Author Archive
What fills up your tank?
Posted on: February 28, 2013
How Can I Help?
“What makes you smile every day? What fills up your tank?”
These are questions a friend of mine asked me recently. For my wife, it is hosting dinner parties. She loves seeing people come together and enjoys conversations with friends. She does this almost every week now. It is also a great way for me to see her doing the thing she loves.
For me, it is learning improv and performing comedy on stage. English is not my first language, and I never thought I could do that. Now, I regularly go on stage to make people laugh.
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House for sale
Recently, a client called to tell me that he had finally got the big boulder off his back, and it was such a relief for him.
The “big boulder” he referred to was his big house, with a swimming pool and a tennis court. The house had been costing him $100k a year in property taxes and upkeep, more than 50% of my client’s retirement income. No wonder he called it a big boulder on his back.
He bought the house 25 years ago for $2.2mm, and he just sold it for $2.1mm. After all the costs associated with selling the house, he took home $2mm and change.
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January Barometer Effect: What Will the Stock Market Do for the Rest of 2013?
Posted on: February 7, 2013
New York Stock Exchange
With the market up about 5% in January, a prospective client of mine called to let me know he is not going to invest in stocks at this time – in fact, he is going to pull all of his money out of the market.
This may not be the best course of action for him.
According to research done by Cooper and McConnell, what the market does in January has a strong predictive power for what the market will do for the rest of the year.
Using data since 1940, they found that if the market is up in January, it will rise an additional 14.8% for the rest of the year; if the market is down in January, it will rise only 2.92% for the rest of the year. This gives rise to a spread of almost 12%, a highly statistically significant number.
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Email scam
I recently received an email from a client of mine. The mail contained only one line: “What’s the balance of my account?”
“It’s $978k as of close of yesterday,” I replied.
“I need $500k for a business transaction,” my client responded.
I went into an explanation of the tax consequence of selling long-held investments to fund a business transaction, but my client insisted that he needed the money urgently. So I emailed him: “send me your wire instruction, and I will make sure the money will be in your account tomorrow.”
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10. How Often Do Market Corrections Happen?
9. Why Asset Class Diversification is Superior
8. Small Business 401k, Big Plan Fees
6. An Investment Rule for Young People
5. Fiscal Cliff Deal: What does it mean for high income/high net-worth families?
4. Roth Conversion Decision Framework
3. Profit from Harry Dent’s predictions? Think again
2. Be Careful When Buying a Condo as a Rental Property
1. The High Cost of Fee-based Financial Advisors
Also see Top 10 last month.
Get my white paper: The Informed Investor: 5 Key Concepts for Financial Success.
Get informed about wealth building, sign up for The Investment Scientist newsletter
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Oil and Gas Investment Scam
In the last month alone, I’ve gotten calls from two clients asking me if they should invest in tax advantaged oil and gas investments being pitched to them? Both of these clients are physicians.
The pitch is that oil and gas investments are like IRA accounts, but without the contribution limit. Whatever amount you invest can be written off right away.
The pitch is quite alluring to high-income professionals like physicians who are facing higher taxation. But it sounds too good to be true, so I did a study.
It turns out what is being pitched as “tax advantaged” is in fact the riskiest part of an oil and gas investment.
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The reward of a financial advisor
Posted on: January 7, 2013
Recently, a client of mine fell, broke his hip and ended up lying on the floor for 20 hours before he was rescued. I went to visit him in the hospital a couple of times. The good news is: he is out of immediate life-threatening danger. The bad news is: he may be wheelchair bound for the rest of his life.
When John first came to me to seek my help with his personal finance, I looked at his overall financial big picture and was pleased overall. He worked at federal and state jobs and enjoyed good pensions. On top of that, he had a decent investment account.
But there was a gaping hole in his retirement security: he was turning 70 then, was divorced, and his children lived far away. That meant if he were to get sick, nobody would be there to take care of him; he would need to hire caregivers. Right then, I insisted that he buy long-term care insurance.
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10. Variable Annuity Fees You Don’t Know You are Paying
9. Is P/E ratio a useful stock valuation measure?
8. Small Cap Value: Risk and Returns
7. Why Asset Class Diversification is Superior
6. An Investment Rule for Young People
4. The High Cost of Fee-based Financial Advisors
3. Profit from Harry Dent’s predictions? Think again
2. Be Careful When Buying a Condo as a Rental Property
1. The two most common ways investors lose money
Also see Top 10 last month.
Get my white paper: The Informed Investor: 5 Key Concepts for Financial Success.
