The Master’s Minute

Last week, Garry introduced our blog series reflecting on the 2024 investment markets. This week, we’re diving deeper into the stock market’s performance, highlighting key trends and insights. The 2024 Stock Market: Overview  2024 marked another strong year of positive returns for investors. Following the downturn in 2022, patience was rewarded as both 2023 and 2024 delivered substantial gains. In 2024, several stock market indexes achieved outsized returns: the S&P… Read More

As we begin a new year, it gives us an opportunity to look back on the year in markets in 2024. It was a largely positive year across most asset classes, and we will review different parts of the 2024 market over the next few weeks during our Q1 blog series. During preparation for this blog series, I was curious to look back at what the “experts” predicted for the… Read More

As of the end of 2022, Americans held approximately $37.8 trillion in retirement plans and accounts ($26.3 trillion in employer-sponsored plans and $11.5 trillion in IRAs). These accounts have been around a long time, IRAs and 401(k)s were both initially established in the 1970s.   If they were collectibles, they’d be approaching vintage status.   Most of us enjoy the allure of new and shiny gadgets, so it’s easy to… Read More

It is, once again, the beginning of a new year! The arrival of a new year provides all of us with a chance to reflect on 2024 and consider what we want to see happen in 2025. This process of reflection and planning is very valuable, and it is one of our favorite exercises to walk through with our clients. Here are a few reasons why we feel this exercise… Read More

Our current society is overwhelmed with sources of information on, well, everything!  The evening newscasts usually include an update on the latest scam alert, meant to keep us informed and educated on the ways in which we can protect ourselves. We all have created our own list of “trusted sources” for times when we just aren’t confident in the source of information.  Your shortlist of trusted sources might include attorneys… Read More

We wrap up our tax planning series today with an overview of tax payments and penalties. Throughout this series, we’ve explored aspects of tax planning starting with Tax Code Basics, then moving through Tax Brackets, Capital Gains, and then a dive into strategy for Standard vs. Itemized Deductions. As with many items in our tax code, getting your taxes paid is more complex than it would seem. Understanding the Basics: Payments &… Read More

Welcome back to our fourth-quarter blog series covering various aspects of our federal tax code. Today, we will explain standard versus itemized tax deductions and how thinking strategically around these deductions can help your overall tax obligation in the long run. Standard vs. Itemized Deduction: What You Need to Know When calculating your taxable income, you are allowed to subtract various items from your gross wage to arrive at the… Read More

Today’s blog post is part of our 4th quarter series and will discuss some of the details associated with capital gains tax planning. Lyle’s previous blog in this series, Understanding the U.S. Tax System Through a Simple Story, highlighted the ordinary income tax brackets. His analogy helped to clarify the reality of how our tax code works for ordinary income. Ordinary income includes wages, salaries, and interest earned and is… Read More

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” But is that really true? As the tax code has grown more complex, fewer people understand how the U.S. tax system works. In fact, according to a recent survey, fewer than half of all taxpayers know which tax bracket they fall into. To better understand our federal tax system, let’s explore a metaphorical story. First, we’ll go out for… Read More