Saturday, June 20, 2015

Sale-Leaseback, A Hidden Treasure Chest?

American companies, including smaller, family-owned businesses and Corporate America, own an estimated $4.1 trillion of non-specialized "investable" real estate. Yet historical returns from equity investments have consistently exceeded those of real estate. As a general rule, any dollar that can be "monetized" or sourced from the sale of corporate real estate and reinvested in that company's listed or unlisted equity stock would create positive leverage.

That's why any business owner or CFO whose company owns real estate should review or consider a sale-leaseback transaction.

What is Sale-Leaseback?
Although used for more than 50 years, sale-leaseback transactions – and the benefits they can offer to corporate investors – are still not always fully understood.

In it simplest form, a sale-leaseback transaction entails the sale of corporate real estate and the simultaneous commitment to a long-term lease, generally 15 years or longer. This combination allows a company to redeploy the capital that had been invested in real estate into the core business.

Why is it worthwhile?
The biggest benefit of a sale-leaseback transaction is the ability to increase a company's financial flexibility by off-loading real estate at attractive long-term rates, while maintaining the availability of bank financing for a future date. By being both the lessee and the seller of the property, a corporation has greater bargaining power to ensure it maintains uninterrupted control of the facilities, including operations, maintenance and alterations, it negotiates the rights to assign and sublet the facilities, as well as enjoys lengthy initial and renewal terms.

What's the catch?
While sale-leaseback can be a worthwhile strategy for many companies, it is not without risk. Some of the risks to consider are:

Loss of residual property value
In most cases, the future value of any single-tenant property will be lower than today's sale price since real property generally depreciates over time. In the unlikely event that the residual value of the property increases over the primary lease term, the potential rental income from the property will increase as well. By negotiating a renewal option past the primary term at fixed rents, the seller/lessee can enjoy rental costs that are below market while still benefiting from greater potential sublease income.

Possible Relocation
At the end of a lease without any renewal options, a seller may be forced to either negotiate an extension at current market rents or relocate. To prevent such a situation in a sale-leaseback transaction, a company should consider employing a long-term (50-60 years) lease, thereby delaying the need to relocate or renegotiate until the asset will likely have become obsolete. When the term comes due, the buyer/lessor almost always would allow renewal of the lease, and on a worst case basis, at the same price the seller/lessee would pay for alternative space.

High Rental Payment
Rental payments under the lease cannot be adjusted without the consent of the lessor. As a result, if the rental market softens, a seller/lessee may be locked into a rate higher than the market rate. Yet, the company has protected itself from a decrease in property value and still enjoys the use of the capital. In addition, a decrease in rental rates represents a good opportunity to renegotiate the lease at a lower, modified rental rate for a new primary term.

Specific Accounting Principles
While the fundamental accounting principles of sale-leasebacks are relatively simple, following the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) provisions are critical. Failure to comply may result in the re-characterization of a sale-leaseback transaction as a mere financing vehicle, depriving the parties of the very benefits they have sought to achieve.

Can Sale-Leaseback Add Financial Value?

Will it strengthen company financials or enhance shareholder wealth? Can sale-leaseback pay down debt, reduce risks, increase working capital, or fund acquisitions by executing sale-leaseback?

Basic diagnosis can show financial impact analysis, blended cost of capital and other potential transaction terms/conditions, analysis of impacted balance sheet, efficiency, liquidity, & risk ratios,

To take further steps and diagnose your own opportunity click here

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Clicking the Like button on various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. does not constitute a testimonial for or endorsement of Redmount Capital Partners LLC or any Investment Advisor Representative. “Like” is not meant in the traditional sense. Posts must refrain from recommending investment advisory services or providing testimonials for our firm, since they are strictly prohibited. Please understand that we are required to delete such posts, since this is a regulatory requirement.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

May June 2015 Market Observations

The US equity markets continue their advance 
• The S&P 500 returned 1.3% for the month. Small cap led the advance. 
• Growth outperformed value in the small and large cap segments. Value outperformed growth in the mid cap segment. 
• Health care and technology were the top performing sectors in the small, mid and large cap segments, supporting the growth indices. The energy sector was the worst performing sector with negative returns, dragging down the value indices. 
• Real assets such as MLPs, REITs and infrastructure were negative performers for the month. 
• Price momentum and Growth factors were the best performing. Quality and value factors were weaker but still positive. 

