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2017

Tax Law Changes Make Year-End Tax Planning More Important This Year

By MoneyTips

Changes in the Tax Bill Are Likely to Impact Your Tax Obligations. Consider Taking Immediate Action Before December 31st

Last week the US Federal Tax Codes had a major overhaul and the broad changes will impact almost everyone’s 2018 tax returns and beyond.  Since there is limited time left in 2017, everyone should take stock of their income and expense patterns, talk to their financial advisor and their tax planner and make any necessary changes before December 31st. You should review the list below and consider taking action if any apply to your tax situation:

  • If you typically itemize your deductions, consider paying all your 2017 property taxes by year end 2017 to capture this deduction in 2017 which could be lost in 2018.*Itemized State and Local tax (SALT) deductions will be capped at $10k in 2018, but are uncapped in 2017.  Therefore, if your state and property taxes are normally over $10k, you should consider moving as much of these payments as possible into 2017.
  • Pre-pay or pay your estimated 2017 STATE Income Taxes by December 31, 2017 to capture the deductions in 2017 which could be lost in 2018. *Itemized State and Local tax (SALT) deductions will be capped at $10k in 2018, but are uncapped in 2017.  Therefore, if your state and property taxes are normally over $10k, you should consider moving as much of these payments as possible into 2017.
  • Consider increasing your charitable deductions in 2017 to include your 2018 charitable donations to capture the deductions in 2017 which may not be available to you in 2018.
    Start family foundation account to hold these current charitable contributions which allows you to get the 2017 tax deduction and then allows you distribute donations over future years to the charities as you so desire.  Note time is limited to establish a Family Foundation account.
  • Donate appreciated stock to your family foundation to avoid paying taxes on the stocks appreciation  while capturing your full charitable donation equal to the market value of the shares in 2017
  • Defer any income until 2018 if possible.
  • You can still fund your IRA’s for 2017 up to April 15, 2018

Please note that this is a very general list of strategic tax steps which you should consider in 2017.  Everyone has their own personal tax issues and if your tax professional tells you differently please follow their specific instructions.

Read White Paper on the Potential Impact of Tax Reform 

Content presented is for informational and educational purposes only and is neither an offer nor a solicitation to buy and/or sell securities nor is it an offer to provide, nor shall it be construed to be the provision of, individualized investment advice in any state where Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. is not registered or notice filed and does not qualify for an exemption from such registration and notice filing requirements. Endowment Wealth Management is not soliciting or recommending any action based on this material. Any tax advice included in this written or electronic communication was not intended or written to be used, and it cannot be used by the taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer by any governmental taxing authority or agency.  

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EWM Wealth Bulletin- Tax Reform Legislation- Actions to Consider Before December 31st

By Weekly Capital Market Updates

December 22, 2017

IMPORTANT TIME SENSITIVE TAX INFORMATION 

Changes in the Tax Bill Are Likely to Impact Your Tax Obligations. Consider Taking Immediate Action Now

This week the US Federal Tax Codes had a major overhaul and these broad changes will impact almost everyone’s 2018 tax returns and beyond.  Since there is limited time left in 2017, please review the below commentary immediately so that if there are any that apply to you that you might be able to make any necessary changes to your advantage:

  • Pay all your 2017 property taxes by year end 2017 to capture this deduction in 2017 which could be lost in 2018.*Itemized State and Local tax (SALT) deductions will be capped at $10k in 2018, but are uncapped in 2017.  Therefore, if your state and property taxes are normally over $10k, you should consider moving as much of these payments as possible into 2017.
  • Pre-pay or pay your estimated 2017 STATE Income Taxes by December 31, 2017 to capture the deductions in 2017 which could be lost in 2018. *Itemized State and Local tax (SALT) deductions will be capped at $10k in 2018, but are uncapped in 2017.  Therefore, if your state and property taxes are normally over $10k, you should consider moving as much of these payments as possible into 2017.
  • Consider increasing your charitable deductions in 2017 to include your 2018 charitable donations to capture the deductions in 2017 which may not be available to you in 2018.
    Start family foundation account to hold these current charitable contributions which allows you to get the 2017 tax deduction and then allows you distribute donations over future years to the charities as you so desire.  Note time is limited to establish a Family Foundation account.
  • Donate appreciated stock to your family foundation to avoid paying taxes on the stocks appreciation  while capturing your full charitable donation equal to the market value of the shares in 2017
  • Defer any income until 2018 if possible.
  • You can still fund your IRA’s for 2017 up to April 15, 2018 so no rush here.

Please note that this is a very general list of strategic tax steps which you should consider in 2017.  Everyone has their own personal tax issues and if your tax professional tells you differently please follow their specific instructions.  If you want to talk about some of the above tactical year-end tax strategies, please contact our offices as soon as possible.  We will have people working on Saturday and next week to implement as many changes as humanly possible for our valued clients!

PDF

Read White Paper on the Potential Impact of Tax Reform 

Content presented is for informational and educational purposes only and is neither an offer nor a solicitation to buy and/or sell securities nor is it an offer to provide, nor shall it be construed to be the provision of, individualized investment advice in any state where Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. is not registered or notice filed and does not qualify for an exemption from such registration and notice filing requirements. Endowment Wealth Management is not soliciting or recommending any action based on this material. Any tax advice included in this written or electronic communication was not intended or written to be used, and it cannot be used by the taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer by any governmental taxing authority or agency.  

