4th Quarter News and Opportunities
Schwab and TD Ameritrade Eliminate Commissions – Early this month, Charles Schwab & Co and TD Ameritrade both announced that they would be eliminating commissions for US Stocks, ETFs and Options (although for options, a contract fee still applies). This allows WESCAP greater flexibility in trading and selecting the optimal funds for client portfolios. For more information, please see the disclosures below:
(more…)Read MoreWESCAP Group Q3 2019 Commentary
Early August saw the U.S./China trade war rhetoric ramp up. This resulted in stocks going down and a flight to quality into Treasury bonds. In turn, this forced Treasury yields down and resulted in a yield curve inversion, an unusual condition in which longer term yields are lower than shorter term yields, which has often preceded recessions. Later in August and September, the U.S. relented modestly on some pending onerous trade restrictions allowing markets to recover and for yields to rise modestly, also reducing fears of a recession.
(more…)Read MoreWESCAP Group Update on U.S. Recession Risk
Recent headlines regarding the yield curve inversion* have heightened fears of an impending recession. We discussed this topic at length in our January 2019 Outlook and we are reiterating our position that a recession is not imminent.
(more…)Read MoreTax Strategies: Tax-Efficient Retirement Withdrawals
One of the greatest challenges investors face in retirement is finding the most tax-advantaged withdrawal method to meet planned and unplanned expenditures. After no and low capital gain assets have been consumed, what assets should be withdrawn next? Conventional wisdom suggests selling taxable long-term capital gain assets first, followed by tax-deferred retirement plan assets and finally, Roth IRA assets. The idea behind this is that selling capital gain assets results in less taxes than using traditional retirement account assets. Roth IRA assets are used last so that they compound their returns tax-free for as long as possible.
(more…)Read MoreTax Strategies – Ways to Save on Your Capital Gains
Recently, there has been increased discussion over tax rates in the U.S. following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. More frequently, the rhetoric coming out of Washington indicates that we could see an increase in taxes once the current legislation sunsets at the end of 2025. If that were the case, Congress could increase both ordinary income tax rates as well as capital gains tax rates.
(more…)Read More