Weak performance in international and emerging markets for the month 
• International equities, as reflected by the MSCI EAFE Index, finished the month with a return of -0.5% in USD terms, underperforming the US market. Japan outperformed Europe as per the MSCI Japan Index return of 5.0% versus the MSCI Europe Index which returned -0.8% in USD terms. 
• Emerging markets, as reflected by MSCI EM Index, returned -4.0% for the month in USD terms. EM Eastern Europe and Latin America were the worst performing EM regions. 
• The energy sector was the weakest performing in both non-US developed and emerging markets. 
• Price momentum was clearly the top performing factor in developed markets. Quality was the top performing factor in emerging markets. The weakest performing factors were value in both developed and emerging markets. 

High yield credit was lone bright spot in fixed income 
• High yield credit was the best performing fixed income segment for the month. Only high yield, leveraged loans and short duration Treasuries posted positive returns (with the exception of CCC-rated credit, which was slightly down for the month). 
• Long duration Treasuries was the worst performing fixed income segment followed by investment grade credit. 
• Most major currencies depreciated relative to the US dollar during the month. The main exception was the Renminbi. 
• Currency depreciation hurt the performance of non-dollar bonds after a strong month in April.

Market information source: Bloomberg.

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Clicking the Like button on various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. does not constitute a testimonial for or endorsement of Redmount Capital Partners LLC or any Investment Advisor Representative. “Like” is not meant in the traditional sense. Posts must refrain from recommending investment advisory services or providing testimonials for our firm, since they are strictly prohibited. Please understand that we are required to delete such posts, since this is a regulatory requirement.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Are high-yield bonds and floating-rate loans at risk?

The constant pursuit of yield in this low interest rate environment might have pushed the demand for high-yield bonds and floating-rate loans high enough to impact judgement of banks underwriting and backing new issues.

Banks are frantically underwriting high-yield bonds and financing syndicated floating-rate loans, counting on investors to absorb everything coming to markets.

Interest rates for new bond and loan issues have dropped, prompting borrowers do more acquisitions, buybacks. etc.

Private equity fund operators are some of the largest biggest users of high-yield bonds to arrange leveraged and management buyouts. Floating-rate loans are used in buyout deals as well.

Low interest rates, willingness of banks to underwrite bonds and loans, and readiness of investors to acquire bonds and invest in loans have pushed mergers & acquisitions and buyout activities to new highs. Valuations of companies being snapped up in auction style sales are breaking records after records, reminiscent of 2007.

The illustration to the left, a deal tombstone published in the Dow Jones Private Equity News, speaks to it. In this case, a large private equity and LBO operator borrowed $1.75 billion to supplements its own funds to acquire more companies. Keep in mind that acquisitions are done by issuing high-yield bonds, to add to the equity. As such, banks are lending loans to add to the equity of the buyer, all while still lending more via high-yield bonds. More leverage to execute more purchases. All loans and bonds will end up in investor accounts, through mutual funds and ETFs, in a very short order.

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Clicking the Like button on various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. does not constitute a testimonial for or endorsement of Redmount Capital Partners LLC or any Investment Advisor Representative. “Like” is not meant in the traditional sense. Posts must refrain from recommending investment advisory services or providing testimonials for our firm, since they are strictly prohibited. Please understand that we are required to delete such posts, since this is a regulatory requirement.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

How important is the financial "Big-Picture" focus?

How important is a strategy-driven and big picture focused financial mindset for the growth of enterprise and accumulation and preservation of capital?

It seems most successful entrepreneurs have the "big-picture focus".

