Interest Rates Will Rise in 2016 – The Question is How Fast?

Market Maneuvering Margins Are Minimal

Dips Are One Thing – A Steady Downside Is Something Else

No One Cares About Your Money More Than You Do

Election Years Have Some Predictable Ef-fects

Beware Of The Finan-cial Advisor Selling His Own Goods

‘Buy American’ Does Not Apply Now

Housing Supply And Demand Remains Un-balanced

Student Debt Curbs Potential New Home-owners

How Did We Become A Society Lulled By Entitlements?

America Is Not De-signed To Be A Social-ist Nation!

The Running Of The Bulls Begins

Be ‘For’ Something In-stead Of Just ‘Against’ Something

AUTHORED BY MIKE LATHIGEE

JANUARY 1ST 2016 NEWSLETTERLas Vegas Investment Club

In 2015 I was very clear at all our club meet-ings and communications that stocks were fully valued and that the strength of the US dollar had a negative impact on company earnings. At best, I expected the market to trade sideways for the year. That is exactly what did occur.

You might recall that at one meeting in May, internationally known trader Phil Town and I discussed this situation in detail. We guided investors to take profits and go into a heavier cash position. In 2016 my guid-ance is similar but I believe the potential of a significant correction is very possible..

The good news is that I don’t see a reces-sion in America in 2016. However, the economic growth around China, Brazil, Russia, Europe, and most other nations remains weak. This means less demand for US exports. This slowed demand for US goods, combined with the strong dol-lar and coupled with weak international growth will continue to mute earnings growth in 2016.

Interest Rates Will Rise in 2016 – The Question is How Fast?

The Federal Reserve has lifted the cap on interest rates and although I don’t expect the Fed to take an aggressive stance, the impact of higher rates will hurt bond prices and mutual fund portfolios. That will be bad for your 401k!

I don’t see inflation as a problem in 2016. However, if inflation does rip through the US market, the expected impact would be for the Fed to raise interest rates much

quicker than anticipated. Higher interest rates would have dire consequences for both the stock market and the real estate market.

Market Maneuvering Margins Are Mini-mal

As I see it, this is the problem we are facing: Even if the market were growing at a strong pace, the S&P 500 stocks are still not cheap in relation to their earnings. This leaves little maneuvering room. Any economic headwind will cause a stock market sell-off. Bottom line is stocks are overvalued as of this date January 1st, 2016.

That is why in 2016 I would reduce all ex-posure to the stock market to about two-percent of your net worth. I suggest buying stocks on substantial sell-offs when they begin to show value relative to the sales price.

Do not listen to your financial advisor when they tell you to be “long” in the market. It is in their own interest to keep you in the market in order to protect their fees. Right now the market is a gamble and not worth the risk.

I see little room for upside movement when the S&P 500 is trading at 17.2 times its earn-ings over the last 12 months. This is much higher than the 14.5 ratio we’ve seen over the last decade. With stock prices this high there is little room left for them to rise un-less we see substantial economic growth or a huge market sell-off. At this time I am on the sidelines.

Why 2016 Won’t Be A Good Year For The Stock Market!

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Dips Are One Thing – A Steady Down-side Is Something Else

I have another area of concern, too. The majority of mutual funds continue to un-derperform the market. Mutual funds are a favorite of financial advisors, yet for the most part your advisor is not your friend. Over time the fees charged by your advisor will erode the accumulated gains you could attain by over 50%. My feedback is in most cases a financial advisor is a bad invest-ment and moving in the wrong direction.

All the government’s regulatory involve-ment has made things even worse. It has gotten to the point where most financial advisors are simply glorified mutual fund salespeople due to their limitations on what they can and cannot do.

So, my guidance for 2016 is that we are looking at a year likely to trade downward. Couple that with the financial fees you are paying in your 401k or mutual funds, and 2016 could take you one step closer to the poor house. Investors relying on financial advisors need to look hard at this combi-nation and make some smart decisions. I suggest attending Las Vegas Investment Club Meetings and take on more personal accountability for your financial affairs.

Many people are surprised that lower oil prices sometimes have a negative impact

on the stock market. The logic is lower gasoline prices means more money for consumers to be able to spend elsewhere and a stronger consumer. After all con-sumers make up about 75% of US GDP and more spending by consumers drives up stock market values. However, there is another factor at play that is offsetting any potential stock market gain.

