What You Need to Know!

It seems as if the importance of personal finance management has always been a cultural touchstone. “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” Ben Franklin declared in America’s colonial days. In 19th century England, Charles Dickens has Mr. Micawber recite his own recipe: “Annual income 20 pounds, annual expenditure 19 [pounds] 19 [shillings] and 6 [pence], result: happiness. Annual income 20 pounds, annual expenditure 20 pounds ought and 6, result: misery.” Ideally, individuals and families should set realistic, achievable goals and then prioritize those goals according to their values. Ideally, this should all evolve in a logical, painless and orderly way. Yet the prospect of taking one’s financial affairs in hand can be daunting. According to the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, in 2012, 56 percent of U.S. households lacked a budget, 40 percent of adults had no savings other than retirement funds, and 50 percent of...

Today, online transactions are so prevalent that it’s hard to imagine a financial life without them. How would we buy an airline ticket, transfer money between accounts, book a vacation, pay bills, or keep track of expenses without internet connectivity?   But there’s one area in which consumers seem to prefer a human encounter to computer clicks. The acceptance of robo-advisors — online software that allows clients to manage investments — once ballyhooed as the next major trend, has been slow to catch fire. Some observers say that only one-half of 1 percent of assets under management are enrolled in such arrangements, and that the number will only increase to 2 percent by 2022. We at Coral Gables Trust Company know there are many good reasons for that.   Let’s be clear: there are situations in which robo-advisors , or plug-and-play programs, can be very useful. For the young investor just...

As I previously blogged back in April , President Trump signed into law the first significant reform of the US Tax Code since Ronald Reagan. Today, I would like to further explore the additional implications this law will have on your finances. Clearly, the new tax act will affect how we make decisions on our estate, buying a home, health insurance, setting up a business, and even porce agreements. But what about family wealth transfer precisely? Planning for family wealth transfer is an important step in assuring assets are passed down to your loved ones with the least amount of tax consequences. While the new law did not repeal the estate tax as originally expected, it temporarily doubled the estate tax exemption for single filers to $11.2 million from $5.6 million, indexed for inflation. For a married couple, this means a $22.4 million exemption for the next eight years. Keep in...

I'm John Harris, Managing Director at Coral Gables Trust Company and welcome to our What You Need to Know blog! On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law the first significant reform of the U.S. Tax Code since Ronald Reagan was in office. Here is Part 1 of how it will affect your finances. The new   tax act will affect how you make decisions on estate planning, buying a home, or setting up a business. In this first blog, I will highlight major parts of the law to keep in mind, starting with individual income taxes.  Now that the new tax act is coming into effect, your personal tax rates and income brackets will be lowered, yet they will also expire (or sunset) at the end of 2025. What does this mean? Specifically, this means that the top rate will fall from 39.6% to 37%, the 35% bracket will...