Get informed about wealth building, sign up for The Investment Scientist newsletter
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Fiscal Cliff Deal: What does it mean for high income/high net-worth families?
Posted on: January 2, 2013
Approaching the fiscal cliff
The cliff deal struck between Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is a good deal overall for high income folks.
Make no mistake, some of them will have to pay more in taxes, but the amount is far less than if there is no deal and all is set back to the Clinton tax regime.
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Tax planning tips
In the past, I have advised my clients to defer income recognition and capital gain realization so that they can pay taxes later. Not this year! Under current law, major tax changes are set to happen at the end of the year. These include:
- Tax rates on ordinary income will rise. The rates for most brackets will increase by 3%. The highest top marginal tax rate (which was for income above $388,350 for both single and married filing joint filers in 2012) will go from 35.0% (in 2012) to 39.6% (in 2013).
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New Year’s investment resolutions
After working as a financial advisor for six years and after reading tons of research, I have developed a good sense about how the average investor loses money. As the New Year approaches, I think it’s good to share my insight so that readers can determine if they are making these mistakes.
Conflict of interest
I cannot emphasize this enough: Wall Street firms don’t work for you. If you have a Merrill Lynch or Morgan Stanley advisor, expect to give away 2.5% of your money every year – about half of it will be in explicit fees, the other half will be in hidden fees. If you invest through insurance products, expect to give up 3.5 percent of your money.
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Tax planning tips
This is an excerpt from an IRS question and answer article about the Additional Medicare Tax, which goes into effect in 2013. The full article can be viewed at the IRS website.
The following questions and answers provide employers and payroll service providers information that will help them as they prepare to implement Additional Medicare Tax which goes into effect in 2013. Additional Medicare Tax applies to individuals’ wages, other compensation, and self-employment income over certain thresholds; employers are responsible for withholding the tax on wages and other compensation in certain circumstances. The IRS has prepared these questions and answers to assist employers and payroll service providers in adapting systems and processes that may be impacted.
1. When does Additional Medicare Tax start?
Additional Medicare Tax applies to wages and compensation above a threshold amount received after December 31, 2012 and to self-employment income above a threshold amount received in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012. Read the rest of this entry »
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10. Why Asset Class Diversification is Superior
9. Recession and stock market performance
8. The High Cost of Fee-based Financial Advisors
7. Variable Annuity Fees You Don’t Know You are Paying
6. Is P/E ratio a useful stock valuation measure?
5. Small Cap Value: Risk and Returns
3. Be Careful When Buying a Condo as a Rental Property
2. Profit from Harry Dent’s predictions? Think again
1. An Investment Rule for Young People
Also see Top 10 last month.
Get my white paper: The Informed Investor: 5 Key Concepts for Financial Success.
Get informed about wealth building, sign up for The Investment Scientist newsletter
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Be prepared for a tax cut sunset
(This is an article I submitted to Physicians Practice magazine, an edited version was published.)
With President Obama re-election, there is now no doubt that the Bush tax cuts will expire come January 1st, 2013.
Why is there a sunset clause in President Bush’s tax cuts?
In 2001 and 2003, Congress passed, and President Bush signed into law, significant tax reductions for nearly all taxpayers. These cuts included marginal rate reductions, the introduction of a new 10% tax bracket, an expansion of the child tax credit, and a variety of other provisions. Both bills were passed using a Senate procedure known as “reconciliation” – a tactic that lowers the threshold for cloture to a simple majority of senators (as opposed to a 60-vote supermajority).
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Approaching the fiscal cliff
Since the re-election of President Obama, the S&P 500 index has dropped more than 5%; pundits have attributed that to the imminent “fiscal cliff.”
What is the “fiscal cliff”? It is the simultaneous expiration of tax cuts and mandated across-the-board spending cuts that will take effect on January 1st if no agreement is reached between the President and Congress. The combined amount is $669 billion, or about 4% of GDP.
All the talk has been about what happens if this much money is taken out of the economy, which is undergoing a fragile recovery. Will the economy plunge back into recession? If we fall off the fiscal cliff, will the survival of our nation be at stake?
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Young Physicians: Do You Understand Your Employment and Buy-Sell Agreements?
Posted on: November 19, 2012
Young doctors need legal advice
When a young physician joins a practice, he will have to sign an employment agreement.
After a few years as an associate physician, he will make partner, or become a shareholder.
At which time, he will sign a buy-sell agreement.
These two agreements to a great extent determine the wealth this physician will accumulate.
If they are not done right, this physician will likely not see any of the wealth he creates.
I am not being an alarmist. Let me tell you about a client of mine….
The Investment Scientist 