New England Capital Financial Advisors, LLC

A couple of weeks ago, I (and about 30 other financial related professionals) was invited to sit down with the Governor of Connecticut, Ned Lamont, to talk about the financial health of the state.  I was rather surprised when I got the email invite from one of his senior advisors.  The senior advisor had found me on a google search, as I am currently the President of the Financial Planning Association CT Valley Chapter (this is our trade organization throughout the state comprised mostly of CFP’s and financial planners).

In addition to Governor Lamont, David Lehman, the Economic Advisor and Commissioner of Economic Development for the State of Connecticut, was going to be there as well.  The purpose of the meeting was to engage in a dialogue with the Governor and other industry colleagues about the Connecticut economy, the Governor’s focus on fiscal stability, and an opportunity to share our perspective with Governor Lamont as well as ask questions.  What a great opportunity to hear from the Governor and be able to voice my thoughts and opinions, especially since I hear from a lot of you on how you feel about Connecticut.

Congratulations to the Bride & Groom! Lindsey Teach & Jeff Larson were married in a beautiful ceremony on August 24, 2019. We wish them many years of happiness together!

If you’ve been in the office recently on a Friday, you might have noticed us wearing jeans.  We recently implemented Jean Friday’s in the office where if employees choose to wear jeans, they make a $5 donation to charity. Each quarter an employee oversees collecting the funds and then gets to choose the recipient.  The first quarter, Ann Ocone was in charge and chose the Meriden Humane Society.  

The first six months of 2019 have been a good year. I mean the stock market gains for the first six months of 2019 would be above average performance for any 12 month period. The S&P 500 is up over 17% year-to-date with the first three months being up about 13% and the second three months adding an additional 4%. International investors as measured by the Europe, Asia, Far East (EAFE) index were up almost 2.5% in the second quarter and up over 11% in the first half of 2019.

The bond market continues its long stretch of low yields. The 10 year US Treasury Bond currently yields around 2% annually. If you had left half your money in the treasury bonds and half in the S&P 500 Index, your total return for 2019 would be almost 10%. Again, not a bad annual return jammed into the first six months of the year.

Where do we go from here? The US is growing at a “healthy tortoise pace”. We are still growing at about a 2% rate which is less than half the growth rate of historic expansions. This month, the economic expansion officially became the longest expansion on record.

Throughout my 26-year career, this question comes up quite a bit and is not always an easy one to answer.  After all, you have 8 years to choose from (as early as age 62 and as late as age 70).  Let me first say that everyone is unique, and decisions are not always financial-based.  Some decisions are based on health, life expectancy, and spousal needs.  There are pros and cons to starting Social Security early as well as taking it later.  This article will explore taking it early and my next newsletter article will focus on taking it later.

Before we get started, you need to know your Full Retirement Age (FRA).  Depending on when you start your benefits, they may be reduced for taking it early or increased if taking it late: