Bob's Journal
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Bob’s Journal for 11/11/2021
Last Chance for ‘Mega Qualified Charitable Distribution’ Traditional IRA owners of any age have until December 31, 2021, to use what many advisors call the “Mega Qualified Charitable Distribution.” The strategy takes advantage of a law put in place during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic that increased to 100% of adjusted gross income […]
Bob’s Journal for 11/4/21
Retirement, Estate Planning Strategies Safe from Change for Now, But for How Long? Key retirement and estate planning strategies are safe from being changed by Congress for at least a little while. Last week, after Congress failed to agree on details of the spending and tax proposals in the “Build Back Better” bill, President Biden […]
Bob’s Journal for 10/28
Bitcoin ETF is Off to a Strong Start The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approved a Bitcoin-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF), and investors quickly took a liking to it. ProShares Bitcoin Strategy (BITO) debuted on Oct. 18 and gained nearly 5% by the end of the trading day. It rose again on its second day […]
Bob’s Journal for 10/21/21
Some Notable Events That Grabbed My Attention This Week This past Tuesday, Oct. 19, marked 34 years since the S&P 500 had what is still the largest decline in a single day. The index lost more than 20% of its value on that day in 1987. An investor who bought at the close on that […]
Bob’s Journal for 10/14
To learn the details of the changes for estates, trusts and taxes that are being considered in Congress via the Build Back Better Act, visit the new Art of Legacy Planning podcast. It is produced by David Phillips’ Estate Planning Specialists with the aid of the Durfee Law Group. Misreading the Employment Reports Last Friday’s […]
Bob’s Journal for 10/7/21
Businesses Show Confidence in the Economy Speculative-grade loans taken to pay dividends are setting records in 2021, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence’s LCD as reported in The Wall Street Journal. More than $72 billion in such loans have been taken out already in 2021, with the proceeds used to pay dividends. Though almost three […]
Bob’s Journal for 9/30
U.S. Household Net Worth Surges Rising prices for stocks and homes have been good for the balance sheets of U.S. households, according to a quarterly report from the Federal Reserve. The total net worth of all U.S. households increased by $5.8 trillion in the second quarter of 2021 to $141.7 trillion. The largest contributors to […]
Bob’s Journal for 9/23/21
The Evergrande Collapse and Global Stocks Last week when I wrote about the “Red Light for Some Stocks” in this email, I didn’t mean for the markets to take it as a broad sell signal. Major stock market indexes have been mostly declining since peaking on Sept. 2. The declines accelerated over the last week, […]
