FINANCIaL
FIELd NOTES
Revocable Trust as Beneficiary vs. Retitling Accounts
Adding a revocable trust to your estate plan is a common move that can simplify the management of assets during your lifetime and the distribution of assets after your death. However, when you put a trust in place, one of the most time-consuming actions is retitling assets into the name of the trust. This step often requires paperwork at banks and county offices for any real estate deed retitling. But it’s necessary because having a trust does nothing if you don’t put assets into the trust.
I’ve had several clients over the years ask if they can simply make the trust beneficiary of an account instead of going through the trouble of retitling the asset…
Will Stock Returns Be Lower Over the Next Decade?
Recently, Goldman Sachs forecasted modest 3% annualized returns for the stock market over the next decade. Among the many reasons cited, a few include -
Higher starting valuations – the overall index is more expensive than historical norms.
Market concentration – A few individual companies have carried the index higher. If they falter, the market falters.
Interest rates – Rising rates make it more expensive for companies to borrow and invest, which leads to slower growth.
10-Year Market Outlook
Because of the variability of stock market returns in the short run, I steer clients away from short-term tactical changes to their portfolio and prefer to rely on the weighty evidence of history, along with long-term thematic trends in the market.
While no one has consistently and accurately predicted what the stock market is about to do, several well-respected firms provide long-term outlooks that have proven to be more accurate than short-term predictions.
Below are the 2025 10+ year estimates…
How Underpaying in Taxes is Now Costing You More
When it comes to taxes, underpaying the IRS can be costly. In recent years, the cost of underpaying has gone up substantially.
One primary reason underpaying taxes is more expensive is the rising interest rates on unpaid taxes. The IRS charges interest on any tax owed, just like a loan from a bank. These rates are adjusted quarterly and are tied to current interest rates.
As with other forms of debt, this rate has also increased. As of January 2025, the rate is 7%, up from 3% a few years ago…
Most-Read Blog Posts From 2024
Happy New Year! Looking back on this year, I wanted to share my three most-read blog posts in case you missed them. Below are links to the articles and a short excerpt from each…
The Most Searched Financial Terms of 2024
2023 was a year that brought us no shortage of interesting news, from bank failures to spiking mortgage rates to yet another debt ceiling showdown. As we approach the end of the year, let's review five of the most searched financial topics of the year…