#haveaplan Archives

Towerpoint Wealth January 14, 2022 No Comments

Time to Disavow the Dow Right Now? 01.14.2022

The oldest and still most widely quoted proxy for the U.S. stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), or “the Dow” for short, continues to be regularly quoted by news broadcasts, newspapers, and smartphone apps as an indicator of the health (or lack thereof) of the financial markets and U.S. economy.

The Dow history is interesting, as it was created in the late 19th century by Charles Dow, co-founder of Dow Jones & Company and co-founder and editor of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), and Edward Jones, the WSJ’s other co-founder. It is an index that has gone through 57 different revisions since it was created, and to this day is supposed to encapsulate the overall state of the stock market in a single number.

The composition of the Dow right now is determined by the Index Committee, and is designed to change as the economy changes over time. Initially comprised of 12 of the biggest and most influential companies of the day, the Dow history includes an expansion to 20 companies in 1916; by 1928, it included 30 companies, which continues to be the number tracked today. Any current member of the Dow can be dropped by the Committee if the company is deemed to be less relevant to current economic trends, to be replaced by a new company that the Committee determines to better reflect said trends. The 30 companies that currently comprise the DJIA index, and the year they were added, are as follows:

As the U.S. economy has grown over time, so has the value of the Dow. Below is a graph from FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) reflecting how the DJIA has almost tripledover just the past ten years, growing from 12,741.02 on 1/12/2012, to 36,252.02 on 1/11/2022:

Ten years of data not enough for you? Below is a logarithmic chart from Macrotrendsreflecting the Dow history and growth over the past 100 years (the grey bands reflect recessions in the U.S.):

Albeit with regular speed-bumps along the way, the continued and sustained growth of the Dow has been pretty amazing!

Interested in learning more? Click the thumbnail below for a straightforward YouTube video from PBS that discusses everything to do with the Dow right now:

However, for all of its “glory” and history as the best-known and perhaps most widely followed stock market index in the world, is the Dow right now really all it’s cracked up to be? At Towerpoint Wealth, we argue the answer is no, as the index is as flawed today as when it was first calculated on May 26, 1896. The various “warts” of the Dow give us pause, and cause us to discourage our clients from considering it a truly useful proxy and viable resource to rely on.

Here are four specific reasons why we disavow the Dow right now:

1. It is narrow – “only” 30 companies are represented in the index.

Because (in theory) the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index are the largest and most influential in the country, they represent only about 25% of the value of the entire U.S. stock market. However, many experts (ourselves included) feel that because it consists of only 30 large capitalization (“large cap”) U.S. companies, and neglects mid cap and small cap companies, the DJIA index does not properly represent the comprehensive state of the U.S. economy.

2. The Dow is a price-weighted index

An index that is price-weighted means that higher-priced stocks have greater weight and influence on the index compared to lower-priced stocks. On the surface this may seem logical, but the problem is that a higher-priced stock has zero correlation with a higher-value company. Put differently, a $9 stock could have a higher value than a $50 stock, but because the Dow is price-weighted, that doesn’t matter.

In a price-weighted index, a stock that increases from $90 to $100 (an 11% increase) will have the same effect on the value of the overall index as a stock that increases from $10 to $20 (a 100% increase), even though the percentage move for the lower priced stock is far greater than that of the higher-priced stock.

Put differently, a percentage change up or down in the Dow doesn’t necessarily mean that the entire market has gone up or down, or even that the Dow’s 30 companies have collectively gone up or down. The higher-priced stocks contained in the index simply exert a much greater influence on its overall direction and movement.

A prime example of why the price-weighted indexing method doesn’t make logical sense is when an index component undergoes a stock split. Prior to splitting 4-for-1 in August of 2020, Apple was the highest weighted position in the Dow at 11%, but once its stock split, it immediately had much less influence on the Dow, as it dropped to the 18th highest weighted stock in the index. While a stock split obviously does not have any influence nor change the underlying value of a company (it just lowers the share price and increases the amount of shares outstanding), it does change the influence a company has within the price-weighted index it is part of.

3. The Index Committee has only five members, and uses a vague methodology for including a stock in the Dow

Discretion is an integral part of how indices are constituted, and the Dow is certainly no exception. Unlike the S&P 500, which has a long list of eligibility requirements that some big companies can’t meet, the Dow does not have hard-and-fast rules regarding how a stock gains entry to the index. It is not governed by quantitative rules, with S&P Global subjectively stating that “A stock is typically added only if the company has an excellent reputation, demonstrates sustained growth and is of interest to a large number of investors.”

Additionally, on the Dow’s Committee there are only two representatives from the Wall Street Journal and three from S&P Global. Given the cozy size of the Committee, the subjective nature of how the index is constructed, and the sheer size and financial importance of the Dow, any decisions to include or remove companies from the index impact trillions of dollars of investor funds, not to mention the potential retention of institutional investor clients by S&P Global. This can create conflicts of interest, or even opportunities for illegal activity and fraud. Don’t believe us? In September of 2020, James Yang, a member of the Index Committee, was charged with being part of an insider trading scheme leading to more than $900,000 in profits.

4. The Dow right now does not contain some of the largest and most dominant companies in the U.S. economy

Even though they represent well what has become the most dominant sector of the U.S. economy, three of the largest and most influential technology “titans” – Alphabet (formerly Google), Amazon, and Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook), are not part of the Dow. Why? See #2 above – their share prices are too high. While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with these companies, because of the Dow’s price weightings, they won’t be included in the index because they would swamp it due to their high share prices.

The only way the Dow would ever be able to accommodate any of these three stocks is if they went through a stock split, which makes zero sense, as does excluding companies from the Dow who clearly are excellent representatives of the overall United States economy just because their stock prices are too high.

The Dow has been around for 125 years, is not going anywhere, and continues to clearly be in the mind’s eye of investors. However, the four reasons listed above support our belief that it does not accurately represent the market, and just because the Dow right now is an old, familiar, and oft-quoted figure does not make it accurate, and it should not be used as a proxy for investors to gauge the health of our economy or to measure the progress (or lack thereof) of the stock market.

What’s Happening at TPW?

A big thank you and shout-out to two excellent Towerpoint Wealth clients, David Junod and Pauline Lhote, for the very generous and thoughtful sparkling wine holiday gift fromDomaine Chandon!

Now we just have to find an excuse to actually pop a bottle or two and enjoy, rather than just pretending! Cheers!

Just last week, our President, Joseph Eschleman, CIMA®, earned his Certificate in Blockchain and Digital Assets (CBDA) from the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals.

The CBDA course is the only cryptocurrency certificate program designed specifically for financial professionals. Graduates of the program have gained the essential knowledge and understanding of blockchain and digital assets, better equipping them to provide investors the expertise and advice they need about this new and transformational asset class.

Click HERE to review exactly what Joe learned, and HERE to discuss with us how your portfolio might benefit by adding digital assets and cryptocurrency to it.

President, Joseph Eschleman, earned his Certificate in Blockchain and Digital Assets from the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals.

TPW Taxes – 2022

2022 will assuredly be a different year than 2021, with income taxes no exception. Click the image below to access the 2022 Quick Tax Reference Guide, a practical resource providing a plethora of consolidated and easy-to-understand information to help you make sense of the complex and ever-evolving array of U.S. federal tax rules.

At Towerpoint Wealth, we recognize that income taxes are a “necessary evil” when helping you build and protect your wealth and net worth, but fortunately they can be planned for, managed, and oftentimes minimized!

