The Astute Angle
A fresh and simplified perspective on personal finance topics
2021 Proposed Tax Law Changes!
On September 26, 2021, the House Budget Committee released House Report No. 117-130 (the “Report”). Although it remains uncertain whether the Biden “Build Back Better” infrastructure agenda (or some form of it) will be enacted [...]
4 Things You’ll Wish You Did Before the Bull Market Becomes a Bear Market
Well-known investor Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital has often said, “You can’t predict, but you can prepare.” While markets are cyclical, oscillating between bull and bear markets, you can never know with certainty when the [...]
Medicare Open Enrollment: Important Considerations and Mistakes to Avoid
With the annual Medicare Open Enrollment upon us (October 15th – December 7th), we thought it would be helpful to highlight some key areas that you should focus on during this time to make the [...]
Children as Dependents, Kiddie Tax, and College Tax Planning Strategies – Updated
A number of years ago, we authored this article explaining why higher income parents may be well served to gift appreciated investments to their children and then have the children use the proceeds to [...]
Is Financial Planning Important?
Financial planning takes time. We try to make it easy for our clients, but it still requires an investment of their valuable time and energy, as well as that of our team. SO, why do [...]
Long-Term Disability Insurance – Group vs. Individual Coverage
From an economic perspective, insurance is useful to protect against low frequency, high severity events. Quite simply, we are well served to insure infrequent events that would be financially devastating like the loss of a [...]
Low Rates and High Valuations Have You Down? Don’t Worry…Plan Right!
Since the advent of the Great Financial Crisis in 2008, catalyzed by successive rounds of quantitative easing and ever more stimulative monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, we have found ourselves in an environment of [...]
Inflation and Interest Rates: TIPS
In a recent blog post on low-risk investments for an inflationary environment, we focused on Series-I Government bonds, highlighting their purchasing power protection, their unique taxation benefits, and their marketability and liquidity profile. We also [...]