Second Quarter 2001|Jim Williams| The recently enacted Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 includes some favorable changes in the law, including income tax changes, education related tax breaks, retirement savings and pension reform, and estate tax relief. While virtually any relief from federal taxes is welcomed, the "back-end loading" of the rate cuts and the "sun-setting" of the estate tax repeal make these changes less exciting than they might otherwise be.
First Quarter 2001|Jim Williams| The returns for the quarter ended and 12-months ended March 2001 were disappointing in historic proportions. An examination of all of the 12-month periods ending on calendar quarters from December 1926 through March 2001 shows that the most recent 12-month period (ended March 2001) was the 15th worst. Is the decline over? Will this pass?
Third Quarter 2000|Jim Williams| You may have noticed that a few weeks ago, USA Today proclaimed that the job of a financial planner was at the top of their list of desirable jobs. I agree, but for different reasons than they cited. Bob Veres, a wise and thoughtful commentator on the financial advisory profession, outlined what he thought financial advisors do for their clients and identified four areas of core value.
Second Quarter 2000|Jim Williams| Recently, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards proposed changes to the disclosure rules related to compensation which CFP Designees receive. The biggest change would be that CFP Designees (planners) who receive commissions, trail fees, etc. from third parties would have to disclose in detail the amounts they have received, are receiving and will receive. Why should the client know?
First Quarter 2000|Jim Williams| The pleasing results of the 1st quarter of 2000 are a bit tainted by the decline in the markets over the last week. Is it over? I don't know. Is it the end of the world? Probably not.
Fourth Quarter 2000|Jim Williams| The IRS issued new proposed rules covering distributions from qualified plans and IRAs. The new rules are aimed at simplification and appear, at first blush, to achieve that objective. While these changes appear to be fortuitous, not all of the changes in the regulations are favorable. Here’s an interesting puzzle. Note that the mania driven NASDAQ (the tech and dotcom heavy over the counter exchange) was up something on the order of 80% in 1999. In the year 2000, the same index was down by approximately 40%. What was the annualized return for the combined two year period? The simple answer of subtracting 40% from 80% leaves 40%; divide by 2 (years) leaves about 20% per year right? Wrong. Two plus two equals what?