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Global Minimum Tax a Big Step in the Right Direction
- by: Hank Berkowitz
- July 15, 2021
No CommentsBut the devil is in the details. If your client or company is impacted by new global tax rules, focus on your tax base not your tax rate By Cecil Nazareth | guest columnist Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced last week that 130 of the 139 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agreed
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Survey: Wealth Advisors Most Optimistic; CPAs the Least
- by: Hank Berkowitz
- July 10, 2021
As we prepare to release our 5th annual CPA/Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™ to the media and general public, this much is clear. Financial advisors of all stripes have never been busier. But tons of billable hours and ample referrals don’t necessarily translate into satisfaction. First the good news: Four in five survey respondents (81%) told
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Can Baby Bonds Put Disadvantaged Kids on the Path to Prosperity?
- by: Hank Berkowitz
- June 18, 2021
Thanks to legislation approved on Wednesday, every year over 15,000 Connecticut infants born into low-income families will receive $3,200 government-funded savings accounts. The accounts are designed to provide qualifying children with an estimated $10,600 when they turn 18. The returns are based on a projected average rate of return on investment over 18 years of 6.9
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Memorial Day Estate Planning Thoughts
- by: Hank Berkowitz
- May 24, 2021
Hard to believe it’s almost Memorial Day weekend. But it is. For the first time in over a year, extended families may finally get together (in person) to kick off the official start of summer. Whether masked or unmasked, the focus will be on grilling, boating, beaching, golfing and maybe a parade. But the term
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John Legend: Winning Doesn’t Have to Be a Zero-Sum Game
- by: Hank Berkowitz
- May 9, 2021
Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, John Legend, delivered a stirring commencement address at my son’s college graduation last weekend. With his signature tenor-baritone voice wafting over Wallace-Wade stadium, he shook the sleepy students out of their slumber with expletive-filled acronyms DDMF and GTHC familiar to anyone who’s watched a Duke-Carolina basketball game. Clearly, it wasn’t going to
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Advisor Survey: Even the Affluent Lack Financial Awareness
- by: Hank Berkowitz
- February 11, 2021
Most advisors we talked to are optimistic about their growth prospects in 2021. But they don’t seem as confident about their clients’ financial acumen. Early results of our 5th annual CPA/Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™ showed more than half of advisors (55%) believe America’s financial literacy has NOT improved over the past year. More than half
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We’ll Miss You Hammerin’ Hank: Master of Consistency and Tolerance
- by: Hank Berkowitz
- January 25, 2021
Last weekend marked the passing of baseball great, Henry Aaron. He was just shy of his 87th birthday. Aaron was one of my first boyhood sports heroes at a time when kids could still look up to athletes, celebrities and even Presidents as role models. At the time, I didn’t know the 20-something Aaron would
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Our Social Dilemma: What Big Tech Doesn’t Want You to Know This Holiday Season
- by: Hank Berkowitz
- November 17, 2020
With Covid cases spiking and freezing weather descending on the Northeast, my wife and I decided to test out our self-quarantining skills last weekend. Bottom line: we won’t be making a habit of self-imposed hibernation, but at least we caught up on yard work and all the shows we’ve been planning to watch. Most of
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Let’s Agree to Disagree
- by: Hank Berkowitz
- November 2, 2020
I finally got around to reading “A Warning,” the best-selling insider look at the Trump White House by the author known simply as “Anonymous.” Published in late 2019, there has been tremendous speculation about who the author was. He or she seemed to have deep insider access to many high-level meetings in and around the
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Why We Need Youth Sports Back
- by: Hank Berkowitz
- October 27, 2020
With the cool weather, longer nights and changing leaves here in late October, my car seems to be on autopilot to the nearest soccer field. For the better part of 15 years, I’ve always had at least one kids on the soccer pitch—or more accurately “between the pipes.” But here we are, on the cusp