The Complexity of Retirement Planning
After graduating from college, typically you begin a career and (hopefully) start saving for a rainy day. Years quickly pass and before you know it you might be married with children. Soon after the children arrive, you begin planning for their college. Next, you hear relatives and friends discussing [...]
Investment Correlations Are Changing: What You Can Do to Protect Your Portfolio
One of the most fundamental principles of portfolio theory is diversification. Diversification is a powerful risk management technique which spreads investments across different geographies, asset classes, or sectors. It lessens the impact any one investment can have on a portfolio, reducing volatility and improving the probability of achieving long-term [...]
Guide to Giving: What to Give
This is the second article in a Guide to Giving blog series by contributing editor Richard B. Freeman. Richard is a Senior Director, Wealth Advisor at Round Table Wealth Management and a member of FCCF’s Professional Advisors Council. You are at a point in your life where you feel [...]
Guide to Giving: Ways to Give
This is the first article in a Guide to Giving blog series by contributing editor Richard B. Freeman. Richard is a Senior Director, Wealth Advisor at Round Table Wealth Management and a member of FCCF’s Professional Advisors Council. You have decided that “giving back” by donating to charity is something [...]
7 Hidden Costs of Retiring Abroad
Round Table’s Frederic Behrens was recently quoted in US News & World Report discussing the hidden costs of retiring abroad. If you’re a US citizen looking to retire abroad, this article highlights some key points to address. Please reach out to Fred (http://bit.ly/2QKhuPC) if you should have any questions or [...]
American Expat: Brokerage Account Closures and Restrictions
American citizens living abroad face many complicated investing and compliance issues. Careful attention must be paid to their selection of investments, filing a U.S. expat tax return, dealing with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and understanding country of residence tax rules. Savvy American expat investors ultimately realize [...]
Serving as a Trustee – What to Know
With a growing number of trusts being created every year in the United States, the possibility that you may be named as a trustee may also be increasing. Maybe you were chosen by a sibling, a parent, a colleague or a friend to serve as trustee of the trust [...]
The Hidden Tax Consequences of Mutual Fund Investing
As bull markets develop, many investors are lured by the low volatility and cheery market sentiment. However, as rallies stretch over a number of years, as they have recently, a hazard emerges for investors seeking to invest in mutual funds. First-time investors purchasing shares bear the risk of inheriting [...]
UBTI: The Hidden Tax for the Tax-Exempt
With the recent increases in interest rates, many investors begin to question their allocations to fixed income. These questions and doubts are not without reason: bond values move in the opposite direction as interest rates, so if rates continue to increase, it is only natural to assume that bond [...]
Life Insurance Problems and Solutions: A “Non-Agent” Perspective
Life insurance can be an important component of a comprehensive financial plan. However, problems related to life insurance can arise for a variety of reasons: client needs and tax laws may have changed; policy performance may not have met expectations; or the client may have purchased policies without fully [...]
Using Mortgage Interest to Fund Investments: The Interest Tracing Rules
Life insurance can be an important component of a comprehensive financial plan. However, problems related to life insurance can arise for a variety of reasons: client needs and tax laws may have changed; policy performance may not have met expectations, or the client may have purchased policies without [...]
The Quarter Million Dollar Question: Wealth Transfer & College Savings Strategies
For children born this year, the expected cost of attending four years at a public university has reached a staggering $250,000, and that projection continues to rise at a rate of almost twice that of inflation. 1 For many wealthy families, funding a child’s or grandchild’s college education [...]
Quarterly Review – Second Quarter 2017
Is Goldilocks back in town? During the previous economic cycle (2003-2007), Wall Street referred to the U.S. economy as the “Goldilocks Economy” …not too hot, not too cold, just right. It was also during this time that market risk metrics, such as volatility, were low. Presently, investors find themselves [...]
Quarterly Review – First Quarter 2017
The “Trump Rally” continued through the first quarter with most asset classes, both domestic and international, generating strong, risk-adjusted returns. The rally’s underlying support is in part due to investors “pricing-in” near certain approval of Trump’s stated policy initiatives (healthcare, tax, foreign profits, infrastructure and military). But the rally [...]
Quarterly Review – Fourth Quarter 2016
The year 2016 will be remembered as an example of the need to always consider the unexpected – from BREXIT to the Trump victory to the ensuing market rally that wasn’t supposed to happen. We began the year with the S&P 500 declining approximately 10.5% through February 11. Several [...]
Quarterly Review – Third Quarter 2016
Perhaps one thing that we can all agree on, and that which doesn’t need debating is the strong performance of risk assets during the last quarter. The S&P 500 was up 3.9%, non-U.S. developed markets were up 6.4%, and emerging markets were a top performer, up 9.2%. Not to [...]
Quarterly Review – Second Quarter 2016
The morning after the Brexit referendum confirmed the “Leave” victory, Bloomberg News ran an article titled, “Can we talk about last night?” And as funny as it is to compare the referendum decision to a one-night stand, the implications of Brexit will last far longer than until the new [...]