The Sea of Financial Information

What will the near-term impact be and how will it affect you? On December 20, Congress passed the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, sending the final version of the GOP tax reform bill to President Trump’s desk. The legislation alters the Internal Revenue Code to a degree unseen since the 1980s, altering income tax brackets, marginal tax rates, key deductions and exemptions, and the taxation of corporations and pass-through businesses. These are just some of the adjustments.1 How many tax

WEEKLY QUOTE “Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.” - Lady Bird Johnson FED MAKES ITS FINAL RATE MOVE OF 2017 As expected, the Federal Reserve raised the benchmark interest rate by 0.25% last week. The Federal Open Market Committee voted 7-2 to take the target range for the federal funds rate up to 1.25-1.5%. Fed officials made little change to their dot-plot chart – they still see three rate hikes in 2018, and their consensus projection has the federal

WEEKLY QUOTE “One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.” - Michael J. Fox ANOTHER MONTH OF SOLID HIRING According to the Department of Labor, the U.S. workforce gained 228,000 more jobs than it lost during November. Annualized wage growth improved from 2.5% to 2.7%. The headline jobless rate held at 4.1% last month, while the U-6 rate, that includes the underemployed, ticked up a tenth of a percent

Most of us will never face taxes related to money or assets we give away, but for some it's important to understand how the Gift Tax works. “How can I avoid the federal gift tax?” If this question is on your mind, you aren’t alone. The good news is that few taxpayers or estates will ever have to pay it. Misconceptions surround this tax. The I.R.S. sets both a yearly gift tax exclusion amount and a lifetime gift tax exemption amount, and this is where the confusion develops. H

WEEKLY QUOTE “My father used to say, ‘Let them see you and not the suit.'” - Cary Grant CONSUMERS ACT ON THEIR CONFIDENCE A new factoid points out just how well the economy is doing: the federal government just upgraded its estimate of third-quarter growth to 3.3%. New data on consumer spending and confidence hints at fourth-quarter strength. Personal spending improved 0.3% in October following the 0.9% leap in September, and household wages were up 0.4% in October for a seco