As of the date of this article Jan 1, 2016 oil is near $40 and likely in my opinion headed lower. Much lower oil prices cause sover-eign wealth funds that are from oil produc-ing states to sell off their portfolios to meet their budgetary needs domestically. This has an impact on all equities worldwide as these funds sell off their equities and other securities.

The level of sovereign wealth fund assets under management as of December 31, 2015 is $7.2 trillion, with $4.4 trillion origi-nating in commodity and oil rich nations. These oil dependent nations like Saudi Arabia have to repatriate the capital from the sovereign wealth funds having a nega-tive impact on stock markets worldwide.

No One Cares About Your Money More Than You Do

If you haven’t already done so, it is time to stop relying on others to manage your money!

I believe that the only investors, who will do well in the stock market in 2016, are investors capable of making individual stock picks without having to pay finan-cial advisor fees. I freely admit that this is a high risk game for most people. That’s be-cause most people are not equipped with the skills needed to do due diligence and objectively assess the risks and rewards.

All I can tell you is that you are not going to do well if you only listen to a financial advisor. Their standard policy is to tell you, “You are in this for the long term and need to ride out the dips in the market.” That makes money for the financial advisor, the bank or brokerage house but not you!

Dips are one thing, but I foresee something more than a dip. If you get such advice from your advisor then seriously consider firing them. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve known them, how much money they’ve made for you in the past. Staying in for the long term is not good advice in today’s market. You must remember that your financial advisor’s best interest is in their own pocketbook, not yours. Yes I have said this many times already but I hope it is sinking in!!!

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Election Years Have Some Predict-able EffectsAnother consideration for the stock market in 2016 is the upcoming presidential election. Whenever we have a change in the oval office the stock market becomes volatile, which then becomes a catalyst for corrections. Capital markets do not like uncertainty and changing presidents is the ultimate uncertainty.

Unlike most economists, I believe that in 2016 a correction of 20% or more is probable. I think in the first quarter of 2016 we are go-ing to see a correction of 10% or more. Oil, a change in the President and a world slowdown are all reasons for the market to sell off and there are very few reasons to see upside.

China remains my top concern and any negative information can cause a market sell off to correction levels of 10% or more. If noth-ing more, the possibility of a sell off is significant enough to avoid following the normal strategy most financial advisors recommend, which is to buy ETFs and mutual funds.

I repeat, fees on these investments can quickly consume any profit. But more importantly, these funds are likely to underperform and unlikely to even see any profit in the year ahead. What the advisors are saying is a safe investment is not safe at all; it is a high risk loser’s game!

Beware Of The Financial Advisor Selling His Own Goods It is my opinion that the worst place to get financial advice is at your bank. I have spoken to many bank financial advisors and found very few are equipped with the skills necessary to really guide investors. For the most part they just sell mutual funds from a small group of offerings that are controlled by the bank. Basically these advisors are showing you less than 1/100,000 of what is available in the marketplace. .

Plus banks have very limited options on what products they can sell you. And they do call them products – only you don’t get any warranty or guarantee if it “breaks”. If you are looking for a place to get objective advice on investment options, it is prudent to look elsewhere.

Yes, I realize I sound a bit harsher than usual in this newsletter, but sometimes it seems that I have to hit people over the head with the truth before they get it! I will go to my grave telling you that financial advisors are motivated to make themselves rich, not to make you rich.

Okay. Here is some black and white truth.

In 2014 more than 90% of mutual funds underperformed the markets and this was even before fees were factored in. Even if you challenge what I’m telling you, you just have to look at the numbers. I guarantee that the numbers can speak for themselves.I can also guarantee that this newsletter will not be popular with the financial services industry. And you know what? I don’t care. They are not my people.

I am not concerned about them. I am not concerned about how to line their pockets. My concern is about giving you a reality check, giving you some education, giving you some awareness of what the economy is doing. My concern is about giving you some common sense guidance about how to manage your money and where not to put it. At this time, that means the stock market.I have no vested interest in writing this newsletter other than to guide members on the best strategies at any given time, as I see them. My priority is to help club members and I could care less about the hostility of financial advisors. They can dislike me all they want. They know the truth of what I’m saying. They just don’t want you to know it.

