Just as a winning team meticulously plans its Super Bowl plays, individuals and families may benefit from developing a comprehensive plan for their estate. Estate planning isn’t just for the wealthy. Estate planning is a strategic move for everyone to use that helps to see your wishes honored, your assets managed, and your loved ones taken care of. Here are …
Making the Most of an Interest Rate Hike Pause: Financial Tips and Strategies
In times of market volatility, when inflation is increasing, the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates to help to cool the inflation spike. During this period, people are anxious and keep a tight grip on their wallets. In time, the Fed can put a halt on the interest rate hike. This pause is a breath of fresh air for consumers …
8 Financial Wellness Tips to Help Manage Generational Wealth
Asset management and financial wellness can help develop long-term confidence when wealth transfers from generation to generation. Understanding and implementing financial wellness techniques is essential for effectively sharing wealth with the next generations. Here are some financial wellness tips to help manage generational wealth transfer more confidently: Tip #1 – Participate in Estate Planning A vital pillar for managing …
Don’t Miss Out on These 5 Commonly Overlooked Tax Deductions
When you own a business, you get to deduct business expenses from your business income. This general rule applies, subject to certain limitations, whether you are a sole proprietor with employees or a self-employed freelancer working in the gig economy. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows you to claim tax deductions for expenses that are necessary and ordinary for your business. …
Taxation of Investments
It’s nice to own stocks, bonds, and other investments. Nice, that is, until it’s time to fill out your federal income tax return. At that point, you may be left scratching your head. Just how do you report your investments and how are they taxed? Is it ordinary income or a capital gain? To determine how an investment vehicle is …
4 Tax Planning Tips for High-Net-Worth Families
Tax planning might be complex, but it’s also essential—especially for high-net-worth families, where missing tax breaks or failing to optimize income could cost significant dollars, maybe millions, over a lifetime. And even in the short term, with the highest marginal federal tax rate sitting at 37% for 20241 (plus additional state and local taxes), a lack of tax planning could …
LPL Financial Research Outlook 2024: A Turning Point
In 2024, LPL Research believes markets will make a definitive turn to a more recognizable place. En route, the transition will be marked by meaningful shifts in a few key areas. Inflation is going down. The risk of a recession is bubbling up again as the effect of post-pandemic stimulus wanes. And the end of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) rate-hiking …
Social Security Benefits Set to Increase in 2024
Proper financial planning includes forecasting future Social Security benefits. In a welcome development for millions of Americans relying on Social Security, the Social Security Administration has recently announced a substantial increase in retirement and disability benefits. Starting in January 2024, recipients will see a significant boost, with benefits set to rise by 3.2%, translating to an average increase of more …
Bonds: How to Adapt to Challenging Market Conditions
In today’s current financial environment, investors are experiencing the challenges of managing their investment portfolio through a volatile market with an uncertain future. For more than a year, bond return on investments has been less than favorable, and the question we have to ask ourselves is, are bonds even worth having in our portfolio anymore? What are bonds? Buying a …
The Stock Market Roller Coaster: Will You Succumb to Fear or Ride it Out?
The stock market is like a roller coaster that goes unpredictably up and down. It can be fun and exciting one minute and terrifying the next. When people think of the stock market, they think of wealth accumulation. However, the stock market isn’t a QuickTrip lottery ticket to financial freedom. It simply doesn’t work that way. Sometimes, the market …