It’s nearly impossible to accurately offer a 2023 economic forecast – but we can have some fun with the idea instead. In today’s episode of the Retirement Readiness podcast, we’re giving a humorous take on what we think the stock market and economy should resolve to improve with New Year’s Resolutions for the economy.
The US Economy’s Top New Year’s Resolutions:
1. Make homes affordable.
2. Don’t make us cry.
3. Make the dollar stronger.
2. Don’t make us cry.
3. Make the dollar stronger.
4. Eat healthier.
5. Say “no” more often.
6. Make time for self care.
6. Make time for self care.
7. Be more responsible.
8. Call parents and grandparents more.
9. Drink less.
8. Call parents and grandparents more.
9. Drink less.
10. Make time for family and friends.
11. Help us swear less.
12. Learn a new skill.
13. Get more organized.
11. Help us swear less.
12. Learn a new skill.
13. Get more organized.
14. Travel more.
Transcript for Episode 12 of the Retirement Readiness Podcast:
Katie Umland
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Retirement Readiness podcast. Today we have a little bit of a fun episode. We’re talking about New Year’s resolutions. So we might have 10, we might have 14. We’ll just have to see how things pan out.
Tim Regan
Well, the funny part about today is because we must already be in the Christmas mood and the New Year’s mood because we had a lot of fun setting up.
Katie Umland
Yeah, this is a fun video because it’s already been a disaster. So, it can only go up from here.
Tim Regan
To your point, Katie, we thought that it’d be fun, especially with how the markets been kind of a disaster to do: “What are the top 10 things that the market is saying is going to do this year?” It’s kind of positioned as New Year’s resolutions.
Katie Umland
Yeah, it’s kind of the the stock market… the economy, I guess we could say, economy as a whole. The economy is the New Year’s resolution. So it’s been a week! I guess, as we were setting up, it was a disaster, we should have known that this was right on par.
Tim Regan
So if you can’t tell, we’ve been around town here a couple of times with our with our podcast. Today we’re sitting in the lobby of our Orland Park location. There’s a beautiful Christmas tree behind us. It’s almost Christmas. And let’s talk about New Year’s right? And what’s the market or the economy going to do this year? So we don’t know for sure if this is gonna happen. But like all New Year’s resolutions, some of these might get broken, but we’re trying to say what we think the economy should do.
Katie Umland
Some are a little high in the sky. Some are maybe more realistic than others.
Tim Regan
For sure. So number one, the market today and the economy today resolves to make homes affordable again. Katie, you recently went through a move, right? What was that like? Was it easy?
Katie Umland
It was not easy to find a house. Once you found the house that you liked, from the very few that were available, they were gone before you could view them many times. We got in right before the interest rates started going up. But now it’s even different.
Tim Regan
Yep. So resolution number one – make homes affordable, and have some supply and demand. So if we’re making homes affordable, let’s talk about number two. So number two, I would say would be that the stock market results not to make us cry every time we open our statements this year. This has been a pretty bumpy ride, as we’ve seen, but hopefully going into 2023 We’ll have some good news, not just all down markets, right?
Katie Umland
That’s right. This one kind of goes hand in hand with a resolution you might be also having on your list it is to better myself by signing up for the gym so I can make the US dollar stronger in the new year.
Tim Regan
That goes to a lot of things, right? As we look across the board at the economy right now, we’re seeing all kinds of things taking place, whether it be trade, whether it be inflation, all kinds of stuff. And so if we could have a strong dollar, that would be good for everybody. This goes for me, if everybody follows us on Facebook or LinkedIn, YouTube, that kind of stuff, everybody knows, I like to eat.
Katie Umland
It’s a theme around the office! We all do.
Tim Regan
And so so the new resolution for the economy this year is to eat healthier, which hopefully that means food prices coming down. We’ve seen that, like everybody else, inflation has driven prices crazy. My personal hope is, and I think my wife would agree, we hope the deli line gets shorter. Hopefully as part of this resolution, because sitting there for an hour waiting for the deli to open up it is not fun.
Katie Umland
You have to pace while you wait for the deli so you get your steps in! I hope that the economy bows this year to say no more often. No more NFT’s. No more Ponzi style.
