I wanted to say thank you for your business and your willingness to stay with us through our recent transition to become completely independent of the Broker Dealer Community. This transition allows us to more freely serve our clients’ needs while further reducing potential conflicts of interest that impacted our ability to represent our clients. We remain loyal to our clients’ interests by being fiercely independent from outside influences. Our new designation as an independent Registered Investment Adviser or R.I.A. allows us the ability to construct creative solutions to meet your unique needs and step away from the cookie cutter solutions that large firms must adopt in order to serve the masses.
Two Things to Consider:
First:
As year-end approaches, you may want to consider how to mitigate income taxes, not only for this year but for future years. I would like to talk more specifically about your non-qualified accounts, these are the types of accounts that are not an IRA, 401k or any other retirement plan that you have through your employer. Investing may subject you to different types of taxes. Capital gains tax is an example of one. These gains may be larger than normal thanks to a strong year in the market. Some years it makes sense to capture losses and in other years it may make sense to recognize gains. Capital gains may be taxed at 0%, 15%, 20% or at ordinary income levels. We always encourage you to review your plans with your CPA prior to acting, in particular, your “unrealized gains” as well as your “unrealized losses” prior to year-end. We would be happy to visit about options you may want to consider.
Second:
Given the market’s better than average returns over the last months and years, it is a great time to consider the risk that you have in your investment accounts. When markets do exceptionally well your portfolio tends to become more aggressive as your highest risk investments grow faster than your safer investments, creating an imbalance in your intended risk profile. This is a great time to consider taking some risk off the table by reallocating some of the gains you have received in the past few years.
If you plan on using your investments in the next few years, its important pay special attention to your current investment risk as well as how much debt you are using. If you would like to reduce your overall risk or feel that it may be prudent, I would highly encourage you to take action while the markets are doing well.
As the Kenney Rogers song goes “You need to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em and know when to walk away.” This seems to be a time to consider drawing a few different cards.
Year-end Information