Click HERE to read more about our “tax sensitivity” and philosophy towards reducing your obligation to Uncle Sam.

TPW News You Can Use

Useful and interesting content we read the past two weeks:

Desperate No-Vaxxers Paying COVID-Positive People $150 for Dinner and COVID Infection – The Daily Beast – 1.12.2022

A new vaccination mandate in Italy requires everyone over 50 to be vaccinated or pay a hefty fine. Some are opting to pay to get infected with COVID instead.
The 2022 NFL Playoffs – Everything You Need to Know – com – 1.9.2022

AFC, NFC, and Super Bowl 2022 schedule. Seedings. TV times, dates, locations. Find everything you need to know about the NFL playoffs here.
Hillary 2024? Don’t Rule It Out – The New York Post – 1.12.2022

Could a third time be the charm for Hillary Clinton? That’s the case made by two prominent Democrats who claim a “perfect storm” of President Biden’s plummeting job approval ratings, Vice President Kamala Harris’ own unpopularity, and the commander-in-chief’s advanced age could provide an opening for the former first lady and secretary of state.

Chart/ Infographic of the Week

After a 26.9% gain for the S&P 500 in 2021, many investors are hopeful that 2022 is another strong year for the markets. And while consistently and accurately predicting the future is next to impossible, the chart below from Morningstar gives hope to what the future may have in store for the market this year:

Quote of the Week

Staying positive and keeping a good attitude is key!

Trending Today

As the 24/7 news cycle churns, twists, and turns, a number of trending and notable events have occurred over the past few weeks:

As always, we sincerely value our relationships and partnerships with each of you, as well as your trust and confidence in us here at Towerpoint Wealth. We encourage you to reach out to us at any time (916-405-9140, info@towerpointwealth.com) with any questions, concerns, or needs you may have. The world continues to be an extremely unsettled and complicated place, and we are here to help you properly plan for and make sense of it.

– Joseph, Jonathan, Steve, Lori, Nathan, and Michelle

Towerpoint Wealth Sacramento Independent Financial Advisor

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Follow us on any of these platforms, message us there and let us know your favorite charity. We will happily donate $10 to it!

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Trending Today The Better Build Back Better Bill Tax Changes

Towerpoint Wealth December 17, 2021 No Comments

Will You Pay More or Less? The Build Back Better Bill Tax Changes! 12.17.2021

The Build Back Better Bill tax changes – do you stand to pay MORE, or less?

''Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.''

Will the Build Back Better bill tax changes translate to an unexpected de-facto holiday bonus, or instead, an unwelcome lump of coal? Read on to find out more!

While Build Back Better is a good marketing slogan, it is obviously important to unpack and better understand what this 2,135 page (click HERE to read the whole thing!), $1.75 trillion piece of spending and legislation might mean for YOU. What exactly are the key provisions of this signature bill, and importantly, will the proposed Build Back Better Bill tax changes cause you to pay MORE or LESS to Uncle Sam if the proposed legislation passes?

Days versus Decades. Decide which to focus on...

Let’s briefly “unpack” the Build Back Better Act, discuss which provisions are NOW being negotiated in the Senate, and importantly, evaluate the potential Build Back Better bill tax changes, and the tax consequences of what a final package might look like.

First, a brief background. The Build Back Better Act is the third and most economically significant part of President Biden’s Build Back Better Plan. Originally an immense $3.5 trillion social spending package, lawmakers in the House of Representatives have scrambled and negotiated over the past six months, finally ending up here – approving and sending to the Senate a “slimmed-down” (but hardly modest) $1.75 trillion (!) version of the plan. Now, the REAL debate and negotiations begin.

With two noteworthy holdouts…

Stick to your investment strategy - Do not turn temporary declines into permanent losses.

…Senate Democrats are mostly united in passing this major legislation, but haven’t yet been able to agree on what should be kept and what should be scrapped to obtain the two needed votes from the aforementioned holdouts. On the flip side, and unsurprisingly in today’s partisan political atmosphere, all 50 Senate Republicans are aligned against it.

Now, regardless of whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, and regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the need to pass this IMMENSE bill, at Towerpoint Wealth we believe that it is a when, and not an if, some version of this legislation ultimately DOES pass and become law, even if it isn’t until 2022. And while the final terms are obviously still unclear, the bill is proposing to make MAJOR changes to four main areas:

1. Social services and programs
2. Clean energy
3. Immigration
4. Build Back Better bill tax changes

And as Joe Manchin, Senator from West Virginia and one of the two Democratic holdouts who is squarely in the middle of this debate, said earlier about the bill, “We should be very careful what we do. We get any of these wrong, we’re in trouble.”

If you are interested in a deeper breakdown of the first three areas (as well as Build Back Better tax changes highlighted below), we encourage you to click the thumbnail below and watch our newly-produced educational video:

Today’s Trending Today is specifically focused on the proposed Build Back Better bill tax changes, which would raise a SIGNIFICANT amount of tax revenue from the very wealthy and corporations, and also offer a proposed tax cut for those who live in high income and mostly blue tax states.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the bill will cost a total of almost $1.7 trillion, and add $367 billion to the federal deficit over 10 years. Adding in $207 billion of revenue that is estimated to result from increased tax enforcement in the bill, and the net total increase to the deficit is projected to be $160 billion.

Originally, President Biden’s initial Build Back Better plan was to raise taxes on families earning more than $400,000/year, which would have overturned the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2017. However, this provision was dropped in the final version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives on November 19, as holdout Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizonabalked at it, saying she wouldn’t accept any additional higher tax rates: not for individuals, not for capital gains, and not for corporations.

Instead, a significant and updated House-passed Build Back Better bill tax change imposes surtaxes on taxpayers with extremely high incomes. When would this surtax kick in? When adjusted gross income eclipses $10 million, a 5% surtax on income would be applied. Additionally, taxpayers would be subject to an additional 3% surtax on any income over $25 million. Clearly these proposed Build Back Better bill tax changes would only be punitive to very high income earners.

Something else to keep in mind – the new surtaxes applicable to the $10 million and $25 million adjusted gross income thresholds INCLUDES capital gains taxes. So, if you have owned highly appreciated securities (think Apple or Tesla or Amazon stock) for a long time, and then sell your shares and realize a large capital gain, that income is also included when calculating whether or not you would be subject to them.

Additionally, another major Build Back Better bill tax change would be to INCREASE the state and local income tax deduction, commonly known as the SALT deduction.

The SALT deduction is a tax deduction that allows taxpayers of high-tax states to deduct local tax payments on their federal tax returns. Before 2017, there was no limitation on the SALT deduction. However, under the Trump administration’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the SALT deduction was CAPPED at $10,000. The Build Back Better bill tax change to SALT proposes a new INCREASED deduction limit of $80,000, benefitting wealthier residents of high-tax blue states like California, New Jersey, and New York.

This change would cost the government $229 billion in revenue, and was not part of Biden’s original BBB plan – it was added later in the House negotiations.

Backdoor Roth IRA conversions, a popular technique oftentimes used to fund a tax-free Roth IRA without being subject to the Roth IRA income limitations, would also be eliminated as another Build Back Better bill tax change.

And lastly, income recognized on cryptocurrency transactions would be subject to 1099 reporting by crypto brokers and custodians.

Here is a visual summary of the Build Back Better bill tax changes:

Head spinning yet? Obviously the myriad of proposed Build Back Better bill tax changes is a lot to keep track of. However, at Towerpoint Wealth, that is exactly what we continue to do on a regular basis.

