Category Archives: Business Reports

By Ryan McCall, esQ.

Cryptocurrency has become one of the newest and most prevalent investments of the last two years. As a result, the courts are now faced with the prospect of having to evaluate and distribute cryptocurrency as a marital asset during a divorce proceeding.  

What makes this new and innovative technology so complex is figuring out how much each cryptocurrency is worth.

Assuming a spouse is using a U.S.-based exchange, determining the value of an individual cryptocurrency is relatively simple. All that is needed is a subpoena duces tecum to that institution to obtain the necessary documents. Under these pretenses, the subpoenaing attorney would receive statements detailing how many funds were listed with that exchange and the assets could be easily valued as of any given date just as if dealing with stocks and investment assets.

However, what has become increasingly difficult is the rise of popular international cryptocurrency exchanges. Many of these exchanges are unregulated and will not comply with United States federal regulations. Courts should not be deterred by this in establishing a value for cryptocurrency as a marital asset.

In theory, certain cryptocurrencies—with the most popular one being Bitcoin—utilize blockchain technology, with each individual Bitcoin having a different identification number than the next. Blockchain technology has a continuous ledger of ongoing transactions that are performed and tracked. 

With that being said, there are numerous ways savvy investors can attempt to hide their funds. The most popular way for someone to do this is through a “tumbler” which can issue a separate Bitcoin or fraction of a Bitcoin from the one currently in your possession. This creates a very difficult scenario for lawyers who would be faced with the task of attempting to track down these funds.

By David A. Kubikian, Esq.

The word “succession” has become a larger part of our lexicon because HBO a few years back created an immensely watchable show about the cut-throat world of a family owned media company where hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake depending on who gets to take over when Dad leaves (or dies).  

Entertaining? Yes.  Realistic?  Maybe.  A learning moment?  Definitely.  

Succession is defined as being “the action or process of inheriting a title, position, property, etc.”  Every business, regardless of size, will deal with a succession event if it is in business long enough.  While family in-fighting on private jets may be reserved for the Roy family on TV Sunday evenings, the planning as to the who, when, and how your business transitions from one generation to the next (or not at all) is something that should take shape long before an actual transition happens.   

To illustrate this point, consider a few common issues that come up:

1. The Estate Planning Angle. An all too typical scenario, the business, started by one generation has a younger generation heavily involved.  One child seems to have the chops to continue to run the business once “Dad” hands over the reins (that is IF he ever hands over the reins).  Another child is involved but not as much.  

A third child has no interest in the business and in fact lives out of town. Dad’s estate plan is to treat all of his kids the same. That is, his Last will and testament or his living trust state that all assets held by the trust or governed by the will pass evenly to his “issue”.  

Does this include the business?  The technical answer is that it depends on how the business is structured and how it is owned. Whether the business has operating documents concerning the transfers of shares at death or whether there is a buy-sell agreement in place.  In the event that the organizational documents reflect a certain chain of ownership, what impact does that have on the distribution of non-business assets via Will/Trust?  

By Michael cruz

We’re all aware of the current labor shortage. It makes it hard to fill your backlog or get your work done in a timely basis. It might make you feel justified in taking risks on marginal candidates for your jobs.

Don’t. Quick hires are all too often bad hires. And bad hires cost you lots of money both in hard dollars and your reputation. There is the cost of advertising and recruiter fees. These are direct hiring costs. When you must replace someone, you need to do this all over again, and the original costs are never recovered. 

Then there is the issue of what you paid that person while they were in your employ. The actual salary or hourly rate, plus the 20-30 percent benefit load, plus any expenses they incurred that were reimbursed. Add in what you paid to have their computer and cell phone set up, and costs for other tools. 

Add in what you spent for outside training courses. Add in any severance expenses. Severance can be minimal if they were not there long. However, when you linger in your decision, you are “running up the meter.”

Indirect costs are harder to quantify. Yet, they are far greater. You will need to take time to coach these people. And to listen to complaints about them. That negative energy drags us all down. Not only is the actual time spent wasted, but it also makes us less productive at the work we like to do.

It affects not just managers, but other employees as well. They will spend time complaining about your mis-hire. Often, they will have figured it out before you finally admit it to yourself. If they are in a customer facing position, they may have made life worse for a customer or client. You need to spend time repairing that damage. Lastly, they probably missed signals and lost some opportunities to pursue better initiatives that a productive hire would have seen.

