Happy Monday Future Funders Family!

Did you know June officially kicks off the Atlantic hurricane season?

This year the experts predict only an average season with 12 to 17 named storms (you can check out the name list here)…so basically they have just jinxed everything.

💬 Quote Of The Week

🍽️ The Main Course

Headlines That Matter

Economy

Signs Of Price Relief (Finally)

🚀 The quick version: Amid the inflation over the past few years we have all been searching for a sign that prices may come down like an oasis in the desert. This past week we finally saw something in the distance.   

Here is what happened: 

• First, the Manufacturing ISM for May was released (this is a monthly survey of US manufacturing companies which is used as a broad read to how the manufacturing sector is doing). The most notable takeaway was that prices manufacturing firms paid for goods dropped rapidly. What happens in manufacturing pricing tends to flow through to the consumer eventually, so this was a welcome sight.

• Second, jobs data for May was released. Beneath the surface level results (which were generally strong), wage growth started to cool (was +4.3% in May vs. last year, down from last month). Wage growth slowing paves the way for prices to slow further (because if people are earning less money companies will have trouble charging higher prices for stuff).

• Third, several product companies reported earnings (like Macy’s, Dollar General, and Advance Auto Parts) and noted for the first time they will start to compete more by lowering prices later this year as customer are becoming more selective.

These three data points taken together by no means say we are out of the woods yet, but it’s enough to possibly start to paint a picture of slowing price growth (the fancy term for this is disinflation) or even widespread price drops (the fancy term for this is deflation) on the horizon.

👪 How it affects your family: We don’t want to act like there isn’t a long way to go still and obviously don’t have to tell you how much seeing lower prices at the gas pump or the grocery store would help.

But the data now has our attention and let’s see what we get in the next CPI reading on June 13th as we watch for further signs (here is an explanation of what CPI means and other inflationary terms to watch). 

Pressed to make a call today, we believe that we will actually start to see more signs of price drops over the next six months. If we are right, it would likely also mean interest rates have peaked (or nearly peaked) and may start to come down in that time frame (the market agrees on this). Here are a few ways you can capitalize:

• Stocks: Lower prices on goods and services would likely be a mixed bag here. It would be positive at first as interest rates come down (see the stock market’s relationship to interest rates) but we think it would actually be a negative for stocks as people realize lower prices hurt company profit margins. As an investor, you can take advantage of large market moves in either direction by monitoring big RSI changes.

• Bonds: Bond prices would most likely go higher but their yields (i.e. the interest you get when buying) would move lower. We would lock in higher interest rates on your bonds by investing today (here is some info on a short-term Treasury ladder).  

• Housing: Home prices will still vary depending on where in the country you live, but an economy seeing lower interest rates would also see lower mortgage rates in six months. Factor this into your thinking around buying or selling a house at the moment (did you know the government made recent changes to mortgage costs? Get our take here).

Travel

Maybe Don’t Go To Europe For Vacation

🚀 The quick version: One big hidden travel expense for those families traveling abroad this summer is the weakening of the U.S. Dollar.

The simple explanation is that the U.S. Dollar gets stronger or weaker due to the forces of supply and demand (for a not too boring explanation with more detail we found this short article to help). 

What is more important is that last summer the U.S. Dollar was a lot stronger vs. most currencies in the world so this was an advantage to families traveling abroad as you could get more for your money.

This summer, however, the U.S. Dollar is weaker and so you won’t be able to buy as much stuff (especially in Europe where the US dollar is now about 10% weaker than it was last summer).  

👪 How it affects your family: While you will have to manage travel costs effectively no matter where the family is headed this summer (here is a list of 11 quick tips to save on family travel), if you are considering traveling abroad, here are a few places where the U.S. Dollar is actually stronger this summer vs. last: Canada, Argentina, Japan, Australia, and Turkey.

If you want to stay local though and are looking for something interesting, check out a road trip through North America at exactly 70 degrees (I thought this sounded fun - my wife did not).

Here are some other helpful traveling tips to help our your wallet:

• The best time to book a flight and travel 

• How to save money on hotels 

• 20 family vacation ideas that won’t break the bank 

Dinner Discussion ❓

🥘 The Side Dishes

A few things to know…

🧑‍💼 Demand for teens this summer is red hot. If you have teens, this is your (oops, we mean their) lucky summer to get out of the house. A tight labor market has led to  increasing demand for teenage workers this summer, boosting wages. If it helps we found this list of 45 high paying summer job ideas for teens.  

🤖 Where to start getting smarter on AI? For parents out there who are looking to get a bit smarter on the emerging technology here is a well curated list of reading material. If you are looking for something less intense, we have a list of 100 AI movies you can watch with the kids.

👂 Scripps National Spelling Bee has a champion. 11 million people entered but only one emerged the W-I-N-N-E-R. We tried to spell the final word and couldn’t…even after watching the winning video.  

🏫 College enrollment slips. Probably not a surprise since you are paying the bills, but the latest stats show college enrollment is dropping. Is traditional college even worth it anymore? We have a view. 

🫵 How companies make it difficult to unsubscribe: dark patterns. We all need to know about dark patterns and how companies make unsubscribing so difficult. Also, if you are looking to teach your kids about false advertising let us help.  

🥫 Fridge vs. pantry? 21 grocery items many people are storing wrong at home. We admit here to doing several of these ourselves.

💰 Be a test subject and make money. It’s not all about taking sketchy drugs. There are actually a few reasonable ways to do this if you’re interested.

📺 Free digital entertainment. Tired of your Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Spotify costs going up. We found this helpful article on where to find free digital entertainment options. Enjoy!

🗓️ The Week Ahead

June 5th

They won’t call it the metaverse, but today at their worldwide developer conference Apple will likely announce a mixed-reality headset product for those who are interested.

June 6th

Today is National Higher Education Day which aims to aims to prepare a path for more students toward a higher education degree. If your kids are older, we couldn’t think of a better day to talk to them about the ROI on their degree and budgeting for student loans (here is our free student loan budget template).

June 9th

Today is National Movie Night. Pop some popcorn, grab some blankets, put away the cell phones and make it a family movie night. National Drive In Movie Day is also June 6th if you prefer and want to search for a theater near you.  

🍨 Dessert

This Week’s Topic of Focus

Using AI To Help You Invest

Did you know that whether you are a beginner or programming your own investing algorithms AI can help you with your investment decisions? This week we wanted to highlight 15 ways that AI can help you get smarter on your investing journey.

Dinner Discussion ❓