Most of us spend our whole lives building wealth, and we want our families and the next generation to benefit. But without planning, it doesn’t work out that way. For example, one study found that most wealth is lost in America within three generations. The biggest concern we hear from clients is, “how will they be spending their inheritance?” It’s not uncommon for an entire inheritance to be spent within a couple of months – which is fast when you consider that these inheritances are often substantial. Sometimes, it’s simply due to reckless spending. But more often, we see it caused one of three issues: emotion-based decision making, pressure from family and friends, and/or a lack of professional assistance. Let’s look at each of these a little more deeply. 1. Emotion-Based Decision Making While we can understand grief and emotion in the wake of losing a parent or grandparent, we never make good decisions when we’re making decisions based on our emotions. And while sometimes it is the impulse purchases that are the issue – like buying a car, or house, or taking a vacation. But, more often it involves making major life changes, like quitting a job, or sinking their entire inheritance into a new business venture that eventually fails. In the case of starting a new business, people often have a passion for a specific type of business, but don’t have the education or experience with the kind of b
It’s getting to be that time of year again when we all have to think about tax filing for last year. We want to remind everyone of some strategies you may be able to take advantage of on your 2021 tax return. It’s not too late to max out things like IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEPs, and Health Savings Accounts for last year. You can still make the additional contributions before the filing date this year, which is Monday, April 18th. Maxing out your contributions is always a good idea because it can increase your savings and investments, while decreasing your annual tax bill. Tax-loss harvesting is another strategy that can help investors minimize any taxes they may owe on capital gains or their regular income. As a strategy, it involves selling an investment that has lost value, replacing it with a reasonably similar investment, and then using the investment sold at a loss to offset any realized gains. Keep in mind that tax-loss harvesting only applies to taxable investment accounts; retirement accounts like IRAs and 401(k) accounts grow tax-deferred so they are not subject to capital gains taxes. Another common question we get each year is about gifting – whether it’s to a friend, family member, or a favorite charity. I always recommend that clients consider gifting appreciated securities rather than their hard-earned cash. Gifting an appreciated security means getting a write-off for its current f