Through a Donor Advised Fund (DAF), a donor can make a charitable contribution, get an upfront tax deduction, and then recommend what charities to support and when. Funds can be distributed immediately or over time. In addition to the upfront tax deduction, DAFs also offer an added tax advantage when a donor makes a gift…
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Vanguard and Dimensional Fund Advisors (Dimensional) both offer mutual funds that provide investors with broad exposure to various asset classes at a very low cost. However, there are important differences between the two fund families. But first, let’s start with a bit of history… Vanguard introduced the Vanguard 500 fund in 1975, becoming one of…
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In the past, when it came to income taxes, people who were charitably inclined could make charitable gifts to reduce their taxable income. While that opportunity is still available under the new tax law, the standard deduction is now much higher ($12,200 for single and $24,400 for couples under 65 in 2019) and, as a…
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2018 was an unusual year. On the one hand, the US economy posted perhaps its best year since the global financial crisis of 2008: worker productivity surged, wage growth accelerated, and household net worth rose above $100 trillion. And for the first time in American history, the number of open job listings exceeded the number…
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I had a discussion with someone about the recent stock market decline and he observed that despite the drop in stock prices, corporations seemed to be healthy and were still making lots of profits. He then said: “That’s what I don’t get. How can the market go down so far and so fast, when nothing…
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The “yield curve” is a term that is used frequently when discussing the state of the economy. But what is a yield curve to begin with, and what does it have to do with you and your investments? Yield curves typically depict the various yields across the range of maturities for a particular bond class.…
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Interest rates and bonds prices are inversely related; when interest rates rise, the value of a bond falls. Given that rates on US Treasury Bonds have climbed to levels we have not seen since 2011, bond prices are down year to date. As of November 1, 2018, the YTD returns on the Vanguard Total Bond…
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Most of us have heard of asset allocation – the process of dividing a portfolio’s assets across various parts of the market according to an investment plan that takes into account an investors goals and risk tolerance. Asset location, on the other hand, is a tax minimization strategy that takes into account how different…
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When you deposit money into a bank account, the bank uses those funds to make loans. In the unlikely event that too many loans go bad or the banks become insolvent, the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) will make account holders whole up to $250,000 per account. That is why you may have heard that…
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When saving for retirement, ROTH accounts are becoming increasingly popular. Unlike traditional IRAs or 401k plans, while contributions to ROTH IRAs and ROTH 401k plans are not tax deductible, distributions are tax-free (so long as certain requirements are met). If you have ROTH accounts, it is important to understand Minimum Distribution Requirements as they differ from those of traditional IRAs/401ks.
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