than what a more traditional method would do. I admit that my method is more complicated, but that’s fine. In this case, while Fortinet is up a little from when we sold, once technical conditions cleared, we were able to use some of the funds to buy Alamos Gold (AGI), which has done quite well for us.

While timing tops and bottoms sounds great, it’s somewhat unrealistic and is also a question of timeframe. A short-term investor is likely to have different criteria of what they’re up for versus a long-term investor. There’s never going to be a perfect answer, so it’s best to decide beforehand how you want to deal with the swings and execute your plan.

NFIB Small Business Optimism grew to 99.8 vs. prev. 97..4, with strong hiring plans leading the way.

Consumer Credit rebounded in June, at $14.17B vs. exp. $11.85B on a surge in credit card debt. This actually came out Friday, but I missed it.

Oil was up 7% since yesterday morning as demands mounted on both sides of the Iran war and odds of a deal faded. That helped create rate stress, which in turn pressured the market.

The RBA(ustralia) kept rates unchanged but warned they may need to hike if inflation stays too high.

There were 19 issuers of investment-grade debt yesterday. On the one hand, that means credit markets remain robust, on the other hand, all that supply helps raise rates.

Yesterday saw the second narrowest range of the year on SPX.

NVDA is teaming up with a financial consortium of APO, BX, and GS to raise a $500B financing program for AI centers.

ADP Employment today.

Bottom line: Iran war deal odds are pressuring markets.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

What If Your Retirement Home Was a Cruise Ship? LFG Daily - August 10th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:28:34 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

What If Your Retirement Home Was a Cruise Ship?

I’m writing this from a cruise ship, and it got me thinking about retirement.

We spend so much time planning where we’re going to live in retirement, how big our house will be, what state we’ll move to, and how much money we’ll need to support our lifestyle.

But what if retirement didn’t have to look like that?

What if, instead of owning a large home with a mortgage, property taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, landscaping and everything else that comes with it, you could live on a cruise ship for part—or even most—of the year?

Depending on the cruise, the math can actually be surprisingly interesting.

Your cruise fare can bundle your housing, food, entertainment, transportation between destinations and a long list of activities into one expense. Obviously, cruises aren’t automatically cheaper than owning a home, and there are plenty of additional costs to consider. But for someone who doesn’t need a permanent home base, it’s an interesting retirement-planning exercise.

And that’s really the point.

Retirement planning isn’t just about figuring out how much money you need. It’s about figuring out what you want your life to look like.

Don’t Retire Into a Vacuum

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is treating retirement as the finish line.

They spend 30 or 40 years working toward retirement, only to reach it and realize they never actually figured out what they were retiring to.

Work provides structure.

It gives you somewhere to go, people to interact with, goals to accomplish and a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

When that disappears, you need to replace it.

That’s why I think retirement planning should include more than investment accounts, Social Security and tax planning.

It should include life planning.

What are you going to do on a Tuesday morning?

Who are you going to spend time with?

What hobbies will you pursue?

Where will you travel?

What new things will you learn?

What experiences have you been putting off?

Don’t Wait Until You’re 75 to Start Living

There’s another important lesson I’ve been thinking about while on this cruise:

Don’t assume you’ll have unlimited time later.

It’s easy to tell yourself, “We’ll travel when we retire.”

But retirement isn’t a guarantee of unlimited energy, mobility or health.

You don’t know exactly how you’ll feel at 65, 70 or 80.

That’s why I think people should start building the retirement lifestyle they want before they retire.

Take the trip.

Try the hobby.

Learn to play golf.

Take the cooking class.

Buy the camper.

Go on the cruise.

Visit the places you’ve always talked about visiting.

You don’t have to wait until you have absolutely nothing else to do.

Your Retirement Plan Should Evolve

Maybe you retire at 62 and spend several years traveling.

Then you decide you want a home base.

Maybe you spend winters somewhere warm and summers somewhere else.

Maybe you sell your house and downsize.

Maybe you live abroad for a few months every year.

Maybe you discover that you love cruising and decide to spend several months a year at sea.

The important thing is having the financial flexibility to make those decisions.

That’s where good financial planning comes in.

Instead of asking, “How much money do I need to retire?”, I think a better question is:

“What do I want my retirement to look like, and what will it cost to live that life?”

Those are two very different questions.