Successful entrepreneurs have a habit of building one business, selling it fully or in part, and then moving on to the next—building wealth through a series of "equity events“.

Roughly 80% of typical entrepreneurs’ net worth is tied up in their companies. This changes over time as successful entrepreneurs grow business interests outside of the core business.

What are some of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and business owners, as they grow their enterprises?
  1. Raising capital without losing control 
  2. Recruiting and retaining top talent 
  3. Business continuation and succession 
  4. Converting profits and value to wealth
How entrepreneurs and business owners deal with the above challenges makes a difference for their business enterprises,
“The difference between a business family and a business dynasty is the strategy. Everything must be in line with strategy. Selling assets, exiting ventures… followed by reinvestment of capital – in everything strategy sets the rules.” - Baron Albert Frère, Founder and Chairman of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, one of the largest family enterprises,
Here are some interesting statistics on family-owned businesses:
  • One third of FORTUNE 500 companies are owned or controlled by entrepreneurs or their families
  • 67% of NYSE companies are owned or controlled by entrepreneurs or their families
  • Only about 30% of family businesses survive to the second generation
  • Only 12% make it to the third generation
  • Only 3% make it to the fourth generation
  • 1 in 4 family businesses have a continuation plan
  • 37% have written a strategic plan
“The difference between a business family and a business dynasty is the ability to withstand the shocks of intergenerational transfer, combined with each generation’s ability to adapt”. - Rolland B. Hills, Chairman of Hill van Breen Continuity and Chair of Redmount Capital Partners advisory board.
Our observations identified that most successful entrepreneurs have a formal approach to managing their "big picture" - strategy setting and implementation, and financial and risk management.
  • Noticeably, for these, successful entrepreneurs rely on people outside of their core companies. 
  • They structure formal entrepreneur's offices or family offices for these purposes. Initially they may rely on shared Entrepreneur's Offices or family offices.
  • Strategic events, such as selling or buying companies, increasing or decreasing ownership in companies are handled by these structures
  • Raising or repaying personal capital, financial reorganizations, debt restructuring activities, etc. are evaluated and executed at these levels.
  • Cash management is given a high priority, striving to manage cash balances efficiently, See more on Cash Management 
  • Risk and liquidity management is paramount.
  • Employees or officers of their core companies are rarely involved in these processes.
Below are some examples of very successful entrepreneurs and family-owned company leaders, in our opinion, commanding a "Big-Picture" focus. 

Click the graphic to enlarge
Susanne Klatten: Dynasty Company as the Backbone of Dynasty Fortune. Wealth created though growth of a single company, BMW. Company is still a key asset of the family and its business identity. Other key assets are acquired and sold in line with “Dynasty Company” strategy

Click the graphic to enlarge
Leonardo Del Vecchio: Multi-Generational Family Company Leading to a Dynasty Fortune. Wealth creation through growth of a single company, Luxottica. Company is the identity of business family. Strategically and selectively diversifying dynasty fortune.

Click the graphic to enlarge
Bill Gates: Company Value Leading to a Multi-Company Family Fortune. Wealth creation though a growth of a single company, Microsoft. Diversification of holdings and assets. Establishment of strategic wealth thought.


Statistics: Courtesy of Financial Strategist Board.

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Clicking the Like button on various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. does not constitute a testimonial for or endorsement of Redmount Capital Partners LLC or any Investment Advisor Representative. “Like” is not meant in the traditional sense. Posts must refrain from recommending investment advisory services or providing testimonials for our firm, since they are strictly prohibited. Please understand that we are required to delete such posts, since this is a regulatory requirement.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

U.S. cash balances remain high


Investors are continuing to hoard cash and keep more and more capital in short-term assets.

Source: Investment Company Institute data, Federal Reserve, and Bloomberg. *Total cash and short-term assets include money market assets (ICI), large time deposits, all commercial banks, NSA (not seasonally adjusted), savings deposits, and small time deposits.

