With extreme volatility in today’s markets and uncertainty in many professional and personal lives, financial planning with a trusted, credentialed advisor is more crucial than ever. In this brief video Fairman Group Partner, Shawn Kindt, CPA/PFS, CFP®, explains the benefits of creating a financial plan—and routinely revisiting that plan—to assess progress and make necessary or desired adjustments. In Shawn’s words, “A good plan today is better than a perfect one tomorrow.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on global economies and world markets (To say nothing of the health tragedies).

In volatile times like these, human nature causes many investors to want to sell their portfolios for fear of major losses—short-term and potentially long-term. Generally, Fairman Group Family Office’s investment advice would be to “stay the course” and rebalance towards your elected target allocation. However, they realize that in times of extreme market volatility, clients may be re-evaluating their risk tolerance.

Click below to read more about a few core tenets of portfolio construction and asset allocation.

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The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has caused a significant interruption to our country over the last few weeks. On March 18, the US Treasury issued Notice 2020-17 which provides new measures to assist taxpayers with their upcoming April 15 tax payments. Taxpayers may now defer up to $1,000,000 of their Federal tax liability. This was originally due on April 15, but is now extended until July 15 without interest or penalties. 

Fairman Group Family Office will continue to monitor and provide updates as more information becomes available. If you have questions about your April 15 payment or filing obligations, they will happily discuss them with you.

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On Friday, March 27 the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security “CARES” Act was signed into law. The key issues covered in the almost 900-page bill include provisions such as providing liquidity to individuals and businesses, expanding unemployment benefits, and incentives for businesses to retain employees. To read more about some of the provisions, click on the link below.

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There are many factors to consider when saving for future education costs-the time between now and when the funds are needed, risk tolerance of the investor, investment preference, and individual tax situation. It may be obvious, but Fairman Group always recommends saving for education as early as possible in a child’s life, so that there’s a more sizable time horizon for the money to grow. To read some of the most common questions Fairman Group is asked, click on the link below.

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A tax credit is a wonderful thing because it lowers your tax bill, dollar for dollar. What could be even better? Lowering your tax bill and having the money go towards the noble cause of education.

Pennsylvania offers two educational tax credits as a means for providing families alternatives to their neighborhood public schools. The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) is a tax credit for contributions to a qualified Scholarship Organization, Educational Improvement Organization or Pre-Kindergarten Scholarship Organization.

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The stock market is now up 44.7% and the bond market is up 9.6%. While investors have no doubt enjoyed these returns, they should be aware of the potential for an unintended, and potentially unwanted, consequence of strong markets. Fairman Group recommends investors rebalance their portfolio back toward the original allocation target at least quarterly, or more often if market movements have created a significant deviance from the target.

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The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act is one of the biggest pieces of legislation regarding retirement plans in recent memory. As with any update to the tax and retirement planning landscape, it’s important to review your particular situation to understand the potential effects of these changes. Among the provisions of the SECURE Act, there are a few that deserve special attention.

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There is still time to implement some great tax planning ideas for 2019. While many planning tools remain similar to last year, the IRS has issued new guidance that could affect your tax situation.

Idea 1: Charitable Contributions

• Consider a Donor Advised Fund (DAF). If you want to take advantage of itemized deductions, but do not want all the money to go to the charity in a single year, a DAF is the perfect vehicle to accomplish this goal.
• Consider a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD). Instead of taking a distribution from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), taxpayers age 70 ½ and over may directly transfer up to $100,000 to public charities. The income tax benefit is not a charitable deduction, but rather, the exclusion of the donation amount from your income.
• Charitable contributions in exchange for state or local tax credits are now limited. The IRS issued final regulations that require taxpayers to reduce their Federal charitable deduction by state or local tax credits received in return for their contribution. For PA residents, this has a direct impact on charitable contributions made through Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit programs.

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