For many months, the recurring theme in the news has been the economy: when will we experience a recession or bear market and how bad will the downturn be? Unfortunately, the economic commentary has, more than ever it seems, become infused with politics. The political noise makes it hard to maintain a clear-eyed, objective view of where we are economically.
Keatley Wealth Management (KWM), an independent, fee-only financial advisory firm located in Charlotte, NC, has joined Modera. The merger was official as of January 1, 2020.
Modera Wealth Management, LLC has announced that it recently added eight colleagues to its ownership group.
Good news. Once again the IRS has increased the employee contribution limit for 401(k) and other retirement plans in 2020. The contribution limit has been increased from $19,000 in 2019 to $19,500 in 2020 for employees participating in the following types of employer-sponsored retirement plans:
Chances are, you have more than one financial professional in your life. If you’re a client of Modera, in addition to your financial advisers, you may also have a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who does your tax planning. Since your CPA has a different role in your financial life than your Modera advisers, we find it most advantageous for you if we all work together.
The new Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in December 2019. The law will take effect on January 1, 2020.
As financial advisers, we get asked a lot of challenging questions: “How do I make sure I’ll have enough money for retirement?” “What’s a good strategy for lowering my tax burden?” “What’s the best way to pass my business on to my children?” “How aggressively should I invest?” “What if the markets have a downturn?”
We recommend that one should strive to build a diversified portfolio of various assets whose returns don’t all tend to move in the same direction. If one asset class “zigs” while others “zag,” you can potentially offset some of the impact of the declining asset. This often conjures up the old saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
“What’s the big deal about having a trust anyway?” This is a question I’m often asked in client meetings, though not always in such a brash fashion. Usually the topic of trusts comes up after a client hears that a friend has set one up, which piques my client’s interest.
The price of a college education has risen dramatically over the last few decades – in many cases far beyond the rate of inflation. For example, a $3,000-per-year tuition in the early ‘70s translates to just over $18,000 in today’s dollars. But when I researched a well-known college that cost $3,000 a year back then, I found it now charges between $31,864 and $35,086 a year. And that’s far from the most expensive one.
