Timely newsletters to help you stay current on the markets, tax rules, retirement planning and the wider economy.
Newsletters
How Can You Insure Your Future?
Long ago, people realized that there is strength in numbers. For hundreds of years, we have been joining forces against all kinds of calamities : including financial troubles.
Are you saving for retirement? For your children’s education? For any other long-term goal? If so, you’ll want to know how inflation can impact your savings. Inflation is the increase in the price of…
Are you concerned about your tax situation?
Immediate or deferred annuity: there’s no right answer.
Keeping an Eye on Heavy Corporate Debt
The opportunity to borrow at low interest rates has enticed corporations to issue more than $1.0 trillion in bonds every year since 2010. By the end of 2018, corporate balance sheets were carrying $9.1…
How Can I Benefit from Tax-Advantaged Investments?
For many people, tax-advantaged investing is an excellent way to reduce their income tax liability. And while many of the traditional tax-advantaged strategies have been eliminated, there are still alternatives left that can help…
Are Your Designated Heirs Up-to-Date?
The end of the year is a time when families often gather together. Although these gatherings may keep you busy, this could be a good time to think about the future and make sure…
Market Commentary – 9.9.13 What’s Developing in Emerging Markets Despite the strong returns of U.S. equity markets, it has been a different story for emerging markets. The MSCI Emerging Market Index, a proxy for…
What is the difference between a fixed annuity and a variable annuity?
An annuity is a contract with an insurance company in which you make one or more payments in exchange for a future income stream in retirement. The funds in an annuity accumulate tax deferred,…
An estimated 100 million Americans : representing almost 45% of U.S. households : owned mutual funds in 2017. These individual retail investors held about 90% of the $18.7 trillion in assets invested in U.S.…
Since the creation of the first modern-day mutual fund, the Massachusetts Investors Trust, in 1924, there has been a steady growth of mutual funds. Today there are around 8,000 mutual funds.1 Because of their…
Market Commentary – 3.3.14 Tensions between Russia and Ukraine Worry Investors Over the weekend, tensions escalated between Russia and Ukraine as Russian forces invaded and took complete operational control of the Crimean peninsula. Crimea…
Monthly Market Monitor – November 2014 Recap Market Indices1 November Year-to-Date S&P 500 2.69% 13.98% Russell 3000 2.42% 12.56% MSCI EAFE 1.36% -1.49% MSCI Emerging Markets -1.06% 2.54% Barclays US Aggregate Bond 0.70% 5.86%…
Most people know something about the stock market, but many investors who see stock as a way to get rich quick might not understand exactly what stock is and how it works. Before jumping…
Taking a Team Approach to Retirement Savings
Now that it’s common for families to have two wage earners, many married couples accumulate assets in separate accounts. They might each have savings in an employer-sponsored plan and perhaps one or more IRAs…
Market Commentary – 11.26.14 The Only Certainly for the Rest of 2014: More Uncertainty Since the Great Recession, U.S. equities have risen dramatically higher with only the occasional bout of volatility. However, recently, as…
Reward Workers and Fund Retirement with a Cash Balance Plan
Cash balance plans are technically defined benefit plans that share some key characteristics with defined contribution plans. IRS regulations finalized in 2010 and 2014 clarified some legal issues and made these plans more flexible…
Tax legislation signed at the end of 2017 made dramatic changes to the U.S. tax code for corporations and individuals. One of the most fundamental changes : a new way of measuring inflation :…
Tracking the Market with Index Funds
Index funds have become a popular way to invest because of their simplicity, lower fees, and tax efficiency. At the end of 2014, they accounted for 35% of all assets invested in stock mutual…
Below Zero: The World Experiments with Negative Interest Rates
As of late April 2016, six central banks in Europe and Asia have adopted negative interest rates in an effort to stimulate their national economies. The experiment began in Denmark in 2012, but the…
The Spousal IRA Opportunity Tax-friendly IRAs were devised as an incentive for workers to set aside money for retirement, so the maximum an individual can contribute annually is limited to the amount of his…
Putting Your Kids on the Payroll
If you could use a little help for your business this summer, there are some good reasons to recruit your own offspring. First and foremost, it’s a good opportunity for teens and college students…
Turbulent Times in Emerging Markets
Turbulent Times in Emerging Markets The term “emerging markets” refers to developing nations that show signs of progress, such as significant growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and infrastructure. Altogether, developing nations account for…
Meet the Greeks: Alpha and Beta
Meet the Greeks: Alpha and Beta As with any purchase, it would be wise to learn as much as you can about a stock or mutual fund before investing. Two measures that you might…
IRS Flips on Rollover Rules A 2014 U.S. tax court ruling related to IRA rollovers caught IRA owners and experts by surprise. In the case of Bobrow v. Commissioner, the court’s new interpretation of…