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Clicking the Like button on various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. does not constitute a testimonial for or endorsement of Redmount Capital Partners LLC or any Investment Advisor Representative. “Like” is not meant in the traditional sense. Posts must refrain from recommending investment advisory services or providing testimonials for our firm, since they are strictly prohibited. Please understand that we are required to delete such posts, since this is a regulatory requirement.









Thursday, May 7, 2015

FAQs on Greek debt default

Today European Central Bank gave Greece another week to make a deal or tighter liquidity rules will be imposed on its banks. And this is just a start.

The summer of 2015 will bring renewed drama around Greek debt and potential default, Greece has to come up with about 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) by the end of May for debt payments. Then there’s the 1.5 billion-euro monthly tab for salaries and pensions.

As Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government in Athens haggles over the details of its reforms and leans on its banks to keep buying Treasury bills, the question inevitably looms: what happens if the cash runs out?

Not all creditors are created equal. For example, the International Monetary Fund is more equal than others, first in the repayment queue.

We found the Q&A session conducted by Bloomberg View Columnist Mark Gilbert with Mizuho International Chief European Economist Riccardo Barbieri to be of great value for frequently asked questions (FAQs) related to Greek debt, its potential default, and the probable processes triggered by a default.

Here are the key Q&As for your review.

Q: What is a default?
A: Investopedia.com defines default as “the failure to promptly pay interest or principal when due. Default occurs when a debtor is unable to meet the legal obligation of debt repayment.”

Q: How much debt does Greece have?
A: The Greek government has about 313 billion euros of debt outstanding, most due after 2021. Add companies and banks and the total is closer to half a trillion. Given that Greek banks are likely to refinance most of the maturing Treasury bills without protest -- with pension funds and local governments making up the shortfall -- the important near-term deadlines are May 6 and May 12, when the IMF is due to receive almost 1 billion euros in total. The real crunch comes midyear, when almost 7 billion euros of bonds held by the European Central Bank mature in July and August.

Q: What happens if the IMF isn’t paid?
A: A missed payment date starts the clock ticking. Two weeks after the initial due date and a cable from Washington urging immediate payment, the fund sends another cable stressing the “seriousness of the failure to meet obligations” and again urges prompt settlement. Two weeks after that, the managing director informs the Executive Board that an obligation is overdue. For Greece, that’s when the serious consequences kick in. These are known as cross-default and cross-acceleration.

Q: What are cross-default and cross-acceleration?
A: Failure to pay the IMF would entitle some of Greece’s other creditors, including the European bailout fund, to declare a default. They would then have the option to demand immediate repayment of all their loans, a process known as acceleration. Other lenders could then follow suit. While calling a default preserves creditors’ claims, acceleration -- the bit that hurts -- isn’t automatic. Each creditor decides on its own. To varying degrees the debt is linked in a web of cross-default and cross-acceleration clauses that make it safe to assume that one default and acceleration would trigger demands for repayment on most, if not all, of the rest. Greek debt features a variety of structures, with different terms and conditions and governed principally by Greek and English law. The obligations include bonds whose holders voted not to take part in a 2012 restructuring; notes issued in that restructuring; bonds held by the ECB; a series of loans from Europe’s bailout fund, including one used to sweeten the restructuring pill; notes issued last year; the 2010 Greek Loan Facility; and the IMF loans.

Q: What about credit-default swaps?
A: The determinations committee of the International Swaps & Derivatives Association, the trade association that administers derivative contracts, must first receive a request for a ruling on what should happen to CDS contracts. It then makes a binding decision on whether a “credit event” has occurred, which may trigger the contracts. There are now 622 contracts open, covering a net $592 million, according to Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., which runs a data warehouse. In 2012, the contracts paid out after the country’s debt restructuring, which was the biggest ever.