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‘Buy American’ Does Not Apply NowIf you are still determined to stay in the stock market, then at least consider looking outside of America for investments.

Most Americans only have a very small percentage of their stock portfolio in foreign stocks. The main reason I am more bullish on foreign stocks right now is because most foreign stocks are trading at a much lower multiple. At this time if you are still keen to invest in the stock market look at market ETFs from developed nations like Germany and Italy. I would still avoid China as it could have huge swings and even professional traders find it hard to predict trading patterns in China.

I discussed China as a high risk play in late 2013 and at club meet-ings discussed ETFs like ASHR and YINN. At that time valuations were low and I felt a lot of money could be made. Well we hit it correctly and these ETFs had triple digit gains. In 2016 the risk is just not worth the reward no matter how much the sell-off. The government totally manipulates the stock market in China and there is a host of new concerns that did not exist in 2013-2014. Having said this I still look at foreign exposure as a better idea than investing domestically. Still, you need to remember that investing in stock markets abroad is a definite risk. The biggest risk has to do with the currency conversion when you take profits. Here is what I mean.

It is possible for a foreign market to outperform the US market by a wide margin. However, if the US dollar continues to move much higher, then any gains you make could turn to vapor when you convert your investment back into US dollars.

I believe that if investors wish to invest in stocks then the same foreign markets have more upside than what I foresee for the American market. As stated I like developed nations and would avoid the emerging nations. I like Italy and Germany. Having said this I am “long” on nothing in the stock market for 2016.

If you invest in foreign markets you definitely need to do your homework in this arena before moving in. Pay attention to cur-rency fluctuations, news, politics and everything about your investment, so that you don’t get hurt badly in a sudden shift, or short-changed at the end game.

As for myself, throughout 2015 I sold all my remaining stock posi-tions and as of December 31, 2015 I had less than one-percent of my net worth in the American stock market. For all members I advocate holding a much smaller position in all stocks.

I am on the sidelines until value begins to return to the markets. By value I mean at least a 20% correction to attract true upside interest. I am hoping for a huge sell-off and expect it may occur in the first quarter of 2016.

One reason I say that is because I am seeing many stocks had huge gains in 2015 and investors will wait to early 2016 to sell these stocks to delay paying tax for another year. I believe these stocks will see downward pressure in the New Year and even on the first trading day of January 4.

As 2016 starts we will continue to witness volatility in the capital markets for a prolonged period of time. A 20 percent to 30 per-cent correction is equity prices would only then signal to begin to look at a possible re-entry to buy stocks. The earnings of US companies in 2016 will continue to contract in the S&P 500 largely due to a strong US dollar.

I believe 2016 does have an entry point with a large sell off and I am not all ‘doom and gloom”. I am still ready to put money to work if stocks go on sale throughout the year.

My Final Concern about the markets in 2016 is that central banks are running out of ways to stimulate the economy. Central banks around the world can no longer repress financial volatility and therefore any major negative economic news will take longer to restore stability. I predict huge quick sell offs in 2016 if addi-tional downward sell off in oil or bad news out of China. In the United States where central bank easing can no longer be used to assist markets the lawmakers on Capitol Hill will have to use the old fashion methods of reforming corporate taxes, reducing debt and joint ventures between the public and public sector on overhauling out dated infrastructure.

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Housing Supply And Demand Remains Unbalanced The US housing market had a strong year in 2015. With continued low interest rates, my outlook for housing in 2016 is more positive than my view on stocks.

In addition, as the US economy continues its long recovery, leading to higher wages, the consumer’s situation will continue to improve. Combine this with lower oil prices and we will see consumers gain more purchasing power, which will drive demand for housing.

The bull market in housing since 2009 was mainly due to lower interest rates and the increased buying power of homeowners. The supply and demand imbalances between many cities also drove housing prices higher and will continue to do so in 2016.Let me give you a snapshot of what I mean by imbalances in supply and demand.

