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Archive for 2023
The Allure of Cash
Earning interest on cash savings is back in fashion again. After being starved for yield for more than a decade, investors are flocking to money market funds, CDs, and short-term Treasury bills that are paying interest rates above 5% today. Cash yields are even more impressive when compared to inflation; after subtracting the annual rate […]
Unlocking the Power of Donor Advised Funds
We recently welcomed guest speaker William (Bill) Hewitt, an Enterprise Account Executive at TIFIN, to walk us through the benefits of Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) in an informative Webinar. In case you missed it, here are some key takeaways. TIFIN is an AI and innovation platform delivering personalized next-gen solutions for advisors, wealth managers, and […]
Year End Planning: Changes for 2023 and Beyond
There are only a few weeks left in 2023, but there’s still plenty of time to make some smart moves before the end of the year. Many of the planning tips we shared last year are valid for 2023, as well, but there also are some new updates this year related to SECURE Act 2.0. […]
October Declared Financial Planning Month in Georgia
The State of Georgia recently declared October 2023 as “Financial Planning Month.” This move underscores the critical importance of financial planning in achieving financial stability and success for individuals and families across Georgia. “Financial planning is a systematic process that involves setting clear financial goals, creating a roadmap to achieve them, and making informed decisions […]
Has Modern Monetary Theory Failed?
Economics is not generally considered one of the “hard” sciences, like physics; assumptions are almost always oversimplified, and theories are difficult to test because you can’t run multiple controlled experiments with identical starting conditions. You also can’t avoid the human element, and if you study economics long enough, you’ll find significant overlap with psychology and […]
Cash or Bonds?
As unique asset classes, cash and bonds have some similarities but occupy different spaces within your portfolio. While bonds historically have provided higher returns than cash, today’s interest rate structure is unusual and may impact the conventional wisdom with regard to the optimal balance between cash and bonds in a portfolio. How should investors approach […]
Will Stock Returns Always be this High?
US stock market performance was exceptionally strong in the last decade. For the ten-year period ending June 30, 2023, the S&P 500 index returned 235% which is almost 12.9% per year. This is well beyond the long run average annual return of about 10% since 1926 and much higher than the 5.1% annual returns in […]
Are You Maximizing Your HSA?
When it comes to confusing lexicons, the finance industry must be one of the worst offenders. As one example, just consider the types of investment accounts available to savers: there are IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457s, 529s, TOD INDs, SEPs, SIMPLEs, UTMAs… and there are many more. Fortunately, nearly all of these accounts can […]
De-dollarization and Your Portfolio
If you follow the financial media closely (not recommended!), you’ve probably heard at least one pundit declare that the United States is about to lose its “reserve currency” status at any moment. And once it’s gone, the warning continues, a long parade of horribles will soon follow. Taken to an extreme, the endgame is the […]
Lingering Pandemic Distortions
If financial markets feel a bit more unsettled to you than usual these days, you’re not wrong. Volatility is elevated in the stock market and unusually high in the bond market. Uncertainty is normal, of course, when it comes to investing, but it does seem that investors have a lot on their plates to digest […]
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
At Elevate, we know that investments are one of the core components of a well-designed, comprehensive financial plan. Investments play a crucial role; there to protect and grow your wealth, as well as to effectively transfer resources across time to fund future financial goals. Given that everyone aims for a successful investment experience, how should […]
SECURE Act 2.0: Something for Everyone
In the final week of 2022, Congress passed a large omnibus spending package which included a multitude of changes affecting tax and retirement planning. Dubbed “SECURE Act 2.0,” the new bill revises and updates many of the items in the original SECURE Act of 2019, but also introduces several new measures that will impact employers, […]
Our Team’s Favorite Finance Books
What do pundits on the news, analysts on the web, and physics around the corner all have in common? Simple! They all think they understand the market and hold the keys to financial success, or better yet, have just the book to recommend for you to find out for yourself. With thousands of finance books […]
This is Not a Prediction
At the beginning of every new year, market forecasts about the year to come start arriving from all corners of the internet. This in itself is unsurprising; a large number of market professionals are in the “prediction business” and are paid to make forecasts about future market prices and the economy. This year is no […]