Q: What would default do to Greek banks?
A: That depends on the attitude of the ECB and on the default itself. With lenders losing deposits, only a drip-feed of Emergency Liquidity Assistance supplied by the Bank of Greece against deteriorating collateral is keeping them afloat. While ECB President Mario Draghi indicated last week that ELA would continue as long as the lenders are solvent and have adequate collateral, bank solvency, especially of lenders using ELA, is very much a judgement call, says Gabriel Sterne, head of global macro research at Oxford Economics in London. Failure to repay the ECB in July and August would probably result in the suspension of ELA, according to Chris Attfield, a strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc in London. Any interruption in ELA would almost certainly trigger a fully fledged bank run, forcing the imposition of capital controls. If the banks themselves are victims of the default after, say, a failed Treasury bill auction, then their insolvency would probably ensue and ELA would end.

Q: How would capital controls work?
A: In Greece, not so well. Unlike the island of Cyprus, which this year lifted controls implemented two years ago, Greece has porous borders and mobile citizens. While controls would stop capital flight via the banks, there is still the cash residents have withdrawn.

Q: We hear a lot about Target2. What’s that?
A: It’s the payment system established by the ECB that allows euros created by each national central bank to flow freely in the 19-nation currency bloc. In 2013, an average 1.9 trillion euros of transactions per day were processed, according to the ECB website. It also keeps track of who owes what to whom and at the end of March, Greece was in the hole to its partners for 96 billion euros, or more than 40 percent of economic output, according to the Bank of Greece. Courtesy of Target2, money created in Athens is circulating in Paris and Berlin after paying for Peugeot cars and Bayer AG’s asprin. As long as Greece remains officially in the euro zone -- even if a parallel currency circulates -- the nation’s Target2 liabilities are a political concern, not a financial one. However, loss of access to Target2 “would crystallize the liability,” said John Whittaker, a fellow of Lancaster University Management School who has published on European payment systems. “The other central banks would then have losses in proportion to their share of the ECB’s capital.”

Q: What about Greek companies?
A: A sovereign default would probably be followed by corporate defaults. Greek assets overseas would be fair game for creditors, though there aren’t many to grab. The former Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co., the world’s second-largest Coca-Cola bottler, for example, is now called Coca-Cola HBC AG and is headquartered in Switzerland. Also, capital controls would probably be accompanied by other measures, such as orders for companies to repatriate euros held overseas and prohibitions on dividend payments. The government might also introduce IOUs to substitute the missing euros -- in 2010 it slashed the price it would pay drug suppliers and then paid them with bonds.

Q: Could Greece default and remain in the euro?
A: Exiting the euro would only be possible if Greece left the European Union, according to Yannis Manuelides at Allen & Overy. “The euro is an integral part of the union and it’s meant to be a one-way street,” he said. “There is no way to expel a member and to allow or force an exit would be very bad for the EU. They will do everything they can to avoid it.” That may not be enough: According to Benedict James, a banking partner at Linklaters, capital controls would be “a staging post to an exit.” James agrees that the only way for Greece to leave the euro would be to exit the EU altogether. In sum, Greece leaving the euro is likely to be messy, lengthy and painful for all concerned, with the Greeks suffering more than their partners and the lawyers profiting. The real deadline is in June, when national parliaments start to head off for the summer break, said Zsolt Darvas, a fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels who reckons that Greece will be able to scrape by for now.

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Clicking the Like button on various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. does not constitute a testimonial for or endorsement of Redmount Capital Partners LLC or any Investment Advisor Representative. “Like” is not meant in the traditional sense. Posts must refrain from recommending investment advisory services or providing testimonials for our firm, since they are strictly prohibited. Please understand that we are required to delete such posts, since this is a regulatory requirement.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

1Q15 Private Equity Environment Review

The first quarter of 2015 saw a separation in trends across industry metrics. Global fundraising, IPO issuance, and U.S. venture capital investment activity all fell from the prior quarter. In contrast, U.S. and European buyout investment activity increased from the fourth quarter of 2014. Looking forward, the decline in energy commodity prices will have an impact existing energy-related private equity portfolio companies, as well as possibly provide attractive opportunities for private equity firms to deploy capital in the sector.

