No Broad Earnings Decline

We are having a better October than last year when the S&P 500 was beginning its fourth quarter correction. With four trading days to go, this October finds the index up 1.50% compared to the 7.0% decline we experienced in October 2018. Corporate earnings have been mixed but are in no way signaling the beginning […]

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Ask a Trust Officer: Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust

Dear Trust Officer: I’m financially secure, and have married for the third time. Lately, my children from the first two marriages have been asking about their inheritances. They seem to be concerned that my spouse—or perhaps a future spouse—might freeze them out. How might I allay their concerns? — THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM DEAR THIRD […]

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Read Between the Lines

From the bad news sells category comes the questionable headline of the week: There’s a more than 25% risk of a US recession in the next year. I have little argument with the facts behind the headline above. I do disagree with the way those facts were announced, considering the same information could have been […]

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Retirement Checks Should be Cashed Promptly

An employee was due a $900 distribution from his employer’s qualified plan.  The plan withheld income taxes and sent the employee a check for the balance.  The distribution must be included in taxable income for the year in which the check was cut.  For unknown reasons, the employee never cashed that check, nor did he […]

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Trade Truce?

After three weeks of declines, the S&P 500 rose 0.62% last week leaving the index roughly unchanged for the quarter. Weakness early in the week disappeared on Friday as news of a partial agreement in the trade negotiations between the United States and China began to circulate. Details have not been made clear other than […]

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Six Predictors of Happiness in Retirement

A study of adult development has been carried out at Harvard for roughly the last century and is a study worth reading about happiness in retirement. It identifies characteristics and behaviors which are good predictors of happiness in retirement. Three groups have been tracked: 268 Harvard graduates born about 1920; 90 middle-class gifted women born […]

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Potential Trading Triggers

After moving lower, down 5.00% or more intraday Wednesday, stocks rebounded in the last half of the week to finish the week mixed. The DJ Industrial Average ended the week down 0.92%, the S&P 500 finished 0.33% lower and the NASDAQ was up with a gain of 0.54%. Interest rates edged lower throughout the week, […]

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When the Future Takes a Turn

One of the major issues for keeping wealth in the family has long been the federal estate and gift tax. The tax rate today is 40%, but historically has been as high as 70%. The exemption amounts were far lower in the past than they are today. To gain control over this tax exposure, some […]

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