Owning a Home still is a big factor in Millennial's feeling "wealthy", but it is not the number one factor.

Schwab asked people to think about personal definitions of wealth in their lives, and the survey revealed a wide range of perspectives. When asked for their personal definition of wealth, two of the top three most popular descriptors aren’t even about money at all.

Their definition of "wealthy" is not the same as your grandparents' definition.  A new survey called the 2018 Modern Wealth Index compiled by Charles Schwab showed that owning a home was rated just above "eating out".  Here are the top 5 things that make them "feel" more wealthy:

• Spending time with family (62 percent)
• Having time to myself (55 percent)
• Owning a home (49 percent)
• Eating out or having meals delivered (41 percent)
• Subscription services like movie/TV and music streaming (33 percent)

Other things that make people feel wealthy in their daily lives include owning the latest tech gadgets (27 percent), having a gym membership or personal trainer (17 percent), and using a home cleaning service (12 percent).

When asked to focus just on numbers, survey respondents believe it takes $1.4 million to be considered financially comfortable. To be considered truly “wealthy,” that number increases to $2.4 million.

Source: 2018 Modern Wealth Index

What Happened to Rates Last Week?

Mortgage backed securities (FNMA 4.50 MBS) gained just +12 basis points (BPS) from last Friday's close which caused fixed mortgage rates to move sideways for the week.  Over the past 4 weeks, the rolling average has seen a slight decline in mortgage rates.

Overview:  We had a holiday-shortened trading session which was really only 3 full days of trading in the bond market.  We had very strong domestic economic data (ISM Services, Jobs, Manufacturing) that would have normally caused mortgage rates to increase.  But offsetting our strong data was concern over the start of the trade wars with China and to a lessor effect, Canada, Mexico and Russia.  The uncertainty over the path of the trade war has kept money into long term bonds where normally, it would flow out.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs:  Big Jobs Friday showed us that the job market continues to be very strong.
Jobs:
June Non Farm Payrolls (NFP) 213K vs est of 195K.
May NFP revised upward from 233K to 244K.
April NFP revised up[ward from 159K to 175K.
The rolling three month average increased to 211K
Wages:
The MOM change in Average Hourly Earnings increased by 0.2% vs estimates of 0.3% and is now $26.98.
The YOY change is 2.7% which matched market expectations and last month's pace.
Unemployment Rate:
The Unemployment Rate increased from 3.8% to 4.0% but that is only because more people are actually looking for work. This is reflected in an increase in the Participation Rate from 62.7% to 62.9%

Services: The June ISM Non-Manufacturing Index (2/3 of our economy) had a very robust reading of 59.1 vs est of 58.3. This is the third highest reading since 2005.

Manufacturing: The national ISM Manufacturing report was very robust and beat expectations with a 60.2 vs estimates of 58.4. Input costs (ISM Prices Paid) were very lofty at 76.8 but were smidge lower than in May.

The Talking Fed: We got the Minutes from the last FOMC meeting. There were no real surprises in the minutes. They clearly are wiling to let inflation run hotter in the near term and do have some concern over the impact of tariffs but overall feel that the economic risks to a trade war as being "balanced".

Trade Wars: Friday started the official kickoff of 25% tariffs on $34B worth of items from China and vice-versa. President Trump has said that the U.S. is ready with another $500B in tariffs on China if they don't come to terms with a more equitable agreement and protect intellectual property rights.

What to Watch Out For This Week:

The above are the major economic reports that will hit the market this week. They each have the ability to affect the pricing of Mortgage Backed Securities and therefore, interest rates for Government and Conventional mortgages. I will be watching these reports closely for you and let you know if there are any big surprises.

It is virtually impossible for you to keep track of what is going on with the economy and other events that can impact the housing and mortgage markets.  Just leave it to me, I monitor the live trading of Mortgage Backed Securities which are the only thing government and conventional mortgage rates are based upon.