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Analysts anticipating a rebound in European stock markets for the last few years have been disappointed as early-year optimism faded by year-end. The European Central Bank’s aggressive monetary stimulus efforts failed to bring about the same lift in asset prices that US investors enjoyed. But now, in 2017, European stocks are handily outperfo...

The Trump Administration recently released its "Unified Framework for Fixing our Broken Tax Code" to flush out its tax reform priorities for individuals and businesses. The nine-page document is similar to the single-page bulleted outline the Administration rolled out in April, and it reiterated its position that taxes on corporations and...

The "worth" of art is shifting as more collectors are viewing their collections not solely as an enduring and passionate pursuit but also as an economic investment. And, much as with an investment portfolio, they are paying more attention to the prospects and opportunities their collections can provide, with an eye to legac...

Investors are adding a gender lens strategy to their overall investment approach for several reasons. They may view it as a way to leverage market systems to support progress towards gender equality. They may regard the addition of gender related variables to their investment process as a way to identify potential areas of opportunity while seeking...

Because disasters—hurricanes, earthquakes, wild fires, epidemics, large-scale acts of terrorism—touch every facet of life, and all corners of the world, all donors have opportunities to respond to extraordinary events with compassion in a way that aligns with their values and giving priorities. And there is a particularly important role...

The U.S. Department of State estimates that more than 8,000 Americans die in a foreign country each year. While some of those are permanent residents and long-time expatriates, thousands more are tourists or individuals traveling for business. For families and their enterprises receiving that unexpected news, the first inclination may be panic. Hav...

Trusts have grown enormously in popularity since the mid-1990s as a result of the development of modern trust laws, the dramatic increase in wealth and evolving family needs and goals. Modern trust laws promote many key desires of a family’s estate planning, such as flexibility, control, tax savings, asset protection, family values, governanc...

Many powerful trends are taking place in 2017. While much is still unknown in regard to what actions the new Trump administration and GOP-led congress will take towards the estate tax, planners have many opportunities to provide clients structures for both the short and long term. Additionally, planners will need to continue to factor in the recent...

For American companies who do business in Europe or who process the personal data of EU residents, the world of data privacy and security is about to get much more complicated. While U.S. privacy law is unsettled, with rapidly proliferating state and federal laws and regulations and uncertainty as to how strictly they will be enforced, the rules in...

The private equity secondary market has become a very mature marketplace with billions of dollars sloshing around in it. Secondary interests in well-known firms are very efficiently priced, often at par or just below par. Furthermore, leverage is being used by secondary firms to nudge their internal pricing models to predict something better than a...

Every fine art collector who has worked to build and enrich his or her collection usually has a special work of art or piece that has significant meaning. It might even be the very object that prompted grandma to begin collecting her porcelain rabbits, energizing her desire to graduate to fine art. Or it could be a priceless work, pièce de résistan...

Financial reports and other real-time operational data are often lagging indicators of performance. These metrics, although perhaps lacking precision, may have been sufficiently effective in the past; however, they are less so now because they lag the current cadence of information dissemination and business volatility today. The challenge for many...

The White House joined Congressional Republican leaders in announcing a new framework for tax reform, which they hope to enact before the end of 2017. The framework provides much greater detail than the Trump Administration’s last several statements on possible tax reforms. Most of the changes—including major changes to tax rates and ne...

Global investors need to cast their net broadly to capture attractive investment opportunities. For decades, western analysts have believed that the economic potential and perceived advantages of India—such as a free market economy, democratically elected government and western-style legal system—would allow it to become a dominant glob...

Since the early 1900s, wealthy families have borrowed from corporate America to draft mission statements or similar declarations to define their shared values and legacy. And much like the corporate world, not everyone agrees on the term “mission statement.” Many families and advisors prefer words like purpose and vision. Whatever forma...