In recent history, many large metropolitan areas had plenty of buyers in the market for housing, yet not enough homes to meet de-mand. This caused prices to move higher than they would have normally. This situation remains intact and will continue through 2016.I am hopeful that the large price increases for homes in 2016 will entice more sellers into the marketplace, thus creating a more bal-anced marketplace where supply can better meet demand.

This imbalance is the number one factor driving prices upward in many cities. For the most part, evidence of this supply and demand balancing act will be most prevalent in the west in cities like San Francisco, Portland and San Diego.

Still, I believe that the price increases for homes in 2016 will move at a slower pace than we experienced in 2015.

While we may see a reduction in buying power due to higher interest rates, it is likely to be off-set by projected improvements in the job market and the broader economy.

To give you some perspective, in 2014 three-million jobs were added to the work marketplace. The prediction for 2015 was for two-million jobs however, as of January 1, the date of this newsletter the numbers for 2015 are not finalized. These jobs lead to more people being able to buy homes!

Student Debt Curbs Potential New Homeowners

The biggest damper on housing prices is something that I have discussed many times in the past. And that is the fact that many Mil-lennials are saddled with student debt. The amount of this collective debt is more than $1.3 trillion. Obviously, this kind of financial obligation keeps many first-time buyers out of the housing market.

The problem is that these education loans create a debt-to-income ratio that is higher than is acceptable by conventional mortgage brokers. This causes problems in the underwriting and approval process.

Also, this debt can impact credit scores, especially if payments have been missed. Given our recent rocky economy, missing pay-ments can’t be unexpected.

My heart goes out to these Millennials, because I have nieces and nephews and I understand how hard it can be to get started in life when saddled with this kind of obligation. They are truly between the proverbial rock and that really hard place.

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Speaking of Debt … Speaking of debt, I need to return to a recurring theme that refuses to stay under the carpet, no matter how often the politicians try to sweep it under!

We must constantly be aware of the impact of our US national debt on every aspect of our economy and its recovery. The cur-rent debt of the United States is $19 trillion at the Federal level -- and growing daily.

Consider these two facts: • Since 2000 total spending by the US federal government has increased by 107%. • Since 2000 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by only 87%.

Economics 101 defines GDP as “the basic measure of the market value of all goods and services sold in an economy.”

Total spending will undoubtedly increase as our population de-mographics create further drag with an aging population.

Our job is to deal with the facts, accept that most of this is out of our control, and make what adjustments we can in our lives to control our own financial well-being.

We are now in an environment where interest rates are on an upward trend, which means America will have to spend even

more on the interest it pays to its bond holders. This is a double whammy.

Not only does the government have to pay more and more to service this outstanding debt, the money spent on this inter-est cannot be spent elsewhere. It cannot be spent on activities designed to encourage business growth, launch technological advancements, or build infrastructure, etc.

It is ironic when these are the very activities we need to fund in order to create jobs, which will create more tax payers, which will potentially lower the deficit.

This is a vicious and downward spiral. As things stand now, it is a losing battle.

The solution is a double whammy, too.

• As I see it, the solution to increasing revenue is to get more people employed. • The solution to increasing our GDP is to generate products that people want to buy.

Both objectives can be accomplished by supporting business growth, injecting capital into developing technologies and rebuild-ing our cities. These are all areas that invite investors.

Over the past decades, American culture has changed to the point where we have become a society of citizens, who see entitlements as part of what it means to be American. In fact, much of our economic structure is based on these expectations. Obamacare has moved us further in this direction.

Over $2.3 trillion of our annual debt is spent on a combination of Medicare/Medicaid, social security and income security, which includes unemployment insurance, welfare and food stamps. Somehow, in the last 10 years, governments started to throw the number $1 trillion around like it was a smaller number. Ten years ago $1 trillion was not even in the vocabulary of any discussion of any budget. Anywhere!

It is interesting to note that the American defense budget – dedi-cated to our national security – is about 25% of the budget spent

on these types of entitlements.

The cry of politicians like Bernie Sanders to “raise the taxes on the wealthy” is completely UnAmerican. It doesn’t take into ac-count some basic facts.

So, Bernie, here are the stats:

• According to IRS data and the Congressional Budget Office, the top 10% of all income earners already pay nearly 70% of all the federal income tax collected. • The top one-percent (1%) of all earners pay nearly 33% of all the income taxes collected by the IRS.