Considered by some to be the most consequential economic legislation in the past 50 years, negotiations on the Build Back Better bill are far from over. And any tweaks to this massive legislation will then require another vote in the House. However, regardless of how and when this situation plays itself out, we feel it is safe to say that YOU WILL feel the effects of at least one component of the proposed Build Back Better bill tax changes, and encourage you to contact us (click HERE to do so) to have an objective conversation about how you will be positively or negatively affected by the tax changes you will personally see from this bill.

What’s Happening at TPW?

A huge thank you to Ascent Builders for the AMAZING holiday wreath, and perhaps an even better gift, the personal delivery from their esteemed controller, Patty McElwain (holding the wreath and standing next to our phenomenal Client Service Specialist, Michelle Venezia)!

Spreading cheer is an Ascent Builders specialty, and they are a firm we feel very fortunate to have such a long and productive partnership with.

Our President, Joseph Eschleman, spent some time earlier this month celebrating Christmas (yes, that is a Griswold Family Christmas t-shirt he is wearing!) with close Towerpoint Wealth friend and business partner, Niki Dawson. Niki is the President of TaylorMade Web Creations, and she is absolutely amazing if you have any web design and/or digital marketing needs!

Graph of the Week

Tesla’s market value is now more than General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz, COMBINED!

The below chart indicates that electric vehicle sales will exceed gas-powered vehicles by 2040 – do you agree? Disagree? Click HERE and message us – let us know your opinion!

Cartoon of the Week

We came across this gem that provides a different and unique “take” capturing the essence of what perseverance means, and felt compelled to share!

Illustration of the Week

Surprisingly, in the wealth management industry, there are two different standards of care for clients:

The fiduciary standard – a legal obligation requiring a financial advisor to act solely in a client’s best interest, 100% of the time, when offering personalized financial advice, counsel, and planning
The suitability standard – a much lower legal hurdle to clear than fiduciary, not obligating a financial advisor to put their client’s best interests first, and instead only requires a reasonable belief that a recommendation is “suitable” for a client

While we believe that consumers and clients are harmed with the absence of a uniform fiduciary standard that applies to ALL financial professionals, this is the world we live in. A non-fiduciary is legally allowed to sell you a product or investment that pays the highest commission, as long as it is considered suitable.

Click HERE for a full list of the major Wall Street firms and banks. If you have an advisor who works for any of these firms, he or she is NOT a fiduciary to you. Conversely, if you are working with an advisor at a fully-independent, SEC-regulated investment advisory firm (such asTowerpoint Wealth), he or she IS a fiduciary to you!

Put differently…

Trending Today

As the 24/7 news cycle churns, twists, and turns, a number of trending and notable events have occurred over the past few weeks:

– Joseph, Jonathan, Steve, Lori, Nathan, and Michelle

We love social media, and are always actively growing our social media community!

Follow us on any of these platforms you use, and then message us with your favorite charity, and we will happily donate $10 to it!

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TPW Trending Today Are You In Awe of Your Advisor’s Sharp Saw

Towerpoint Wealth November 22, 2021 No Comments

Are You In Awe of Your Advisor’s Sharp Saw? 11.19.2021

According to a 2021 survey conducted by The Harris Poll, about 26% of Americans say their most trusted source for financial advice is a financial advisor, representing an 18% increase from 2020.

With a direct correlation to the shakeup and uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the highly unsettled nature of the U.S. economy, financial markets, and politics still existing today, it comes as little surprise to see this increasing trust and confidence in the counsel of financial advisors.

Conversely, it is also interesting to note that the most trusted source of financial advice known as “Yourself” experienced a 33% drop (!) from 30% in 2020 to 20% in 2021.

Ask virtually any financial advisor: The data presented above supports the anecdotal evidence – during periods of high volatility and uncertainty, people tend to become uncertain and trust themselves less when it comes to their finances and investing. Conversely, in periods of low volatility, rising markets, and higher (perceived) certainty, people become overconfident. Or, illustrated differently:

Why do investors feel smarter and more confident when the markets are rising, and dumber and less confident when the markets are declining? One word: emotions. At Towerpoint Wealth, we believe that one of the central qualities of a skilled financial advisor is the ability to help their clients remain objective, avoid overconfidence, or, on the flip side, depression and hopelessness.

There are more than 275,000 licensed professionals in the United States right now that have “Financial Advisor” (or some derivation thereof) on their business card, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And as is true of many professions, there are a myriad of makes, models, specializations, and niches that these advisors fall into. Additionally, these 275K financial advisors represent a varying cross-section of experience, planning, knowledge, and service.

A core philosophy here at Towerpoint Wealth has always been to focus on and place energy into the professional growth and development of our advisors. Our clients deserve and expect us to not only stay sharp in regards to current economic, financial, and investment trends and developments, but also to consistently be “sharpening our professional saws” in the areas of practice management, behavioral finance, client service, and leadership.

To that end, our President, Joseph Eschleman, our Partner, Wealth Advisor, Jonathan LaTurner, and our Director of Research and Analytics, Nathan Billigmeier, traveled to Music City last week for a three-day Investments Forum, hosted by Dynasty Financial Partners. The venue, the lineup of talent, and the level of content were truly amazing, and the TPW colleagues spent an enriching and enjoyable three days sharpening their professional saws at the conference.

The highlights included:

Managing Diverse Portfolios for Diverse Investors: A responsible investing/ESG “deep dive” with Amanda Baker Kahn from Ethic Investments, along with Michelle Gadsden-Williams from BlackRock and Yasmin Landyfrom Fidelity
A Fireside Keynote – with the 43rd Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush
Born to Lead – a CEO Breakfast with NBA Champion Avery Johnson
Entrepreneurs Building Transformative Companies – with Steve Case, America Online co-founder, and Chairman and CEO of the D.C.-based venture capital firm Revolution
Uncovering Investment Opportunities Around the Globe – with the legendary Howard Marks, Co-Chairman of Oaktree Capital
Macro Economics Virtual Fireside Chat – with Liz Ann Sonders, Charles Schwab’s Chief Investment Strategist
Keynote with Daymond John – the entrepreneurial and life journey of FUBU’s founder and Shark Tank’s one and only!
A Conversation Like Any Other – with Jim Nantz, legendary CBS Sports commentator

Click the thumbnail below to see the full agenda of speakers, activities, and content that, in addition to some Music City fun during the evenings, kept Joseph, Jonathan, and Nathan moving for three days!!

Steve Case

Photo boxes, clockwise from upper left: 1.) Jim Nantz 2.) Joseph, Nathan, Jonathan at Loser’s Bar and Grill in Nashville 3.) Howard Marks, Daymond John, Liz Ann Sonders

New Towerpoint Wealth White Paper

After focusing on the topic in our 11.9.2021 edition of Trending Today, our Director of Tax and Financial Planning, Steve Pitchford, authored and published the below white paper, focusing on THREE key ideas to potentially reduce the tax “sting” associated with IRA and other tax-deferred retirement account required minimum distributions (RMDs).

Click the thumbnail below to download and read this brand-new report!

Video of the Week

Our President, Joseph Eschleman, CIMA®, was the featured guest on Laurel Sagen and Shasta Escalante’s Heart 2 Biz podcast earlier this month.

Heart 2 Biz is a weekly podcast focused on local Sacramento professionals and entrepreneurs who “pour their hearts into their businesses.” Focused on finding out not only how people are building and running their businesses, but how they are doing so with integrity and heart.

