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More than any other segment of the population, the wealthy understand the power of leverage in today’s environment. Borrowing against an investment portfolio not only has the possibility of boosting returns, but it can also provide liquidity in a tax-efficient way. With relatively low current interest rates, investors may want to consider borrowing against their investment portfolios to fund major purchases and improve investment returns. Margin loans and non-purpose lines of credit are two effective ways to do this.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced income tax rate for C corporations from 35 percent to 21 percent in 2018. No sooner was the ink dry on the new law before owners of pass-through entities began to work with their advisors to determine if it made sense to convert their entities to C corporations. As is often the case with sophisticated tax planning, conversion of a pass-through, whether an S corporation, limited liability company (LLC) or partnerships, to a C corporation, is a multi-faceted prospect.

Investors awoke from their multi-year slumber in late January to a nasty reminder that stock prices are volatile. After a period of calm in the stock markets that rivals the longest in recorded history, a jump in average hourly earnings and the recent backup in bond yields refocused investor concern on the prospect of higher inflation down the road. That sent equity investors rushing for the exits, driving the S&P 500 down 10.2% in the span of just 8 trading days. Global markets followed suit, with the riskiest parts of the financial markets taking the biggest hit.

The Trump administration’s recent effort to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports into the United States has provoked a significant backlash among free-market economists, business leaders, and Republicans in Congress, among others. They worry that the imposition of protectionist measures designed to insulate domestic manufacturers from lower-cost foreign competitors could result in retaliation from foreign governments on other products that could expand into a full-blown trade war.

If you are a newer family foundation with one or two generations on the board, five generations may seem like a long time away. Yet in family philanthropy, quite a few foundations have been operating and thriving for 50, 75, even 100 years. What’s the secret of these family philanthropies that make it five generations, and across family branches? How do they successfully attract and engage younger family members? Learn from what other thriving family foundations have done—and continue to do—to sustain a successful long-term family philanthropy.

The frequency and scope of cyberattacks are growing rapidly, with breaches becoming a significant threat to a business’s reputation and sustainability. No industry or business size is immune to a cyberattack, and small and midsize businesses typically face more acute risks. With cyberthreats evolving and becoming more prevalent, what can your organization do to reduce the potential of suffering a cyberattack and hopefully minimize the cost of the incident?

Over the past four decades, the economic and trade relationship between the United States and China has been dramatically transformed, growing from about $2 billion in 1979 to approximately $612.5 billion in 2017. This places it among the most important bilateral economic relationship in the international economy. Now, however, that relationship is fraught with tensions due to differentials in growth, trade frictions and enforcement of trade rules along the technological frontier.

Inter-generational role transitions are often bumpy when it comes to the family business. Power and authority are not always easy to lay down when the baton is passed to the next generation, despite best laid plans.

Despite an improved outlook, it is possible that the U.S. political authority will trigger a six-month review period for exiting the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) sometime during the next 90 days. At stake is more than $1 trillion in cross-border trade and more than 14 million jobs across three economies. While Mexico has the largest exposure to such an event—in the case of a hasty exit, its economy could contract 2.9 percent in 2019—both the United States and Canada have significant direct and indirect exposure to such a radical shift.

Misperceptions about flood risk have kept many people from buying protection from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or the private insurance market.