Insights

In the 1990s, the Chicago Bulls achieved a remarkable feat, winning three straight NBA championships – twice.  During both “three-peats”, their third year was the toughest, yielding the fewest regular-season wins. Similarly, the U.S. stock market is coming off two consecutive gigantic years of returns, with the S&P 500 surging 26% in 2023 and another 25% in 2024. While we anticipate another positive year in 2025, we believe it will be the most challenging and lowest-returning year of this “three-peat”.

As we shake off the food coma induced by turkey, yams, and cranberries, we turn to the next round of holidays.  While our focus is likely – and should be – on the traditions of family get-togethers, gifts, and yes, more food, we should not lose sight of another important one: year-end tax planning.  As a brief reminder, here is the list of topics that may be on one’s year-end planning list: Navigating year-end tax planning can be complex. Our

Finally!! With the 2024 Presidential Election behind us we thought it was appropriate to discuss the outcome and what we will be doing strategically. While not a surprising outcome for the presidency, we were amazed at the magnitude of the victory for President Trump, the Senate flip to Republican, and what looks to be the outcome in the House of Representatives. As we previously shared, on average, divided government has historically yielded the best results for the S&P 500 during

The U.S. stock market continued its positive momentum in the 3rd quarter, with the S&P 500 gaining 5.4%, bringing its year-to-date gain to 22.0%. This marks five consecutive months of gains and 10 out of 11 for the broad index. In fact, the S&P 500 closed the quarter at an all-time high. Notably, during the quarter, U.S. small and medium-sized companies finally outperformed large, delivering returns of 8.9% and 8.7%, respectively, compared to the S&P 500’s 5.4%. This suggests that

The first six months of 2024 in the domestic equity markets mirrored how 2023 finished, with the S&P 500 up by nearly 15%. This strong performance widened the gap between domestic and foreign stocks, with the U.S. outperforming by over 10%. One of the driving factors in this disparity is the heavier weighting of the technology sector in the S&P 500, which is approximately 30%, compared to 15% in the EAFE index. The tech-heavy NASDAQ index even bested the S&P 500 for

Charitable giving is an important goal for many individuals and families. As people age and their wealth evolves so too should the manner in which they give. While cash and appreciated securities are the two most popular methods of giving available to everyone regardless of age, the option of giving via qualified charitable donations (QCDs) is oftentimes the most beneficial way for retirees to give. The ability to make QCDs has been around since the Pension Protection Act was enacted in 2006