After President Todd gaveled the crew to order, Peter Coyle provided an erudite Thought for the Day which concluded that money is like manure – it doesn’t do any good unless you spread it around! And the same goes for our desire to serve.
Club announcements
The club’s next happy hour will take place at Bennett’s on Tuesday, March 26, announced Ted White. Please sign up via the RSVP link that will be sent out shortly.
The Rotary Ski Trip is set for Friday, April 5, noted Dave Brandenburger. Signup link forthcoming.
The Scholarship Committee is getting ready to hand out college funding to deserving youth. Contact Diane Woodruff or Nancy Smith-Fagan to join the committee.
The Sac Century Ride date is set for September 28, 2024 – mark this one in red on your calendars!
- Sarah Hodge and Ruth Tesar are this year’s ride co-chairs
- The team also unveiled a new jersey (woo-hoo!)
- Online registration will open May 1
- Corporate Sponsor and Century Challenge fundraising packages are now available – speak to Käthe Nathan.
- Starting mid-April, you can join Ruth on local bike trails to hand out cards advertising the ride.
- June 2, there will be a test ride from Capitol Mall to Husick’s Tap House in Clarksburg. Ability to ride 100 miles not required! A save the date coming soon.
Click on the links below to see the Thought for the Day and the table hand out titled "Golden Rule" from Rick Davis on February 27th.
Let’s Go Skiing!
It was a short ski run this week – but Kiefie Breuer would have been the standout star no matter the length. Kiefie stood to thank all participating RCOS members for the caregrams and fellowship sent to her during her recent hospital stay. Welcome back, Kiefie! We are grateful you are on the mend.
Guest Speaker: The 2024 Economic Forecast by Mik Miklaus
Mik’s preview of the local economic forecast started with a review of the different forces impacting our money supply, which drives interest rates. The Fed put a thumb on the scales during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep lending rates low and have since been trying to remove their influence without creating an economic backlash. This approach has had mixed success – mortgage rates are now as high as 8% after more than a decade of sitting around 4%.
Interest rates will drop this year, Mik projects (rates typically drop between 5 and 25 basis points in November of election years).
A projected downturn in mortgage rates is one of several indicators that a recession is on its way. Payments on credit cards are slowing down, and more than 100 different online retailers have begun offering payment plans similar to the old layaway model. The unemployment rate is still looking good, but the Department of Labor is including the work done by undocumented migrants, rendering it an imperfect measure of whether a recession is imminent.
In terms of housing, and particularly the Sacramento market – it remains a sellers’ market for houses valued under $1.25M. In that price range, the average home is on the market for about 3 months; about 5 months is considered an “equal market.” The recent spike in housing prices is a recognition of increased demand, rather than a balloon. Folks are more likely to stay in their homes longer; the average rate of turnover for a home used to be about 6 years, and now it’s closer to 12 years – and the recent low interest rates will likely slow that turnover even further as homeowners hang onto their favorable current mortgages.
Overall, Mik’s economic forecast predicts gray skies ahead.
Next week is a Brown Bag week for the club, so go to your lunch site and not the church! We’ll see you back in the same place, same time on March 19, when the meeting will feature Sutter Health president and CEO Warner Thomas.
Our greeters today were Sarah Hodge, Bruce Hester and Todd Aquilina. The wine sponsor was Rick Davis and Josh Pelz, John Swenstowsky was on the camera, and Megan Wygant was your humble Pulse reporter.
Photos by John Swentowsky