Click below to watch the podcast, and to hear Joseph’s story of how the permanent Pennsylvania-to-California cross-country adventure he took in 1999 helped to shape his heart and him as a person; and, how his evolution from employee to business owner and entrepreneur has molded his character and overall outlook on life. It’s a great (and crazy!) story with plenty of interesting twists and turns, confirming what virtually every Towerpoint Wealth client already knows to be true – that the energy Joseph pours into his client partnerships and into Towerpoint Wealth has a foundation based on both integrity and on heart!

What’s Happening at TPW?

The ladies of Towerpoint Wealth (our Client Service Specialist, Michelle Venezia, and our Director of Operations, Lori Heppner) enjoyed a nice lunch together earlier this week at Il Fornaio in downtown Sacramento, right here on Capitol Mall!

In Denver this past Sunday with two friends, our President, Joseph Eschleman, enjoyed watching his favorite football team, thePhiladelphia Eagles, dismantle the hometown Broncos, 30-13!

A happy moment for our Director of Tax and Financial Planning, Steve Pitchford, our Director of Operations, Lori Heppner, and our Director of Research and Analytics, Nathan Billigmeier.

Charts of the Week

Rivian (Nasdaq: RIVN), the newly-public electric vehicle automaker (backed by Amazon) hit a market capitalization of $100 billion earlier this week – and they haven’t (yet) delivered a single vehicle! This is the largest U.S. IPO since 2014, when Alibaba went public, and makes the company bigger than both GM and Ford.

In the eyes of many investors and market pundits, this further cements the idea that traditional automobiles and automobile manufacturers are going the way of the dodo:

Quote of the Week

Excellent philosophy from IBM’s long-time chairman and CEO,Thomas J. Watson…

Cartoon of the Week

In the spirit of what we discussed above about investor (over) confidence, the below cartoon thoughtfully illustrates one of Warren Buffett’s famous quotes:

“You need to divorce your mind from the crowd.”

Trending Today

As the 24/7 news cycle churns, twists, and turns, a number of trending and notable events have occurred over the past few weeks:

– Joseph, Jonathan, Steve, Lori, Nathan, and Michelle

We love social media, and are always actively growing our social media community!

Follow us on any of these platforms you use, and then message us with your favorite charity, and we will happily donate $10 to it!

Click HERE to follow TPW on LinkedIn

Click HERE to follow TPW on Facebook

Click HERE to follow TPW on Instagram

Click HERE to follow TPW on Twitter

Trending Today Tax-Saving Solutions For RMDs

Towerpoint Wealth November 5, 2021 No Comments

Tax Saving Solutions for Required Minimum Distributions 11.05.2021

How would you like to be FORCED to take extra, unwanted, and unnecessary taxable income that would ADD TO your taxable income for the year and potentially catapult yourself into a higher income tax bracket?

If you are 72 or older and own an IRA or tax-deferred retirement account and receive required minimum distributions (RMDs), this may be happening to you every single year. If you are not yet 72, take this as fair warning – you have time to plan and put some tax saving solutions in place!

Towerpoint Wealth | Sacramento Financial Advisor near me | Money Bucket Tax Saving Solutions

Many individuals know well enough that RMD taxes are a “necessary evil” of contributing to, and investing in, retirement accounts such as 401(k)s, IRAs, 403(b)s, etc. However, what investors often fail to realize is that there are impactful and proactive tax planning strategies that can materially lessen the sting of these RMD taxes.

As discussed below, short of enacting a QCD every year for the full amount of your RMD (do the acronyms have your head spinning yet??!!), there is no way to outright avoid paying income taxes on your IRA and retirement account RMDs. However, at Towerpoint Wealth, we are proactive in working with our clients to reduce the pain associated with RMD taxes if and when possible, usually utilizing one or more of the following three planning opportunities, each of which can help:

Tax Saving Solutions

1. Accelerate IRA withdrawals

We get it, as this sounds counterintuitive. Take more money out to save on taxes?? The short answer – yes.

Subject to certain exceptions, age 59 ½ is the first year in which an individual is able to take a distribution from a qualified retirement plan without being subject to a 10% early withdrawal tax penalty.

Consequently, the window of time between age 59 ½ and age 72 becomes an important one for proactive RMD tax planning. By strategically taking distributions from pre-tax qualified retirement accounts between these ages, an individual may be able to lessen their overall lifetime tax liability by reducing future RMDs (and the risk that RMDs may push them into a higher tax bracket) by reducing the retirement account balance.

This strategy becomes particularly opportune for an individual that has retired before age 72, as it often affords the individual the ability to take these taxable distributions in a uniquely low income (and lower income tax) period of time.

2. Execute a Roth conversion

A Roth conversion is a retirement and tax planning strategy whereby an individual transfers, or “converts,” some or all of their pre-tax qualified retirement plan assets from a Traditional IRA into a tax-free Roth IRA.

While ordinary income taxes are owed on any amounts of tax-deferred contributions and earnings that are converted, a Roth conversion, when utilized properly, is a powerful tax planning strategy to reduce a future IRA RMD, and concurrently, RMD taxes, as Roth assets are not subject to required minimum distributions since they generate no tax revenue for the government. Further, Roth conversions also 1) maximize the tax-free growth within a taxpayer’s investment portfolio, 2) provide a hedge against possible future tax rate increase (as Roth retirement accounts are tax-free), and 3) leave a greater tax-free financial legacy to heirs.

Towerpoint Wealth | Sacramento Financial Planner | Graph Tax Savings Solutions

3. Use the IRA RMD to make Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs)

When an individual becomes subject to an IRA RMD, in lieu of having the IRA distributions go to them, they may consider facilitating a direct transfer from their IRA to one, or more, 501(c)3 charitable organizations (up to $100K annually). This is known as a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD).

As long as these distributions are made directly to the charity, they 1) satisfy the RMD and 2) are excluded from taxable income.

This strategy, when executed property, results in a dollar-for-dollar income reduction compared to a “normal” RMD.

Towerpoint Wealth | Sacramento Wealth Management | Charitable Giving Required Minimum Distributions

Fortunately or unfortunately, there is no magic bullet nor panacea when it comes to RMD taxes and the income tax obligation you will have when taking RMDs. However, we feel that you still have an obligation to be aware and/or mindful of the planning opportunities mentioned above, as potentially reducing your income tax liability is certainly better than paying “full boat” every year!

Video of the Week

As a follow up to the subject focus of our most recent 10.15.2021 Trending Today newsletter, click the thumbnail below to watch the educational video we just produced last week, featuring our President, Joseph Eschleman, as he discusses the THREE key ingredients that are crucial when working to successfully build and protect your wealth, and SEVEN specific long-term investing strategies and philosophies that need to be developed and internalized if you truly want to be a successful long-term investor.

What’s Happening at TPW?

We love and are proud of the work hard, play hard culture we have built here at Towerpoint Wealth, and in the spirit of that philosophy, the TPW family took a ½ day “Teambuilding Tuesday” earlier this week, enjoying lunch together at The Station Public House in Auburn, followed by fun and games (literally!) at Knee Deep Brewing Company!

Towerpoint Wealth Family Lori Steve Michelle

Our President, Joseph Eschleman, gave two (!) pints of A- last week, with a “Power Red” blood donation at the American Red Cross in Sacramento.

