Good afternoon, the failure of Silicon Valley Bank shook markets last week as investors try to comprehend the uncertainty of this situation for the entire banking industry. It’s a tragic situation for those involved. We have listed several thoughts below.
2023 Investment Strategy Outlook
Every December Wall Street strategists partake in their annual ritual of forecasting where the S&P 500 will be a year from now. To be fair, this is somewhat of a thankless exercise as capital markets simply do not allow investors to be this precise.
Investment Strategy Update – September 2022
There is no shortage of ways one could describe the current investment environment, but we will allow the great Stanley Druckenmiller to opine on it for us:
2023 Tax Brackets and Rates
On a yearly basis the IRS adjusts more than 40 tax provisions for inflation. This is done to prevent what is called “bracket creep,” when people are pushed into higher income tax brackets or have reduced value from credits and deductions due to inflation, instead of any increase in real income.
Summer/Fall 2022 Gift Tax Series: Volume 4: The Renaissance of the QPRT
As has been noted in earlier installments of this series, the current estate and gift tax exemption of $12.06mm is at a historically high level and is set to sunset at the end of 2025. This combination of facts means that many high-net-worth individuals are trying to find ways to take advantage of the exemption now before it’s gone. But not everyone has the ability to part with $12mm of investment assets right now!
Summer/Fall 2022 Gift Tax Series: Volume 3: The Hidden Gift of Roth Conversions
We are asked frequently by our clients whether they should contribute to a Roth or a traditional IRA (or if they should consider converting traditional IRA assets to a Roth. And while there are myriad variables to consider, one of the more succinct responses we’ve encountered is the rhetorical question: would you rather be taxed on the seed or the harvest?
Summer/Fall 2022 Gift Tax Series: Volume 2: Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (with apologies to Ben Franklin)
Benjamin Franklin’s famous observation “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” is an often-quoted opening remark when discussing the estate tax, so please forgive the quip. And yet, while death and taxes remain certain, the nature of the tax associated with death is less so. The federal estate and gift tax regime (often referred to jointly as the transfer tax regime) is a political football that gets tossed around with predictable regularity. While our clients carefully prepare for the future, changing winds in Washington can and often do result in uncertainty.
Efficient Wealth Transfers for Consideration
30,000’ Level: Taxes, Broadly
Our clients ask us a lot about how they can be tax efficient. That can mean a lot of different things, of course, because there are many forms of taxes. They could be thinking about property taxes, sales taxes, income and capital gains taxes, or wealth transfer taxes (taxes on wealth that is transferred from one person to another). And within these types of taxes, there are also levels of tax – local, state, and federal taxes to boot!
Investment Strategy Update – May 2022
Good afternoon, we wanted to share some current thoughts on the markets and
portfolio construction given this challenging investment environment.
Investment Strategy Update – March 2022
We wanted to provide an update with our latest thoughts given the continued volatility across capital markets and the escalating situation in Russia / Ukraine.