Welcome to the Monroe Blog

Every stage brings different things to tackle, but they all have one thing in common – taxes. Business owners have unique tax advantages. The key to maximizing them is not leaving it until your annual meeting with your tax accountant. It means creating a multi-year strategy that works as your business grows and your profits, activities, plant and equipment, strategies, etc., evolve.

July marked the best month for the markets since November 2020.

It’s been two and a half years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and most of the country is up and running: students have returned to classrooms, people are traveling for pleasure and business in record numbers, and spectators are back in the stands. However, one aspect of society has not fully returned to pre-pandemic normalcy: remote work. Shortly after the pandemic began, many employees moved from larger cities with higher rates of COVID to the suburbs or smaller towns in other states to lower their costs or purchase a larger home. However, many of these workers may not know the tax implications of working in a different state than their company’s headquarters.

Retirement during a volatile market is unsettling. Whether you are on the cusp or have already made the leap, a market downturn’s impact on your savings will be felt now and potentially for years to come. How do you keep your plan on track and your desired lifestyle in place?

After a barely positive May, June saw the bear market return across indices. We ended up with the worst first half performance since 1970. A mid-month surprise 75 basis point rate hike at the June FOMC meeting, followed by Fed Chairman Powell’s testimony to Congress in which he indicated aggressive rate increases at the July and September meetings, convinced markets that inflation is the priority for the Fed.

Financial planning has evolved beyond investing assets. The old model limited comprehensive planning to a wealthy few with high levels of manageable assets. For many people, their first engagement with a financial advisor was when they needed to create a retirement income plan.