Some additional notable observations from the report include the following:
  • Average leverage multiples for U.S. buyout transactions declined from 5.7x to 5.4x in the first quarter of 2015 from the prior year’s average 
  • 32 companies completed their IPOs on U.S. exchanges—a 50% decrease from both the prior quarter and the year-ago quarter. 
  • The average equity contribution rate for a U.S. buyout transaction completed in 1Q15 was 39.4%, compared with 37.3% for all of 2014 
  • Venture capital–focused funds experienced an upsurge in fundraising, raising $13.5 billion during the quarter
  • PE firms raised $72.7 billion in 1Q2015, 19% decline from the prior quarter and 10% decline from the year ago quarter,

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Clicking the Like button on various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. does not constitute a testimonial for or endorsement of Redmount Capital Partners LLC or any Investment Advisor Representative. “Like” is not meant in the traditional sense. Posts must refrain from recommending investment advisory services or providing testimonials for our firm, since they are strictly prohibited. Please understand that we are required to delete such posts, since this is a regulatory requirement.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Is the Corporate M&A Bubble in Trouble?

We think its not...yet. The current level of activity suggests that corporate managers will continue to buy rather than build.

In a recent CNBC poll, some 56% of companies said that they plan an acquisition in the coming year, up from 40% last October and the first time since 2010 that more than half plan to do something. But even if such plans were to generate a surge later this year, it would make a bullish argument for equities, not the bearish one accompanying much of this recent buzz.

M&A, quite simply, is a vote of confidence in market values and the future generally. Companies buy each other when they see a reason to expand and when other firms look attractively cheap. The same goes for private equity, which is no less in the acquisition business than corporations. If these decision makers saw stocks as expensive, they would pursue their expansion with direct investments in new equipment, premises, and in a hiring program. Since they are buying these days and doing relatively little building, they have effectively announced that stock values still make a purchase the more attractive way to expand.

Table 1. M&A Activity (monthly rates)
Period
Number of Deals
Value ($ in bil.)
2013 4Q
817
$79.6
2014 1Q
959
$108.7
         2Q
1,000
 154.8
         3Q
1,003
 108.1
October
1,123
 96.5
November
1,006
 194.0
December
983
 103.6
2015 January
995
$78.4
        February
938
114.3

Source: FactSet

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Clicking the Like button on various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. does not constitute a testimonial for or endorsement of Redmount Capital Partners LLC or any Investment Advisor Representative. “Like” is not meant in the traditional sense. Posts must refrain from recommending investment advisory services or providing testimonials for our firm, since they are strictly prohibited. Please understand that we are required to delete such posts, since this is a regulatory requirement.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Top geopolitical risks to watch for

Synopsis of Eurasia Group's Top Risks 2015 

1 - The Politics of Europe
Europe's economics are in substantially better shape than at the height of the Eurozone crisis. But the politics is now much worse. That's true on three different levels: bottom-up, intra-EU, and outside-in.

2 - Russia
Last year, we highlighted Russia as one of the top risks to global security--that was before Moscow carried out the most brazen redrawing of European borders since World War II, and then fell into a severe currency crisis. The conflict with the West over Ukraine has crystallized a newly aggressive and explicitly anti-Western Russian foreign policy. Western sanctions, a sagging oil price, economic stagnation, and the ruble's plunge are weakening Russia economically and financially, though not driving it to the point of crisis. 

3 - The Effects of China Slowdown
We're quite optimistic about China this coming year. President Xi Jinping has consolidated an extraordinary amount of power since ascending to the presidency. He has launched policies long overdue to rebalance the economy, pushing ahead on improving air quality, pursuing a series of measures aimed at making state-owned enterprises more efficient and spearheading a massive anticorruption campaign within the Communist Party.