How Did We Become A Society Lulled By Entitlements?

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To me, that seems like they are paying a fair portion of income taxes. In addition to paying the majority of income taxes, the rich pay the largest share of consumption taxes. We are talking about sales tax, taxes on fuel, excise tax, and import duties, etc.

Still, when you listen to the Democrats, they seem to beat the same drum incessantly about maintaining entitlements and taxing the rich.

Throwing Stones At The Wrong Target Won’t Solve The Problem

Since the facts don’t support the democratic solution, I can only guess that they are following the rules of the advertising industry, which says, “If you can pull your customer’s emotional trigger, they are yours.”

When people are scared, they want a scapegoat to blame for their troubles. In this case it is easy to make an enemy out of the rich niche. And the rich niche has its own collection of scapegoats to blame for our precarious economic picture.

The truth is that as long as we are looking at other people to blame, we can avoid looking at ourselves. We can avoid making our own decisions. We can avoid being accountable for our own results.

I wish taxing the rich were the simple solution, but ignoring the facts in favor of a wishful world is not the way to find that solution. There are solutions – there must be. We got into this mess by making a series of incremental choices and we will find our way out my making different incremental choices.

We need – as a society - to stop trying to make something true that simply isn’t true. We need to stop placing blame, start looking at facts and work from there.

Yes, we need a better tax code and yes, there are many inequities and too many ‘pork barrel’ inefficiencies in the current tax code. As of today, we have over 74,000 pages of tax code to tell us how to comply when filing our tax return. Until we can change it, we must work with what we have.

I suggest that if Bernie doesn’t want to deal with reality, he move to another nation governed by Socialism. I will gladly buy him a ticket! He will see soon enough that that system has never worked and never will.

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America Is Not Designed To Be A Socialist Nation! If you want to live in a socialist environment then I suggest you pick a socialist country that believes like you do and move there. Just don’t try to turn America into one.

I was born in Canada and spent the first 43 years of my life there, so I think I have some perspective about the differences between these two forms of government.

• Canada is a collective society based on doing what is best for society as a whole. • America is about doing what is best for the individual. That is the foundation of the US Constitution.

America is about free enterprise and being willing to work to improve your lot in life.

Immigrants to this country seem to understand this concept of individual enterprise better than many natural born citizens. Most immigrants come to this country to work hard, raise families, pay taxes, and strive to improve their circumstances. They were not raised believing that the government owed them a living. They are grateful to be in a country that even has work! Any kind of work!

As we drift further into our entitlement mentality I fear we are losing that American spirit of individual enterprise. As I watch more and more money shelled out by the Federal government on entitlement programs I am concerned that American citizens may entirely lose touch with that concept.

I fear we have turned into a society of consumers and takers rather than builders and givers. I fear that if we drift too far in this direction without correction, we will find ourselves unable to even envision the kind of society imagined by the American forefathers when they wrote the Constitution.

I am proud to be American and had the pleasure of earning my American Citizenship less than three years ago. Coming from Canada, I prefer what America stands for. Yet, as a person who moved to America from another country, I am sad to observe that too many Americans don’t seem to understand the principles that America was founded upon. Even worse, they really don’t seem to care.

I like to think that I understand what it means to be American and I’m proud of my citizenship. I embrace the opportunity to use my skills to improve my life and the lives of those I love. I embrace the opportunity to make a contribution that I can only hope leaves the world a little better for my having been here.

The Running Of The Bulls Begins

I am not political. I don’t care about parties and red and blue states. I like to think for myself, so I do my own research and draw my own conclusions.

Having researched Trump, I can, to a certain degree, understand why his ‘wall around America’ appeals to so many people. Still, I would not vote for him.

Having mentioned Saunders and Trump, for the record, let me say that I saw Rand Paul at a luncheon a few weeks ago. I have concluded he exemplifies most closely what I believe American culture is supposed to be. He talks about less government in-terference and much more deficit control. He is the closest to a Libertarian of any candidate and if I were one of our Constitution authors, I would probably vote for him based on his platform.

I have stated many times at club meetings that I believe the cor-rect role of the Federal government is one of providing national security, not interfering at every level of our daily lives. If anything, I believe that any interactions with citizens should be more at the state level, rather than directed from some Federal stronghold many miles from most of us.

