Q3 2021: The Value of the Five-Minute Warning
When my girls were younger, and we were at a playdate or birthday party, I found it very helpful to give them a five-minute warning that we were about to leave. As a parent, you can usually…
Q2 2021: A Campfire Economy: Shifting Toward the Heat
Cooking over a campfire is challenging. If you’ve ever done it, you know what I mean. The fire can be difficult to start, the flame heat varies, the cooking surface is often uneven and the…
Finding (& Funding) Your Retirement Home
Retirement is a time of transition. Those approaching retirement often look forward to the freedom that will be plentiful once they stop working. That flexibility not only allows them to dictate how they spend their time,…
Could I Reduce My Tax Bill to $0 through Charitable Gifting?
In light of COVID’s devastating impact on many not-for-profit groups and organizations, the IRS included a provision in the 2020 CARES Act (and more recently extended through 2021) that taxpayers can deduct 100% of cash…
Benefits of a Securities-Backed Line of Credit
Many high-net-worth individuals have a significant portion of their wealth stored in financial assets - e.g. stocks and bonds in a portfolio. With the success of the markets over the last decade, many investors have…
Dealing with a Concentrated Position in Your Company Stock
Corporate stock: accumulation over time This past year my wife and I welcomed twins — our first children — into our family. In the months leading up to their births and the following year, we’d…
Will I Itemize Deductions in 2018?
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act included a substantial increase in the Standard Deduction that each taxpayer is able to take. For individuals it moved from $6,350 in 2017 to $12,000. For married filing joint taxpayers,…
Should You Get on the Bitcoin Bandwagon?
Bitcoin has garnered a lot of attention recently, and this is no surprise given its return of about 1000% in the last year (and over 50,000% in the last five years). It is hard to…
Investor Virtue #5: Humility
Note: This blog is the fifth and final installment in my series on the Five Virtues of a Wise Investor. Read about the other four virtues: No. 1: Curiosity, No. 2: Courage, No. 3: Thrift…
Investor Virtue #4: Patience
Note: This blog is the fourth installment in a series on the Five Virtues of a Wise Investor. Read about the first three virtues: No. 1: Curiosity, No. 2: Courage, and No. 3: Thrift. Five…