Part 2: You down with GDP? What's up with economic growth (a look at the 4th quarter GDP report)
Bottom Line: In part one, I broke down how impressive the initially reported 4th quarter economic growth was and the likelihood that the numbers will be revised even higher at the end of February. This time around I want to pull out some extremely promising figures for you and about you.
There were a couple of numbers I had to read through multiple times in the report. Here's the first one. Personal disposable income (how much more money you have after you pay the bills) was up 3.9% in the 4th quarter. That up from 2.1% in the 3rd quarter and that's before the impact of raises, bonuses and tax reform, which again, for the average full-time employed person will be a net year over year increase of 7%+ (or the best increase in net take home pay in 32 years).
With about 70% of the US economy resulting from consumer spending...it's hard to understate how well this sets up for us personally in 2018 - as you're getting ready to see the impact of tax reform in your checks going forward and the US economy. I was telling my wife Ashley when I was analyzing the data that I've not seen an economy setup for success like this one since I've been providing economic analysis. There's lots of room for optimism this year. The one caveat that's worth repeating however, is that interest rates are likely to start rising a lot faster than you've been accustomed to from here, so be mindful with debt and big ticket purchases you want to finance.