Numbers & Such
By the middle of each week, the top corners of my desks (yes, multiple) are already full of pieces of newspapers, journals and magazines that I’ve clipped or torn out. This week’s contained a variety of numbers and stats that caught my eye. They included:
LPL – was founded in 1989 by the merger of Linsco and Private Ledger, currently serves over 18,000 financial professionals and 800 institutions with a ranking of #466 on the Fortune 500 List. LPL has supported The Linkous Group for the better part of 20 years and for our clients in 27 states.
Current events – 14,000 U.S. diners and bars closed during pandemic, initial public offerings on Wall Street declined by $4.6 billion, oil makes up about 4.3% of GDP when it’s over $100 barrel which triggers users to seek substitutes, and there are approximately 362 ships waiting off the ports of Shang-hai and Hong Kong as congestion clears off Los Angeles. (Barron’s 3/28)
Amazonteam.org – is one of the personal charities that I support for the work they do protecting rain forests and all that entails. On March 24th, they got my attention by stating that “indigenous people represent only 5% of the world’s population but protect nearly 80% of the remaining terrestrial biodiversity on the planet.”
IRA Update
Heirs of IRAs whose owners died after 2019, now have 10 years to empty the accounts and if the owner was already taking required minimum distributions (now age 72), the heirs must take withdrawals annually based on life expectancy of the owner. Roth IRAs are treated slightly differently as heirs may wait until the end of the 10-year period to take the funds out.
The life expectancy tables have been updated in 2022 to reflect longer life expectancies which allows IRA owners to spread taxable withdrawals over longer periods of time.
Money Rates
On March 17th, the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee raised the discount rate from 0.25% to 0.50%. Borrowing from the Federal Reserve at the discount rate is one of two ways commercial banks borrow money to satisfy their short-term needs. The other is to borrow from one another at the interbank rate.
The prime lending rate (the Fed’s base rate for consumer loans from which banks add their margin) is currently 3.50%.
To see all the various money rates and how we compare to other global banks, I utilize the Wall Street Journal’s money rate section found in their market section.
Your Fiduciary,
Susan R. Linkous / The Linkous Group, Ltd.
A Registered Investment Advisor