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Living Presidents are banned from having their faces on currency.
The Markets
Why am I saving and investing?

After a week like last week, it’s an important question. There are many reasons people save and invest, including to:

·          Live the life they want today and in the future
·          Accumulate resources so they’re prepared for any bumps in the road
·          Provide an education for their children
·          Offer assistance to parents
·          Support a young person with a disability
·          Do good in the world
·          Live comfortably in retirement without anxiety

However, none of these reasons have anything to do with short-term market fluctuations.

Last week, major U.S. stock indices experienced a selloff, and we saw a dramatic downturn in stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 5.7 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 6 percent, and the NASDAQ fell 6.5 percent, reported Barron’s .

Those are big moves for a single week. The kind of moves that light up the emotion centers of investors’ brains and make them want to sell.

It’s not a new phenomenon. In 2002, in an article for CNN Money , Jason Zweig explained the brain’s potentially negative influence on investment decisions, “But in the world of investing, a panicky response to a false alarm – dumping all your stocks just because the Dow is dropping – can be as costly as ignoring real danger. For one thing, it can cause you to flee the market at a low point and miss out when the market bounces back. A moment of panic can also disrupt your long-term investing strategy.”

So, what happened last week? In short:

·           The Fed raised rates, as expected. The Federal Reserve raised the Fed funds rate by a quarter of a percent, which may benefit savers and investors, but will make borrowing more expensive.
·          Tariffs triggered trade war worries. The Trump administration levied tariffs on China, raising concerns of a global trade war.
·          You’re fired! There was additional turnover among senior advisers to President Trump.
·          Can they do that? British news reported a data analytics firm has been influencing elections around the world in some unsavory ways.
·           Don’t share my data! There was news a social media firm had shared the personal data of thousands with a researcher who shared it with a third-party firm without permission.
·           Sigh. Another data breach. An online travel company experienced a data breach that may have exposed the personal information of 880,000 users.
·          The economy is chugging along. Last week’s U.S. economic releases were overshadowed by everything else, but many indicated a strengthening economy, reported Barron’s .

That’s a lot to take in over the span of five days. The critical thing is to recognize these short-term events are unlikely to change your long-term financial goals. Financial decisions, including buying and selling investments, are important and can be life shaping. They should be grounded by long-term financial goals and foundational principles of investing. They should not be based on the brain’s instinctive fear and flight response. 
LET’S TAKE A GOOD NEWS BREAK. After last week, we could all use some good news. Here are 10 intriguing headlines from the Good News Network:

1. Scientists Believe They Found a Way to Stop Future Hurricanes in Their Tracks
2. Strangers Rally Around 13-Year-old Whose Rock Museum was Robbed
3. Dog that Shoplifted a Book on ‘Abandonment’ is Given the Love It was Asking For
4. Stranger Becomes Honorary Grandma After She Opens Home to Stranded Father in Distress
5. We’re Not Spinning a Yarn Here: Knitting May Boost Health and Happiness
6. Robot Becomes Part of the Community After Easing Daily Burden of Water Collection in Remote Village
7. Instead of Using Trees, Scientists are Making Sustainable Paper Out of Manure
8. World’s First Mass-Produced, 3D-Printed Car is Electric and Costs Under $10K
9. This Pollution-Gobbling City Bench Can Absorb as Many Toxins as 275 Trees
10. Free Clothing Hung on Streets to Help the Homeless Stay Warm

There is a lot of good news in the world. Unfortunately, it doesn’t pack a wallop like bad news does, so we hear less about it. 
9 Fascinating Facts About Money:





Coins have ridges to protect against counterfeiting.

Did you ever wonder why the quarter has those ridges on the edge? They were created to prevent counterfeiting. To make a little extra money, people would shave the edges of the coins and collect the metal. A ten dollar gold piece was made with ten dollars worth of gold.

A dollar bill only lasts 18 months before it wears out.

