Consumer Confidence: Not Optimistic, but Less Pessimistic by Wells Fargo
After five straight monthly declines, consumer confidence rebounded in May amid a cease-fire in the trade war. Even after the bounce, confidence remains near the low-end of the recent range and further improvement may depend upon continued deescalation of trade hostilities.
Universities Map Out New Investment Strategies to Deal With Tax Hike on Endowments by The Wall Street Journal
As college endowments face higher tax burdens, they’re shifting their investments in a way that tax-conscious individual investors should pay attention to: avoiding short-term capital gains and higher turnover investment strategies, focusing on passive investments that are tax-efficient, shifting into private assets where the tax hit is deferred, and focusing on enough portfolio liquidity to meet expenses (including larger tax bills).
An economic warning sign in the hard data ⚠️ by TKer
Business cap-ex orders, a leading indicator, fell in April. This could be a one month blip or it could be the hard economic data starting to reflect what the soft economic data has signaled – an economic slowdown.
See also: No Hard Feelings: Soft vs. Hard Divide Persists by Charles Schwab Asset Management
Soft-data refers to sentiment based measures. Hard data encompasses quantifiable economic outputs. Recent divergences between weaker soft economic data and more resilient hard data have muddied the outlook. The mercurial nature of the Trump administration’s trade policy is likely to keep expectations a bit shaky. Some clarification (or finalization) on tariffs could lead to some catch-up by the soft data. Absent that clarification, it is more likely that the hard data catches down to the soft data. Soft data should continue to be viewed as an early-warning system.
The Importance of Income Tax Basis for Gifting by Heritage Financial
come tax basis can be an important factor in deciding whether to make gifts during your lifetime or transfer property at your death. This is because the income tax basis for the person receiving the property depends on whether the transfer is by gift or at death. This, in turn, affects the amount of taxable gain subject to income tax when the person sells the property.
What Medicare Covers When You Travel in the US and Abroad by Kiplinger’s
Whether or not you can expect assistance from Medicare when you travel boils down to what type of Medicare policy you have and whether you are traveling domestically or internationally.
Book Recommendation
How Not To Invest: The ideas, numbers, and behaviors that destroy wealth – and how to avoid them by Barry Ritholtz
How Not To Invest shows you a few simple tools and models that will help you avoid the most common mistakes people make with their money. Learn these, and you are ahead of 98% of your peers.
Boston Corner
Where to find the Boston area’s summer beer gardens