 

Press Release: Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. Adds to its Wealth Management Team

By News

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Endowment Wealth Management, Inc Adds New Wealth Advisor

Appleton, WI, December 11, 2017 – Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. is pleased to announce that John Weninger, CFP® has joined the firm as a Wealth Advisor.

John is a Wealth Advisor within the Family Wealth Management area of the Company. He is the first point of contact for our prospective clients, conducting introductory meetings with clients to discuss their family dynamic and wealth management needs. John assumes the role of the client family’s Chief Financial Officer and coordinates with the client’s current professionals (i.e. attorney, tax accountant, stockbroker, insurance agent) to provide an integrated wealth management plan and investment solution that is custom tailored to meet each client’s specific needs.

John began his career at Merrill Lynch as an advisor assistant, serving the needs of families & small business owners. He was the founder of Vision Wealth Partners, a Weninger, JohnWisconsin registered investment advisor and has been helping families and small-business owners with financial planning and investment management since 2011. His writing has been featured on CNBC, Yahoo! Finance, U.S. News and MyCompanyRetirementPlan.com.

John received his Bachelor’s Degree from St. Norbert College majoring in Finance. He earned his Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) in 2017.
Endowment Wealth Management, Inc is a multi-family office and fiduciary RIA firm with a team of 6 professionals including a CFA®, MBA, CPA, AWMA® and two CFP® holders. EWM manages over $150 million in client assets and has clients in twelve states.

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If you would like to learn more about Endowment Wealth Management, Inc, please visit www.endowmentwm.com, call Rob Riedl at 920-785-6010, or email rob@endowmentwm.com.

Robert L. Riedl, CPA, CFP, AWMA
CEO/Director of Wealth Management
Endowment Wealth Management, Inc.
920.785.6010

EWM in the News: Real Assets Adviser Features EWM’s CIO Prateek Mehrotra in Comprehensive Perspective on the Endowment Model

By Alternative Investments, Endowment Index™

Prateek Mehrotra, MBA, CFA®, CAIA®, Chief Investment Officer of EWM is quoted extensively in this month’s Real Assets Adviser magazine.  In an article titled Endowment Model Takes Its Lumps: It has been a rough year or two, but proponents remind detractors that the model is built for long-term investment strategies, author Steve Bergsman collects viewpoints from several industry professionals analyzing the broad asset allocation of the endowment model and how the various underlying asset classes have contributed or detracted from performance in both recent years and over the long term.  Click on the link to read the entire article.

Weekly Unicorn News (November 2 ,2017)

By Unicorn Technology

Weekly Unicorn News features current articles about private technology companies whose ideas are dynamically changing our world. Investors refer to these private, venture-backed companies, all or most of which are valued at over $1 billion, as Unicorns, due to their rarity and size. This week’s issue features LinkedIn’s list of the 50 most sought-after startups and articles on SpaceX, Pinterest, 23andMe, Spotify, Lift, and Infor.  Click to read.

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Press Release: New Fund Targets Large, Late-Stage Venture-Backed “Unicorns”

By Alternative Investments, Unicorn Technology

APPLETON, Wisc., Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. has announced the launch of its EWM Unicorn Technology Fund. The private fund is seeking to raise up to $25 million to capitalize on what its management team sees as opportunities in the secondary market for private, late-stage venture capital technology companies. Such firms are often referred to as unicorns due to their rarity and size. The Fund manager will seek to build a diversified portfolio of companies that it believes may experience a liquidity event in the next 2-4 years. The Unicorn Technology Fund is currently fully invested across six such companies and the manager intends to add additional investments as the Fund grows.  Read entire release.

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U.S. Markets “T+2” Shortened Settlement Begins Tuesday

By Financial Markets & Economy, General

When you return from the long Labor Day holiday, your securities transactions in equities, corporate or municipal bonds, unit investment trusts, and any securities comprised of these security types will be subject to a “trade date plus 2 days” ( “T+2″) shortened settlement, from the current”T+3”.  Thus, any trades executed on Tuesday will settle on September 7.

The move harmonizes U.S. markets with most major international markets.  It is also expected to reduce risk of trade defaults and streamline capital requirements for equity clearing.

The current T+3 settlement process has been in place since 1995.

To learn more about T+2,  link to the T+2 fact sheet or visit http://www.ust2.com/.

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2017 Unicorn Report

By Unicorn Technology

The unicorn frenzy has slackened in the US when compared to 2014 and 2015, but still more billion-dollar companies are being created than are turning that valuation into cash for their investors. While several of these companies have completed successful exits this year, more value is locked in unicorn companies than ever before.

The 2017 Unicorn Report slices through data surrounding these billion-dollar companies to analyze trends ranging from step-ups to down rounds to exit prospects. Included in the report are detailed tables packed with the specific deal terms surrounding dozens of unicorns.

Click here to download the Pitchbook 2017 Unicorn Report: PitchBook_2017_Unicorn_Report

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