Posts in the finance category
You are being targeted by Search engine optimization (SEO) scams.
We wanted to bring to your attention a recent alert from Schwab regarding potential security threats that could affect your online interactions. Scammers are employing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to create deceptive websites that may appear in search results when you're looking for trusted institutions like Schwab. Read More
December Market Commentary Rates: Lower and Sooner?
December Market Commentary Rates: Lower and Sooner? Read More
What Issues Should I Consider Before The End Of The Year 2023
As the year draws to a close, it's a time for reflection, gratitude, and planning for the future. Whether you're a diligent planner or someone who's just getting started, there are several critical issues to consider before the end of the year. Read More
A Raft of Reassuring Data – or Not?
For most of the summer, increasingly positive data releases fed into the market’s upbeat view of the economy. This seemed to belie the consistent messaging from the Federal Reserve that it isn’t done raising rates and inflation isn’t yet whupped. Read More
Guarding Your Financial Future: The Power of Credit Freezing
In an era where data breaches and identity theft have become all too common, taking proactive steps to protect your financial security is essential. Recent waves of high-profile security breaches and data leaks, impacting major corporations such as AT&T, Facebook, and Marriott, have underscored the vulnerability of personal information to cybercriminals. Read More
What Issues to Consider as my child becomes independent
As your children becomes independent, you may want to encourage them to develop their own decision-making skills, while still being there to offer guidance and support when needed. Read More
Tax Season Help Has Arrived
As another tax season is approaching, we wanted to send a quick note and help out with a cheat sheet (above) to help answer some of the questions we frequently get. Read More
Inflation Impacts
Inflation has been making our lives more expensive as the costs of many goods and services we use every day have skyrocketed. The Federal Reserve is attempting to lower inflation by using the bluntest tool in its arsenal – raising the key short-term interest rate. Read More
Should a Trust Be Part of Your Estate Plan?
Trusts used to be seen as an estate planning tool for only the very wealthy, who have complicated family situations to sort out, and high-value assets to protect. Times have changed. Modern lives are complicated, asset values are higher, and solid estate planning is for everyone. Read More
The psychology of retirement
The phrase may seem cliché, but it holds true. We can lose track of the big picture along the journey if we aren’t careful. This can lead to challenging adjustment periods, and even make us feel like we have lost our sense of purpose. Read More
The Optimal Retirement Withdrawal Plan
You've saved diligently and invested prudently, and now it's time to turn savings into income. But how do you do that? Read More
Taxes FAQ 2022
For 2022, there were a few more minor changes to the tax laws and codes, but not the significant tax changes enacted in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) passed in late 2017. The law kept the old structure of seven individual income tax brackets, but it lowered the rates in most cases. The top rate fell from 39.6% to 37%, while the 33% bracket declined to 32%. The 28% bracket dropped to 24%, the 25% bracket to 22%, and the 15% bracket to 12%. The lowest bracket remained at 10%, and the 35% bracket didn't change. The income bands corresponding to the new rates were also lowered, compared to the 2018 brackets, for the five highest brackets. This year, the income brackets were adjusted slightly for inflation, but just the income ranges in each bracket. Read More
The Russian Invasion of Ukraine
The invasion of Ukraine is distressing on a humanitarian level and our hearts go out to the individuals and families who are being impacted by this crisis - both directly and indirectly. Witnessing this trauma unfold can be quite unsettling. It’s also normal to worry about the impact of such a tragedy on one’s life savings, family’s financial security, and investment portfolios. Fear creates market drops. And the world is nervous. We can’t predict the future. But we can learn from the past and present to help guide us forward. Read More
Once Again, It’s the End of the World
The most popular question these days is: when will life get back to normal? The most accurate and honest answer to that is: no one knows. Especially when dealing with a novel virus with no vaccine, and the immunity levels of the people with antibodies unknown, making predictions seems like a fool’s errand, and yet, we can’t stop thinking about it because everything else depends on it. Let me present a case below, on how expectations and the outcome can fall on exactly opposite directions. Read More
Hind Sight is Twenty Nineteen
In this last newsletter of the year, I think it is suitable to start with a story involving Dionysus, the god of wine, ritual ecstasy and theater, as most of us will likely be engaged in a related activity in one shape or form, joining the spirit of the season. Read More
Charitable Giving: Beyond the Basics
We all love to give. It feels great to give to others, whether it is your favorite charity, or as a demonstration of love and support of friends and family members. However, just like any expense, giving should be budgeted, tracked, and done with intention. It is not healthy to give beyond one’s means. It is not wise to support financial dependence in others, or to give out of a sense of guilt or shame. Time spent in support of people and causes you love can be just as valuable, as a financial gesture. Many find this kind of hands on giving to be even more rewarding. Read More
Financial Win-Win: Give to Charity and Avoid the Income Taxes on $100k
The tax code, with all of its hundreds of pages of regulations, stipulations, and loopholes always leave something be learned. Not only is the U.S. Internal Revenue Code massive, different write-offs and deductions occur at different stages in life, so it’s unsurprising if you don’t know the details of the IRA (Individual Retirement Account) charitable rollover. Read More
To Cut, Or Not To Cut…FED Is The Question
We’re living in interesting times indeed. Wherever we look, a new, better, improved version of every product, service, policy or methodology is available for a spin. Some of these trials end up becoming hugely successful, and some of them prove to be disastrous. Read More
2019…And the Plot Thickens
According to the Chinese calendar, 2019 is going to be a Pig year and since it is a water animal, it can be as murky and confusing as a mud pile, or as clear as Lake Tahoe. Today, I will attempt to turn the murkiness of the current market conditions into a clearer picture. My goal is to share relevant facts without distorting them, and make useful and actionable forecasts…so, let’s start. Read More
Most Hated Bull Still Running
Recently, I’ve got invited to a Rotary Club to share my thoughts on current economic and market conditions. I chose instead, a topic more interesting and not as dry for many, and talked about the findings of a relatively new field of study called Behavioral Finance. It is a hybrid of psychology and economics and aims to understand how people make financial and consumption decisions. Read More
Glass Half Full (or empty?)
When the markets don’t give us a clear direction and has mixed data flowing from many different sources, depending on our bias, one can easily call it half full or half empty. Either way, we would be right. Today, one can conclude that the stock market is due a correction or that it is building momentum for an uptrend. How so? Read More