Tim Regan
Yeah! How about no two executives that let the company go bankrupt and then disappeared in the Bahamas? So, no, we’re gonna hopefully 2023 is going to end those. Yeah, they hopefully will make some time for some self-care. Which would really be to look at “How am I disciplined? Hopefully I can buy stocks now and when they’re low, and exercise my right to buy when it’s low, write it up and have the self-care and self discipline to do that consistent basis.” So that’s why number six.
Katie Umland
I think number seven on the list is just being more financially responsible. Maybe you’re cooking at home. Maybe the economy allows you to cook at home – the prices are dropping a little bit at the grocery store a little bit that way. You’re not going out to eat.
Tim Regan
Hopefully, it’s something where, if you’re anything like us, everybody kind of felt like “I was in jail for two years with COVID” hopefully, you’ll see that people will kind of go back to even some of the stuff that happened the beginning of the lockdown where we were at home, right? Doing more stuff at the house and that kind of thing. So I think that the next one, number eight should be, I would resolve to call my grandparents and my parents more often. And I can do that because they’re not gonna be crying about the global crisis.
Katie Umland
Yeah, you didn’t want to talk to them before! Like, “Ooh, let’s not bring up that!”
Tim Regan
Yeah, exactly. Well, now we’re not even in the election year, so I don’t even know what we’re going to talk about. So the economy swears that it’s gonna allow me to call my mom and my grandparents more frequently because they’re not going to be so depressed.
Katie Umland
Maybe we should vow to drink less?
Tim Regan
No. Not that one. I don’t care if the market is more smooth and I don’t have to drink.
Katie Umland
Maybe your temper isn’t rising so you don’t have to drink so much?
Tim Regan
Exactly. But I don’t think that’ll be ideal. How about number 10? How about if I can make more time for family and friends because I can work less? I don’t have to work as much, and I can work a little bit less. That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? Now there might be time to drink more.
Katie Umland
I don’t know if all of these can happen at the same time. Maybe if the economy could help us to swear less by not getting so riled up about all of these crazy turns.
Tim Regan
We just saw that a conference we were at that the number one reason that people said they were not getting a job back in June was because they had a spouse that was working Today, now we’ve got people back, and then that has fallen over to number eight. Now people are saying, “We’re all back to work.” And so some of that, hopefully, is we’re not swearing and getting frustrated because the economy’s evening out more, right? We get back to that more traditional way that we’ve lived. Now, maybe some people don’t want both spouses to work. And maybe there’ll be squaring some more. But maybe it says we’re getting back to more of a normal, even keel. And how about the economy if it could swear to learn a new skill, rather than the Federal Reserve constantly just increasing rates and increasing rates. Mix it up a little bit! So that’s the next resolution is we will learn a new skill.
Katie Umland
Maybe to get more organized? Like, don’t give away all your money on accident? Like, looking at FTX. Keep your accounts in some kind of organized manner.
Tim Regan
Yeah, for sure. A lot of times with that even, I think, you know, it’s appropriate to think about “How do I get organized at the beginning of the year?” But we’re also seeing this huge rise in scams, right? I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but they’re getting smarter and smarter and smarter. So, a lot of times, if the economy gets more organized, hopefully you get more organized. Hopefully, everybody will get their accounts in order.
Katie Umland
And you can help your grandma, too, so she doesn’t get scammed with those.
Tim Regan
You mean you’re not really in Uganda or jailed somewhere? And finally, what if we just traveled some more? Now, if the world was a place that we could travel to, that would be a different story, but how about if we just said, “This year we resolved to enjoy ourselves, to have a very prosperous year, and hopefully the stock market can tend to stabilize a little bit and get back on track.” So from all of us here at Prairie View Wealth Partners, we hope we can help you live your legacy with confidence. Follow us on Facebook, follow us on LinkedIn or wherever else we are. Just follow us. Here’s to a very prosperous 2023!
Katie Umland
We’ll see you in the new year!
Explore more financial insights and news on the PrairieView blog, and be sure to check out our other “Retirement Readiness” episodes!
