While many people equate legacy planning with estate planning, they are not the same. Estate planning is a component, but legacy planning involves more than simply deciding who inherits your assets—it's about ensuring your wealth is passed down efficiently and according to your wishes. To help you get started, here are four essential questions to ask when preparing your finances to pass to your loved ones. 1. Is Your Beneficiary Information Up-to-Date? Every financial account you own—from retirement accounts to life insurance policies—requires a beneficiary designation. This can include primary and secondary beneficiaries, and you may even have multiple beneficiaries per account. It’s vital to review this information annually to ensure its accurate and reflects your current wishes. Ask yourself: Have there been any life changes, such as a marriage, divorce, or birth, that might affect your choices? Is the contact information, including addresses and phone numbers, up to date? It’s also wise to have a conversation with your beneficiaries so they understand what to expect. Additionally, consider assigning a Financial Power of Attorney for each of your accounts, and discuss the responsibility with that individual to make the process as seamless as possible in the event of your passing. 2. Are Your Beneficiaries Aligned with Your Wealth Transfer Strategy? Our beneficiaries are often family members—children, grandchildren, ni
We have been highly constructive on U.S. large-cap stocks in our investment strategies since October 2023. We remain optimistic generally into 2025, but as we enter fall, we think it is prudent to be slightly more cautious as some facts have changed over the last several weeks. First, our analysis of earnings surprises and estimate revisions has detected some cooling trends, suggesting potential moderation of the earnings advantages that catalyzed much of the rally this year so far. Our research also reveals the autumn period in October through mid-November in presidential election years has tended to be more volatile than usual, with increased vulnerability to downside moves. The elevated uncertainty surrounding the upcoming election adds additional complexity. Given the sharp divide in the parties’ expected policy and the expectations of a close race, many real economy actors are delaying major capital allocations and business-defining bets to after election night. In this state of uncertainty, any lack of market liquidity has the potential to trigger volatility. This may be compounded if the final outcome of the election is delayed, as we saw in 2020. Finally, recent changes in market temperament have also caught our attention and give us pause. Relatively tranquil gains in large-cap stocks for most of the year have been disrupted recently with larger single-day selloffs, rotations, and V-shaped snapbacks, which may be signs of a market more susceptible to headlin