While we were busy preparing tax returns and tax extension calculations over the past couple of months, there were some notable updates on tax legislation. The proposed regulations for the original SECURE Act were released with a major surprise for beneficiaries of IRA accounts. The proposed SECURE Act 2.0 is in the news again after finally being passed by the House of Representatives. In local news, Maryland announced a retirement tax package that includes a state tax credit for some retirees.

There was a lot of bad news in the first quarter of 2022. We saw another peak in COVID cases with the omicron variant in January. In February, Russia invaded Ukraine and continues its unprovoked assault on the country. Stocks and bonds were both down on the quarter and inflation continued to shoot higher. With all this doom and gloom it might be hard to find anything positive, but there are some bright spots...

As we start 2022, there is still a lot of uncertainty in our lives, even beyond the ongoing pandemic concerns. The investment markets have started off the year with a lot of volatility, interest rates will be rising, and inflation is high, Congress is dysfunctional and we have no idea what may happen with tax changes in the near future. It is easy to get caught up in the wild swings of things or be frozen by indecision in times like these. All of this makes it that much more important to step back and think about your clients’ overall financial planning and goals to make sure their planning is where it should be.

I turned 40 recently, which according to most people means I’ve hit the midway point in life. I’m now “over the hill” and everything is downhill from here. Fortunately, I’m an optimist by nature and to me 40 is just another number. Besides, I’m a financial planner and I know my actual life expectancy isn’t really 80. According to the living to 100 life expectancy calculator, I’m going to live to 87 so I still have 3.5 more years before I hit the halfway point. I guess that means I have a few more years to decide which sports car to buy for my mid-life crisis!

The last two years have felt like an endless cycle of hope and despair. We have lost friends and family to the virus and seen others spend weeks in the hospital, wondering if they’ll ever come home. We have also been reunited with friends and family after months apart and felt the joy of physical connection again. This rollercoaster ride of emotion is not new to us, but COVID has certainly pushed our emotions to the extremes. These emotions can drive us to act in ways that might not seem completely rational to others. We have all had different reactions to this pandemic and those reactions have changed as we’ve gone through the various waves of infections. We see the same type of emotion-driven reaction in the investment markets as they go through cycles like we’ve seen from COVID, and investors react in similarly irrational ways.

The end of the year is a very popular time to give to charities. There are many deserving organizations out there that could use your help, especially in light of the challenges we’ve all faced during the COVID pandemic. While your primary goal in giving to charity should be finding a cause that is important to you, there are many tax advantages to charitable giving that should also be considered. Some of these rules have changed in recent years, so we thought we’d highlight a few things you should be thinking about as you do your 2021 year-end giving.