Graph of the Week

There are just under two months left in the year, and from strictly a seasonal perspective, November and December have historically been two of the better months on the calendar. The chart below shows the S&P 500’s performance during the last two months of the year in the post-WWII period. Overall, the median performance has been a gain of +3.72%, with positive returns just over three-quarters of the time (76.3%).

The S&P 500’s 22.6% gain this year is the strongest year-to-date reading through October since 2013. 2021 is just the tenth year since 1928 where the S&P 500 has been up more than 20% YTD through October. In the chart above we have highlighted each of those years in dark blue.

Quote of the Week

It is easy to be an investor when things are relatively “normal” and calm; it becomes much more difficult to be disciplined and stay objective when things get crazy…

Trending Today

As the 24/7 news cycle churns, twists, and turns, a number of trending and notable events have occurred over the past few weeks:

– Joseph, Jonathan, Steve, Lori, Nathan, and Michelle

We think social media is fun, and are always actively growing our social media community!

Follow us on any of these platforms you use, and then message us
with your favorite charity, and we will happily donate $10 to it!

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Long-term investing strategies | Are You A Long-term Investor

Towerpoint Wealth October 26, 2021 No Comments

Are You REALLY a Long Term Investor?? 10.26.2021

Successful Long Term Investing Strategies for Successful Long Term

Investors

Are you really a long term investor? Or do you just say you are a long term investor but behave more like a trader or a gambler, and fail to apply long term investment strategies to your portfolio? Watch our President, Joseph F. Eschleman, CIMA®, discuss exactly what it takes to truly act and behave like a long term investor, and what specific long term investing strategies and philosophies need to be developed and internalized to be a successful long term investor. Trying to successfully build, and protect, your wealth and “nest egg?” Watch this video to listen to Joseph outline seven key long term investing strategies and philosophies, as well as the exact emotional and behavioral characteristics needed to be a successful long term investor.

In this video, you can expect me to outline three key ingredients that, here at Towerpoint Wealth, we believe are *crucial* to being a SUCCESSFUL long term investor, and seven specific KEY long term investing strategies and principals that we believe NEED to be followed to successfully build, and protect, your wealth. You do want to successfully build and protect your wealth, don’t you?? Well then let’s get started!

SAYING you are a long term investor is easy; however, BEHAVING like a long-term investor is much more difficult. Throughout history, human behavior (specifically, fear and greed) has regularly gotten in the way of CONSISTENTLY following the long term investing strategies I am about to outline.

Or, put differently, as the great boxer Mike Tyson said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

When the markets, economy, and politics are relatively “normal,” investing seems easy. However, when things get crazy, volatile, unbelievable, explosive, unpredictable, turbulent, harrowing, or unsettling, it becomes much more difficult to tolerate, endure, and absorb a major body blow to your “nest egg.”

Watching your money SHRINK can be a very emotional and traumatizing experience. And while there is no perfect recipe for becoming a successful long term investor, at Towerpoint Wealth we believe doing so all starts with three basic ingredients:

Consistent objectivity
Measured behavior
Disciplined thinking and execution

In addition to the inherently emotional nature of money, there are a myriad of uncontrollable variables populating the external environment we live in that makes it quite difficult to enjoy the benefits of being long term investor: The movements of the stock market. The vicissitudes of the US and global economy. The fickle nature of the political winds. Increases and declines in interest rates, income taxes, and inflation. These are just a few examples from a very lengthy list of items that are OUT OF OUR CONTROL. And while it is human nature for us to think (even to outright believe) that we have some control over many of these things, the truth is, if we want to truly be a successful long term investor, we must recognize and accept the things we do not control.

At Towerpoint Wealth, we believe that the most successful long-term investors and wealth-creators have a somewhat-unique capability, a skill, that allows them to maintain appropriate perspective, to exhibit a high degree of humility, and to be laser-focused on the bigger picture. Fortunately, this IS a skill that can be coached, cultivated, and learned, and is something that we have a relatively high degree of control over.

But let’s pause, make this more tangible, and highlight seven key long term investing strategies and principles that, at Towerpoint Wealth, we believe are necessary to be a successful long erm investor:

Be humble, be aware of, and accept, things that are out of your control
Keep your emotions in check, and be acutely self-aware of the fear and greed that we may feel when considering our finances and investments, especially during periods of extremes
Plan to live a LONG life, which we actually do have some control over!
Einstein was right: The power of compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.
Volatility should be expected, embraced, and taken advantage of, not feared nor averted
Unless you have the unique ability to consistently AND accurately predict the future, stay properly invested and diversified, REGARDLESS of what you believe may happen in the market and in the economy
Have a plan and a strategy, and be disciplined in sticking to it, regardless of the things you have no control over

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

Do you have a plan to properly manage and coordinate all of your financial affairs, and a strategy to be a successful long term investor by growing and protecting your wealth and investment portfolio, even during turbulent times?

If so, are you being disciplined in consistently following it? If you have concerns, or simply would like to discuss how you can apply the long-term investment principles discussed above, we welcome having a conversation with you. Click HERE to message us, as we regularly have no-strings-attached conversations about these issues, and are happy to be an objective resource for you as you begin to consider your personal and financial circumstances further.

At Towerpoint Wealth, and UNLIIKE advisors at the major Wall Street firms, we are a fiduciary to YOU, and have a legal obligation to act in your best interests 100% of the time. If you have concerns, or simply would like to discuss how you can apply the long term investing strategies and philosophies I’ve discussed today, we welcome beginning to get to know you, and to have you get to know us. [SMILE} So let’s talk! Message us in the comments section, call us at 916-405-9150, or email us at info@towerpointwealth.com, to discuss your circumstances further.

Trending Today Long Term Investor Towerpoint Wealth

Towerpoint Wealth October 15, 2021 No Comments

No No, I Really AM a Long-Term Investor! 10.15.2021

“I’m definitely a long-term investor.”

“I don’t get worried about the negative news headlines.”

“Declines happen – I get it.”

We have heard these lines uttered by the most well-intentioned and intelligent investors time and time again. Sometimes, they hold true to their word. Sometimes, the polar opposite. Saying you are a long-term investor is easy; behaving like a long-term investor is much more difficult, as this is clearly easier said than done.

Put differently, as the great boxer Mike Tyson said:

When things are relatively “normal,” investing seems easy. However, when things get (pick your favorite adjective): crazy, volatile, unbelievable, explosive, unpredictable, turbulent, harrowing, and/or unsettling, it becomes much more difficult to tolerate, endure, and absorb a major body blow to your “nest egg” (read: a consequential drop in value). Watching your money SHRINK can be a very emotional and traumatizing experience. And while there is no perfect recipe for becoming a successful long-term investor, at Towerpoint Wealth we believe it all starts with three basic ingredients:

Consistent objectivity
Measured behavior
Disciplined thinking and execution

In addition to the inherently emotional nature of money, there are a myriad of uncontrollable variables populating the external environment we live in: The movements of the stock market. The vicissitudes of the US and global economy. The fickle nature of the political winds. Increases and declines in interest rates, income taxes, and inflation. Just a few examples from a very lengthy list of items that are out of our control. And while it is human nature for us to think (even to outright believe) that we have some control over many of these things, the truth is, if we want to truly be a successful long-term investor, we must recognize and accept the things we do not control.

At Towerpoint Wealth, we believe that the most successful long-term investors and wealth-creators have a somewhat-unique capability, a skill, that allows them to maintain appropriate perspective, to exhibit a high degree of humility, and to be laser-focused on the bigger picture. Fortunately, this is a skill that can be coached, cultivated, and learned, and is something that we have a relatively high degree of control over.

