Single Point of View
Single Point of View is our way to occasionally share planning ideas relating to personal finance. Our goal is to pass along concepts that you may not be exposed to on a daily basis.
A ‘Full Trade War’ on the Horizon?
A full-blown trade war, though unlikely, would be very damaging to equities. What happened? President Trump announced that he plans to impose a 25% tariff on imported steel and a 10% tariff on imported aluminum. Why does it matter? A ‘full trade war’ is not something we have seen since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 which made the Great [...]
Market Predictions vs. Reality
Every year the big Wall Street banks publish their year-end targets for the S&P500. Think of these as a gauge of Wall Street’s collective wisdom. Their well-paid researchers crunch a ton of market and economic data. I will save you the suspense – their forecasting ability would be laughable, if it wasn’t for the fact that millions of families rely [...]
Update: Year-End Tax Reform Planning
Last week we summarized the House and Senate proposals for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (http://www.spcfo.com/single-point-of-view-blog/entry/singlepointofview/year-end-tax-reform-planning.html) including Action Steps relating to your year-end tax planning. Since then, the House and Senate reconciled a final tax bill and, as of yesterday, the bill has been approved by Congress. Below are the details of the final bill. Standard Deduction The standard [...]
Year-End Tax Reform Planning
Given the passage in both the House and Senate of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the stakes for year-end tax planning are higher than usual. We do not know what final legislation will look like when it comes out of reconciliation but there are themes in the House and Senate tax bills that give us insight into beneficial tax [...]
The Conversation Project
Many of us will be enjoying the next few days surrounded by family and friends. I'm thankful to have this time to spend with mine. There will be conversations about kids, sports, work, and I'm guessing in many houses in America, politics (hoping to avoid the last one at our Thanksgiving dinner). There is another conversation that most families [...]
Roll-Back Your IRA?!
A quick Google search yields HUNDREDS of articles explaining why you should roll a 401(k) to an IRA – but as our Chief Investment Officer, Rene, alluded to in his recent post “The Twisted Logic of IRA Rollovers”, there may be reasons to keep retirement assets in an employer sponsored qualified plan (401(k), 403(b), etc.) or roll the balance to [...]