Skip to main content

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is a digital based currency that is used to buy and sell goods but also trade for profit. I’m sure, most of you know someone who has invested in some version of cryptocurrency. They work using technology called blockchain, a decentralized technology spread across many computers and manages & records transactions. Most of the appeal of blockchain tech is the security.

Continue reading

Fiduciary Investment Advisor

A Fiduciary duty can be found in many professions however, within the context of investment advisors the duty begins and ends with loyalty and care.

The duty of loyalty is the obligation to always serve the clients’ best interest as well as the mitigating any conflicts of interest.

Continue reading

Athena’s Top 3 Tips about Investing

Pay yourself first

You know the scenario, it’s payday and before you know it bills are paid and you’ve already planned three dinners out with friends. Your budget is wiped out and you did not add to your savings. One of the best methods to ensure that you are hitting your savings goals is to pay yourself first.

Continue reading

Post-Election Thoughts

Making trade and investment decisions based solely on big events is hardly ever an effective strategy. Having said that, there were obvious concerns about how this year’s election would affect markets and planning strategies. The best thing to do would have been to pick an allocation which you felt comfortable with and ride whatever wave came along with the election results. Some investors sat the sidelines, some bought what they thought might be winners in whatever their assumed outcome scenario was. All in all, what occurred is what I mentioned in our previous election commentary blog – the markets only care that there IS a President.

Continue reading

Taxes and Trade: What the Election May Mean for your Investments

On the heels of the first Presidential debate of the 2020 Election, investors are increasingly turning their attention to the election and the impact that the result will have on the stock market. It is understood that elevated uncertainty usually affects markets in a negative way bringing lower stock prices. But as we have seen throughout our experiences with COVID this year; stocks move based on expectations of the future.

Continue reading

In-Service Withdrawals

Many believe that their money is locked in when you are a participant in a 401(k) or profit sharing plan through an employer where you are a participating and current employee. However, certain qualifying events allow employees to access their vested balance to either withdraw and/or roll over money from those accounts and still continue to contribute.

Continue reading

What is Dollar-Cost Averaging?

Market moves can be choppy at times and downright terrifying. This is one reason many would-be investors never take the leap into investing their savings. We know that in order to make your dollars last, we must take on some risk in order to grow them. Then our rational minds try to determine that perfect moment to begin, which in itself is an impossible task - as we all know that trying to time the market is a fool’s errand. You can avoid the stress of getting together a lump-sum to invest and make saving possible without having to overthink it by utilizing the principle of dollar-cost averaging.

Continue reading

’Tis the Season

The period between Thanksgiving and the end-of-year holiday season would seem like a sleepy time for financial planners, but in fact it is anything but. You might be surprised at how much activity takes place on behalf of you and your investments in the final month of the year.

For instance? Even though this has been a good year in the markets, not all investments will have gained value. This is the last opportunity to harvest any losses we find in taxable accounts, by selling investments that have gone down and “booking” the loss. Then we can look for investments that have gained value, sell some of those to offset the losses, and thereby save capital gains taxes in the future. Up to $3,000 of ordinary income can be offset by investment losses as well.

This is also the time of year when mutual fund companies post, in advance, the amount of ordinary income and capital gain distributions they will make to their shareholders. Since the value of the shares drops by the amount that is distributed, this would seem like a non-event performance-wise. But in fact some mutual funds are poised to make 20% or even 30% distributions, and this cash is immediately taxable, unlike gains in the share values, which are only realized when you decide to sell. By selling funds before the distributions, and buying them back later, we can reduce your tax bill this year.

Continue reading