If you own your own business, chances are you’ve at least thought about the conditions under which you will leave the business and who is going to take over after you’re gone. Business continuation is difficult enough under normal circumstances,… Read More
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Taxes Are Changing! What Do We Do?
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We are going to work our way through a 1040 (individual income tax return) and give the highlights of the tax changes. The first item on the return that changed is alimony. Starting in… Read More
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Dividends in a Portfolio
WHY CONSIDER DIVIDENDS? Dividend income has represented roughly one-third of the total return on the Standard and Poor’s 500 since 1926. According to S&P, the portion of total return attributable to dividends has ranged from a high of 53% during… Read More
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Interest Rates Rising… What About the Stock Market?
• What is the relationship between interest rates and the stock market? • Can stocks rise in a rising interest rate environment? • Do interest rates impact all stocks the same? Logic, and recent stock market volatility, would seem to… Read More
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Millennials: Coming of Age
In March 2018, Pew Research Center released a new study seeking to more conclusively define the Millennial generation. The study concluded that a Millennial is someone born between 1981 and 1996, making them now, in 2018, between the ages of… Read More
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Making a Large Financial Commitment? Borrow or Pay Upfront?
For those who were raised in the Great Depression Era or raised by Great Depression Era parents, we sometimes have developed an aversion to borrowing money. Let us explore the benefits today of borrowing, versus paying outright for a large… Read More
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Inflation Doesn’t Retire When You Do
The need to outpace inflation doesn’t end at retirement; in fact, it becomes even more important. If you’re living on a fixed income, you need to make sure your investing strategy takes inflation into account. Otherwise, you may have less… Read More
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BWFA’s Rob Carpenter Featured in January 2018 Business Monthly
President and CEO Rob Carpenter gives an astute prediction of the market’s direction for the coming year in this month’s edition of The Business Monthly, the business newspaper of Howard and Anne Arundel Counties and the BWI Business Corridor. You… Read More
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Choosing an Entity for Your Business
Now that you’ve decided to start a new business or buy an existing one, you need to consider the form of business entity that’s right for you. Basically, three separate categories of entities exist: partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies…. Read More
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Tax Planning for the Self-Employed
Self-employment is the opportunity to be your own boss, to come and go as you please, and oh yes, to establish a lifelong bond with your accountant. If you’re self-employed, you’ll need to pay your own FICA taxes and take… Read More