Insights matter.

When people think of taxes, they often cringe at the crunch leading up to April 15th. But for families with complex financial worlds, tax planning isn’t limited to the first quarter. It’s a year-round affair that requires families, wealth advisors, and CPAs to live in two worlds—prior year and current—and as summer draws to a close, the heat turns up on taxes. At Matter, we think of tax planning as an integral part of managing wealth opportunities and complexities. We

Matter families are familiar with our belief in the wisdom of long-term, strategic investments.  Amidst the noise, we repeat our mantra over and over: think and act strategically, focus on the long-run, and don’t let the irrationality of the markets sway your systematic and rational approach.  While we won’t fault those who might occasionally tire of this message or wonder if there is another way, we believe it’s the tried and true way to help families manage their financial capital.

Family meetings are invaluable to multigenerational success. They help families build trust and communication, provide a structure for information-sharing and decision-making, and create a format for introducing the rising generation to the opportunities and complexities of wealth. At Matter, we take an integrated, holistic approach to helping families thrive for generations, and facilitating family meetings is a critical part of that work. Over the years, we’ve learned a lot about how to help families prepare for meetings, set expectations, and

We are proud to announce that we have been named as one of the Top 10 Financial Advisors in the St. Louis Area by Advisory HQ in 2019. Please visit the Advisory HQ site to learn more about how top advisors are selected: http://www.advisoryhq.com/articles/best-rated-financial-advisors-in-st-louis-mo/ AdvisoryHQ developed a breakthrough “Top-Down Advisor Selection Methodology” that is based on a wide range of filters including fiduciary duty, independence, transparency, level of customized service, history of innovation, fee structure, quality of services provided, team excellence, and wealth of experience. Matter

For the second year in a row, Matter Family Office was honored to win the “Multi-family Office ($2.5 billion to $5 billion AuM/AuA)” award at the Family Wealth Report Awards 2019 in New York City on March 20th. We are honored to have the opportunity to lead successful families down an intentional path that prioritizes people and helps them navigate the opportunities and complexities of wealth, and we look forward to continuing to redefine what it means to manage wealth.

What a difference a year makes. At the end of 2017, we were in the midst of a period of unprecedented low volatility coupled with the S&P 500 Index returning almost 21% over the prior year. The Fed Funds rate was at 1.5% while the 10-year Treasury hovered just below 2.5%. Stock valuations were elevated as the markets were still processing the impact of the tax reform passed in the fourth quarter. Fast forward twelve months: volatility has returned and the

With the holidays approaching, many families are preparing to gather together. These are precious opportunities for family members to connect, especially for those who are geographically scattered. They are an especially important time for different generations of the family to listen to and learn from each other. While we have all experienced the telling and retelling of certain classic family tales (occasionally accompanied by much eye rolling), establishing a tradition of storytelling is actually an extremely powerful tool for families

We are proud to share that Matter is bringing home the Boutique Multifamily Office Executive award from The Family Wealth Alliance Anniversary Awards Gala held on October 17th in Chicago. This award recognizes our Founder, Partner, and Managing Member, Kathy Lintz, as an individual with a distinguished track record of innovation, thought leadership, and management accomplishment. Matter’s talented team and unique service model would not be what it is today without the foundation that Kathy created over decades, and we

A key component of our investment process remains understanding some of the prevailing themes in the markets and what they might mean for relative asset class performances for the following three to five years. One of the themes that we have seen evolve over the last eighteen months is the transition from a synchronized global growth pattern to a more mature stage of the growth cycle, during which we tend to see a divergence in growth trends. Whether we look at the

The term “trade war” rarely elicits any favorable feelings from investors. When we consider that trade is the vascular system of the global economy, it is safe to presume that the actions and growing rhetoric around tariffs and trade negotiations are at the very least concerning. Economic theory would argue that any impediments to trade negatively impact many players while benefiting few, a fact that should not be lost on policy makers. To delve further into this issue, our colleagues with Asset

In a 2018 article, the Wall Street Journal highlighted an apparently common practice in American families: parents doing their kids’ taxes. Why is this notable? Well, in many cases, the children are adults in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and even 50s. So, why are parents doing their adult children’s taxes? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? In our work with families, we have seen many situations like this. In our experience it’s not necessarily good OR bad.

With the close of the Federal Open Market Committee meetings this week, the market’s expectations were confirmed as the Fed chose to increase interest rates by the anticipated 25 basis points. In addition, they set the stage for two to three additional rate hikes later this year. This is both consistent with expectations and in alignment with our thematic view of fixed income headwinds. This research report from our colleagues at Asset Consulting Group provides some data to that effect.