Something we can learn from the French
Each year when our anniversary rolls around, I’m typically looking for something new to surprise Jennifer with. We both love to travel, so this usually involves a trip of some type. We usually go somewhere warm to scuba dive or somewhere cooler for good snow skiing. Napa was the choice this year because we won […]
Beat The Clock -Last Minute Qualified Charitable Deductions
Congress has passed the “extenders bill” for 2014 (the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014). President Barack Obama just recently signed this into law. This bill revived qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) for 2014 only. There are NO transitional rules allowing 2014 qualified charitable deductions to be made in 2015 so you must get your 2014 it done before the end of […]
Large Tax Hits from Mutual Funds?
Mutual Fund Capital Gains Distributions They show up like uninvited guests, usually in early or mid – December and eat up our profits. They are one of the worst aspects of owning mutual funds. Funds might sell appreciated securities for a variety of reasons. Perhaps a stock hit management’s sell target–not out of the question, […]
Do You Really Know What You Own?
WALL STREET’S PIGS AND WOLVES Brokerage firms are finding many stealthy ways to market proprietary products and strategies these days. We wrote about some of these conflicts of interest in our blog a few weeks back entitled Wall Street’s Pigs and Wolves. There are many good advisors at brokerage firms that are primarily focused on providing good advice […]
Wall Street’s Pigs and Wolves
Music to Soothe The Soul or “Appetite for Destruction”?
“When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be.” – Paul McCartney As the lyrics suggest to the classic song “Let it Be” written by Paul McCartney, in times of trouble people turn to soothing melodies, songs that uplift the soul and words of wisdom […]
Waiting for the Fat Pitch – Your Investment Strike Zone
As baseball season arrives and my umpiring schedule is already starting to be booked with games, I thought it would be fun to illustrate how the game of baseball can be used in relation to investing. For example, when I’m behind the plate calling pitches, I’m looking for several pieces of information to help me […]