Last week congress passed the most comprehensive overhaul to the US tax code in decades. While the largest parts of that bill target large corporations (the drop in the corporate tax rate could save the six largest media conglomerates a combined $6 billion annually by one estimate), many of them will affect you directly.
I recently had the opportunity to watch all ten episodes of the brilliant Ken Burns’ documentary, “The Vietnam War.” In episode nine, I was introduced to the phrase (which was the title of the episode) – “A Disrespectful Loyalty.” Seeing the Vietnam War era footage of mass protests reminded me of the broad spectrum of local and national protests that have been building momentum since the presidential election about a year ago. And then this recent headline (October 28, 2017): Americans are facing the largest social and political crisis since the Vietnam War, according to new poll results
Long View thinking is invaluable at Singer Burke as tax and financial planners, portfolio managers, and investors in private companies. We are constantly considering worst, best and middle-case scenarios for the economy, assets classes, business plans, and our clients’ income. We then try to prepare for all of the above.
I would suggest Scott Pruitt, the US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, needs to change course. Despite his agency’s tens of thousands employees and multi-billion dollar budget, it is clear to me that he is not utilizing sufficient resources to consider the Long View, and I fear we will pay dearly for his short-sighted approach.
We are pleased to share that Singer Burke has been recognized as one of the elite firms in our industry by Variety, a top entertainment trade magazine.
It gives me great pride to share the following article recognizing my tax partner Elaina Kogan as a rising star in the accounting profession per the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.
Your credit score is used to rate your risk as a borrower, and landlords, lenders and potential employers may look to your credit score as an indicator of financial responsibility. This can affect your ability to rent an apartment, the interest rate on your mortgage and even your career opportunities. As an example, the interest rate on a mortgage could be a full percentage point higher for someone in the lowest credit tier (550 and below) than for someone in the highest credit tier (750 and above). For a $400K mortgage this would result in more than $100K of additional interest over the life of a 30 year loan!
Comparing today’s global environment vs. one year ago feels to me a bit like Lewis Carroll’s insightful metaphor. Despite all of the apparent unsettledness in the world these days, perhaps there are lessons from Lewis Carroll’s classic work of literature that we can apply to today’s challenges.
Given the massive polarization between Republicans and Democrats, I have been thinking a lot about how our personal views on the environment, social issues, economics and therefore politics can affect our world-views and possibly derail a rational and disciplined long-term investment strategy.
As I write this, the US stock markets are kicking off 2017 by reaching for record, all-time highs. So why doesn’t it feel like everyone is exuberant?
Authors and poets often use metaphors to convey their true meaning. Nobel Prize winning (for Literature) Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was especially adept at the use of metaphor to convey images – take this example from Neruda’s love poem If You Forget Me:
