A Senate panel's recently adopted budget resolution would reinstate the federal estate tax at 2009 levels for two years. The resolution is non-binding. The House has not yet approved a budget resolution. However, it previously passed HR 4154 ("Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers and Small Businesses Act of 2009") that repeals provisions of [...]
History has its share of hotly contested debates. Free state or slave state? Pro-life or pro-choice? Democrat or Republican? Coke or Pepsi? A less prominent war rages on between those who believe focus is the key to productivity vs. those who believe doing several things at once is the way to go. Who's right and [...]
Nothing says "safe and secure" like a muni bond, right? Caveat emptor!
Interest in muni bonds is heating up with marginal income tax rates set to rise in 2011 and imposition of a 3.8% Medicare tax on investment income beginning in 2013. Given their combination of favorable tax treatment, relative safety and muted volatility munis have long been a favorite investment of taxpayers in high tax brackets. [...]
Lost in the hoopla surrounding Greece's self-created financial mess is a simple fact. Greece, like most southern European countries, is far from a political or economic powerhouse. Its GDP contributes a scant 2% of the EU's total. Then why all the noise? Why the excitement surrounding an economic player that amounts to not much more [...]
What happens to wealth when there's a financial meltdown? One economist tries to address the issue here.
Behavioral finance - the study of how emotions impact investment decisions - has always been a favorite topic of ours. Longtime friends and clients know we love climbing onto our soapbox to rail against short-term, kneejerk, irrational and emotional decisions caused by an overwhelming desire to act for the sake of acting in a desperate [...]
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After bailing out banks and the auto industry and in yet another step towards European-style socialism Uncle Sam has his eyes on our bodies and the education of our kids. With all the hoopla surrounding Big Government's mandate that we buy health insurance or be penalized - a move essentially telling us we have no [...]
Not much. As expected yesterday's Fed announcement reiterated that the benchmark interest rate will remain low "for an extended period of time." That key phrase remained unchanged from the previous statement keeping intact the 0.00% - 0.25% target for Fed Funds. The statement nonetheless contained some useful information. Most of the language was unchanged from [...]