Blog Posts

Section 179 of the US internal revenue code allows taxpayers to deduct the cost of certain property as an expense when the property is placed in service. For tax years beginning after 2017, the TCJA increased the maximum Section 179 expense deduction from $500,000 to $1 million. The phase-out limit increased from $2 million to $2.5 […]

Form 8606 is used to report nondeductible contributions to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or if you’re engaging in a “backdoor Roth” strategy. This form is filed with the IRS and is also used to keep track of your basis in a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or SEP-IRA. If you have ever made any nondeductible […]

A Schedule D is a form used to report capital gains and losses incurred during the year. This form is filed with your annual tax return. The Schedule D is provided by the IRS and attached to US Individual Income Tax Return Form 1040. Capital gains are profits realized from the sale of assets such as […]

HODL typically refers to holding onto your bitcoin or cryptocurrency rather than selling it. The term was first coined on a Bitcointalk forum in 2013 by a user who goes by the name GameKyuubi. It was first used as HODLING, which was an inadvertent misspelling of “HOLDING”. It has also commonly come to stand for […]

Over time, real returns (i.e., inflation-adjusted returns) are what matter for your portfolio, not nominal returns. The wealth that we have is not how much money we have. It’s the buying power of that money. For example, if the inflation rate is 5 percent and an asset you hold simply stayed steady all things considered, […]

We’re in a zero interest rate world, which is the most important theme currently governing financial markets and has big implications for portfolio construction. By extension, this means we’re in a period where the forward returns of financial assets will be low across the board. While this support is necessary, it makes markets susceptible to […]

With more geopolitical conflict there are more calls for the US to increase oil production. How can the US increase oil production? Besides shale, it can easily take more than two years for an oil production company to make a final investment decision and start production. Many have used the argument that higher prices will […]

A late-cycle economy is characterized by higher inflation, low unemployment, speculation, and eventually rising market volatility. Late-cycle economies have different market behavior than in other parts of the cycle. The labor market follows the business cycle – usually with a lag. And central bankers, who have the biggest lever on liquidity in an economy (in addition […]

Asset allocation and diversification might be related concepts in finance, trading, and investing, but there are slightly different. Asset allocation refers to the process of dividing an investment portfolio among different asset categories, such as stocks, bonds, and cash. The asset allocation process takes into account the investor’s goals, risk tolerance, and investment horizon. Diversification […]

A US dollar devaluation would have an impact on movements in other asset classes. Currency volatility picked up with more inflation risk in 2022.       Post-2008, we’ve mostly been in a low interest rate world. However, when interest rates become so low to the point where they can’t be lowered any more, and […]