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Planning Newsletter - October 2025
  • Generally, changes to individual taxes are positive but with limitations for higher income taxpayers in the highest brackets. Proactive tax planning will be crucial in many cases.

  • The estate tax exemption amount was increased tom $15 million per person, indexed to inflation starting in 2026. Wealth transfer and gifting strategies may need to be reviewed.

  • OBBBA expands provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) to favor small business owners. Business owners should consider ways to take advantage of this.

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Investing Newsletter - July 2025
  • Long-term U.S. Treasury yields have risen, even as inflation data softens. Concerns appear to be rising regarding our country’s fiscal trajectory and debt.

  • Proposed legislation, including the “Big Beautiful Bill,” points to further spending and borrowing, reinforcing investor concerns about U.S. creditworthiness.

  • We are also seeing renewed interest in international markets as investors seek diversified opportunities amid shifting global capital flows.

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Planning Newsletter - April 2025
  • Some are worried that Social Security may not be there when they retire. Even without increasing taxes, the Social Security system is projected to be able to pay 73% of promised benefits all the way out to the year 2098.

  • The primary source of Social Security funding—payroll taxes—is continuous. As long as people are working, the system collects revenue. Currently, payroll taxes cover about 77-80% of benefit payments even without trust fund reserves.

  • Unlike private financial schemes, Social Security is backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Congress has adjusted Social Security multiple times in its history, including the 1983 reforms, which raised the retirement age and increased payroll taxes to stabilize funding. Future adjustments will likely follow a similar path.

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Planning Newsletter - October 2024
  • Review your marginal tax brackets for ordinary income and capital gains rates to decide which account to withdraw from.

  • Don’t make the mistake of overfunding retirement accounts at the expense of your brokerage (taxable) accounts. It’s important to have non-retirement assets for flexible spending and savings goals. If you haven’t set up a taxable brokerage account, perhaps this is the next move to make for any money leftover that you haven’t found a home for

  • End of year provides you with the opportunity to think about managing liabilities. Consider the relative advantage to paying down debts with assets. What is the tax impact of doing so? Would it make a difference to your peace of mind?

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Investing Newsletter - July 2024

  • Cycles of US stock outperformance and underperformance vs. International stocks are normal.

  • The international equity outperformance from. 2000 to 2009 was especially painful for US investors because US stocks averaged negative returns for 10 years - now known as “The Lost Decade.”

  • Valuation measures such as price-to-earnings ratios lead some to believe that International stocks may outperform US stocks over the coming yearsmay outperform US stocks over the coming yearsmay outperform US stocks over the coming years

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Investing Newsletter - January 2024
  • In only six out of 97 years from 1926 to 2022 did the market have an annual return that came within two percentage points of the market’s long-term average returns of 10%.

  • It’s extremely important for investors to understand market volatility so they do not get too excited about a “good year” and too worried by a “bad year”.

  • The allure of trying to be in the market when it’s rising - and out of the market when its falling - is completely understandable. But timing decisions can often result in lower returns and increased stress.

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Market Review Q4 - 2023
  • The US equity market posted positive returns for the quarter and outperformed both non-US developed and emerging markets.

  • US real estate investment trusts outperformed non-US REITs during the quarter.

  • US government debt reached 121% of the value of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year. Many investors have expressed concern over the impact that servicing this level of debt could have on the stock market. But the historical data show little relation between the two.

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