Nick Hodge,
Publisher
Jan. 30, 2024
Did you know that the average American's retirement account has gone precisely nowhere for the past five years?
That's not me saying that, that's Fidelity, which houses 45 million retirement accounts, 401ks and IRAs.
Pause to think about what that means for a minute.
The country’s collective retirement has gone nowhere for half a decade.
There's a couple of reasons for it.
One reason is the stock market malaise we've seen over the past two years, with the S&P 500 below where it was to kick off 2022 — meaning two years of a sideways stock market.
The other thing that's weighing on those 401k and IRA balances is hardship withdrawals. People are taking early withdrawals from their retirement accounts, and Fidelity says that's primarily to avoid eviction/foreclosure or to pay for an unexpected medical expense.
So here you have all of America — 45 million retirement accounts — that are collectively in a pinch point, having to tap into their already-behind retirement accounts to cover basic expenses like shelter and health.
I cover how that’s going to translate to the economy and stock market in the January issue of Foundational Profits.
Where is the growth going to come from if the American household is already drawing down their retirement savings to cover basic expenses?
The Foundational Profits portfolio, by the way, is not flat for the past five years. We have outperformed the S&P by 25% over that timeframe and by 100% over the past decade. Over the past 10 years, we've returned double what the S&P has with a simple portfolio of ETFs and large-cap stocks.
The January issue is out now.
We're kicking off a new year. So I go through my entire positioning and what you can expect from the stock market, the economy, interest rates and bond yields in 2024.
The conclusion is that the Fed hiking cycle is done. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to get rate cuts in the first half of the year. That's going to make it tough for the stock market and for some commodities.
But there are havens. There are things that are working and we've been in them.
Uranium is a prime example, which is now at 16-year highs north of $90 per pound. And we've also been in gold, which hit an all-time record high to close out 2023 above $2,000 an ounce.
We performed positively in 2023 and I expect more outperformance in 2024. I outline how we're going to do that in the January issue, which you can access by completing the form below.
It includes raising the buy-under price on a utility, which is a long-term play on the end of the Fed rate-hiking cycle. It includes a battery cell technology play, a recent recommendation that we cover in this issue. And it includes buying more of an overlooked uranium stock.
I also give you my outlook for inflation, which I expect to remain a sticky high for the next couple of months.
And you’ll also get my outlook for growth, specifically the US GDP, which was quite robust in Q3 2023. Those are the last numbers we have, but we'll get the Q4 2023 GDP numbers later this month, and I expect that to be closer to 1% growth and then slowing further from there.
You’ll get my full Foundational Profits retirement portfolio allocation in this issue. Every position I own and how much of it I own, so you can make portfolio buy and sell decisions for yourself.
Fill out the form below to get access to it all right now.
It’s an action-packed January issue to kick off 2024. And it’s worth it alone just to get my portfolio allocations and see how I'm positioning my long-term safe capital.
I hope to welcome you soon. And I wish you a happy, prosperous, safe and healthy 2024.
Nick Hodge
Publisher, Daily Profit Cycle