Fritz Meyer on January 9, 2025 in a free IAR CE program for members said: " The new year started with a bang because of the election makes things different,"  "And so In the bullet points for the month of January,  I started with the statement that taxes, tariffs, and immigration are the known unknowns."

A month later, it is clear he was right, especially when he followed up with this:  

"I don't see the economy slowing down at all," Fritz Meyer said. "I think we're just at cruising altitude and will continue to be at cruising altitude for the foreseeable future. I don't see the economy slowing down at all;  I think we're just at cruising altitude and will continue to be at cruising altitude for the foreseeable future."

If you're a CFP, CPA, or CIMA member of A4A, Fritz Meyer's monthly class qualifies for IAR CE.  

"Eventually Americans will get used to higher mortgage rates," said Fritz Meyer, an independent economist, not affiliated with any financial product companies.   "Higher mortgage rates are what had been the damper on new home construction, but I think they'll get used to higher mortgage rates and eventually new home construction will tick higher from where it is now."

An independent opinion is essential always to IAR CE, even if you are searching for free IAR CE. Searching for free IAR CE is something advisors should do, especially since you need to deal honestly with facts about topics like immigration. For a CFP. CPA, CIMA, or other financial professionals who are members of Advisors4Advisors, we recently added free IAR CE. Appealing to advisors searching for free IAR CE may sound like a questionable strategy. It's not. Frugal advisors are my specialty. About half of our members are CPA financial planners.    
 

" Immigrants are having a huge impact on the nation's financial system. population growth," says Fritz Meyer, a former strategist and portfolio manager at one of the world's largest investment companies.  "So immigration has really been adding to the rate of GDP growth. "Newcomers accounted for 84% of U. S. growth  in the total population in the year ended June 30, 2024."

Of course, immigration is politically charged issue! Fritz Meyer's financial economic analysis, which has evolved over the three decades since he first taught it to advisors, is apolitical. Fritz follows the numbers, which makes separates this free IAR CE program from other IAR CE programs.   

This bar chart shows that the Americans in the highest quintile of income account for about 40% of consumer spending. While it is true that the lowest quintile of income earners are struggling to make ends meet, says Fritz Meyer, they account for less than 10% of consumer spending.  

"It appears that we have two Americas," says economist Fritz Meyer.  "Some Americans are struggling. But most Americans are not struggling.  "The important takeaway that I wanted to stress is that while the lowest income bracket Americans in some cases are struggling very unfortunately,  that income bracket accounts for a very small share of total income and spending."

You do not need to be a CPA, CFP, CIMA, or other financial planner to appreciate that free IAR CE on Advisors4Advisors holds great value. But if you are a CPA, CFP, CIMA, or other financial advice professional, then Advisors4Advisors membership plan provides CPA, CFP, CIMA, or other financial advice professionals with fee IAR CE.   

During the Covid-19 crisis, the Federal government flooded the economy with liquidity in the form of stimulus checks, unemployment benefit increases, and forgivable loans to businesses. 

The trajectory of the gray and red lines in the top chart shown above indicates M2, the money supply -- cash in checking, savings, and money market accounts -- is returning to its pre-pandemic norm.  To be clear, after flooding the U.S. economic system with liquidity, the U.S. government, led by the Federal Reserve, drained the pool of excessive liquidity without causing a recession -- no small feat. Recessions are often caused by Fed policy mistakes.       

"The economy needs money to run," says Fritz Meyer, who has taught monthly on Advisors4Advisors since March 2011, "you need lots of liquidity to drive economic expansion. And what we're seeing is lots of liquidity." 

"The difference between 2% GDP growth and 3% GDP growth is 50% -- it's huge!" says Fritz Meyer. "So far this year, the quarterly productivity of U. S. workers has grown by at least 2%, compared with a year earlier. This is a hugely important development because it increases the productive capacity of the economy and allows more rapid economic growth without overheating."

If you are a CFP, CPA, CIMA, or other type of financial advisor, Advisors4Advisors free IAR CE is designed to give you monthly financial and economic news from economist Fritz Meyer and also includes classes from Craig Israelsen, Ph.D. Frank Murtha, Ph.D. and other thought leaders. 

The stock market is far from cheap. Fritz Meyer in January said he was concerned valuations  were high. But he stopped short of sounding negative. 

Noting the Magnificent Seven are expecting 20% earnings growth year over for the next couple of years, which is absolutely astounding because these stocks are in the trillions of dollars in market cap today, Fritz Meyer said:  "So these monstrously large companies are growing earnings at a rate much faster than the S&P 500 overall.  And again, these are estimates we're talking about, so you can't take them to the bank, but it's just an explanation as to why these valuations are what they are."

February's class may clarify the situation. Since Fritz Meyer's class on January 9, China's AI sensation, DeepSeek, hit the market, stunning the world.         

Fritz Meyer, an independent economist, has taught on Advisors4Adsvvisors monthly since March 2011. His monthly classes averaged a rating of 9.7 (out of 10) annually year after year. Before teaching on A4A, Fritz was senior strategist at one of the world's largest investment companies for over a decade. Since mid-2011, A4A members consistently rated Fritz Meyer’s CE/CPE presentations higher than 4.7 (out of five stars) every month. He has no product affiliations, and his classes are solely member-sponsored CE/CPE. Fritz Meyer's free IAR CE classes were first offered at the end of 2024 and are expanded in 2025.