We have previously alerted you to a new reporting requirement for small businesses as a result of the Corporate Transparency Act that was enacted in January 2021. We initially took a wait and see approach to the new reporting requirements in hopes that they would be delayed or waived. Despite a Supreme Court ruling in March that the Act is unconstitutional, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that there will be any relief from this requirement before the January 1, 2025 deadline to file. Therefore, we are advising all clients to review the rules to determine if you might be required to file. Even if you aren't a small business owner, if you ever set up an LLC for your Schedule C business or for a rental property, you might need to file and the penalties for not filing can be severe. This article outlines everything you need to know.

We often say that owning a diversified portfolio means always owning something you aren’t happy with. So far in 2024, you’d be hard pressed to find anything in your portfolio like that. Every major asset class has posted positive returns this year, with many in double digits.

According to a report from Charles Schwab, scammers are increasingly using sophisticated "spoofed" websites to convince users they are visiting legitimate sites. In their recent report, they say their "fraud investigators have seen that these attacks are not only increasing in frequency and severity, but in complexity as well. As they recently noted, The bad actors are getting better at the social engineering aspect—they're more convincing, so potential victims stay on the phone longer and increase their chances of being successfully scammed."

"May you live in interesting times," often referred to as the Chinese curse, is reputed to be the English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb and curse. As you navigate your personal finances in 2024 and beyond, you may feel like you're living in those "interesting times."

If you aren’t a baseball fan, you might not know what the trade deadline is. However, die-hard baseball fans agonize over this day at the end of July every year. It’s the last day of the baseball season when teams can trade players without first passing them through waivers. After this date, if you want to make a trade, you first have to put the player on waivers so any team in the league can claim them. The fan reactions to the deadline are an interesting case study in human behavior, and I can’t help but think about the parallels to the world of personal finance. We often see many of the same emotional reactions to what’s going on in the markets. Here are some of the reactions I see most in both worlds.

Following a strong first quarter, the second quarter of 2024 was more of a mixed bag in the investment markets. The S&P 500 continued to lead the way with a 4% return, leaving it up over 15% for the year. However, US Small-Cap stocks dropped 3%, and REITs fell by about 1%. Outside of the US, developed market stocks were down less than 1%, while emerging market stocks were up almost 5%.