NJ Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation allowing homeowners to declare property taxes as charitable donations. Local governments can now establish charitable organizations to accept property tax payments. The response is a workaround of the Trump tax cuts that capped the deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000/yr seen by many “blue staters” in NY, [...]
Really enjoyed this graphic: So many applications to life. Knowing what we know, knowing what we don't and knowing there's so much more to learn. It's so important to know where we stand. We are what we are...not what we think we are.
In response to new federal law limiting the deductibility of state and local income and property taxes at a maximum of $10,000 NY has approved a fiscal year 2019 budget containing provisions to lessen the impact. It is important to note these changes do not reduce taxes for NY taxpayers. Instead they shift the burden [...]
Tucked quietly into the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (signed by President Trump on Feb 9th) is the Philanthropic Enterprise Act of 2017. The Act permits private foundations to own for-profit businesses if certain requirements are met. The Act inserts into subsection (g) of §4943 of the Internal Revenue Code new language that defines six [...]
We thoroughly enjoyed this piece by Morgan Housel. Highlighted are some of our favorite passages. Patience is indeed a virtue!
The good ol’ S&P 500. An index comprised of the 500 largest U.S. stocks as measured by market capitalization. We know it. We love it. It’s everywhere. It’s easy to understand. We can buy funds and ETFs that track it. Let’s take a moment to give the S&P 500 a big hug. We love you [...]
Unmitigated gall. Nothing else can explain the hypocrisy. On the heels of the grandstanding announcement to put Wall St execs in prison (“coincidentally” timed for the 10-year anniversary of the Bear Stearns collapse) The Commonwealth of Massachusetts – home to the outspoken Elizabeth Warren – announced a program to fund housing down payments with taxpayer [...]
Roughly 10% of stock market activity can be attributed to real-life humans deciding which stock(s) to buy/sell. Another 40% or so reflect decisions to invest in a specific industry or the entire market through indexes and ETFs. This means half of all stock market activity is done automatically by Alexa “bots”/computers/algorithms. And since there must [...]
With apologies to the ubiquitous series we’ve co-opted the title in order to share the single most wonderful piece of investment advice we’ve read in a long, long time. Buried in an article about Dollar Cost Averaging vs. Lump Sum Investing is this gem: “Ultimately the best solution is the one that gets an investor [...]
Oh to be a talking head. Get paid to say a bunch of stuff and not have to be accountable. What a life! Year after year dope after dope heaps BS upon BS. We should ignore it but we don’t. We are our own worst enemies. (Go here and here to find out why.) With [...]