By Rob Snell

If you’re a business owner, you’ve got so much to think about, and you work so hard, that it might be difficult to envision the day when you’re in a different place in life. 

However, that day will likely arrive, so you’ll want to be prepared for it, which means you’ll need an exit strategy. But how do you create one? 

Here are some steps that can prove helpful:

 • Start planning early. Making a quick exit is probably not a viable strategy for most business owners. Instead, you’ll want to plan far ahead for when you want to leave your business behind. 

This will require some thinking about the big picture: What will the company look like when you’re gone? Are you essential to its survival? If not, do you want to sell it to a key employee or an outsider? Or would you prefer to keep it in the family? 

After you’ve answered these types of questions, you can then move on to consider specific solutions, such as creating a buy-sell agreement with an employee or gradually transferring the business to family members. 

• Determine how to fill a retirement income gap. You could spend two, or even three, decades in retirement – so you’ll want to be sure you’ll have an adequate income stream to cover all those years. 

By Bill Canty, CPA, CFP

Even as the pandemic continued, 2021 was another strong year for the markets, though returns varied a bit across various market segments. The S&P 500 index gained 28.7 percent in 2021 as large cap stocks had another strong year. The index set numerous new highs during the year. This marks the third consecutive strong year for the S&P and for stocks. 

The tech-heavy NASDAQ  gained 21.4 percent in 2021 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 18.7 percent for the year. This represented only the sixth time that the S&P 500 beat both the Dow and the NASDAQ in the same year, and the first time this has happened since 2005. 

The Russell 2000, made up of small cap stocks, was up 13.7 percent for the year. Most broad non-U.S. stock indexes also under performed that U.S. market. 

Gains were not uniform and 2021 saw the rise of “meme” stocks where large groups of investors would buy shares of stocks like Game Stop and AMC Entertainment in an attempt to bid up the price and inflict losses on hedge funds who had short positions in the shares. 

Gains across the S&P 500 were concentrated to an extent, with five stocks comprising just under 33 percent of the index’s returns according to Goldman Sachs. The five stocks were Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla and Alphabet (parent of Google). 

Dissecting the gains in the S&P 500 showed that the technology sector of the S&P 500 played a true leadership role in the gains of the index in 2022 as it has over the past several years. 

By rob Snell

During your working years, you’ve probably met the costs of living through your salary. But once you retire, where will the money come from? Is there a way to give yourself a “paycheck” for retirement?

There is indeed—but you’ll have to do a good job of managing your available income sources. Here are some moves that can help:

• Accept dividends and interest payments. Instead of automatically reinvesting all your dividends and interest payments into your portfolio—which is an excellent strategy for building wealth—you might want to begin receiving these payments as part of your income. Keep in mind, though, that companies can lower or discontinue dividends at any time. However, it’s also true that some companies have consistently paid, and even increased, dividends over many years, and even decades.

• Choose an appropriate withdrawal rate. Once you’re retired, you’ll likely need to begin withdrawing from your investment accounts. But you’ll need to avoid taking out too much early in your retirement. You don’t want to risk outliving your portfolio. For many people in their mid-60s, a 4 percent annual withdrawal rate is a good starting point, but everyone’s situation is different, and your ideal rate will depend on several factors: your age, the size of your portfolio, other sources of income, and so on. Once you turn 72, you’ll be required to take at least a minimum amount from your traditional IRA and 401(k), but you can choose to withdraw more, if necessary.

• Maximize your Social Security. You have significant control over the amounts you’ll receive from Social Security. You can begin taking these payments at age 62, but they will be much larger if you wait until your full retirement age, which will likely be between 66 and 67. (You will receive the maximum amount if you wait until you reach 70.) 

By Rick Schwerd

The end of the year is always a good time to take stock of your investments and look ahead. Last year at this time, it was easy to be bullish on the stock market. Vaccine distribution was just starting, the country was continuing to reopen and unprecedented stimulus was being injected into the economy. 

As we head into 2022, there is still a lot to be positive about, such as robust company earnings and a very healthy consumer base. However, concerns about the Omicron variant, global supply chain issues, labor shortages and inflation are tempering enthusiasm.  

Stock markets had another good year. The Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 500, an index of 500 of the largest companies in the U.S., is up approximately 20 percent year-to-date, as of early December. Small-cap stocks, mid-cap stocks and most international markets have also shown strong gains this year. As expected, short-term interest rates have remained near zero as the Federal Reserve continues its accommodative fiscal policy. Intermediate and long-term rates have risen as the economy has improved, but in a measured way.

