Because of the uncertainty as to what the new congressional bipartisan joint committee will do, it is important that individuals who want to take advantage of existing estate planning techniques talk with their advisors now to find out whether such planning is appropriate based on their circumstances.
Changes in tax laws have made the long-term, or dynasty, trust a particularly attractive means to transfer wealth to multiple generations free of estate taxes. However, the expiration of certain exemptions in 2013 means individuals need to act soon to realize the maximum benefit of these trusts.
The authors examine a range of topics, including the narrowing gap between returns on different asset classes, signs of the coming economic upturn, the strategy of alternating between risk-on and risk-off modes, inflation and economic crises around the world, performance of specific asset classes, and innovation as China's next growth driver.
It will take years for state and local governments to return to pre-recession fiscal health. And yet, despite ongoing struggles, financial risks appear to be stabilizing. The mechanisms that state and city issuers have in place – particularly the balanced budget requirement, powers of taxation, and independent treasury management – are working as intended.
The selection of an appropriate interior designer, architect, or landscape professional for a project is not unlike choosing other professionals as one always checks on reputation, appropriate licensing, and insurance. However, there are certain aspects of hiring talent that must be addressed to optimize the client/talent relationship.
Beginning August 2, the Federal Aviation Administration will release registration numbers of all private flight operations unless a specified security concern is received. This reflects a change in the Block Aircraft Registration Request program, which since 2000 has allowed aircraft operators to prevent the general public from tracking their individual flight movements.
Goals-based wealth allocation sets forth the premise that upward mobility is unlikely without the assumption of idiosyncratic risk. And wealth mobility, as defined by keeping up with one's wealth segment, requires structuring a portfolio within three dimensions of risk: personal, market and aspirational.
A significant number of family businesses eliminate family dynamics from the business equation, according to a survey. The researchers found significant differences between family-focused and business-focused family businesses in the complexity of the owners' lives, motivations to sell the business, and intent to use tax strategies to minimize taxes.
The world continues to work through a long-term structural shift of economic and political influence to a group of emerging economies, most notably China and India, while the developed world fights the hangover of more than a decade of excessive spending and debt accumulation. These long-term structural changes should drive patterns of economic growth for years to come.
Standard & Poor's downgrading of the U.S. AAA credit rating, combined with market volatility stemming from the deepening sovereign debt crisis in Europe, are likely to exacerbate the volatility in what has become an increasingly fragile market and macroeconomic environment. The current soft patch could easily morph into a recession.