Long-Term Investor

Let’s make this more tangible – below are seven key principles that, at Towerpoint Wealth, we believe are necessary to be a successful long-term investor:

Be humble, be aware of, and accept, things that are out of your control
Keep your emotions in check, and be acutely self-aware of the fear and greed that we may feel when considering our finances and investments, especially in periods of extremes
Plan to live a long life, which we do have some control over!
Einstein was right: The power of compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays
Volatility should be expected, embraced, and taken advantage of, not feared nor averted
Unless you have the unique ability to consistently AND accurately predict the future, stay properly invested and diversified, regardless of what you believe may happen in the market and in the economy
Have a plan and a strategy, and be disciplined in sticking to it, regardless of the things you have no control over

In opining about what we believe it takes to be a successful long-term investor, we would be remiss if we did not directly integrate Warren Buffett’s (aka the “Oracle of Omaha”) wisdom on this subject into this newsletter. Please click below to watch an excellent YouTube video, featuring a 2016 CNBC interview of Warren, where he outlines his FIVE best tips for successful long-term investors:

Do you have a plan to properly manage and coordinate all of your financial affairs and a strategy to grow and protect your wealth and investment portfolio, even during turbulent times?

What’s Happening at TPW?

Nathan P. Billigmeier Director of Research and Analytics

Our Director of Research and Analytics, Nathan Billigmeier, took last Friday off to spend time in Wheatland, CA at Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm with his two boys, Ethan and Grayson, specifically helping Grayson celebrate his 2nd birthday!

Our President, Joseph Eschleman, devouring a Philly cheesesteak (the only way a cheesesteak should be ordered, a “wiz, wit”) before jumping on a flight back to Sacramento earlier this month. Fuhgeddaboudit if you think you will find a better cheesesteak than Pat’s!

Graph of the Week

Yikes – inflation is at a 13 year high!

If you have any exposure to bonds in your portfolio, we strongly feel that it is time to take a hard look at:

How you are allocated within bonds

Your exposure to interest rate fluctuations (specifically, to rates going UP) due to inflation

Whether the risk you are taking is appropriate for your set of unique personal and financial circumstances

At Towerpoint Wealth, we have been successfully modeling what the value of a client’s portfolio would look like if interest rates INCREASE by ½, 1, or even 1 ½% over the next year or two. Message us by clicking HERE if you would like this custom analysis done for you.

Cartoon of the Week

Issues with global supply chains will impact the holiday season…

As the 24/7 news cycle churns, twists, and turns, a number of trending and notable events have occurred over the past few weeks:

– Joseph, Jonathan, Steve, Lori, Nathan, and Michelle

We love social media, and are always actively growing our social media community!

Long Term Investing Tips

Twenty Tips for No-Nonsense Investing

Read Story

Follow us on any of these platforms you use, and then message
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rending Today Start of Fall Cause the Market to Stall 09.27.2021

Towerpoint Wealth September 17, 2021 No Comments

Will the Beginning of Fall Cause the Market to Stall? 09.17.2021

In the Northern Hemisphere, September (the harvest month) marks the beginning of meteorological autumn, and in many countries, the beginning of the academic year.

In her short poem about the month of September, the Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (best known for her classic children’s novel, Anne of Green Gables) offers a cheerful tribute to the ‘late delight’ of the month:

Lo! a ripe sheaf of many golden days

Gleaned by the year in autumn’s harvest ways

With here and there, blood-tinted as an ember,

Some crimson poppy of a late delight

Atoning in its splendor for the flight

Of summer blooms and joys

This is September

She could be saluting 2021’s cheerfully buoyant year-to-date stock market returns, with the S&P 500 up +20.35% as of Thursday, September 16th.

However, September has historically been a volatile month for stocks, and in the past has ranked as the least promising month of the year, on average, for the S&P 500 index over the 1928-2021 time frame:

ira required minimum distribution table 2021

Additionally, through September 1st of this year and as depicted by the chart below, the S&P 500 has reached a total of 53 (!) new record closing highs, the fifth highest figure in the past 93 years:

ira required minimum distribution table 2021 Closing Highs

The $64,000 question: Is it reasonable to expect this growth and momentum continue? Here are both sides of the story:

Positive Economic Developments

Improving jobs market: After a rolling sequence of shortages in 2021 (including lumber, used cars, ocean shipping capacity, and semiconductors), labor also continues to be in short supply for many companies. This is reflected in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report of an increase to 10.1 million job openings (!) as of the last business day in June, the highest EVER figure since job openings began to be tracked in December of 2000.
“Goldilocks” labor recovery: While the labor market is improving, it does not appear to be improving at such a rapid extent that the Federal Reserve feels compelled to becomes more aggressive in reducing (or “tapering”) its current level of asset purchases (currently $120 million per month)
Services and manufacturing sector expansion: On September 3rd, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported its services index grew for a 15th consecutive month, registering a 61.7 in August after a hitting a record high of 64.1 in July. On September 1, the ISM reported its manufacturing index also grew for 15 consecutive months, with a very good reading of 59.9.
Rising home prices: Spurred by extremely low interest rates, an increased ability to work remotely, and low inventories of homes for sale, the median sales price for single-family existing homes was higher year-over-year in 2Q, 2021 for 182 of the 183 metropolitan areas tracked by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In fact, in 94% of those metropolitan areas, median prices rose by *more than* 10% from a year earlier!
Potential for scaled back tax increases: In a September 2 Wall Street Journal op-ed, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin indicated that he would not support a social infrastructure spending bill anywhere near $3.5 trillion, thus reducing the chances that such a large package would become law and lead to significantly higher taxes
Significant individual and institutional investor liquidity: The Investment Company Institute (ICI) reports that as of 9/15, total assets of retail money market funds amounted to $1.43 trillion (!), and total assets of institutional money market funds reached $3.03 trillion. This almost $4.5 trillion of CASH currently sitting on the sidelines represents significant buying power for financial assets
Significant corporate liquidity: According to Dow Jones Market Data, cash holdings among S&P 500 companies reached $1.98 trillion on August 9, a more than 30% increase from two years ago at the end of 3Q, 2019 When combined with significant available credit that remains unused, S&P estimates a total of $6.8 trillion of unused cash liquidity is available to the corporate sector as a whole. This liquidity can be used to buy back stock, increase dividends, and pursue strategic capital investments

Please bear in mind, while this is an impressive and robust list, there are also risks and concerns to worry about: Uninspiring retail sales, weakening commodity prices, slower 3rd quarter GDP growth estimates, and declining consumer confidence, to name a few.

However, at Towerpoint Wealth, we believe the most concerning potential headwind comes in the form of high stock valuations, as the S&P 500’s forward price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 21.2x is the highest it has been in two decades!

High Stock Valuations Price Earning Ratio

Although stretched valuations generally do not represent a causal trigger for a stock market correction, at elevated levels (as is presently), they nevertheless can serve investors well as a cautionary warning sign.

While we will always remain humble about our ability to consistently predict the future with accuracy, we do advise clients and friends to heed these high valuations, and to be vigilant in biasing high-quality, “all-weather” assets in their portfolios, especially in light of complacent stock market volatility readings and the long span of time without so much as a 5% market correction.

Confused? Worried? In need of discipline, direction, and/or a plan? Have questions or concerns? Click HERE to contact us for an objective, no-strings-attached conversation about you and your circumstances, as we fully support and echo Warren Buffet’s philosophy:

What’s Happening at TPW?

