General News & Insights

Coronavirus has already had a profound impact on the global economy, with both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones experiencing dramatic falls during the last week of February, leading to concerns that the pandemic could herald unprecedented levels of economic collapse.

However, following a week in which the S&P 500 lost 11.5% of its value and the Dow fell by 3,583 points, the S&P then rose by around 3% and the Dow recovered 750 points. *

To those with historical perspective, these rebounds are not unexpected: figures show that in the three months following a 10% fall, the S&P 500 averages a 5.6% rise, while the Dow exhibits similar ‘bouncebackability'. *

A study published by The Pew Charitable Trusts in 2019 revealed that only 13% of self-employed individuals who run a 'one-man-band' type enterprise are enrolled in a retirement plan, compared to almost 75% of traditional employees. Things are hardly better among those involved in multi-person firms; the study found that only 29.9% of this group were currently participating in retirement plans. *

Not many people think about retirement as an expense, but for any person who sits down to plan their retirement and their retirement spending in detail, it is hard not to begin thinking of it in economic terms.

The wealth management and financial services sectors in the US must brace themselves for new data regulations as a result of likely changes to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) which initially passed into state law on January 1 2020.

The upcoming changes involve the right to opt out, permissible uses of data by service providers, and mandatory content of CCPA notices.

California's attorney general announced that stakeholders had until February 25 to share their views on what many anticipate is the most exhaustive consumer privacy law in the history of the United States and which is set to affect around $12 billion worth of Californian consumer data per year.

Recent news reports across the US suggest that over the next three decades $36 trillion worth of assets is expected to be passed on to heirs in the country. And with around two in every ten households having received an inheritance in the past thirty years, it seems that succession and legacy gifting is still a major source of financial security for many. *

Here we take a look at some key issues on the subject of inheritance and estate planning for expats in the USA.

Earlier this week Chinese stocks posted their worst day since the ‘Black Monday' of August 2015 as the impact of the coronavirus outbreak showed no sign of abating.

As the tax reporting season enters full swing, filers need to keep abreast of IRS rule changes and new obligations.

New IRS rules in relation to the reporting of cryptocurrency assets make it imperative for taxpayers to be clear and transparent in their disclosure of cryptocurrencies, with those who fail in this regard facing potential criminal investigation, fines as high as $250,000 and as many as five years in prison.

Here we take a look at the key factors in cryptocurrency reporting.

The stretch Individual Retirement Account (IRA) has long been used as an efficient estate planning strategy. However, with the passing into law of the new Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, beneficiaries will no longer be able to stretch out required minimum distributions over the course of their lifetime.

Instead, beneficiaries who are not spouses must now exhaust their inherited IRAs within a decade – other exempt parties include under 18s and beneficiaries with certain disabilities. Quite simply, what was once a winning estate planning tool has now become a conundrum.

So, how do you solve this puzzle in order to serve the best interests of beneficiaries while simultaneously reducing exposure to any unnecessary tax burden?