I probably won’t see that dispersion of control in my lifetime, because too many Capitol Hill politicians would be putting them-selves out of work in that scenario and that will never happen as long as they live.

Maybe we should just wait for the old guard to die off and then not reelect a replacement. Would that work? Smaller government by attrition?

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Be ‘For’ Something Instead Of Just ‘Against’ SomethingAmerica is supposed to stand for freedom. Our founders fought against extreme government control. They fought and died for the privilege to construct their own lives and to support their families without government interference.

Life wasn’t as easy then as it is now. If you got sick you probably died. If you got old you did die. People relied on wits, ability, and often on the good will of others. Early Americans built a strong country filled with opportunity. They did not trust nor depend on any government for their well-being. Yes, things were harder then, but I dare say the freedom was worth it.

Sadly, as American culture continues to move away from its core value of hard work in exchange for freedom, I fear we will become more and more enslaved by our expectation of entitlements. What started out as a helping hand has become a fist around our throat, strangling us with its benevolence.

Still, it is a very seductive expectation. That is why I am pretty sure voters will elect a Democrat president. I believe the flag of ‘entitlement protection’ will wave hard enough to send us into another cycle of Democrat presidents.

Let me say this once more in case you missed my point the first twelve times I said it.

This is not what America stands for. Entitlements did not build America into a world power and give us our high standard of liv-ing. A big fat piggybank full of money borrowed from our children did not do that! The American spirit of individual enterprise built our nation into an economic giant and that is the spirit we need to reconnect with in order to salvage our country.

One of the biggest crimes I could lay at the feet of our interfer-ing government is the crippling of small business in this nation. Stacks of regulations are strangling the small businesses that hard-working Americans stake their lives on every day.

At our club meetings we have had long discussions about the explosion of regulations that have brought small business growth to all-time lows. Each year our Federal Government creates hun-dreds of new rules that impact small business.

Before Attempting To Change A Thing, It Helps To Under-stand It First

At our next club meeting we will be discussing in detail the impact of these regulations on small businesses.

If America is to become self-sufficient again, we need to reclaim our free-enterprise system. We need to support small business growth, get people back to work and fire up our free enterprise spirit at the ground level.

Everyone knows that the government is broken. We see the gridlock caused by polarized partisan parties. We see how this dysfunction has trickled down into our everyday lives.

But America still has a lot of spunk. America is building momentum to take itself back. We just need to remember how it feels to fight for what is important.

This means business owners will need to become somewhat political if they mean to dismantle rules written by desk-jockeys, who have never stood behind a retail counter or hired an em-ployee or navigated insurance packages or had to cut back a single-mother to 20 hours.

If you own a small business or know someone who does, you will want to show up at our next club meeting.

January 25, 2016

Members: FreeNon-members: $25Orleans Hotel and Casino. 6:59 p.m. sharp. (And yes, we always start on time.)

To attend the next club meeting, click here to reserve your place.

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Now On To Our Hometown – Las Vegas!The good news for Las Vegas is that our economic recovery out-performed the national economy in employment, population growth, job creation, home price gains, and population increases.To put that into perspective you need to understand that much of that economic advance is due to the huge economic drop Las Vegas experienced earlier on.

It makes sense when you think about it. When a city leads the nation in job losses and sees the nation’s biggest drop in real estate values, it has a lot of upside room to move. What we have seen is an exaggerated upswing in our growth, recouping some of our earlier deep losses.

A better barometer of our health is our GDP growth, which hit 3.5% in 2015. This reflected the gradual, yet continuing recovery across the nation. That recovery gave consumers more spending money, which many chose to spend in Las Vegas.

While general economic recovery in Las Vegas has been consis-tent, our jobless rate remains at 7.2%, which is still high when compared to the national level.

Our population continues to grow as Las Vegas attracts many residents from the Northeast and Midwest.

The problem for Las Vegas remains a lack of industry diversifica-tion beyond gaming. We really have no technology industry or any other industries that require a highly educated and skilled work force. We are fortunate in that our tourist volume is expected to grow in 2016, but as a community, we need more emphasis in manufacturing, education and other activities to strengthen our financial foundation.