Retirement Is About More Than Money

A successful retirement isn’t necessarily the person with the biggest investment account.

It’s the person who uses their resources to create a life they actually enjoy.

Money is a tool.

The goal isn’t to die with the most money possible. The goal is to use your money wisely enough that you can enjoy your life while still protecting your future.

So while I’m sitting here on a cruise ship, watching the ocean go by, I’m reminded of something I tell clients all the time:

Don’t just plan for retirement. Plan for what you’re going to do with it.

Because someday, you may discover that the best retirement plan isn’t the house you’ve spent 30 years paying for.

It might be a cruise ship.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

It always comes up-- why does the stock market celebrate bad news? For instance, the jobs report on Friday showed negative job growth and the market saw stocks and bonds both have a great day. Why does the stock market hate you?

Au contarire, the market doesn’t care about you, pathetic mortal. It does, however, care a great deal about interest rates. A weak jobs report signals that the Federal Reserve is less likely to hike, going forward. Thus, the odds of a hike in September went from 67% to 44%. That means interest rates are less likely to be a brake on the economy, so companies and individuals can keep transacting relatively more freely.

It’s worth noting that markets want “goldilocks” numbers, not too bad and not too good. The negative 23K number was still within the range of expectations. If we’d seen something like negative 100K jobs, the reaction may have been quite different, because the narrative would have shifted from the Fed remaining accommodative to recession fear, where corporate earnings are coming down. That could have been negative.

You also have the current nuance of the immigration situation. Like it or not, we have people leaving the country. This is a depressant on payrolls, and that makes lower job numbers more acceptable. While normally, a negative payroll number could cause some alarm, it’s less surprising, here. For instance, the unemployment rate went down from 4.2% to 4.1% despite the negative number, as the workforce shrank.

From here, we’d just like to see more Goldilocks numbers, not too hot, not too cold. Recession risk is largely seen as pretty low, but if we continue to see soft numbers, that will be more of a concern. Overall, the picture still looks pretty good. For instance, the admittedly volatile Atlanta Fed GDPNow estimate for the third quarter is 5.8%. That’s far from a recession, so weak numbers can likely be tolerated for a while.

We do need to continually keep track of economic data, however. For instance, Wednesday’s CPI report will be watched closely. The last report was very friendly, with negative growth, but what if inflation surges back? That could raise stagflation fears, hot inflation with good economic growth. We could also see more negative inflation, which could raise recession fears. Again, Goldilocks is what we want. As it currently stands, the Cleveland Fed expects Goldilocks, at 0.1% m/m growth.

So, no, the market doesn’t wish you poorly, it just wants the Fed to stay friendly and not hike rates. It also wants the economy to hold up reasonably well, so profit growth remains likely. That’s why the market loves Goldilocks data and why sometimes the market reacts strongly to very good or very bad data.

Right now, the Iran war and rate fear have caused some damage. Goldilocks numbers like we saw on Friday can heal some of that damage. The friendly jobs numbers sunk the dollar and rates, two areas that have been hurting the most. To the extent we can keep Goldilocks going, the market party can continue.

In particular, rate fears have hit growth and low-quality areas. Friday’s benign numbers up the odds that money can return to those areas, which is what we saw on Friday. I’d like to think that can continue, but we’ll see what happens. I don’t expect much excitement in rates, but that’s the place to watch to see if we need to get worried.

Nonfarm payrolls were -23K vs. exp. 80K, with the Unemployment Rate at 4.1% from 4.2%. Average Hourly Earnings growth also shrunk to 0.1% m/m vs. prev. 0.3%. That sharply sunk rates and the dollar. Seems like a lot of the losses were government jobs.

The yen is weakening fairly aggressively as the intervention effect fades.

Critical minerals stocks such as MP are up as the White House announced over $2B in investments.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) engaged in stock buybacks and net-bought stock last quarter as Geico weakness was offset by BNSF and the services business. The stock is fat on the news.

Bottom line: Quiet start to the morning as we wait for CPI and Iran clarity.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

Cost Segregation: How Rental Property Owners Can Accelerate Depreciation, LFG Daily - August 7th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:58:19 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

Cost Segregation: How Rental Property Owners Can Accelerate Depreciation

When you own rental real estate, one of the biggest tax advantages is depreciation.

The problem? Traditional depreciation can be painfully slow.

