I recently read a great article from the CFA Institute and I wanted to share it with our clients because I think it’s something we all struggle with. The title of the article is “Best Does Not Mean Optimal” and it discusses the neverending quest by portfolio managers to try to build the “optimal” portfolio for clients.
In November we introduced a new software called TaxCaddy to all of our tax clients. Now that tax filing season has begun, we thought it would be helpful to provide a few tips and tricks to using TaxCaddy to organize your tax information:
Fantasy football has been around for a long time now. I’ve been playing with friends since 2004, but there are leagues that go back even longer. If you’ve never played, it’s basically a way for you to try your luck as an NFL general manager and to build your own team of players. There is a draft where each team picks players in order to fill out a roster. Each week you put your best players in the starting lineup and you earn points based on how those players perform in their actual game that week.
It’s amazing what a difference a year can make. In our 2017 year-end market commentary we reflected on a year with positive returns and very low volatility across nearly every investment class. Now we look back on 2018, which saw negative returns in just about every asset class along with a significant increase in volatility.
December is always a busy time of year for us, even when we aren't anticipating a major tax reform bill like last year. We are working through a number of year-end planning items for our clients from tax projections to tax loss harvesting to required minimum distributions. As I work through these things for our clients I had a number of thoughts come to mind that I wanted to share.
The end of the year presents a unique opportunity to look at your overall personal financial situation. With factors like tax reform, life changes or just working towards your goals, now is an especially important time to review things. Taking what we now know about the new tax law and weaving together all of the other areas of your personal finances is one of the key ways we provide value to you as your trusted adviser. Below are some things we’d like to help you think through before the year ends.