The 2 Most Common Tax Mistakes
Posted by Gary S. Williams CFP®, CRPC®, AIF® on Mon, 02/03/2020 - 14:42
As far as taxes go, January is the calm before the storm. Before you know it, your mailbox will be filled with tax forms, you will be gathering charity receipts, and you may be dreading taking the trip to your accountant or starting up your Turbo Tax software.
For most of us, gathering information to prepare our tax returns is simple. However, there are two tax documents you will never receive, but that you may need to be mindful of as tax time approaches.
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How Does the Stock Market Fare during Election Years?
Posted by Brian McKinney, CFP® on Mon, 12/30/2019 - 16:03
As the 2020 presidential election approaches, publications and news broadcasts alike are ramping up their coverage of polling updates and speculating on what effects the outcome of the upcoming election could have on the state of the stock market.
Let’s take a look at some historical numbers to see if we can filter through some of this noise.
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What Does Retirement Really Mean (To You)?
Posted by Gary Williams, CFP®, CRPC®, AIF® and Nicholas Ibello, CFP®, AIF® on Wed, 11/20/2019 - 16:44
Retirement is a nebulous word that means different things to different people. For some, it means leaving the workforce permanently to relax at home. For others, it means spending time doing the activities they haven’t had time to do during their working years, such as traveling, exercising, volunteering, or learning to play the guitar. The list of activities is endless and unique to each individual who is approaching or has already made the transition into, their retirement years.
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What is an inverted yield curve, and what does it mean to me?
Posted by Gary S. Williams, CFP®, CRPC®, AIF® and Nicholas A. Ibello, CFP®, AIF® on Wed, 10/02/2019 - 13:18
In early August of 2019, headlines referring to the feared “inverted yield curve” were on display all over the news, financial websites, and publications, sparking a more than 2.9% decline in the S&P 500 (Source: Yahoo Finance), its worst single day of trading for the year. The following day, a plethora of articles were published explaining an inverted yield curve and linking its direct correlation to an imminent recession, further weakening investor sentiment. In this day and age where the headlines are often times scary, many are wondering: what is an inverted yield curve and should they panic?
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A Certified Financial Planner’s Perspective: The Stock Market Meltdown Is Coming
Posted by Gary S. Williams, CFP®, CRPC®, AIF® on Mon, 08/26/2019 - 12:35
It seems like every investor has been waiting for the market correction or the next recession since the last Great Recession in 2008. Maybe it’s because of the severity of last crash and recession. Or perhaps, people think that economic expansions die of old age. Well, they don’t. Economic expansions typically die for two main reasons: geopolitical risks and tight monetary policy.
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Thinking about Sending Your Child to a Private High School?
Posted by Gary Williams, CFP®, CRPC®, AIF® on Fri, 08/23/2019 - 11:33
There are many reasons why parents may consider sending their child to a private school; from the varied curriculum, these schools are able to offer, to smaller class sizes taught by dedicated and highly qualified teachers. It’s not required that you know where you want to send your child to high school the day they are born, but it is important to start saving early for their education needs.
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Is Warren Buffett Losing his Edge?
Posted by Brian McKinney, CFP® and G. Thomas Watson, CFA, CFP® on Tue, 08/06/2019 - 10:54
Published in the Baltimore Business Journal on August 15, 2019
Warren Buffett. Whether you are a day-trader, or you don’t know the first thing about the stock market, odds are you have heard of him. Arguably the world’s most famous investor of all-time, he is best known for his uncanny ability to pick stocks for the company he acquired more than 50 years ago, Berkshire Hathaway. Whenever he is featured live on one of the major news outlets, Wall Street, financial advisors, and even the general public give their attention to listen.
But, since the end of the 2008 financial crisis which marked the beginning of the current bull-market, Warren Buffett has lagged the S&P 500. How much exactly?
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A Financial Advisor’s Point of View: What & When to Teach your Kid’s about Money
Posted by Gary S. Williams CFP®, CRPC®, AIF® on Thu, 06/13/2019 - 10:29
As every father or mother knows, being a parent can be challenging. There are so many important aspects in life you need to share so that your child is ready to leave “the nest” and become a self-sufficient adult. Some of those lessons revolve around money. I would describe the core money lessons in three categories: budgeting, investing, and developing a healthy attitude to money/values. While countless books have been written on this subject, I will break it down into about 500 words.
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5 Things to Consider when Buying Luxury Real Estate
Posted by Gary S. Williams CFP®, CRPC®, AIF® on Thu, 06/13/2019 - 10:09
Published in the Baltimore Business Journal on October 21, 2019
While there are some readers of this column who can afford a two, three, or four-plus million-dollar home, most of us only get to dream about living in a massive estate by viewing pictures of Cal Ripken’s old home in the BBJ, watching Selling Sunset on Netflix, or finding reruns of MTV’s Cribs. If you are considering a luxury home purchase, as a discerning buyer, you should contemplate many important points.
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What working in the restaurant business taught me about life
Posted by Gary S. Williams, CFP®, CRPC®, AIF® on Mon, 04/29/2019 - 13:54
Published in the Baltimore Business Journal on Jun 13, 2019
How can teens today learn about grit, a hard work ethic, and staying calm under pressure – key attributes of any successful business person? My answer would be for all teenagers to work in the restaurant business as a busboy/girl or as a waiter/waitress.
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