What's New in Our Blog

• Market Insights – May 10, 2012 05/10/12
  “The evening news on television is where they begin with ‘Good Evening’ and then proceed to you why it isn’t” —– Author unknown. Dear Clients and Friends, As if we haven’t had enough of politicians and politics here in the United States, we now have to sort out the ramifications of Socialist (and disruptive) victories in France and Greece. In France, Francois Hollande became the new president, riding into office on a wave of anti-German and anti-austerity sentiment. Rather than cut spending in a country where there has not been a balanced budget since 1974 and government expenditures are 56% of GDP (the highest % to GDP of any emerging or developed country in the world), he wants to further raise taxes on a population that already has a top income tax rate of 45%, a wealth tax of 0.5% and a VAT (Value Added Tax) of 21.2%. In Greece, Read more...
• Market Insights – April 19, 2012 04/19/12
  “I’ve learned, that to ignore the facts, doesn’t change the facts” — Andy Rooney Dear Clients and Friends, Tuesday was the day that income taxes were due to be paid to the U.S. Treasury. Like many Americans, I wrote the check, attached it to my return and mailed it off to Washington (by way of San Francisco first). This also is an election year and we will continue to hear ad nauseam about how some need to pay more in taxes while others should pay less. Some believe that the government is efficient in the way it allocates collected taxes while others do not. Some feel that free markets are scary and government can eliminate risk while others feel that private relationships – family, friends, business and charity – will do a better job over time. The fact is that there is no economic system (capitalism or socialism) in existence Read more...
• Plan and Prepare – April 11, 2012 04/11/12
  As we near the tax filing deadline (4/17/12) for 2011 tax returns, our office is staying busy processing 2011 IRA and ROTH IRA contributions and dealing with other tax reporting issues. Tax-deferred strategies are gaining more publicity as we are on the eve of some extraordinary tax benefit expirations at the end of 2012. These benefits have collectively saved investors billions of dollars over the past decade. Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at S&P Indices, reported that “individual investors will have saved $358 billion on qualified dividend tax cuts from 2003 through the 2012 expiration date.” One nifty little tax-savings strategy which doesn’t get discussed much is the cleverly titled “Backdoor IRA”. This strategy typically benefits a very small number of people or the “tails” of the bell curve for our statistician friends. But you never know if you don’t ask and many people who could otherwise benefit from it, Read more...
• Market Insights – April 3, 2012 04/03/12
  “The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory” – ancient Chinese proverb Dear Clients and Friends, In episode 3-10 of the AMC hit series “Mad Men”, Paul Kinsey (Michael Gladis) experiences a late night epiphany while racking his brain to produce copy for a Western Union advertisement. There is momentary joy and relief as the idea comes to him, however in all of the excitement there is one problem, he forgets to write the idea down on paper. I digress a bit with my recall of that scene from the “Mad Men” but it reminds me of my posting of February 27, 2012 where I had to “write down” my thoughts regarding the possibility of a housing recovery this year before I forgot about the powerful implications such a recovery would have for employment and the overall economy. Doug Kass reiterates that “housing is the straw that stirs Read more...

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