Our Partner, Wealth Advisor, Jonathan LaTurner, wrapped up an amazing trip to Washington D.C. with his fiancée, Katie McDonald, stopping by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and also the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

Looks like an awesome tour of our nation’s capital, Jon!

The San Francisco Giants are hot right now (!), and our Director of Tax and Financial Planning, Steve Pitchford, and his partner, Katie, took in an AMAZING extra-innings Giants ‘W’ versus the Dodgers two Fridays ago at Oracle Park! #BeatLA

Illustrations/Graphs of the Week

You cannot keep funds in a retirement account indefinitely, as the government wants their share! Required minimum distributions (RMDs) represent the minimum amount that you must withdraw from your IRA or employer-sponsored retirement plan account each year. With the exception of Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s, from which withdrawals occur tax-free and are not required until after the death of the owner, regular RMDs can be a “tax thorn” in the side of many investors who have accumulated wealth in any tax-deferred retirement account.

In addition to the two resources found in the news stories at the bottom of this newsletter (discussing RMDs and QCDs), the table directly below, courtesy of Michael Kitces from Kitces.com, does an excellent job of outlining the various strategies available to reduce, minimize, and delay these pesky mandatory, and taxable, retirement account withdrawals:

Confused? Have questions or concerns? Click HERE to contact us for an objective, no-strings-attached conversation about you and your retirement account circumstances.

Trending Today

As the 24/7 news cycle churns, twists, and turns, there have been a number of trending and notable events that have occurred over the past few weeks:

As always, we sincerely value our relationships and partnerships with each of you, as well as your trust and confidence in us here at Towerpoint Wealth. We encourage you to reach out to us at any time (916-405-9140, info@towerpointwealth.com) with any questions, concerns, or needs you may have. The world continues to be an extremely unsettled and complicated place, and we are here to help you properly plan for and make sense of it.

– Joseph, Jonathan, Steve, Lori, Nathan, and Michelle

Towerpoint Wealth team - Sacramento financial planner

Towerpoint Wealth May 28, 2021 No Comments

Questions to Ask if Building Wealth is the Task 05.28.2021

As we sit on the eve of 2021’s Memorial Day Weekend, 73% of those in a Quinnipiac poll said their plans are similar to the ones they had pre-pandemic. The light at the end of the pandemic tunnel is getting brighter and brighter by the day!

We’re looking at plunging COVID-19 case and death rates and widening vaccination uptake rates here in the United States, in addition to an uptake in exuberance and economic optimism by investors that has driven the stock market to all time highs. And, as is typically true during periods of market extremes, the talking heads, market strategists, investment gurus, and even your brother-in-law Frank seem to have all the answers as to why this is happening, and what lies around the corner. Our advice to you: Ignore this nonsense, and ignore them all.

Rather than become enamored by these predictions and/or fall prey to a well-articulated story spun by a seemingly well-credentialed “expert,” we encourage you to tune out this noise, and not worry nor think too much or too hard about interest rates, cryptocurrencies, inflation, China, large caps and small caps, mask mandates, or the U.S. deficit. Don’t worry about what the “new normal” means, and don’t get too worked up about “getting your share” of the possible American Jobs Plan or the American Families Plan stimulus packages (we’re purposefully not even linking to any of these themes). Instead, let’s channel our energy and attention into things that we have control over.

While we do believe you should always be ready for the unexpected, we also feel it is way more important to understand and internalize a number of foundational investing and wealth building principles. Ask yourself if you can succinctly and confidently answer the following questions:

Can I remain objective and rational, and recognize when you are being fearful, greedy, and emotional about your money? Your worst investment enemy is usually found by looking in the mirror. The limbic system is a wonderfully complex set of brain structures that deal with emotions, but activating your fight or flight response in reaction to fear, greed, and anger is not conducive to successful investing or successful longer-term wealth building.
Do I understand that my neighbors, friends, and co-workers are perhaps confused and delusional? Not only do they probably spend too much and boast too much about their portfolio, but the chances their financial decisions are rooted in any of the principles listed here are quite low.
Am I trying to simply make money, or am I working to build and protect my wealth? We equate the former to gambling, and the latter to investing. While anything can happen on a daily, weekly, monthly, and even annual basis, we believe your odds of success increase significantly if you establish and follow a disciplined longer-term wealth building plan.
What am I doing to proactively insulate my downside from a major catastrophe during a market correction? We believe this is way more important than hitting a home run during a period of market strength. While his two rules are a bit binary, the spirit of Warren Buffett’s quote should resonate:

Why am I investing, and do I have a plan? For obvious reasons, it is invaluable to not only think through, articulate, and quantify the goals and vision you have for your and your family’s future, but also to have a methodology for how you attend to your personal financial decision-making. And this methodology will be different than your friend’s, neighbor’s, or co-worker’s, as we all obviously have different things that motivate us and that we ultimately want out of life. This is assuming that your friend, neighbor, or co-worker even has a plan at all.
Do I recognize that costs, fees, expenses, and taxes matter? At Towerpoint Wealth, we call them “necessary evils” to helping clients grow and protect their net worth. And while we can never eliminate the drag that costs, fees, expenses, and taxes creates, we certainly can work to identify, and reduce, these friction points.
Am I aware that saving money is the single most effective way to build my wealth and to retire? While you need to have balance between saving for tomorrow and living your life today, the capital you spend today is capital no longer available to fund your retirement. Saving money equals peace of mind.

Towerpoint Wealth Turns Four!

On May 26, 2017, with zero clients and $0 in assets under management, we officially launched Towerpoint Wealth. Classified as a “bold,” “risky,” “fearless,” and “courageous” decision by our clients and colleagues, it fortunately turned out to be a prescient and extremely positive one based on the feedback we continue to receive and strategic growth we continue to experience.

Today, we are approaching $350 million in assets under management, and continue to be thrilled to serve YOU, always striving to expand your peace of mind by helping you remove the hassle of properly coordinating your financial affairs.

What’s Happening at TPW?

The Towerpoint Wealth crew recently spent some time in a professional photo shoot with Tim Engle, of Tim Engle Photography – below is one of our favorite shots from the session.

We hold our collective noses to the grindstone at Towerpoint Wealth ~ 97% of the time. However, the culture we have built at the firm is also predicated on spending time outside the office and having fun together as a work family, which is why we regularly schedule fun teambuilding events.

We had an enjoyable “hooky afternoon” earlier this month, pedaling through midtown Sacramento on the Sacramento Brew Bike, with pit stops at Public House Downtown, Kupros, and The Golden Bear. A well-behaved and fun afternoon!

TPW Service Highlight – RETIREMENT – Building wealth

We only semi-jokingly say that you can retire any time you want, but will you be able to with the lifestyle and income stream you desire?

At Towerpoint Wealth, we believe that everyone deserves a secure retirement, and we stand ready to help you with a myriad of retirement-specific tools and planning considerations. The cornerstone of this process is the development of a customized retirement and financial plan using our modeling software from RightCapital(R).

Click HERE to review a sample customized RightCapital financial plan.

Additional retirement-specific services include sustainable and tax-efficient retirement income planning, “black swan” event planning and modeling, customized Social Security benefit election optimization analysis, corporate pension modeling and optimization, fixed/variable/immediate annuity analysis, and optimal-retirement-age projections.

Chart of the Week

Real estate values continue to be on fire! Click HERE to watch an excellent video in which our President, Joseph Eschleman discusses the white hot Sacramento real estate market with long-time Sacramento realtor, Brian Kassis.

