Equities ended the first half of the year wildly positive and remarkably resilient, with the S&P 500 having endured an approximate 10 percent decline in January and February to end the first half up 2.7 percent. The S&P 500 Index then reached a new all-time high on July 11. To a large degree, equities have begun the second half of the year ...
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Real estate has long been recognized as a diversification vehicle within investment portfolios and often is held in one of two ways: physical real estate and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Although REITs were first created in the early 1960s and have played a notable role for investors since the 1990s, they have not always been a requiremen...
Two harsh realities threaten to compromise most investment objectives: first, markets are unpredictable and, second, investors can sometimes be their own worst enemies. A well-diversified portfolio seeks the highest potential return while striving to manage a given level of volatility. Goals, markets, and circumstances are all fluid; even a well-di...
Just as an individual goes through life cycles, so does a charity. From the start-up phase to adopting a strategic vision to looking at ways to grow the charity, there are many steps to consider at each important phase of the charity’s lifetime. By bringing discipline and focus to your family philanthropy and going beyond just writing checks,...
Entrepreneurs are risk takers by nature, leveraging their insight, hard work, and capital to create successful companies. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs who become business owners don’t think about specific kinds of risk until they’ve experienced a threat first hand. Yet planning ahead is critical to mitigate many different kinds of ...
Investment in collectible assets is growing worldwide as wealthy individuals in emerging markets such as China, India, and Latin America join the ranks of collectors. While most collectors invest primarily for their own pleasure, collectibles can be a good investment, too. If you collect items that you’re passionate about—whether they a...
When you think about family dynamics, very often there’s a lack of that home team concept and feeling of unity. Establishing that home team within your family early on offers the greatest opportunity for generational success and healthy family governance. The need to prepare the family for the future is particularly important for families tha...
For years, owners of family-controlled companies have taken advantage of applicable valuation discounts to advance their objectives in transferring wealth and company ownership to future generations in a tax efficient manner. On August 2, the Treasury Department issued proposed regulations under Internal Revenue Code Section 2704 to curb the use of...
Current valuation methodology for gift and estate tax purposes often includes discounts for privately owned businesses. Modern estate planning sometimes includes packaging investments into a family-owned investment pool that would be subject to discounting, which can and have ranged from 15 to 50 percent. The Department of Treasury has propos...
The federal government proposed sweeping new tax rules earlier this month that would dramatically affect family businesses, investment partnerships and other entities. These rules, which could become final and binding as early as the end of 2016, would artificially inflate the value of interests in family entities for gift and estate tax purposes. ...
Recently the IRS released proposed regulations under Chapter 14 of the Internal Revenue Code that would severely limit—if not eliminate—the application of valuation discounts, including lack of marketability and minority discounts, to interests in closely held family entities for gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax purpos...
Proposed regulations covering the valuation of family controlled entities for transfer tax purposes—12 years in the making—were published by the IRS on August 4, 2016. If newly proposed IRS Regulations are finalized in their current form, nearly all valuation discounts on family controlled entities will be eliminated. Given the December...
The long-awaited and much-speculated about regulations to Section 2704 were issued in early August 2016. As issued, the proposed regulations expand the scope and reach of section 2704 to preclude use of various structural techniques to artificially suppress the value of interests in entities transferred by taxpayers or owned by them at death. The I...
Under the IRS’s proposed new regulations, they would permanently and profoundly change estate planning for families that own a controlling interest in a privately held corporation, partnership, or limited liability company. The IRS has requested comments on the proposed regulations by November 2, 2016, and will hold a hearing on December 1, 2...
As the nation’s population grows older and more Americans are living longer, cognitive impairment of an individual is likely to become a challenge for more and more families. When a family member is diagnosed with conditions such as dementia or Alzheimer’s, it may already be too late to have an up-to-date estate plan in place. The ramif...