Economists are predicting unemployment levels to hit 6% by the end of 2016, which takes us back to pre-recession levels. That is a hopeful idea.

Las Vegas house prices have increased by 49.7% since the industry hit bottom in January of 2012. Over that same period US housing prices increased just 23.6%, so you can see why we are at the top of that particular list.

However, as we have discussed at many club meetings, Las Vegas

remains the State with the highest percentage of homeowners with negative equity in their homes. Hopefully, time will eventu-ally eliminate that situation.

Despite rising home prices, construction activity remains low in Clark County and residential construction is still far below its pre-recession peak.

What is fascinating to note is that, according to UNLV Economic Department, Las Vegas gaming is lagging well behind its national counterpart. US gambling is actually above its pre-recession peak, while gross gaming revenue for the Las Vegas Strip is still 4.7% below it pre-recession peak. The UNLV goes on to say that visitor spending on nongaming activities is more than triple that spent on gaming.

Normally, I end my Economic Report with guidance of what investors should do to maximize their gains in this economic environment. Instead, I will be discussing those ideas at our next club meeting, which I hope you will attend.

To attend the next club meeting, click here to reserve your place

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I just want to thank you all again for your continued interest and support in my efforts to share with you my insights regarding eco-nomic trends and how they playout in our investment world.

The club is proud of our educational program and we believe it rivals anything taught at any of America’s finest business schools. Here is our line-up so far:

All events are scheduled at Orleans Hotel and Casino. All evening events start at 6:59 p.m. sharp. Members: FreeNon-members: $25 | BECOME A MEMBER - CLICK HERE

January 25, 2016 The Las Vegas Investment Club Presents: Economic Outlook for 2016 [ REGISTER FOR MEETING - CLICK HERE ]

Mike Lathigee will discuss his outlook for 2016 and conduct a discussion about the regulations impacting small businesses.

February 29, 2016

The Las Vegas Investment Club Presents: An Evening with Federal Reserve Economist

Our very special guest is a Senior Economist from the Federal Reserve Bank. It is very rare to interact with any Federal Reserve Bank Economist and this is a MUST ATTEND event for any serious investor.

March 8, 2016

The Las Vegas Investment Club Presents: The impact of Maccau on Las Vegas

Our guest speaker graduated from Oxford University in England and is the President of one of America’s most influential organiza-tions. He will be discussing the impact of Maccau on the Las Vegas Economy and the cultural changes we have to expect in Las Vegas. I have seen him speak and he is entertaining and very interactive, so this evening will be a treat!

April 2 & 3, 2016 The Las Vegas Investment Club Presents: EconoSummit 2016

Experience eight world-class presenters over two days. The club works all year round to put this event together and coordinate speakers from all across America.

This year’s theme is : “Based on what is happening in the world and the economy what investors can do to maximize the returns in their portfolios. We will discuss specific strategies.”

The 2016 EconoSummit runs from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. both days, with plenty of potential one-on-one time between attendees and presenters, so bring your questions.

Meeting Calendar

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We have had a good year in 2015 in terms of membership and events. I look forward to seeing all of you at our next meeting, along with your guests, which brings me to this announcement.

The Las Vegas Investment Club works on the breakeven basis to provide world class education to members and maintain a strong community presence. We have been grateful to the Board Members of the Las Vegas Club for their subsidizing the shortfall of run-ning the Las Vegas Investment Club over the last few years. Now it is time for a small adjustment.

We have had a fairly flexible open-door policy in the past, and it is now time for the club to move toward breakeven. So, starting in 2016, mon-members will be charged a modest admission to attend club meetings.

And if you find value with us, we encourage membership. The cost to join the Las Vegas Investment Club is $299 per year. Your mem-bership provides you with admission to our meetings and events at no cost, or at least at a deep discount. We also have special fieldtrips available to club members only!

To join the Las Vegas Economic Club please CLICK HERE!

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DISCLAIMER: THE AUTHOR OF THIS NEWSLETTER IS NOT A FINANCIAL ADVISOR. YOU SHOULD SEEK FINANCIAL ADVICE FROM A REGISTERED FINANCIAL ADVISOR BEFORE TAKING ANY STEPS DISCUSSED IN THIS NEWSLETTER.

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