There's almost always something interesting going on with the stock market. Lately, it’s been hard to ignore the dominance of large U.S. technology stocks. The fact that the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, is up 9.16% year-to-date as of September 1st is...
In the context of estate planning (Will, Power of Attorney, etc.) what do you think of when you hear the word “trust”? For many, the word conjures thoughts of the super rich, “trust fund babies,” complex legal structures, maybe even tax avoidance. That’s exactly how I...
The idea of retirement, that you come to live a life of relative independence without working, is quite new in human history and even today is not a universal reality by any means. But in the US, in the year 2020, retirement is a reality—or...
In 1985, I was 13 years old. That year I earned $484 working at a local tennis club taking care of the clay tennis courts. My job involved sweeping the courts with a wide pull-behind broom, cleaning the line tape with a line broom and...
With the Presidential Election just over two months away, I felt it would be helpful to review presumptive Democrat nominee for President Joe Biden’s tax proposal. This is by no means a partisan review and will be an objective summary of his current plan. President...
Almost none of us will get through this unscathed. There is a sense in which we are all dealing with a collective trauma—from the emotional toll of being cut off from friends and family to the horror of experiencing the death-dealing of the virus firsthand,...
I had a great conversation with my property and casualty insurance agent last week. He called to see if anything had changed in my life that might warrant an adjustment to my home and auto insurance coverage. I didn’t recognize his number at first but...
Earlier this week I came across this chart and the story it tells is staggering. What you see is the year-over-year change in what JP Morgan considers “High Frequency Activity,” things like driving, eating out, flying, staying in hotels. Look how quickly and severely activity...
The hardest question I ever get asked is this: Which is better, Eastern North Carolina barbecue or Western (really, Lexington) North Carolina barbecue? The question isn't hard to answer because I don't know what I think about it (Eastern is 100% the best, though both...
There’s been a lot going on in the world of retirement planning this year, especially when it comes to required minimum distributions (RMDs.) The passage of the CARES Act on March 27th meant that anyone normally required to take a distribution from their IRA, 401(k),...