The dollar bill is the most circulated bill in the U.S. One-dollar bills account for 48% of the paper bills printed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. A dollar bill usually makes it through around 18 months of use before it wears out. 


Living Presidents are banned from having their faces on currency.

By legislation created during the Revolutionary years of the U.S., no living person can be featured on a coin. It was to ensure that the U.S. would not appear like a monarchy, as living kings during the era were cast onto their country's coinage. There has been one exception to this rule, President Calvin Coolidge. His image was struck on a commemorative coin that celebrated the Sesquicentennial of American Independence. It was minted in 1926.

The first woman to appear on U.S. coins wasn't even American.

Several women have appeared on U.S. coins. The very first woman was actually not an American, she was a Spanish queen. Featured on a commemorative coin, Queen Isabella of Spain was the first lady to be cast on a U.S. coin in 1893.

The U.S. Mint isn't the only place where money is produced.

There are several communities within the U.S. that actually produce their own money. If you've ever been to a  Walt Disney theme park, you have used "Disney" money. Many colleges produce their own money for student use, and even a few small communities like Ithaca, New York provide local cash.This was created to provide more spending within the community at small businesses.

Benjamin Franklin is the only non-President to appear on a bill.

Today, the highest publicly circulating denomination of U.S. paper currency is the $100 bill. The $100 also features the only circulating currency that does not feature an American president on its face. Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin has the honor.

The most counterfeited bill in the country is $20.

The most counterfeited denomination of money is the $20 bill followed by the $100. In foreign countries, the U.S. $100 is the most frequently counterfeited. As of 2005, the U.S. Secret Service reported: "foreign seizures totaling $37.9 million in counterfeit U.S. currency and foreign passing totaling $4.8 million in counterfeit U.S. currency." Coins are also still counterfeited, although today they are most likely to be fakes of rare and valuable coins.

95% of all the new money being printed is used to replace U.S. dollars that wind up overseas.

  As a part of the U.S Treasury Department, this Bureau oversees the U.S. Mints nationwide. It prints 37 million bills a day, or $696 million dollars. This amount doesn't reflect 'new money.' Ninety-five percent of this is printed to replace currency already in circulation. The U.S. dollar is the most widely used currency in international transactions. 

Dollar bills are filthy, often turning up traces of Salmonella and E.coli.

According to several recent studies, money in your wallet is some really dirty stuff. The older the bills, the more contaminants that are present, including salmonella and E.coli. Bills that are printed on primarily cotton material were found to have the highest levels of bacteria, where those created on newer, slicker polymers had the least.
Best Regards,
Don's Email Signiture
* Securities offered through LPL Financial Member FINRA/SIPC.

* This newsletter was prepared by Peak Advisor Alliance. Peak Advisor Alliance is not affiliated with the named broker/dealer. 

* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general.
You cannot invest directly in this index.

* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged index. Unmanaged index returns do not reflect fees, expenses, or sales charges. Index performance is not indicative of the performance of any investment.

* The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond market.

* Gold represents the London afternoon gold price fix as reported by the London Bullion Market Association.

* The DJ Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.
* The DJ Equity All REIT TR Index measures the total return performance of the equity subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated by Dow Jones.

* Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific periods.

* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.

* Past performance does not guarantee future results.
* You cannot invest directly in an index.

* Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

*This newsletter was prepared by Peak Advisor Alliance

* Economic forecasts set forth may not develop as predicted and there can be no guarantee that strategies promoted will be successful.

* Stock investing involves risk including loss of principal.

* This information in not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax or legal advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific situation with a qualified tax or legal advisor.

* The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basked of consumer goods and services.
 
* Harmonized Indexes of Consumer Prices are measures of consumer price inflation that have been standardized across multiple countries based on European Union definitions. A monthly report compiles HICP trends for 16 economies, alongside conventional Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) as measured by national governments.
  
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Sources: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-fascinating-facts-about-money-2013-7
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