As we look forward, there is plenty to be positive about. The U.S. consumer is doing very well, which is vital since consumer spending accounts for nearly 70 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The unemployment rate has fallen from 6.7 percent at the start of the year to 4.2 percent in November. Wages and salaries are up approximately 10 percent year-over-year. U.S. consumers have accumulated more than $2 trillion in excess savings and consumer net worth has surged about 30 percent since the start of the pandemic. These factors provide confidence that strong retail sales of goods and services will continue into 2022.  

11/15/2021 Update
November print edition headline Dow 3,600 corrected to Dow 36,000 in online and virtual editions.

by Kenneth J. Entenmann, CFA

Well, we finally made it. The long-ridiculed prediction by James Glassman and Kevin Hassert in their 1999 book titled “Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting from the Coming Rise in the Stock Market,” has arrived.

It took a lot longer to get here than predicted, but we made it. The market has a habit of humiliating the great prognosticators of the world. But the central premise of the book remains based in the simple math of compounding. According to Wharton Finance professor, Jeremy Siegel, since 1802, equities have produced annual average total returns (including price changes and dividends) of 6.5 percent to 7 percent after inflation. In a recent Wall Street Journal article today, Mr. Glassman does the math, and it suggests we will have a Dow 1,000,000—in 50 years.

Unfortunately for market forecasters, the market never moves in a linear fashion and major disruptions can knock the markets off track, often for prolonged periods. In defense of Glassman and Hassert, few investors predicted the dot.com bubble, the Financial Crisis of 2008 and COVID. Yet here we are—Dow 36,000. The record is clear, there are no 20-year periods where equities posted a negative total return. It is a testament to the power of long-term, discipline investing.

Today, the equity markets have risen to record levels once again. As discussed on my Market Insights blog, these record levels have been achieved by incredible earnings growth, very benign interest rates and massive liquidity. The market is here despite a host of worries; COVID, dysfunctional government and the looming threat of inflation.

The economy slowed in the third quarter, posting a disappointing 2 percent GDP. The market has concluded that this slowdown is indeed “transitory” and was due largely to the August-September Delta surge. Today, COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths have once again plummeted, which is great news.

By Jennifer Corcoran, Esq.

The coming of a new year often has us reflecting back on things we meant to do but did not get done or looking forward to things we wish to accomplish. It is the perfect time to put an estate plan in place or review your existing estate plan for any changes that may need to be made.

In addition, major life changes such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, a death in the family or even an increase or decrease in assets or income warrant updating your estate plan.

You may have had the foresight to create an estate plan to ensure that your assets are distributed the way you want them to be after you are gone. However, each new year brings updates to laws and potential life changes, all of which should be reflected in your estate plan.

What if you don’t have an estate plan? The new year is the perfect time to create one, no matter how many—or few—assets you may have. Among the many benefits, an estate plan can help to protect families with children and ensure that heirs are not overburdened with debts or taxes. A good estate plan, created with the help of a knowledgeable estate planning attorney, allows you to control the distribution of your assets according to your wishes.

It is important that your will is in place and up to date, because without a will, your assets could pass under the intestacy laws to persons you do not intend or wish to receive them. You cannot pass assets to nonfamily members, and your estate cannot make charitable contributions without a will.

By Patrick J. Diggin

During the COVID-19 pandemic the CARES Act provided for expanded deductibility of charitable contributions to encourage taxpayers to give to charities during 2020. In December 2020, the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act (TCDTR) was enacted which expanded and extended many of these provisions into 2021 to incentivize continued charitable giving through the end of the year.

The expanded benefits allow individuals who elect to take the standard deduction and ordinarily do not qualify for charitable contribution deductions, to deduct up to $300 ($600 for married taxpayers filing joint returns) for cash donations to qualified public charities.

For individual taxpayers that itemize their deductions, the expanded benefits increase the deduction limitation, ordinarily limited to up to 60 percent of the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income (AGI), up to 100 percent of AGI so long as the charitable contributions are made in cash to qualified public charities during 2021.

If excess contributions are made over the 100 percent limit, the donor may carry these excess deductions forward for up to five subsequent tax years, however the enhanced deductibility is set to expire after 2021.

Corporate taxpayers also saw an increase in deduction limits from the ordinary limitation of up to 10 percent of taxable income to 25 percent.