And while there is no question about the tremendous price increases homeowners have experienced over the past year and a half, the chart below makes an interesting comparison between the value of the stock market (using the S&P 500 as a proxy) and the value of residential real estate (using the Case Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index as a proxy) over the past 30 years.

Understanding the importance of owning both real estate AND equities when working to build net worth, and recognizing that people seem to be more relational to the increases in the value of their home, the chart below from Visual Capitalist is an eye-opener!

In addition to home prices going up and U.S. COVID numbers going down, a number of trending and notable events have occurred over the past few weeks:

As always, we sincerely value our relationships and partnerships with each of you, as well as your trust and confidence in us here at Towerpoint Wealth. We encourage you to reach out to us at any time (916-405-9140, info@towerpointwealth.com) with any questions, concerns, or needs you may have. The world continues to be an extremely unsettled and complicated place, and we are here to help you properly plan for and make sense of it.

– Joseph, Jonathan, Steve, Lori, Nathan, and Michelle

Retirement Plan 401(k) Disarray Towerpoint Wealth White paper 2021

Steve Pitchford March 29, 2021 No Comments

Is Your 401(k) in Disarray 03.29.2021

As a small business owner, we know that you are an “around the clock” grinder, with a myriad of responsibilities that often supersede the core responsibilities you have to the growth of your business. And understanding that a regular review of your business’s retirement plan may not be a top priority of yours, at Towerpoint Wealth we have created this 401(k) “healthcheck” for your benefit. We regularly come across 401(k) and other company-sponsored retirement plans that, as currently structured, are in serious need of attention and improvement, and we are experienced in helping you, as a trustee and fiduciary to your company’s retirement plan, minimize the hassle of giving your plan the attention it needs.

Is your 401(k) plan structured and optimized properly to help you and your employees maximize the myriad of economic, investment, and tax benefits? Are you properly managing your fiduciary responsibility? Ask yourself the questions found below to quickly gauge whether your 401(k) needs adjusting or improving.

Does my plan have a safe harbor structure?

You want to ensure that your 401K) retirement plan passes the annual non-discrimination testing conducted by the IRS. In its simplest sense, non-discrimination testing ensures that an employer is making contributions to each employee’s retirement account that equals the same percentage of salary for everyone. Importantly, if a plan fails a non-discrimination test, the 401(k) may lose its tax-qualified status.¹

[1]The most common reason a 401(k) plan fails this non-discrimination testing is when one or more of the business owners make much greater 401(k) contributions compared to their employees.

A safe harbor 401(k) plan structure ensures that you meet the non-discrimination regulatory requirements by following strict guidelines specific-to employer plan contributions, participant disclosures, and much more.

Does my plan have a profit-sharing component and if so, am I optimizing its structure?

For a business owner to maximize the personal net worth building benefits associated with sponsoring a company retirement plan and receive the maximum 401(k) annual contribution amount of $58,000 in 2021^{^[1]} (employee deferrals + employer contributions), pairing a profitsharing component in the plan’s design is essential.

All profit sharing plan structures – same dollar amount , comp –to –comp , new comparability, etc.^[2] – are not created equal. In particular, the new comparability strategy is becoming increasingly more common in modern 401(k) plans as this type of profit-sharing plan allows for unique flexibility in allocating the profits among the business owner(s) and employees.

Is my investment fund lineup optimized?

401(k) investment fund lineups vary from basic to advanced and passive to active. And with employees having better and more diverse investment options outside of 401(k) plans, annually reviewing your company’s fund lineup for improvements is critical to ensure that employees do not look to invest their hard-earned dollars elsewhere, and also to meet your fiduciary responsibility as plan trustee.

It is also a requirement that a business owner (usually with help from an investment professional) formulate, and review at least annually, an investment policy statement (IPS) for their 401(k).

Is my ERISA fidelity bond fund amount appropriate?

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requires 401(k) plans to hold a fidelity bond, which protects the plan from losses resulting from improper handling of the funds.

While fidelity bonds are generally inexpensive for the coverage offered, we often see the amount protected as either ^1.) inadequate or ^2.) overkill.

[1] Increased to $64,500 for business owners 50 years of age or older.

[2] There are often several different terms that refer to the exact same type of profit-sharing structure.

Does my plan currently allow for after-tax Roth contributions?

While changing for the better, many 401(k) plans still do not allow after-tax Roth contributions.

For business owners and employees that are in a temporarily low income tax bracket – a business owner “winding down” and closing in on retirement or a younger employee at the beginning of their career and earning curve – offering an after-tax Roth contribution option, particularly given it typically costs nothing to do so, is a valuable and often overlooked plan benefit.

Is my vesting schedule appropriate?

In order to incentivize employees to stay with your company, having a vesting schedule for any employer-matching profit sharing contributions that is not overly generous is important. For a number of Towerpoint Wealth’s clients who are business owners, a vesting schedule of six years (with 0% vesting in the first year of participation) is appropriate, but each business and retirement plan is unique.

Have I considered automatically distributing an employee’s 401(k) balance when they leave the company?

Many 401(k) plan administrators charge their fees based on the number of employees that the plan has.

In order to keep fees to a minimum, it is advisable to consider automatically distributing account balances below a certain threshold when an employee separates from service.

Am I managing my fiduciary responsibility and minimizing my fiduciary liability?

All business owners who offer a 401(k) for themselves and their employees have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that they are acting in the employees’ best interests, being prudent, diversifying plan investment assets, and adhering to all provisions of the retirement plan documents.

There are concrete steps that a business owner can take to uphold their fiduciary duty and at the same time, minimize their fiduciary liability.

Wealth management firms that specialize in helping business owners optimize their retirement plans, such as Towerpoint Wealth , are able to help guide you through these murky waters.

Am I doing everything I can to maximize my own personal net worth within my company’s retirement plan?

Even if a small business owner has a well-structured plan that meets everyone’s needs, is it important to remember that 401(k)s, and other types of company-sponsored retirement plans, are uniquely customizable. And often, there are overlooked plan features that may help the business owner maximize their ability to accumulate wealth within the plan.

One of these particularly powerful features is allowing for after-tax deferrals (not the same as after-tax Roth deferrals), which then affords the business owner to take advantage of the “Mega Backdoor” Roth IRA strategy .

Some other questions that are worth your thoughtful attention: Do I allow for hardship distributions and if not, should I? What about allowing rollovers from other retirement plans? Is it risky to offer loans to employees? Are my plan’s expenses and fees reasonable?

How Can We Help?

Steve Pitchford, CPA, CFP®
Director of Tax and Financial Planning

At Towerpoint Wealth, we are a legal fiduciary to you, and specialize in optimizing retirement plan structures for business owners.. If you would like to speak with us regarding any other tax questions you may have, we encourage you to call (916-405-9166) or email (spitchford@towerpointwealth.com) to open an objective dialogue.

Towerpoint Wealth, LLC is a Registered Investment Adviser. This material is solely for informational purposes. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Towerpoint Wealth, LLC and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital. No advice may be rendered by Towerpoint Wealth, LLC unless a client service agreement is in place.

Matt Regan February 16, 2021 No Comments

Funding a “Backdoor” Roth IRA

Do you have the enviable problem of NOT being able to contribute to a tax free Roth IRA every year because you make too much money?

Click to watch the video below from our Wealth Advisor, Matt Regan, to learn how you can go through the back door and still fund a *tax-free* Roth every year!