Insights matter.

If the only two things in life that are certain are death and taxes, a close third would be presidential election cycles. Now, not all election cycles are equal. Some are highly contested, whereas others have a clear front-runner. Some elections involve an incumbent and a challenger, while others involve two candidates who would be new to the presidency. Each election takes on a life of its own, but sure as the sun rises in the east, every 4 years, Americans head to the

Planning anything in 2020 has been quite challenging – so it should be no surprise that we may have to spend a lot of time planning soon for something that may not be clear until after the election and possibly well into 2021 or beyond: potential Federal estate and gift tax changes.  Anticipating a year-end Federal estate planning tax crunch is not new – it seems to happen every few years. Here’s just a short summary of the past decade:   No matter the year, the potential for significant

We are on the cusp of an unprecedented shift in the US financial landscape.   By the numbers: From 2010 to 2015, private wealth held by women grew from $34 trillion to $51 trillion. By 2021, women are expected to hold $72 trillion.   Source:  <Economist Intelligence Unit (2018) study>  Some of this change is due to the fact that women are earning more than we ever have. We’re running companies, launching startups, and helping to drive innovation and evolution across the global marketplace.

If we’ve learned anything over the past several months, it’s to expect the unexpected. The global pandemic has challenged us all to learn new ways of communicating and collaborating effectively, and it has highlighted the need for businesses, organizations, and individuals to lean into their creativity, flexibility, and resilience in the face of change.   The same is true for families. At Matter, we help build “learning families” because we believe they exhibit the behaviors and characteristics that help them remain successful in

Can you imagine getting the chance to tell our January selves a little bit about where we would be at the halfway point of 2020? Would we believe it? The chart below by our colleagues at ACG identifies the drastic changes in the economic circumstances in our country from the beginning of the year.  First Quarter of 2020: Exogenous Shocks  A Change is Gonna Come  The period we are currently living through will likely result in some meaningful changes in the business landscape of the country. The degree to

This month, Matter Family Office is celebrating 30 years of helping families thrive. We spoke to Matter’s founder Kathy Lintz, about the firm’s unique approach to managing wealth, what she loves about working with families, and where she sees Matter — and the industry — going in the future.   What inspired you to start a firm to support successful families? We have to go back in time a little to understand what was going on 30 years ago. The financial

At one point in April, Business Insider estimated that a third of the world’s population was under some form of lockdown or shelter in place order. Now, as restrictions are being lifted and we are allowed to resume some semblance of normal life, we are faced with the uncertainty of what comes next. The answer to that question relies heavily on the world’s ability to manage COVID-19—a prediction which we are incapable of providing. However, understanding where we are currently helps us to remain strategic in our long-term outlook while

The last month and a half has seen some historic moves in both equity and bond markets. Based off of daily closing prices on the S&P 500 Index, the average daily move in the S&P 500 Index over the last 40 years has been around +/- 0.75%. In the month of March, the average daily move on the S&P 500 Index was over 4%. This has happened two other times in the last 40 years—the first was during the Stock Market Crash of 1987, and the second was during the Global Financial

Overview As you are likely aware, the federal income tax filing due date has been automatically extended from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020. The automatic extension also applies to your 2020 first quarter estimated tax payments. A few things to know about this extension:   How Is Your Matter Team Proceeding? We are moving forward as we normally would by coordinating the flow of documentation and communication of relevant tax items to your preparer. While the timeline has adjusted, we are not delaying any of our activities in supporting your family’s tax process.  If we may ask, as you continue to share tax documents that

Over the last few weeks, we have all been processing a remarkable amount of change and information in our daily lives. One of these new sources of information has been our government’s assistance measures: there have been several meaningful pieces of legislation passed to support the country through the COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday, March 27th the third such piece of legislation, the CARES Act, was signed into law. The overall purpose of the CARES Act is to provide relief to individuals, corporations, small businesses, public

For the most part, economic data will show some level of lag depending on the data point and frequency. The Conference Board Leading Economic Index looks to provide some level of forward-looking insight by aggregating different data points which include manufacturing output, unemployment claims, stock market and credit conditions, and a handful of others. We look at a host of different data points, but below is a summary that might prove helpful:  Weekly unemployment claims, which are reported every Thursday morning, provide a relatively immediate read on the

While our initial thoughts are clearly on the human toll of this pandemic, we wanted to send some commentary as we systematically think through the current environment and what it means from an investment standpoint. Below is a summary of our thoughts, which will likely continue to evolve as we have more data to process.  General Market Commentary The volatility of the last few weeks is not unwarranted—the degree of the unknown here is significant and therefore the range of what it could mean to company earnings over