Author: Roger Staiger

28 December 2018

 

Question: According to MSN: Money, what are the most overlooked tax breaks for retirees?

 

European bank stocks have worst year since Eurozone crisis as sector falls 25% – Pg. 1

–          …investors lost faith in the region’s lenders amid enduring low profitability, outdated business models, negative rates and Brexit

–          …now valued at about 0.6X their net assets, compared with ratios of 1.1 for the top six US banks and 1 for lenders on the MSCI Emerging Asia Banks index

–          Few economists now expect that interest rates – a determinant of bank earnings – will rise above negative territory any time soon.

–          Relative to the US banking industry, expenses remain stubbornly high.  The average US bank makes a return on equity of 16%.  In Europe returns come in at about half that….

–          The most drastic fall has been at Deutsche Bank, which ends the year down 53%

 

China’s middle class burnt by shadow banking market – Pg. 3

–          Their losses absorbed by middle-class families in a nation famous for its diligent savers have taken a quiet financial and emotional toll

–          About 169m Chinese, or about 12% of the population, have invested in wealth management products online, a rise of 66% from two years ago, …essentially, they are putting money into the shadow banking system

 

Gender pay gap narrows slightly – Pg. 10

–          UK gender pay gap reporting has resulted in only a tiny narrowing of the difference between what men and women are paid, …

–          All employers with 250 or more staff are required to report their gender pay gaps to the government

–          Employers are required to report their mean and median gender pay gaps, bonus pay gaps and the proportion of men and women in each pay quartile and receiving a bonus

 

Answer: (1) Bigger standard deduction; (2) Medicare premiums; (3) Spousal IRA contribution; (4) Timing tax payments; (5) Tax-free profit from a vacation home; (6) Give money to your family; (7) Give money to charity

27 December 2018

 

Question: According to MSN: Money, what are sixteen (16) commonly missed tax deductions?

 

Chinese groups rush to list in US despite escalating trade tension – Pg. 1

–          The US this year recorded the most initial public offerings for Chinese companies since 2010 in spite of a trade war between the two countries that threatened the cross-border flow of goods and upset financial markets

–          The number of US IPOs by Chinese companies was well ahead of 17 in 2017 and the most since 39 listings in 2010

–          Equities worldwide have had a punishing end to 2018 as concerns about the US-China trade war and global growth slowdown have prompted selling

–          Retail sales in China grew at the slowest pace in 15 years in November, while factory output was the weakest in nearly three years

–          Competition for Chinese deals is heating up.  The Hong Kong stock exchange in 2018 changed listing standards to allow dual-class shares and opened the doors to biotech businesses that have yet to generate revenue

 

Trump presides over slowdown in business regulation – Pg. 2

–          …Trump has overseen a sharp slowdown in the pace of new business regulations in his first two years in office…

–          …passed less than half the number of economically significant rules that Barack Obama did in his first two years as president, and 25% less than George W Bush did over the same period

–          His administration has also made some progress in taking rules off the books – one of the president’s main campaign pledges – with some studies suggesting it has surpassed Mr Trump’s target of eliminating two existing rules for every new one that comes in

 

Ecommerce puts warehouses back on the map – Pg. 10

–          Rents for industrial real estate – a category that largely comprises warehouses – are rising at double-digit rates in more than a dozen US markets

–          Vacancies are at historic lows and new investors are piling into the sector even as other parts of the property sector are softening

–          In some ways, the warehouse boom is the flipside of a retail property market blighted by bankruptcies and store closures as shoppers move online.  Demand is so intense that in some markets developers have taken the once-unheard-of step of tearing down office properties to convert them to warehouses

–          …companies are now seeking abundant warehouse space to their customers to manage an ever-growing volume of “last mile” deliveries that must be made on ever-tighter deadlines

–          Developers built a record 9m sf of new warehouse space in the state in 2017 and will surpass that with 10m sf this year.  Rents that averaged just $5.10/sf in 2012 have since jumped to $8.47/sf

 

Answer: (1) Job hunting expenses; (2) Pet moving costs; (3) Self-employment expenses; (4) Child and dependent care costs; (5) Smoking cessation costs; (6) Weight-loss expenses (Prof Note: Paying taxes is a thing of the past for me! J); (7) Charitable travel costs; (8) Breast surgery expenses; (9) Pregnancy test expenses; (10) Wig costs; (11) Sales and Income Taxes; (12) Student Loan Interest; (13) College tuition and training costs; (14) Energy-saving home improvements; (15) Mortgage points and remodeling costs; (16) Military reserve travel costs

22 December 2018

 

Question: According to an article on MSN: Lifestyle, “I just turned 55 – and here are 10 life lessons I wish I’d learned a decade ago”, what are the lessons?

 

Minting money on the Orient Express – Pg. 6

–          For the luxury goods companies, experience has emerged as the latest frontier in their battle to win over the hearts and wallets of the wealthy and aspirational

–          The first official Orient Express left Paris on October 4, 1883, bound eastward for Constantinople via Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade

 

Loan fund withdrawals soar on fears over Fed rate policy and credit quality – Pg. 13

–          The asset class had lured investors seeking to benefit as the Fed raised rates, but central bankers and agencies such as the IMF have warned credit quality has declined.  Loans are typically to highly leveraged companies, such as those taken private in leveraged buyouts

–          The retreat by investors from loan funds is part of the broad move out of risk assets that has characterized the final months of 2018

–          Financials are highly sensitive to the trajectory of interest rates.  Rising short-term interest rates, which raise their funding costs, and subdued long-term rates, which reflect the income they make from lending, are threatening to squeeze bank profitability

 

Answer: (1) Take time to pay attention to your health; (2) Be intimidating; (3) No more bad hair days; (4) Dream big and let yourself fail; (5) Take a vacation that has nothing to do with work or family; (6) You’re probably not going to strike it rich; (7) Do something you’re terrible at; (8) Wear great boots; (9) Do a favour you don’t want to do; (10) Say yes more than you say no