4 - Weaponization of Finance
The United States remains the world's only superpower, but Washington is now using its influence in important new ways. After World War II, American dominance was established by the forging of us-led alliances such as NATO and multilateral institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank that enshrined US-authored rules and standards.

5 - ISIS, Beyond Iraq and Syria

In 2015, ISIS faces setbacks in its core bases in Iraq and Syria, but its military power remains significant, and its ideological reach will spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It will grow organically by setting up new units in Yemen, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, and it will inspire many jihadist organizations to join its ranks. Ansar Bayt al Maqdas in Egypt and Islamists in the Libyan city of Derna have already pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

6 - Weak Incumbents
Political risk stemming from weak incumbents who recently won reelection will weigh on key markets in 2015. With the important exceptions of India and Indonesia, the wave of emerging market elections in 2014 saw incumbents win underwhelming victories. Sluggish growth and mounting popular demands were not enough to displace ruling party candidates in Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, and Turkey, and are unlikely to do so in Nigeria in 2015.

7 - The Rise of Strategic Sectors
In 2015, success and failure for business will depend increasingly on governments. For decades, the perception was that multinational companies were developing greater autonomy from policymakers, both in their home governments and in the countries where they operate, eroding state authority to regulate the flow of goods and services around the world. Instead, government influence is expanding, focused more on political stability than on economic growth.

8 - Saudi Arabia vs. Iran
Saudi-Iran tensions will spike during 2015, worsening the Sunni-Shia sectarian rift across the region.
The relationship will be especially volatile this year because: 1) there will be an unprecedented number of theaters of proxy conflict 2) domestic politics in both countries will enhance conflict and 3) the evolution of diplomacy on Iran's nuclear program, regardless of the outcome, will provoke more strife between Riyadh and Tehran. 

9 - Taiwan/China
Relations between China and Taiwan will deteriorate sharply in 2015 following the opposition Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) landslide victory over the ruling nationalist party in November's local elections. Taiwan's political class will focus overwhelmingly this year on throwing elbows at one another ahead of the 2016 presidential election. President Ma Ying-Jeou is already a lame duck, and we expect no progress toward an agreement with China on any form of trade liberalization.

10 - Turkey
For the second year in a row, Turkey makes our list. Lower oil prices have been good news for this country, but that's about all that's going well. Heavy-handed rule, short-sighted political decisions, and bad foreign policy bets will all conspire against Turkey. At home, Erdogan has used election victories in 2014 to ensure decisive defeat of his political enemies (of which there are many) while remaking the country's political system to tighten his hold on power.

Red Hearing 1 - Asia Nationalism
Red Hearing 2 - The Islamic State
Red Hearing 3 - Petrostates
Red Hearing 4 - Mexico

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Clicking the Like button on various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. does not constitute a testimonial for or endorsement of Redmount Capital Partners LLC or any Investment Advisor Representative. “Like” is not meant in the traditional sense. Posts must refrain from recommending investment advisory services or providing testimonials for our firm, since they are strictly prohibited. Please understand that we are required to delete such posts, since this is a regulatory requirement.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Know the Lifetime (and Retirement) Financial Equation

For a sound lifetime and retirement financial planning one needs to know its complex equation of contributing factors.

Make the most of the things that you can control but be sure to evaluate factors that are somewhat or completely out of your control.

Planning for retirement can be overwhelming as individuals navigate various retirement factors over which we have varying levels of control. There are challenges in retirement planning over which we have no control, like the future of tax policy and market returns, and factors over which we have limited control, like longevity and how long we plan to work.

The best way to plan for a secure retirement is to focus on the factors we can control: optimize saving, understand and manage spending and adhere to a balanced approach to investing.

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Clicking the Like button on various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. does not constitute a testimonial for or endorsement of Redmount Capital Partners LLC or any Investment Advisor Representative. “Like” is not meant in the traditional sense. Posts must refrain from recommending investment advisory services or providing testimonials for our firm, since they are strictly prohibited. Please understand that we are required to delete such posts, since this is a regulatory requirement.