We recently said goodbye to our Portuguese Water Dog, Rio. While we knew this day would eventually come, we hoped we would have more than 8 ½ years with him. We have had many great dogs in our family over the years, but none had the impact Rio did. As I think about all the great times we had with him, it fills me with joy that he touched so many lives in a meaningful way. Rio taught us all many “life lessons,” and I wanted to share a few with you.
It’s hard to believe it’s been a year and a half since I wrote about a proposed new retirement savings bill with significant bipartisan support. I mentioned in the article that Congress had its hands full, and it might get pushed off to 2022. However, I didn’t think it would take until late December when it was finally passed as the “Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023”. Many of the original provisions I discussed in that article made it into the final bill, with some edits and new items. Here’s a summary of the big changes that might impact you.
The last few years have been full of surprises in the investment markets. In 2020, we had a global pandemic that shut down the entire world and sent markets into a massive drawdown for about a month. We then saw markets skyrocket back to new highs despite the ongoing pandemic. In 2021, speculative investments like cryptocurrencies, meme stocks, and SPACs all shot through the roof, and the overall market posted exceptional returns with very little volatility. Then 2022 came around, and the market euphoria since April 2020 came to a grinding halt.
Webster's dictionary defines retirement as “a withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or from active working life.” For generations past, that was probably a pretty accurate description of retirement. You worked hard, often for one company, got your gold watch, retirement dinner, and your pension, and then lived a life of leisure (typically not for too many years after retirement). But today, our perspective on retirement has changed dramatically...
Just when it looked like stocks might be bouncing back from a dismal first half of the year, everything turned negative again. As this chart from Morningstar shows, stocks were up almost 15% at one point in the third quarter, only to finish September back in the red. Almost every category of stocks fell in the quarter, with large-cap US stocks down 5%, small-cap US stocks down 2%, international developed market stocks down 9%, and international emerging markets stocks down 10%.
Summer is generally a slow time for tax news as Congress goes on recess and accountants take a break between the major spring and fall tax deadlines. However, some important news items came out over the past few months and we wanted to provide a quick summary of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Student Loan Forgiveness Plan and more...