When it comes to investing our hard-earned savings, it’s difficult to remove emotion from our decision making, especially as those savings fluctuate up and down with the market. For most people these assets are grown over decades through saving and hard work – how could we not be emotionally attached? Especially when considering retirement assets, a portfolio can feel like a member of the family; they’ve seen the good times and the bad, from the job we loved to the one we didn’t, from our youngest child’s wedding to our first health scare. However long you’ve been invested, it’s likely that you know the feeling of watching the markets drop and the inevitable sinking stomach feeling. Perhaps that feeling and the corresponding worry stayed with us longer than it took for the market and our portfolios to recover and now informs our current financial decision-making. Why then, can few of us mark the moments in time when our investments grew significantly and we celebrated their success?
How Technology is Changing Financial Custodian Services
Technology continues to alter and evolve the way in which we transact with each other and the world around us. We’ve moved from computers being a luxury in the late 1980s, when less than 1% of the world’s technology-stored information was in digital format, to today, where people can hold a computer in their hands and nearly all information is stored digitally.
Along with the mass adoption of technology, the traditional means of executing and recording financial transactions has shifted significantly and continues to do so. Major financial custodians are changing some of their longstanding client service offerings in order to keep up with the ways in which their clients transact in today’s economy.
Tips on Moving for Tax Reasons
If you live in a high income tax state such as Oregon, California or New York, you’re probably not happy about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 capping your state and local income tax deductions at $10,000. Many people who were taking advantage of these deductions found their tax bill to be higher after the legislation passed. If nothing is tying you to where you currently live, such as a job or family, you may consider moving to a lower tax state.
5 Tips for Inheriting Wealth – Life Transitions
Inheriting wealth can be unexpected or something you’ve known about for a long time. Either way, it can be life changing. Beyond the emotional component, your head may be spinning with questions about what to do next. How will this change my life? Will this change my life? Beyond the technical components of inherited wealth, receiving a large gift can spark a lot of existential questions that are important to address within the context of your financial plan.
Gifting Money to Your Children
As your children grow into adults, your relationship with them naturally evolves. You love them and may want to continue to support them in various ways but, when it comes to supporting them financially, things can get complicated.
