You have heard a lot from us over the past year throughout the tax reform process that ended in late December when the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed. Keep in mind there are many unanswered questions on this legislation and we are still awaiting guidance from the IRS on several points. We expect to see more information from Congress and the IRS in the coming months. We are focusing on a number of areas as we explore how it will impact our clients. Here are some planning aspects that we think will be important for our clients in 2018:

There are two competing emotions I see many investors wrestling with right now: Fear - After nine years of positive returns in the stock market, we are due for a downturn and I don't want to lose my gains. Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) - After nine years of positive returns in the stock markets, I need to put all my money in stocks so I don't miss out on these incredible returns.

Every January we sit down to review where we are as a firm, what happened over the past year and to set goals for the upcoming year. We wanted to put this in writing to share with everyone who makes our firm a success. We couldn't do what we do without each and every person reading this and we appreciate your support. Please let us know if there is anything you'd like to see from us in the new year or some way that we can better serve you.

Parents take great pride in the accomplishment of their children. Often children follow a dream quite unlike that of their parents; to see your son take a career path similar to your own generates a great deal of pride. To be able to work side by side with your child in your chosen profession on a daily basis is a blessing. To also see him take a lead in the profession you have worked so hard to build is icing on the cake!

For the first time in history, the S&P 500 index, which tracks large cap US stocks, finished every single month in 2017 with positive returns. For the year it finished with a return of close to 22%, yet still wasn't even the top performing asset class for the year! Emerging market international stocks returned a whopping 37% and developed market international stocks returned about 25%. There is no shortage of positive return stories for 2017, as small cap stocks finished up almost 15% and REIT's were up almost 9%.

Are you sick of hearing about the Tax Reform Bill? Don't worry, we are sick of writing about it! We followed the bill from the initial one page plan that was released in April to the nine page "framework" released in October. We pored over the almost 500 page detailed report in November and the thousand plus pages of the Senate and House bills passed earlier this month. Now we finally have a final version of the bill passed by the Senate and the House and ready to be signed by the President!