When it comes to financial accounts like the IRA, details are everything. Look past the surface, examine it closer, and you may be surprised that numerous accounts, including your IRAs, contain hidden gems and little-known facts you didn’t know existed. These are the moments when you may discover there are some rules out there that may benefit you and your financial strategy.

Baby Boomers — those born between 1946 and 1964 — hold about $20 trillion in wealth.¹ Over the next few decades, many Boomers may transfer this wealth to their Gen X, millennial, and Gen Z children, perhaps incurring a hefty tax bill. Here are some ways to handle multigenerational estate planning so that the generations after you may keep these assets in the family.

A qualified charitable distribution, or QCD, allows you to distribute funds from your IRA to an eligible charity (a 501(c)(3) organization) as long as you’re 70 1/2 years of age or older. Since the gift will go directly to the charity, you can exclude the dollar amount of the gift from your taxable income up to $100,000 each year.

Approximately 60 million workers contribute to a 401(k)-retirement plan. A 401(k) is a tax-advantaged retirement savings plan companies offer employees and is funded through elective salary deferrals. There are several \ benefits to having a 401(k), especially if you are a high earner, that offer ways to build a substantial retirement. However, there are some downsides to keep in mind.

If you're considering giving back to society or a cause as part of your financial planning, there are many ways you can do so. You can make an impact while receiving tax benefits by including philanthropic giving as part of a holistic approach to charitable giving in your financial plan.

The combination of investments you choose is as important as the individual investments themselves. In fact, many experts argue that it's even more important, since the mix of various types of investments accounts for most of the ups and downs of a portfolio's return.

A backdoor Roth IRA transfers money from a traditional account to the Roth. The “mega” backdoor is a strategy employed by people with a 401(k) plan at work. It is often pursued by higher-income earners who aren’t able to contribute to a Roth IRA because their income exceeds the limit.

As high-net-worth (HNW) individuals approach their golden years, retirement planning often becomes a focal point of their financial strategies. One aspect of this planning that sometimes creates confusion or misinterpretation is the role of Social Security benefits.

February was another great month for stocks, as markets once again hit new all-time highs.  The S&P 500 finished February up about 5.2%, bringing the year to date returns for the index to almost 7% - a very strong start to the year.  (YCharts)

Last month we pointed out a couple areas we’d be watching closely and sure enough these were big news makers for markets in February as we got some surprises from economic data, while strong corporate earnings helped drive positive returns. 

Today, we’re going to give a quick update on three important (and connected) areas that have evolved over the course of the month:

The year started just as we finished 2023 with stocks rallying, hitting new all-time highs for the first time in over two years.  The S&P 500 finished January up about 1.6%, while bond yields drifted slightly higher with the 10 Year US Treasury yield closing the month at 3.99%. (YCharts)

Positive returns over the last few months have been welcome, but we’re always on the look out for risks and thought we’d highlight a few areas that we’re currently watching closely:

Corporate Earnings – we’re in the middle of the Q4 earning seasons and earnings data has been mixed with about 25% of S&P 500 companies reporting.  We feel it’s important for corporate earnings to remain resilient in order to support the recent rally in stocks.  We’ll continue to keep a close eye on earning reports as the pace picks up over the next few weeks.