Perspectives

In this market review we cover recent economic and consumer data, as well as information about our forecasted returns for different asset classes and portfolio positioning.

An ESOP, or Employee Stock Ownership Plan, is a way to give employee's a chance to have an ownership stake in their company. As an employer, you contribute stock to a trust fund that's set up for the benefit of employees. You can also borrow money to buy new or existing company shares.

There’s a whole acronym soup of tax and planning strategies available to business owners—and some of the more complicated ones require a great deal of experience to execute well. One strategy that can be very advantageous to business owners is the 1042 exchange. In this brief article, we will walk you through the broad outlines of what this strategy entails and how business owners can use it to plan for the next stage in life.

With so much talk about potential changes to capital gains tax rates, one question we get a lot is how to prepare. Many of our executive clients have significant wealth tied up in individual equities, often their own company’s stock, and a bump in the long-term capital gains rate could make it harder to diversify their portfolios when the time is right. One strategy to consider involves using company stock for charitable donations instead of cash. In this video, we discuss this useful tax strategy.

The decision to offer stock options is far from simple: it’s not just a matter of compensation for your key employees, it’s often an emotional decision about control of your firm and what it means to be an owner. In this video, we'll share a few benefits and risks you should first consider.

Executives often have access to stock compensation plans, and many of our clients come to us with significant equity holdings in their companies. For growing companies with rising valuations, this can be a great way to boost your compensation and build wealth. However, sometimes you can get to the point of having too much of a good thing.