A lot of the questions I receive from clients are triggered by newspaper articles or stories on the business news channel that they come across. That was the case this week when a client asked about a tax mentioned in the Wall Street Journal – the Net Investment Income Tax. Let’s take a look What […]

Every year, I pick a one-word theme for the upcoming year. It is a fun exercise to kick off a near year and it also helps serve as a good reminder as the days tick by of what I want to prioritize and how I want to spend my time. My word for 2023 was […]

I subscribe to a few research services. I always value other people’s ideas and thoughts on the market and these services do a great job of challenging my thinking and presenting new perspectives. One research firm I am particularly impressed by- FS Insight – does an excellent job of simplifying the market into digestible ideas […]

If you have federal student loans (like my client’s son does), you may be wondering when (or if) payments will resume after a three-year pause (originally put in place during COVID) This pause also included a moratorium on interest accruals. The short answer – payments are coming back – and soon. Recently, the Department of […]

Stay the course. How many times have I given that message to clients (and myself), both in these weekly posts and in general conversation? Thousands of times I am sure! And a large majority of those have come in the past three years as all investors have been thru a lifetime’s worth of challenges. Truth […]

I’d imagine whatever professional field you are in, you have a certain vernacular that has become second nature to you. So much so that you don’t even realize when you’re using terms that those outside your profession may not immediately understand. This is certainly true for me and the terminology that accompanies a career in […]

I received a question from a client this week, sparked by a recent job change. He has a 401k plan (at his now former employer) and was wondering what to do with that account. With today’s job market strength and the tendency of people to change jobs more frequently, this is a relatively common question […]

It’s been a relatively quiet week in the markets (finally!). With a return to action next week (an inflation print and a meeting of the Federal Reserve), I thought this was a great chance to write about a non-investment topic this week…habits. A few weeks back, I was reading James Clear’s weekly 3-2-1 email and […]

If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you know I’ve written about a tetter totter (or see saw if you prefer) in the past when explaining any number of market dynamics. I’ll risk repeating myself this week as it is such a good visual. It works especially well when thinking about investor sentiment. […]

When it comes to income taxes, there is no shortage of rules, acronyms, and best practices. One such “tax term” came up this week as I worked thru a retirement plan distribution for a client. Find out what “safe harbor” means in terms of estimated income tax payments and why it’s a strategy you should […]