Residential rental property is generally depreciated over 27.5 years, while commercial property is generally depreciated over 39 years. But not every component of a building actually needs to be depreciated over that long period.

That’s where cost segregation comes in.

What Is Cost Segregation?

Cost segregation is a tax-planning strategy that breaks a real estate property into different components and assigns shorter depreciation lives to certain assets.

Instead of treating the entire purchase price as one building, a cost segregation study may identify items such as:

Flooring and carpeting
Certain electrical components
Plumbing fixtures
Cabinets and countertops
Landscaping
Certain exterior improvements
Specialized building components
Appliances and other personal property

Some of these assets may qualify for depreciation periods significantly shorter than 27.5 or 39 years.

The result?

You may be able to move a portion of your depreciation deductions from the future into the early years of property ownership.

Why Accelerating Depreciation Matters

Imagine you purchase a $1 million rental property.

Under traditional depreciation, the building portion is generally depreciated over a long period. A cost segregation study could potentially identify a meaningful portion of the property that qualifies for shorter depreciation lives.

That can create a much larger tax deduction in the early years.

The important distinction is that cost segregation generally doesn’t create a permanent tax deduction—it accelerates deductions.

You’re potentially getting the tax benefit sooner rather than later.

And getting a $100,000 deduction today can be far more valuable than receiving the same deduction spread out over many years.

The Bonus Depreciation Opportunity

Cost segregation can become particularly powerful when combined with bonus depreciation.

Certain assets identified through a cost segregation study may qualify for accelerated depreciation rules, potentially allowing a substantial portion of those assets to be deducted much sooner than they otherwise would be.

However, bonus depreciation rules have changed significantly in recent years, and the applicable percentage depends on when the property was acquired and when the assets were placed in service.

That’s why this strategy needs to be evaluated based on the specific property and tax year—not simply based on an old example you found online.

An Example

Suppose an investor purchases a $2 million apartment building.

Without cost segregation, most of the depreciable building basis could be spread over 27.5 years.

A cost segregation study might determine that a portion of the property’s basis consists of shorter-lived assets.

If those assets qualify for accelerated depreciation, the investor could potentially generate a substantially larger deduction in the first few years.

For a high-income real estate investor, that could mean tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars of deductions being accelerated.

And if the investor can use those deductions against qualifying income, the cash-flow impact can be significant.

But There’s a Catch

Cost segregation isn’t automatically a good idea for everyone.

There are costs associated with completing a quality cost segregation study, and accelerated depreciation can have consequences later.

One of the biggest considerations is depreciation recapture when the property or certain assets are eventually sold.

There’s also an important question:

Can you actually use the additional depreciation deduction?

Real estate losses are subject to passive activity rules, and your ability to use the deduction can depend on your income, participation in the activity, and other factors.

This is why cost segregation should be viewed as part of a broader tax-planning strategy rather than simply a way to generate a large deduction.

Who Should Consider Cost Segregation?

Cost segregation tends to become more interesting when:

You own a relatively high-value rental property.
You recently purchased or constructed the property.
You plan to hold the property for several years.
You have sufficient income to potentially benefit from the deductions.
You’re purchasing additional investment properties.
You’re actively involved in real estate activities that may affect how losses are treated.

It can also be worth looking at properties you already own, rather than assuming the opportunity only exists when you purchase something new.

The Bigger Financial Planning Opportunity

The real power of cost segregation isn’t necessarily the deduction itself.

It’s what you do with the tax savings.

If accelerating $100,000 of depreciation saves you $30,000 in current taxes, the financial-planning question becomes:

What should you do with that $30,000?

You could reinvest it into another property, pay down debt, invest in your business, contribute to retirement accounts, or invest it elsewhere.

That’s where tax planning and financial planning intersect.

The goal isn’t simply to pay less tax.

The goal is to control when you pay taxes and put the resulting cash flow to work.

For real estate investors, cost segregation can be one of the most powerful tools available to accelerate depreciation and improve after-tax cash flow—but it should be modeled alongside your overall investment, tax, and estate plan.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Nonfarm Productivity was 1.4% for Q2 vs. exp. 0.6%, while Unit Labor Costs were 1.3% vs. exp. 2.1%. Great for companies, bad for labor. We now have the worst labor share of output since at least 1947, when data started, at 52.9%.

