The Big Picture

APRIL 17, 2025

My buddy could pay off his mortgage and car loans, pre-pay the kids colleges, fully fund retirement accounts, and still have cash left over. My advice was not based on fear of a bubble or the (over)valuation of Yahoo; rather, I suggested employing a regret minimization framework.2 Torn about what to do, he asked my opinion.

Investing

Nerd's Eye View

MARCH 14, 2025

Also in industry news this week: A recent survey finds that while advisors are increasingly using passive investment vehicles, many are taking the time to look beneath the hood to examine the makeup of different indexes in order to choose the best option for their clients A survey of advisors working at enterprise firms shows a significant increase (..)

Financial Planner

Wealth Management

JULY 18, 2025

According to a recent survey commissioned by Kestra Financial and Bluespring Wealth Partners, less than half (41%) of first-generation advisors have transferred equity to successors, and just 6% of those planning to retire within 10 years have a fully documented succession plan.

Estate Planning

Diamond Consultants

DECEMBER 16, 2024

As a result, its often incumbent upon the retiring advisor to either accept a discounted valuation for the book and/or show a great deal of flexibility in how their next gen ultimately takes the reigns of the business. After all, shouldnt the retiring advisors be compensated fairly for their lifes work? But is that fair?

Wealth Management

Wealth Management

JUNE 10, 2025

Podcasts & Videos CE Webinars Research Newsletters Subscribe Subscribe News Related Topics RIA IBD Wirehouse RPA Insights & Analysis Regulation & Compliance Career Moves Recent in News See all Wealth Management EDGE 2025 Industry News & Trends Scenes From Day 1 of Wealth Management EDGE 2025 Scenes From Day 1 of Wealth Management EDGE (..)

Wealth Management

Wealth Management

JULY 23, 2025

Related: Deals & Moves: Merchant Takes Stake in Valuation Firm; Cetera, Ameriprise, LPL Add Teams “No one’s going to tap on my shoulder, send me an email, make a public announcement saying ‘Hey, you’re being absorbed. Adam joined in 2003 and took over the practice about a decade later when his father retired.

Estate Planning

Harness Wealth

APRIL 30, 2025

Setting clear financial goals and obtaining realistic business valuations early in the process helps you understand how timing impacts both taxes and overall returns. Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) An ESOP allows owners to gradually sell their shares to employees through a qualified retirement plan.

Taxes

WiserAdvisor

MAY 29, 2025

Retirement accounts : Opening an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is one of the smartest long-term moves you can make. The key is to evaluate whether the companys future prospects justify its current valuation. Now you can diversify across multiple industry leaders without paying the full share price.

Accounting

Harness Wealth

JULY 29, 2025

PE firms are often able to acquire companies at attractive valuations and implement effective strategic changes. Their valuations are not subject to the daily whims of public market sentiment, providing a smoother, less market-correlated return profile. It’s essential to monitor UBTI levels when holding PE investments in such accounts.

Taxes

Harness Wealth

JULY 14, 2025

If the total positive UBTI across all applicable investments in a retirement account equals $1,000 or more, the tax-exempt entity is required to file Form 990-T and pay tax on the UBTI. This is an important consideration for high-income individuals using tax-advantaged retirement accounts for alternative investments.

Taxes

Wealth Management

JULY 18, 2025

QBCo, founded in 2016 by Tony Berndt, Kathy Rotta and John Himmelspach, specializes in tax compliance, succession planning and private business valuations. In that time, it has grown to 22 employees, 539 clients and $2.2 billion in discretionary and non-discretionary assets.

Accounting

Harness Wealth

JULY 31, 2025

When looking at arcane valuation methods to ever-shifting tax regulations, it’s important to examine and understand the tax implications of buying and selling startup shares. This valuation not only establishes the shares’ current worth but delivers precise tax reporting and helps prevent IRS scrutiny.

Startup

Harness Wealth

APRIL 30, 2025

The IRS carefully scrutinizes these deductions to ensure compliance with strict valuation and documentation requirements. Taking early withdrawals from retirement accounts Withdrawals before age 59 are scrutinized due to the potential complexity of penalty exceptions.

Compliance

Mr. Money Mustache

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

The value of the S&P 500 index of stocks, where most of us hopefully have a good chunk of our retirement savings stashed into index funds, is up about fifty seven percent in just the past two years. Does this make it more vulnerable to a huge crash in the future, and will it affect my retirement?

Marketing

Darrow Wealth Management

JANUARY 16, 2025

Non-retirement assets like stocks in a brokerage account, inherited home , antiques/art/collectables, or other real estate, are generally eligible for a step-up in cost basis. Retirement accounts and IRAs do not receive a stepped up basis. Similarly, interests in a closely-held business will also need a professional valuation.

Assets

The Big Picture

JANUARY 21, 2025

I think it’s very hard to say stocks are objectively cheap because all of these valuation metrics have, have become unreliable over the decades as the nature of the stock market has changed. I realized I had enough to retire if I wanted to. But learning how to spend in retirement. So I made a plan to get out of there.

Investing

Harness Wealth

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

Risks: Illiquidity, subjective valuation, authenticity risks, fraud risks, market demand fluctuations, and high transaction costs. Can I hold alternative investments in my retirement accounts? Their valuations can be uncertain since they are not traded on public markets. What are the biggest risks of alternative investments?

Taxes

Zajac Group

JANUARY 24, 2025

The future is not guaranteed either way, which is why its important to focus on how you feel about the tender offers valuation in relation to your own portfolio and goals. retirement or financial independence) often makes sense. Or, it could drop significantly, well below what you sold shares for during the offering period.

