Author Archives: Grace Rohrwasser

Warmer Sooner Longer

Planning Article

February 2024 – By Bob Veres

The annual ritual of Groundhog Day is behind us, but we all still wonder when the weather will turn warm again.  It happens at different times in different parts of the country, of course, but there is evidence that, in the Northern Hemisphere, the warming trend is coming as much as a week earlier, on average, than it did thirty years ago.

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New Highs. Now What?

Market Minute

February 2024 – By Bob Veres

We’re all reading headlines telling us that the stock market has reached all-time highs, something that never happened in 2023.  Many investors who have a worrisome mindset will think that means that there’s a high likelihood that we’ll see a downturn in the near future.  The markets have nowhere to go but down from here, right?

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Prepare for the Sunset

Planning Article

January 2024 – By Bob Veres

When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) Act passed in 2017, we were told that all of the provisions—lower tax rates, much more generous estate tax exemption—would sunset at the end of 2025.  That seemed a long way off back then.  But now it’s 2024, less than two years before what could be a jarring shift in our tax regime.  Soon, the top marginal tax rate is due to revert back to 39.6%.  The standard deduction will drop to roughly half of today’s $14,600 (single) or $29,200 (joint).  Most significantly, the estate tax exclusion—the amount that can be passed on to heirs without being taxed at the federal level—will drop from $13.61 million this year to somewhere around $6.5 million.

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Cash is Only King in the Short Run

Market Memo

January 2024 – By Kyle Rohrwasser

Between 2009 and 2022 the average Federal Funds rate for a given year was never over 2.2%, with many of those years averaging well under 1% at essentially zero. That created a situation that we like to call TINA (there is no alternative) which moved most investments into equities. When cash or short-term fixed-income instruments pay very little, one of the only ways to get “real growth” is through the equity markets.

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