Initial Jobless Claims were 199K vs. exp. 202K. Continuing Claims edged higher, from 1789K to 1801K, but the trend remains down over time.

French unemployment hit 8.3%, the highest level in almost six years.

Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) is up 15% on strong earnings and guidance as new demand has them producing at capacity.

Cloudflare (NET) is up 17% after AI-demand powered a hiking of guidance.

Collaboration software company Atlassian (TEAM) was up 29% after issuing strong guidance, allaying fears AI is hurting the company.

The jobs report this morning is probably the big report of the week.

Bottom line: Jobs report this morning could move markets.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

The “One More Year” Syndrome: Why Successful People Struggle to Retire - August 6th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 13:06:00 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

The “One More Year” Syndrome: Why Successful People Struggle to Retire

One of the biggest surprises I’ve discovered as a financial planner is that money is rarely the reason people delay retirement.

The spreadsheets say they can retire. The Monte Carlo analysis says they’re financially independent. Their investments are on track, their home is paid off, and they’ve accumulated more than enough to support the lifestyle they want.

Yet they still say the same thing.

“Maybe I’ll just work one more year.”

Then another year passes.

And then another.

I call this The One More Year Syndrome.

Retirement Isn’t a Financial Decision—It’s an Identity Decision

For decades, your career has likely been a huge part of who you are.

You’re the doctor. The business owner. The engineer. The executive. The farmer. The attorney.

Your work has provided more than a paycheck. It has given you purpose, routine, friendships, challenges, and a sense of accomplishment.

When retirement approaches, many people aren’t actually asking, “Can I afford to retire?”

They’re asking, “Who am I if I don’t work?”

Those are two completely different questions.

Success Can Become a Trap

Ironically, the people who have the hardest time retiring are often the people who have been the most successful.

High achievers are wired differently.

They enjoy solving problems.

They like building things.

They’re competitive.

They’ve spent 30 or 40 years improving, growing, and achieving.

Retirement can feel like quitting—even when it’s exactly what they’ve spent their entire career working toward.

Fear Wears Many Disguises

When someone says they want to work “just one more year,” it’s often not about the money at all.

It could be fear of:

Losing purpose.
Losing social interaction.
Becoming irrelevant.
Boredom.
Health declining after retirement.
Running out of money, even when the numbers say otherwise.
Giving up a lifestyle they’ve always known.

Working another year feels safe because it postpones making one of life’s biggest transitions.

The Hidden Cost of Waiting

There is nothing wrong with working longer if you genuinely love what you do.

In fact, many people are happier continuing to work in some capacity.

The problem is when you’re working out of fear instead of choice.

Every extra year spent working is one less year available to travel while you’re healthy, spend time with grandchildren, volunteer, start another business, or simply enjoy the freedom you’ve spent decades earning.

No one reaches age 90 wishing they had answered a few more emails.

Time is the one asset your financial plan cannot replenish.

Retirement Should Be Running Toward Something

One of the biggest mistakes people make is treating retirement as an escape.

“I just want to stop working.”

That’s not a vision.

Instead, ask yourself:

What do I want my average Tuesday to look like?
What relationships do I want to invest in?
What experiences have I postponed?
What legacy do I want to leave?
How do I want to spend my healthiest years?

The happiest retirees don’t retire from something.

They retire to something.

A Good Financial Plan Creates Confidence

One of my favorite moments with clients is when I can tell them, “You don’t have to work anymore.”

But the conversation doesn’t end there.

The next step is helping them become emotionally comfortable with that reality.

That’s why financial planning is about much more than investments and retirement accounts.

It’s about giving people permission to live the life they’ve worked so hard to build.

Because the goal was never to accumulate the largest portfolio possible.

The goal was to create enough freedom that work becomes a choice—not a necessity.

Sometimes, the hardest part of retirement isn’t letting go of your paycheck.

It’s believing you’ve already done enough.

And for many successful professionals, that’s the real challenge behind “one more year.”

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

ADP Employment was 44K vs. exp. 70K, the weakest since January. That said, job-changer wage increases have been going up.

ISM Services was 54.1 vs. est. 54.5. New Orders look strong.

The second part of QRA funding showed no change in the mix of how the Treasury will fund the US.

Eli Lilly (LLY) was up 5% on a beat-and-raise quarter.

