The Flinchum File

Thoughtful Economic Analysis and Existential Opinions
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Welcome to The Flinchum File

I am an Accredited Investment Fiduciary at Bay Capital Advisors, an investment firm headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA. After retiring from Truist Bank, I started this firm to work more closely with a smaller number of clients, and it has been great! Our client load is about 25% of the national average.

Writing is not for the shy or the meek. It exposes a person’s mind and character. I hope you enjoy the view.

The opinions expressed in The Flinchum File are those of the writer, Jim Flinchum, and do not necessarily reflect those of Bay Capital Advisors, LLC

Current Currency Thoughts

In my last column for Inside Business, I commented that the fear of the dollar losing its status as the world’s reserve currency was over-blown. This worried a number of readers. If this loss does occur, it will not happen for many years. In the meantime, we need to remember that responsibility comes along with the status of being the reserve currency. Since the Asian…

Not Market Timing, Cycle Timing………

The National Association of Business Economics is an organization of “working” economists, as opposed to “theoretical or academic” economists, and I have been a member for years. This week, we held our annual policy conference in Washington, and it was fascinating as always. If asked what was most interesting to me, it is that the developed nations actually got their act together at the beginning…

Recovery Postponed…due to weather delay?

While few economists disagree, the most important monthly economic statistic released each month for investment strategists is the “Jobs Report”, which is released the first Friday of each month. Today, the Labor Department announced the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.7%. The good news is that we only lost 36 thousand jobs last month, compared with a loss of 26 thousand in January. The reason…

Return to the Future . . . I hope not!

Today, the Commerce Department reported that consumer spending in January increased for the fourth straight month and increased by more than expected. They also announced that the December increase was greater than earlier reported. Unfortunately, spending increased five times as fast as personal income increased, which only increased about one-fourth of what was expected. Hopefully, we are not returning to our old habits. The US…