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Wealth management and tax planning, done right, require care and a thoughtful approach. Helping you be vigilant in these and all other aspects is the purpose of this guide, which walks you through the key concepts and approaches pertaining to tax planning, investing, charitable giving, estate and gift planning, business succession, family meetings, family offices, risk management, and cross-border considerations.

In this edition of Eton Advisor’s quarterly Investment Outlook, they conclude a series on goals-based investing with a discussion of integrative wealth management, where synergies are created by the marriage of wealth structuring, investment consulting, and ongoing implementation & execution. Without all three of these components working continually in harmony, “true integration” is impossible. This issue also includes economic and market views by Jean Brunel.

Most investors have heard of the increasingly popular term “impact investing” but they may not be fully familiar with its meaning. This paper will define impact investing and some related terms, explore the history of this type of investing, discuss why it is important now and explore how it can be implemented in portfolios for interested investors. There are interesting opportunities for investors who want to generate a return and make a difference in the world.

With greater frequency, investors are wondering whether, and when, the Federal Reserve’s extraordinary money printing will cause rampant inflation. A review of the past century provides interesting insights, particularly between 1933 and the late 1940s when the Federal Reserve printed money at comparable levels to those of the Bernanke Fed.

Wealthy investors are in a strong, positive frame of mind as the recession recedes and prospects for the economy and financial markets improve. Yet, despite this growing confidence, they face significant, unrecognized challenges in their investment and wealth strategies. This study reveals the risks wealthy individuals face as they adapt to a challenging investment climate and new tax rules.

There is no perfect system or framework for investing, nor can any investor follow any system in a perfectly disciplined way. Goals-based investing, however, is a better approach than most in helping investors stick to their investment diet, reach their target and maintain their financial “weight” over time.

In the past 12 years, there have been two distinct economic and market environments. The first, a period of rampant borrowing, was fueled by a red-hot real estate market. The second, a period of deleveraging, saw a reversal of the debt buildup with household debt ratios declining through a combination of bank write-offs, debt repayment and income growth. It could be argued that much of the needed deleveraging has now been accomplished or, at minimum, that spending habits have changed enough to set the economic system on a path toward a more normal economic environment.

The US Federal Reserve is beginning to talk about diminishing its quantitative easing program if signs of a sustainable economic growth path emerge.

The first half of 2013 was characterized by strength in the U.S. equity market, but also by rising volatility and struggles in a variety of other asset classes. For the second half of 2013, the authors expect an acceleration of growth in the United States, a slightly better economic tone in Europe and below-trend growth in most emerging economies.

Atlantic Trust's Third Quarter Newsletter