Taxes

Wealth Management

JUNE 9, 2025

Fred Barstein , The Retirement Adviser University, June 9, 2025 6 Min Read Mihajlo Maricic/iStock/Getty Images Plus While the defined contribution market is finally capturing due attention from the financial services industry and mainstream media with $12.5 Convergence of wealth, retirement and benefits at the workplace 3.

Wealth Management

The Big Picture

APRIL 8, 2025

We’re serving family offices, we’re serving institutions, we’ve done acquisitions in, in the stock plan businesses, in the retirement businesses. They want a financial plan, they want some advice, they want to think about whether it’s saving for a home or college or, or retirement.

Asset Allocation

The Big Picture

APRIL 29, 2025

We learned everything, you know, across from accounting to auditing to, to tax and valuation. I ended up in what was called the valuation services group, where we valued real estate and businesses either for transactions or for m and a activity. He was never going to retire. They, they trained them together.

Management

Darrow Wealth Management

JUNE 24, 2025

the 409a valuation), the excess may be subject to ordinary income tax, even if the shares would otherwise meet the requirements for long-term capital gains tax treatment. Do you need cash to fund a major purchase, college, or a retirement savings goal? That means that if the buyback price exceeds the current market price (e.g.

Taxes

Harness Wealth

JULY 31, 2025

In some sectors, asset valuations remain depressed, creating opportunities to transfer wealth with reduced tax impact. Moving those assets now locks in today’s lower valuations, shielding future growth from estate tax exposure and maximizing the utility of the current exemption while it’s still available. Asset selection also matters.

Estate Planning

Random Roger's Retirement Planning

NOVEMBER 26, 2024

Valuation as a tool for timing anything has a lousy track record. I saw a reference to HELO being identical to Simplify Hedged Equity (HEQT). That seems about right and in HELO's lifetime both it and HEQT have had better upcapture than JEPI. I write frequently about needing to move the 40, or whatever percentage away from bonds with duration.

Assets

The Big Picture

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

How do we make sure that there are enough retirement savings for our population? How do you think about valuations for both equities and fixed income here in the beginning of 2025? So Sheila Cyclically adjusted so-called cape ratio at 37 is and 38 and approaching 40 is indeed a very, very elevated level of valuation.

Economy

Wealth Management

JULY 15, 2025

Prior to attending social gatherings, I often prepare by thinking of some smart, exciting and even sexy responses – like talking about valuation metrics and how company ABC is isolated from tariffs and that if it reaches $50 it’s going to break through to $75. Is a Roth Conversion Worth It for All Clients?

Wealth Management

Wealth Management

JULY 24, 2025

Going the ETF route can also significantly increase the valuation of a business if the RIA has plans to sell in the next year or two, according to Venuto. In his experience, the conversion rate can range anywhere from 10% to 50% of clients, though industry-wide, the numbers are hard to gauge, he said.

Wealth Management

The Big Picture

APRIL 7, 2025

Barron’s ) If Youre Nearing Retirement, Heres What to Do With Your Money Now : Market downturns like this one often tempt people to make rash decisions, but it is better to have a plan. CNN ) How Has Private Credit Affected Valuations Across Debt Markets? CIO ) Who Will Be the Next Larry Fink?

Budgeting

Random Roger's Retirement Planning

JULY 11, 2025

The valuation of CRCL might be a little bit stretched, it's also more than 20x revenue. A little more interesting to me in terms of really being infrastructure is Circle Internet Group (CRCL) which just IPO'd at $31, went straight to $250 and has been hovering between $200-$220 for the last couple of weeks.

Valuation

Wealth Management

JULY 17, 2024

Human Interest helps small businesses set up 401(k) services.

Startup

Nerd's Eye View

MARCH 6, 2024

An assumed rate of return is needed, for example, to illustrate how much a client might need to save for retirement, how much savings they'll have when they do retire, and how long their savings will last after they stop working. The good news, however, is that there are ways for advisors to address the current issue of high U.S.

Valuation

Abnormal Returns

SEPTEMBER 8, 2024

awealthofcommonsense.com) Early in retirement is the time to do some tax planning. worksinprogress.co) Good luck trying to time the stock market using valuation metrics. (wsj.com) Three reasons why the stock market declines. whitecoatinvestor.com) Three reasons to buy Josh Brown's new book "You Weren’t Supposed To See That."

Tax Planning

Nerd's Eye View

MAY 10, 2024

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners"– this week's edition kicks off with the news that a recent analysis from Morningstar suggests that the Department of Labor's (DoL's) new Retirement Security Rule (aka Fiduciary Rule 2.0)

Financial Planner

Abnormal Returns

DECEMBER 26, 2022

kitces.com) Christine Benz and Jeff Ptak discuss the recent "The State of Retirement Income" report. rationalreminder.libsyn.com) The biz The DeVoe 2023 M&A report shows expectations for lower RIA valuations. nytimes.com) Retirement How to optimize Social Security benefits as a widow. morningstar.com) SECURE Act 2.0

Risk Tolerance

The Big Picture

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Recall last week , we were discussing thinking about the impact of retiring Baby Boomers on the equity markets and of rising rates on housing. The demographic question touches on a big issue: $6 trillion dollars in 650,000 (401k) retirement plans held by 10s of millions of Americans.

Distribution

Nerd's Eye View

JULY 5, 2024

Supreme Court decision shifting authority to interpret laws passed by Congress from Federal agencies to the judicial system could have significant impacts on regulation of the financial advice industry, including the potential for additional legal challenges to regulations from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Labor (DoL), (..)

Financial Planner

Nerd's Eye View

OCTOBER 4, 2024

Also in industry news this week: A recent survey found that while 1/3 of advisory firms are currently using AI tools, another 1/3 are fearful of doing so, indicating that while some firms are eager to be early adopters of this technology, others are taking a wait-and-see approach, perhaps as regulation surrounding this technology evolves over time (..)

Financial Planner