Walt Disney (DIS) was up 4% as earnings beat, but revenue fell short, though parks business remains strong.

GOOG was down -4% on news their chief scientist is leaving after 27 years to start his own AI company.

Advertising company AppLovin (APP) had a weak outlook and is down -16%.

Duolingo (DUOL) also had a weak outlook and is down -12%.

Motorola Solutions had strong earnings and raised guidance and is up 5%.

Honeywell Aerospace (HONA) lowered guidance as their supply chain makes it unable to meed demand, sending shares -11%.

Western Digital (WDC) is down -12% after strong earnings and guidance wasn’t enough. The beat was by less of a margin than rival STXlast week, though.

Similarly, Sandisk (SNDK) is -8% after guiding revenue below estimates.

Jobless Claims and Productivity, today.

Bottom line: Lots of earnings misses last night, but the index is holding up.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

The Overlooked Tax Break for Retirees, LFG Daily - August 5th, 2026

Lloyd Financial Group — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 13:45:12 GMT

If you’ve been saving and investing for years, one question eventually comes up: “Am I actually on the right track?”

This complimentary review looks at the big picture of your financial life, including:

• Your overall investment allocation
• Hidden risks or portfolio overlap
• Fees that may be reducing returns
• How your investments align with your long-term goals

Think of it as a financial second opinion—a chance to step back and make sure your strategy is built for the future.

If you’d like clarity and confidence about where you stand, schedule your free portfolio analysis today.

Dream Bigger, Sleep Better

Luke Lloyd, CEO Lloyd Financial Group

The Overlooked Tax Break for Retirees: The Additional Standard Deduction for Seniors

When people think about tax planning in retirement, they often focus on Roth conversions, Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), or Social Security taxation. But one of the simplest tax breaks available is also one of the most overlooked—the additional deduction available to seniors.

If you’re age 65 or older, you may qualify for two different tax benefits.

First, the tax code has long provided an additional standard deduction simply for being 65 or older. This increases the amount of income you can earn before paying federal income tax.

On top of that, a newer law created an enhanced senior deduction that allows many taxpayers age 65 and older to deduct up to an additional $6,000 per eligible person ($12,000 for many married couples) for tax years 2025 through 2028, subject to income limitations. Unlike the traditional age-based standard deduction, this enhanced deduction is available whether you claim the standard deduction or itemize your deductions, making it valuable for a much larger group of retirees.

For many retirees, this means thousands of dollars of additional income can be shielded from federal taxes each year. That can reduce the taxation of retirement account withdrawals, lower overall tax liability, and create opportunities for more tax-efficient retirement income planning.

This is why retirement tax planning is about much more than simply filing a tax return. The order in which you withdraw money from Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, taxable brokerage accounts, pensions, and Social Security can have a significant impact on your lifetime tax bill.

A well-designed retirement income strategy takes advantage of every deduction available—including the additional deductions for seniors—to help keep more money in your pocket.

The goal isn’t just to earn more in retirement. It’s to keep more of what you’ve earned.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

The Trade Deficit was $73.3B vs. prev. $77.6B, with Exports $314.7B vs. prev. $317.7B and Imports $388B vs. prev. $395.3B.

JOLTS Job Openings were 7.359M vs. exp. 7.454. That’s a little weak, but the ratio of job openings to unemployed workers hit the best since January. Overall, decent.

Factory Orders fell for a second month, at -0.3% m/m vs. exp. 0.2%. Core Orders were -0.4% vs. prev. 2%.

Oil was -6% amid encouraging talk about a temporary peace deal.

Semis (SMH) were almost 6% higher yesterday on news the US drafted a ban on Chinese optics used in datacenters, along with a thought a memory ban may be coming. Strong rebound from past success, though we’re getting a little fade to start the day.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) was down -6% despite raising guidance. I expect the problem is that even with the raise, they’re talking about negative growth. Also, the upgrade was more about US rebates than demand improving.

AMD is down -8% after a beat and raise wasn’t enough to overcome concerns on increased capex and news SPCX would no longer buy their chips.

Similarly, SpaceX (SPCX) is down -11% after they announced good earnings but heavy spending on AI.

ADP Employment and ISM Services today.

Bottom line: Quite the bounce in the AI trade, yesterday, though we’re fading that a bit this morning.

Disclosures/Regulation:

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable