Is A Stock Bubble Bursting? Stocks plunged as much 6.6% last week, and, even though prices rebounded sharply by the end of the week, fear remains widespread. Despite the grim mood, the evidence is strong that the stock market is not in a bubble and that the economy is chugging along, on track for a long, slow ride to recovery. For a bubble in stock prices, irrational exuberance must be widespread, like it was during tech bubble of 2000. It’s not! Nothing like that is happening now! Covid crushed consumer confidence in March and April. Much of the uncertainty is caused by the runaway gains of the giant tech stocks. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google, and Microsoft – the FAANGM – have led the recovery from the pandemic, leaving the broad market in the dust. And, because the major indexes are weighted by market capitalization, the super return on the giant FAANGM has powered a 42% gain in the S&P 500 since the March 23rd. 2020 bear-market low. The turbocharged returns of the major market indexes fueled by FAANGM are a Covid crisis anomaly, but FAANGM valuations are not out of control. The PEG ratios of the FAANGM – that is, their price-to-earnings ratios divided by the growth rate of their earnings, a more thorough metric than a standard P/E ratio, have not been outlandish, even as the price of the S&P 500 was breaking a new record high last week. In the months ahead, due to Covid-induced economic anomalies, stock plunges should be expected. The anomalies are bound to add uncertainty along the road to recovery. In March and April, for insatnce, consumer spending plunged because people were not going out and spending. At the same time, government payments from the CARES Act arrived in consumer accounts, disposable income hit a new record high, and the savings rate simultaneously skyrocketed by nearly 400% -- and this was happening at worst point of the Covid crisis! These conditions are without precedent and may take months to unwind. The latest economic data show a continued recovery in the manufacturing sector in August, with new orders booming. Meanwhile, in the much more-important service sector, responsible for 91% of jobs in the U.S., the latest figure – while not as a strong as expected -- remained strong in August, and the unemployment rate dropped much lower than the 9.9% rate that was expected, to 8.4%.. Amid the fear of a bubble in the FAANGM and anomalies of the Covid pandemic, the U.S. recovery is chugging along, slowly working its way back to the economic peak of 2019. Please contact us with any questions or to set up a meeting fulbrightteam@moneyful.com , and don't hesitate to share this video with people who might benefit from our work

Stock Market, Valuation,Fee-only, Raleigh, Durham, NC

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African-American consumers spend $1.1 trillion a year. And as a consumer group, if it were a nation, would rank as the 16th wealthiest in the world. As consumers you can check the box. We have to unlock the economic and entrepreneurial power of black America.

What is your earliest memory of being happy? Do you remember that feeling being a kid on a warm summer night, the grass under your bare feet, and the freeing feeling of not having to go to school the next day? For me, being happy is being free like on those summer nights. We all want to be happy. It’s a full feeling. A feeling that connects us with others and deep into ourselves. Physiologically it’s pretty easy to understand – a chemical reaction happens in our brain, serotonin is released, and boom we feel great. Emotionally and spiritually it’s more complex. But how does money impact your happiness? Studies show that the correlation between your salary’s impact on your happiness up to $75,000, and then it peaks at $125,000. Meaning that people are increasingly happy until they make $125,000 and then they plateau. Join us for our discussion with Stacey Tisdale on Are You Happy?. Stacey Tisdale, a more than 20-year veteran TV broadcast financial journalist, and financial behavior expert, is one of the first women, and the first African-American to report from the New York Stock Exchange, in her role as a reporter/anchor for Dow Jones’ Emmy Award winning, Wall Street Journal Television.She then went on to become one of the first on-air reporters for CBS MarketWatch and business/personal finance correspondent for CBS News, The Early Show, CBS Evening News, and CBS Radio. Her latest book is The True Cost of Happiness: The Real Story Behind Managing Your Money Welcome to Mastering Your Money, Stacey Tisdale

In Raleigh-Durham NC area, people do the simple maneuver of converting your personal residence to a rental property. This maneuver brings with it many tax rules, mostly good when you know how they work

“With backgrounds in design thinking and software engineering, the founders of Airbnb (Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk) leveraged technologyto develop a web based user interface that made finding, selecting, and booking travel easier. In the process, they also made it easy for homeowners to earn extra income, whether that be through renting a second home or simply listing a spare bedroom. In one decade, Airbnb transformed what it means to go on vacation. The homeshare juggernaut turns homeowners into hosts, guest rooms into cash cows, and overnight stays into dynamic encounters and lasting friendships. Its very name has become synonymous with finding unique short-term stays anywhere in theworld, enjoying great services and hospitality, and having amazing experiences. Airbnb is a noun, a verb, an adjective, and a movement — and the rest of the industry simply can’t keep up. But competition isn’t what defines this phenom of the sharing economy, community does. Its leaders blended innovative digital tools and a global village spirit to build unprecedented brand loyalty — at a time when most brands struggle to just stay visible.